Mini GeoMICROBE sampler in coral reef water

             I moved to Taiwan to work as an assistant professor at the Institute of Oceanography at the prestigious National Taiwan University. I am so lucky to be funded to conduct a survey about the dissolved organic chemistry of coral waters around the beautiful Taiwan Island. I form a new research team and built a mini size monitoring/sampling submersible instrumentation, named "Mini  GeoMICROBE". Here are a short movie and some photos of us working underwater, collecting time-series reef water samples. A big difference between my previous sandy/muddy CORK sampling site and my current coral reef water sampling sites is the colorful coral ecosystem. There are colorful fish and sea turtles. Another big difference is that I am actually "in" the studied seawater, not being separated by the sphere of a submersible. 

           我現在台灣擔任助理教授的工作，幸運地得到研究經費可以研究珊瑚礁水域的有機物，為了可以得到高頻率的海水與懸浮顆粒樣品，我重新建造了一個小的水下採樣監測儀器，主要的原件為採購自美國麻省的麥克連研究實驗室(McLane Research Laboratories, Inc.) 的二十四項閥自動採水器，我們之後會加裝上溫度、鹽度、螢光與溶氧探針。目前自動採水器的部分，已經成功地在台灣東南方小琉球島的珊瑚礁水域施放與回收，得到每兩小時的時序樣品。以前在夏威夷跟柯恩老師(Dr. Cowen)建造的的大採樣器要用大研究船的絞機才有辦法施放，這個迷你型的採樣器，只要四個壯丁，就可以扛到水中放置固定與回收，運氣好的時候，還可以遇到海龜喔。

Catie Graver Interview 凱蒂格孚訪談

Catie Graver, one of the female crews in the Shipboard Scientific Services Group on Research Vessel Atlantis. Catie is a shipboard technician and holds a bachelor degree in oceanography. Therefore, she knows what we scientists want and is able to assist us in a timely manner. I am always impressed by her hard-working attitude. When she operates the A-frame, she always gently lowers down or lifts Alvin for deployment or recovery. I feel that the A-frame is an extension of Catie's arm.

Many of Catie's words during the interview really stick to my mind

• "If you don't think there is a difference (between male and female), there should probably not a difference."
• "Just do Things." 
• "Don't think there is a limitation to yourself".

PS: Dr. Jim Cowen often said the last two phases to encourage me. These two phases have helped me through many of my struggles and hesitations.

我跟凱蒂一起出海好多次了，她大學時主修海洋學，因此更知道在船上怎麼協助科學家，她總是用最快的方式幫我們解決問題。我最欣賞的是她認真做事的態度，尤其是她在操作船後方的A型大吊臂時，總是可以把艾文號(Alvin)輕輕地放入或抬出水面，大吊臂就像是她手臂延伸般的輕巧。

凱蒂在訪問中說的一些話，深植在我腦中，摘錄於此
『我覺得如果妳不去想男女有不同，真的就是沒有甚麼不一樣的』
『做就是了!』
『不要限制自己』

PS: 後面這兩句也是柯恩教授常跟我而提面命的，當遇到瓶頸或是猶豫不決的時候，多想想這兩句話，常常就讓我豁然開朗，然後可以繼續努力下去~

Females on the ship 船上工作的女生Part 2

I understand many of you may think that working on a ship is too challenging, especially for a female, in a man-dominated work environment. Therefore, I use my chance to interview female crews during my 2014 expedition (AT26-18) on Research Vessel Atlantis. Let's hear what they say about their work and life on a ship. They all encourage you to not limit yourself from pursuing a job that requires you to be at sea.

我想很多人都覺得在船上工作挑戰性太大了，尤其是對女性而言，畢竟現在船上大多的船員仍還是以男性為主，因此，我利用我2014年暑假的航次，訪問了幾位女性船員，接下來我會陸續放上訪問的影片，讓我們好好聽聽看她們的故事，以及她們如何鼓勵妳們選擇可以從事這樣一個特別的工作。

(right) Catie Graver

(Middle) Huei-Ting Lin. That is me! 就是我拉~

(Right) Huei-Ting Lin. Me again. 我戴工頭帽，做最後檢查中。

Tina working in a argon-nitrogen glove bag. 

The purpose was to prevent oxygen in the air from contacting our samples. 

我很認真地在船上實驗室工作，這個氮氣箱是

用來阻擋大氣中的氧氣與樣品接觸。 

(left to right: Beth Orcutt!, (Geoff's student?), Everett Omori, Keir Becker,

 Katie Inderbitzen)  

Mitzi Crane 這是我們這航次的大副，她其實具有船長的身分喔!

Goodbye Jim (Dr. Cowen) 再見了，柯恩教授~

I have not been blogging for quite a while. One of the reason was that I lost my dearest mentor, Dr. James Cowen, on July 26, 2013. He was such a tremendous supporter and believer in me. It is because of him, I am who I am now. Thank you Jim and Goodbye. You will always be remembered and we will carry on your research in GeoMicrobiology and lead the Team GeoMICROBE to the next stage. 

