Sampling is underway and we’re working ‘round the clock to process our specimens.  Luckily for us, it’s summer in the Southern Hemisphere with roughly 20 hours of sunshine a day. Even the night shift gets to enjoy the sun’s rays. Approximately every 12 hours, the ship deploys the Conductivity Temperature Depth (CTD) rosette which collects water from different depths and measures physical and biological properties of the water column.  As soon as the water samples are retrieved, the processing begins. One group isolates single cells of diatoms for future experiments, another group processes filters for DNA analysis, and a final group extracts chlorophylls as a proxy for phytoplankton biomass. Everyone is buzzing with excitement and anxiously anticipating the diversity of phytoplankton that each sample may hold.  So far, our samples have been dominated by spiny creatures from the genus Chaetoceros (Key-toss-er-oss), elongated and banded cells from the genus Dactyliosolen (Dac-til-ee-o-so-len), tightly stacked chain of Fragillariopsis (Frag-ee-lair-ee-opsis) cells, and dinoflagellates that look like the Eiffel Tower from the genus Ceratium (Sir-a-shee-um). See if you can pick them out from the photos below.  Until next time, may the winds be ever in our favor. Posted by Stephanie Anderson