Reigning over this operation was Damon, taking over pH measurements that day, perched on his high throne and bravely enduring the gruelling task of waiting for pH readings to stabilize… in near-perfectly calm conditions. He declared it the hardest job of the day. The jury is still out. The plots visually looked similar with a layer of potentially dead algae and no olivine or aglime minerals to be seen be the naked eye. The following day was physically labour intensive.
We hauled up 36 sediment cores, sieving them right on the boat to preserve the epifaunal communities. Meanwhile, tracer samples were collected outside the plots—our last-ditch effort to track sediment movement and any lingering olivine. Then came the bittersweet moment—removing the equipment. A sign that the experiment had officially ended, but also the beginning of data analysis and discoveries! After an intense three-month experiment full of learning curves, we’re pumped to apply what we’ve learned and dive into the next one soon.
Marianne Pelletier, Feb 2025