我已經快兩年沒有更新這個部落格了，其中一個原因是因為我的指導教授柯恩先生在2013年的暑假因為癌症而去世了，他一直都是最支持我最相信我會成為一個比他還棒的海洋學家，我今天的學術成就，都要歸功於他，柯恩教授，謝謝你的指導，我們會永遠記得你，也會持續在地質微生物學上努力，並且領導我們團隊走到下一個階段。

James Prather Cowen

March 11, 1951 to July 26, 2013

James “Jim” Cowen, born in Dayton, OH, passed away after a prolonged battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife, Beverly Quon, his sons, Nathan and John L., his father, John B., his brother, Robert, and Robert's family. He was predeceased by his mother, Virginia Prather, and his brother John B., Jr.

Jim had a love of the ocean that carried him through both his professional and personal life. Jim earned both a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Biology and a Master's degree in Biology at the University of California at Santa Barbara.  In 1983, he completed his PhD in Biology (Oceanography) at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Following Jim's postdoctoral work at the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Seattle, WA, he accepted a faculty position at the University of Hawaii in the Department of Oceanography.

During Jim's 27 years at UH, he served terms as the Associate Chair of the Department of Oceanography, the Division Head of the Marine Geochemistry and Geophysics Department, and was a member of the UH Faculty Senate. Jim's multifaceted, interdisciplinary research focused on the microbial geochemistry of the subseafloor biosphere. His extensive research and fieldwork on scientific cruises led to his development of novel instrumentations and to numerous publications and grants from the National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Moore Foundation, NOAA, and Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations (C-DEBI). Jim took particular joy in mentoring undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. He taught in the Sea to Ship to Classroom programs and served as a board member of the Montessori Community School. He was recognized nationally and internationally for his accomplishments including his recent service as a Consortium of Ocean Leadership Distinguished Lecturer.

Jim was an intelligent, warm, caring, and generous person. He spent many days guiding and nurturing his sons, teaching them more than he may have realized. Until his final days, he loved being in the water, paddling and windsurfing in Kailua Bay, exploring Mexico's surf spots, sailing in Santa Cruz, and swimming in the pool. Our home was built by his craftsmanship, and our family was built by his love. He will be missed greatly.

Cowen Family

柯恩教授
1961年3月11日-2013年7月26號
詹姆斯柯恩(James Cowen) 出生在美國奧亥俄州的Dayton鎮，他人生的最後幾年都與癌症纏鬥，但是最終不敵病魔，離開我們。

Jim在生時非常熱愛海洋，不管是他的職業或是生活都與海洋息息相關，他在加州聖塔芭芭拉大學拿到環境生物學的學士學位，以及生物學的碩士學位，並在1983年在加州聖塔克魯斯分校拿到了海洋生物學的博士學位。緊接著畢業後，他在美國的海洋大氣總署在西雅圖的研究中心當了博士後研究員，並且很順利的在夏威夷大學的海洋系拿到教授的職位。

Jim在夏威夷大學擔任教授的27年中，他曾經當過海洋系的副所長，海化與地化組的組長，同時也是夏威夷大學的教授代表(可以直接跟校長提出建言的人)。Jim利用跨領域的研究方式專攻了解海床底下的微生物圈，他獲得來自美國海洋大氣總署，Moore Foundation，美國太空總署，以及美國國科會的各種研究經費。在他的研究過程中，設計並建造了許多絕無僅有的研究器材，也發表了許多的科學文獻。Jim尤其用心栽培學生，包含大專生、研究生以及博士後研究員，他也熱衷於各項推廣教育，包含"船上到教室"的活動，以及加入蒙特梭利學校的董事會。他是國際上備受尊崇的研究學者，並且被選為海洋領導者計畫的演講者(Consortium of Ocean Leadership Distinguished Lecturer)。


Jim是一個充滿智慧，善良，體貼而且慷慨的人，他花了許多的時間陪伴他的小孩，帶領他們成長，他帶給他小孩的遠比他自己想像的還多。一直到他過世的前幾天，他享受泡在水裡的樂趣，在家附近的Kailua灣划船與衝浪，到墨西哥的海岸探險衝浪，開帆船在聖塔克魯斯附近航行，在家裡跟學校的泳池游泳。他自己蓋了給家人住的房子，用他的愛蓋成的房子。他會永遠被懷念的。

柯恩家族

Work on R/V Atlantis 亞特蘭提司號上的工作照片

We are already more than half-way through the expedition. What are our UH gangs doing out there? Here are some photos to show you. 

航次已經 過了超過一半了，大家在船上都在幹嘛呢？咱們來瞧瞧吧！

Grieg was being interviewed. In the background is our modified Geomicrobe Sled.
來自夏威夷大學的格利克老師正在被訪問，背景中的是我們的迷你型採樣雪橇。

Grieg was so enthusiastic about his virus work.
談到他研究的題目"病毒"，格力克老師好興奮啊！

Oliver was working on setting up Mobile pump system (MPS) on JASON's front basket.

