Secchi Disk:
Secchi disk readings were made at each station using a generic secchi disk with 0.5 meter marks. The disk is lowered vertically in the water until it can no longer be seen with the naked eye. The maximum depth it can be lowered and still be seen is then recorded in meters.

Water samples:
1 niskin bottle was lowered into the water stations to capture the water samples at various depths. A messenger was sent via a copper weight from the surface that tells the bottle to trip at desired depths. The lids at the ends are snapped shut, capturing a water sample at the determined depths. The picture to the left depicts a typical niskin bottle. The niskin bottles were used to capture water samples for chlorophyll, oxygen, nutrients, and plankton. The plankton was captured by unloading a full niskin bottle under a 20mm mesh sieve to capture a sufficient density of plankton that could be counted and quantified under a microscope. The nutrients collected are not part of this report. The oxygen samples were always collected first using a glass bottle. It was first rinsed three times then filled to the top with water carefully without allowing any air to be trapped in the sample. The water was allowed to overflow for five seconds to make sure no air had been trapped in the water sample. Next, it was treated with Add 1 ml H2SO4 and 1 ml NaOh-NaI, and then mixed well before being stored. The chlorophyll samples were first washed out three times then filled to the brim of the sample bottle and quickly stored in an ice chest.

Phytoplankton tow samples:
A 20um mesh net, horizontal net tow roughly ½ a meter in diameter was used to collect phytoplankton samples at each station. Samples were collected using a niskin bottle, mentioned above in the "Water samples" section.

CTD profile data:
A CTD device was lowered at each station roughly just a few meters above the bottom of the bay and samples were taken to obtain a depth profile. The CTD was set to collect data every one second while the CTD was lowered at roughly the rate of 1 meter/second to obtain data at approximately 1 meter intervals. For this report, the pertinent data collected were water column profiles of oxygen, density, salinity, fluorescence, and temperature.

Grab sampler sediment collection:
A Van Veen grab sampler was used to obtain surface sediment samples. The device is lowered in a free-fall to the floor of the waterway, and is weight-triggered to snap shut, capturing a sediment sample upon impact with the hard floor of the waterway. The sediment is dumped into a plastic tray and scooped into glass jars. Next, the sediments are brought back to the laboratory were they are first dried in an oven, and then sieved through sieve sizes of >= 2.00mm, 2.00mm - 500µm, 500µm - 250µm, 250µm - 125µm, 125µm - 63µm, and <63µm for 30 minutes. The differences of grain sizes in grams are then weighed out and compared in excel.

Laboratory methods for Chlorophyll and Dissolved Oxygen:
The standard method used for chlorophyll was Strickland, J.D.H. and T.R. Parsons. 1972. A Practical Handbook of Seawater Analysis. Fisheries Research Board of Canada
The standard method used for oxygen titrations was Carpenter, J.H. 1966. New measurements of oxygen solubility in pure and natural waters. Limnology and Oceanography 11: 264-277.

Niskin Bottle

Tow Samples

CTD

Van Veen