Day 11

Ooops…I said last sampling was yesterday! Well, we had another one today. Just for the bulk, easy one, CO2, nutrients, chlorophyll, POC, flow cytometry…we had a final meeting all together, to discuss latest results, follow up, and have some cake and wine together and then we went to visit the Cretaquarium! That was great! Great end of the experiment! We said goodbye to Eleni who was going back to Athens – by ferry, overnight! We will miss her.

We went back home, walking by the sea-side. We cooked and went to bed and maybe, for the first time after two weeks, we really slept like stones! In the next days we’ll be around at the institute.. packing, some office work, checking samples.. then a few days of holidays in Crete and back to Italy.

With the hope to come back here one day, maybe for another mesocosms experiment…That has been really an amazing experience!

Day 10

Last day of sampling! Last cleaning of  the equipment, last filtration of microplastics, last analysis of chlorophyll and the metals, and flow cytometer… Last goodbye to all the funnels and all the glass plates… Well, maybe we won’t miss them so much! But all the experiment was such an emotion to me, and very interesting! The balance is very positive in every case… I learnt many techniques and many information useful for my biological studies and I known very nice people here… I feel very lucky to be part of this team! Now Luisa can finally relax and enjoy after the whole work! She has just to gather all the results and make a complete summary of the experiment… but we will see in the next months! Thanks to everybody, great job 🙂

Luisa, Ioanna, Eleni and me in the lab for the last filtrations

Day 9

This morning was very very hot and the SML sampling was very  challenging! It’s Sunday, we were very few at the institute and there was a strange silence inside! However we did all the analysis and we managed to finish not so late just in time to have a bath! The experiment is going to end soon, as nutrients are low and everything is going to come back to normality… It was such a beautiful adventure! But maybe it’s better to leave the comment for tomorrow, after the last SML sampling!

Day 8

Today we are only Luisa, Arturo, Anastasia II, Santi and me at the institute. It is Saturday and we’d love to go the the beach, but mesocosms are waiting for us, so, the beach will wait! Anastasia II is ready to make

Santi working in his lab

all the chlorophyll analysis after the filtration of Santi and to use the flow cytometer alone… thanks to all the teachings of Anastasia I who has just take one day off after all these days working. The values of the chlorophyll are very low but it’s the normal decrease towards the depletion of the nutrients and in perfect time with the end of the experiment…

Day 7

Last day for Steven! After the SML sampling under a very hot sun, we had a meeting all together… the thoughts of all the team seem positive for the future results. After a picture all together in front of the mesocosms, we say goodbye to Steven with an ice-cream at the bar of the aquarium (Cretaquarium)… Does someone else want to be greeted? 😛

Cretaquarium and HCMR behind

Day 6

The dinner last night was great, we all love Cretan food (and wine ;P). We went home pretty late, but it’s a more calm day today, with the bulk sampling made by Anastasia II and Manolis and all the other analysis. About the organisms in the filters of the SML, Vivi discovered that they are a species of Ciliate, common for coastal water and seems that they are blooming now, and we only see the in the very surface! How strange.. Maybe it could be an interesting discovery!

Day 5

The whole team in Archanes

Half way through the experiment… how fast days are passing by! This morning the glass plates were waiting for us! But 55 dips were enough today! We get more and more water with less dips now… there are lots of sticky “things” in the sea surface! And Luisa can confirm it also by the analysis with the microscope of the filters she coloured with the blue stains… today she also found some strange organisms just in the SML, not in the bulk water. What could they be? Vivi came to check them but they are so strange, the research starts and maybe tomorrow we’ll have the answer. In the meanwhile… this evening we’ll have a dinner all together in such a nice and traditional tavern in Archanes, a village close to Heraklion… I’m looking forward it!:)                   

Day 4

After the usual sampling of the bulk water we had a meeting all together to discuss about how the experiment is going on. Manolis showed the graphs with the latest concentration of the nutrients and it was clear that the numbers weren’t so high, even if we could see a normal, but low, distribution of the nutrients… We decided to go on with the values we had, without adding anything.  We wanted to see natural conditions. Anastasia showed us the graphs for the growth of bacteria: there’s a peak of  bacteria in day 3 and then, probably a drop of heterotrophic ones as the nutrients decrease. Being in a meeting with so many researchers seems like a film scene where everyone says his opinion and adds something to the discussion according to their knowledge and studies. It’s very challenging!

The twilight in Gournes, after the whole day working

Day 3

It’s Monday today and at the institute there are many researchers working. And for us, sea surface microlayer (SML) sampling again! The SML team consists of Luisa, Eleni, Ioanna, Chiara (myself) and Arturo and we are pretty good by now! Only 60 dips are enough to fill the bottle up to the correct volume! After the sampling we share the volume collected: Ioanna and Eleni need 100 ml for the

filtration of the metals, about 30 ml for the filtration of the CDOM by myself, 10 ml for the analysis by flow cytometry by Anastasia and Anastasia II (the same name, the same beginning of the surname… and the same passion!). The last milliliters are for Luisa who collects the filters painted by the stains in blue to check them at the microscope. For the bulk, today it’s up to Manolis and Anastasia and as soon as the water is collected, Santi takes about 2,5 liters for the filtration of the chlorophyll and particulate organic carbon. It’s very hot today, the rain has gone and also the summer is coming! But we start organizing and taking confidence with the roles in the experiment, so everything seems easier and the team gets on very well!

Day 2

It is Sunday today, but mesocosms and plankton don’t go on holiday and we arrived as usual at the HCMR early in the morning! But no surface water sampling, only bulk! We started in the morning with the usual analysis, but with less hurry… Luisa had the time to analyze the filters she had prepared the previous day colored by Alcian Blue for carbohydrates and Coomassie Blue for proteins… We managed to already see  a difference between the substances in the sea surface water and the bulk. The surface is full of molecules and even some strange organisms! Eleni and Ioanna are involved in the filtration of the metals, almost 300 ml and all the falcons collected will be analyzed in the HCMR of Athens by Eleni.

After the day of sampling, we went to the bus station to pick up Steven! He comes from Siena and we were looking forward to have him here as well!