謝志強大人正在把我們的超強採水系統架設到傑森號的前方菜籃中。 

Our longtime collaborator, Dr. Eric Oslon from University of Washington, was showing Oliver and Jannai how to use a a pre-evacuated glass flask to subsample basement fluids.
來自西雅圖華盛頓大學的奧思洛博士正在教志強還有佳奈使用特殊的玻璃瓶子分裝樣品，這個特殊的容器是抽真空的，以防大氣中的空氣污染了我們的底液樣品。

Eric showing Jannai how to prepare a gastight sampler.
奧思洛博士示範如何準備氣密採水器。

Abandon ship drill. Gummy suit.
棄船演習。超保暖救生衣。

Everett was getting gastights ready on the JASON's side basket.
唉煩特正在把氣密採水器放到傑森號的側邊菜籃子中。

Sean was getting his filtration gears ready.
蕭恩正在準備他的過濾系統。 

I really don't know what Bob was doing~~
ㄟ...巴博先生，我真不知道你在幹嘛啊！

Oliver was subsampling basement fluids into various kind of vials for different kinds of analysis.  To maintain cleanness, all the subsampling takes place inside a laminar flow hood. The high efficiency air filter can filter more than 99.999% particles.
志強正在幫我採樣，確保樣品不被船上空氣中的顆粒汙染，我們把整台無塵器帶到船上了。無塵器的過濾系統可以把空氣中大多數的顆粒隔離在外喔。 

Recovering the GeoMicrobe Sled 收回採樣雪橇

After sitting on the CORK head for two years, the GeoMicrobe Sled is finally getting closer to its way back to ship. The recovery of this sled turn out to be very challenging. During the first dive, we found out that our floatation packages were missing. We need the floats to bring the sled back. Our sled is still too heavy even if we attach all other smaller floats available on the ship. We decide to use remote operated vehicle Medea (http://www.whoi.edu/ndsfVehicles/Jason/) to help us pull the sled back. That isn't an easy task. We need to find a good/secured way to connect to Medea to the GeoMicrobe Sled. The scientists and the JASON team decided to use a strong rope with a shackle at the end to attach sled to the Medea. Can you imaging using two pairs of chopsticks to tight a shackle? That is exactly what the JASON pilots need to do with JASON's two manipulators. The pilot was so skillful and our sled was successfully attached to Medea and it's on it's way back right now~~ 

我們的採樣雪橇孤零零的在水下觀測井的平台等待我們迎接它回來，一等就是兩年，這之間不知道發生什麼事，原本掛在採樣雪橇上的浮球組，整個不見了，沒有浮球，我們就沒有足夠的浮力把雪橇帶回來。而且採樣雪橇太重了，即使把船上現有的全部浮球裝上去，都還不夠，因此我們希望利用遠端遙控潛水艇米迪雅(Medea http://www.whoi.edu/ndsfVehicles/Jason/) 幫我們把雪橇拉回船上。說起來簡單，但是光要把採樣雪橇跟米迪雅連在一起，就是個大工程了，科學家們跟潛水艇機長們決定用一條很強壯的繩子，用傑森號的機械手臂，利用英文叫做shackle的掛鉤，串到採樣雪橇上，想想傑森號的船長跟發號施令的科學家都在船上，而傑森號跟採樣雪橇都遠在2600米深的海床上，就像是要我們用兩雙筷子鎖螺絲釘，並不是簡單的任務，但大家協力辦到了，採樣雪橇正在返回船上中，好令人期待啊！

GeoMicrobe Sled in sight. There is no floatation attached.
採樣雪橇靜靜的在等我們，上面沒有浮球了。

The hook like tool is called shackle.
左上的螢幕中間的白色鉤鉤就是英文的shackle。

JASON's left hand is a shackle. Right hand is a bolt that can close the shackle hooked to the sled.
傑森號右手的是可以串過shackle的螺絲。 

Hooking the shackle to the GeoMicrobe Sled.
試著把shackle串進採樣雪橇的掛鉤中。 

Shackle is in position. Tightening. Better seen in the left bottom panel.
串好了，得把螺絲旋緊來。左下角的圖片可以很明顯地看到螺絲旋進shackel中。

Jason back off from the GeoMicrobe Sled. Trying to see if Medea can lift the GeoMicrobe Sled up.
傑森號往後退，看看米迪雅是否可以把採樣雪橇拉起來。 

GeoMicrobe Sled is up!!
採樣雪橇被拉離水下觀測井的平台了。






(two hours later)
(兩小時候）

Pulling Medea off the water.
把米迪雅拉出水面。

Ｍedea is on deck.
米迪雅到船上了。

JASON is off the water.
傑森號拉出水面。

GeoMicrobe Sled off the water. 

採樣雪橇～～你終於回來了！！

After TWO years of waiting. Sled is back on deck!!

等了兩年，好期待分析樣品後得到的數據！！

Sampling for gas content analysis