Problem-solving in the Arctic
Working in the Arctic is challenging because transportation is limited and supplies are not readily delivered. Sometimes, you have to solve problems with what you have on hand. I'll give you an example.
In order to package our zooplankton samples for transportation back to Woods Hole, I needed to reduce the volume. The jars I brought for the zooplankton samples are 250 mL each, but the samples we collect from the net are ~500 mL each. The easiest way to reduce the volume would be to sieve the samples, but I didn't have a sieve on hand. What to do?
First I checked if the marine lab had one I could borrow. No. I can't just go out and buy a sieve because there's not a scientific supply store in town. (There is a general store in town, but it sells postcards and T-shirts.) I have to make one from the materials I have on hand.
Thankfully, I had brought extra mesh with me in case the plankton net needed to be repaired. We scavenged some of the repair mesh to make a sieve, but we needed a way to hold it taut. Cross-stitch hoops are a great quick fix, but I hadn't brought one and we couldn't buy one in town. After hunting around the lab for a bit, my colleague, Sam, and I settled on repurposing the metal bands that had been wound around our boxes for shipment. We had cut them open, so they were essentially trash. We pulled them out of the metal recycling bin and realized they had the perfect thickness to make a circular hold for the mesh.
To cut the metal, we found a clamp in the lab's workshop, held the metal in the clamp, and bent the free end back and forth until it broke. We made two equally-sized pieces this way and folded them into concentric circles with the mesh between them. Now we just needed a way to connect it all.
Enter everyone's favorite invention: double-sided sticky tape. I had brought all sorts of tape (duct tape, electrical tape, paper tape), but we found an old roll of tape in the lab that we thought would work great. It was sticky on two sides, was fabric-reinforced, and was obviously old enough that nobody would miss a couple lengths of it. We wrapped the tape carefully around the inner circle, then laid the mesh over it and surrounded the mesh with the outer ring.
The sieve looked pretty solid, but we still wanted to reinforce the tension on the outer ring to hold everything in place. The double-sided tape wasn't going to work because we didn't want a sticky side out, so we grabbed electrical tape instead. I had brought a yellow roll that was the perfect width. A couple wraps and - voila! A functional scientific sieve, made entirely from found materials.
Man, I love my job!
In order to package our zooplankton samples for transportation back to Woods Hole, I needed to reduce the volume. The jars I brought for the zooplankton samples are 250 mL each, but the samples we collect from the net are ~500 mL each. The easiest way to reduce the volume would be to sieve the samples, but I didn't have a sieve on hand. What to do?
First I checked if the marine lab had one I could borrow. No. I can't just go out and buy a sieve because there's not a scientific supply store in town. (There is a general store in town, but it sells postcards and T-shirts.) I have to make one from the materials I have on hand.
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| One of the metal bands |
To cut the metal, we found a clamp in the lab's workshop, held the metal in the clamp, and bent the free end back and forth until it broke. We made two equally-sized pieces this way and folded them into concentric circles with the mesh between them. Now we just needed a way to connect it all.
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| The finished sieve |
The sieve looked pretty solid, but we still wanted to reinforce the tension on the outer ring to hold everything in place. The double-sided tape wasn't going to work because we didn't want a sticky side out, so we grabbed electrical tape instead. I had brought a yellow roll that was the perfect width. A couple wraps and - voila! A functional scientific sieve, made entirely from found materials.
Man, I love my job!
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