Pump it up!

Seal! Photo by Maikani Andres.

"Is that a seal?" Kharis pointed past a container on the dock to a spot in the bay. Maikani and I followed the line of her hand, and all three of us automatically migrated to the edge of the dock. It certainly was a seal. Out in the middle of the water was a small gray head - a harbor seal, if I had to guess. Seeing that cutie was exactly the boost we needed in our day. 

Altogether, we spent about an hour on the dock, just counting time and watching the water. More specifically, we were watching a pump we had deployed in the water to determine if it was working. You see, I'm sending Kharis and Maikani on a research trip this spring, and they'll be using a specialized pump to collect larvae from the Arctic deep sea. Just like I had to get trained on the pump before our 2021 expedition, now it was my students' turn to become technological experts. 

Deploying the pump in the 
dive well. Photo by Maikani
Andres.

I started the day by demonstrating all the pump's parts in the lab. After a run-through of all components, I turned to my two students. "Scale of 1 to 10," I asked, "how comfortable are you that you could do this on your own?" Maikani immediately responded with a 9.9, and Kharis just nodded silently to indicate her confidence. The session went quicker and better than I expected. They were ready for the next step. 

After team-lifting the heavy pump into the back of my car, we drove across the street to WHOI's Iselin pier. We actually had a pretty good simulation of cruise conditions: it was cold, windy, and Kharis hadn't slept well the night before. Exhaustion and foul weather are key components of the field work experience, so I figured we were off to a good start. After lowering the pump into the dive well with the crane, we waited. The pump came to life right on time and started pulling water into its intake at 25 L per minute. We waited the programmed 5 minutes for it to shut off and then lifted it out of the water - but it was still pumping. 

Lab members on the dock!

It took us a few minutes and a run back to the lab to grab my laptop to figure it out, but we had accidentally programmed the pump to run for 5 hours, not 5 minutes. I suppose exhausted brains can make mistakes - and it's much better to make mistakes now than in the field. We figured out a way to shut off the pump (thank goodness, because none of us wanted to wait 5 hours for it to stop) and then had a brainstorming session. How could we prevent mistakes in the field? Maikani and Kharis agreed to make a pre-deployment checklist and independently check each other's work. I think with proper communication and rest, they'll be good to go. 

I am honored and grateful to have such capable students. I know I can trust them, and I look forward to seeing what samples they bring home!