Day 3

September 12, 2007 10:55 PM

Today in the morning we had dolphins accompanying us. Two of them stayed longer than the others, jumping in front of the bow in the beautiful clear blue water. It was a great spectacle.

Hoy en la manana tuvimos dos hermosos acompanantes, dos delfines, que nadaron junto al Alguita. Saltando a la superficie de estas cristalinas aguas. Fue un gran espectaculo.

Question: How fast are you going?

Answer: We have had very little wind, so the sails are not enough and we are running one of our two engines to make 6 knots. We are currently off San Francisco. Our noon position was 36 09N, 122 19 W. We transferred fuel from our bladder tanks on deck today, 140 gallons of diesel. We have used about 200 gallons so far.

Question: What type of data will you be collecting?

Answer: We will find pieces or fragments of plastic objects and complete objects made of plastic floating near the surface. We will classify them based on their size, color and later at the lab at the University of the Pacific, Dr. Rios will analize them to determine the type of plastic we found. Also, we are taking water samples along with the plastic samples. This is the first time water samples for Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) have been taken inside the North Pacific Gyre. The idea is to compare the contamination found on the plastics with the contaminants found in the water samples.

Que tipo de data va a resultar de sus estudios?

Podemos encontrar plasticos en fragmentos o piezas completas de plasticos. Los clasificaremos de acuerdo a su tamano. color y posteriormente en el lab de la UOP los analizaremos para saber que tipo de plastico estamos encontrando. Asimismo, estamos tomando muestras de agua de mar y plasticos que nos encontremos. Este es el primer muestreo en agua de mar dentro del Gyro del Pacifico. La idea es poder contrastar la contaminacion encontrada en los plasticos con los resultados que encontremos en el agua de mar.

Todos los analisis analiticos los haremos en la Universidad del Pacifico , haremos extracciones e identificaciones y cuantificaciones, usando cromatografia de gases unidos a un espectrometro de masas.

PD.Este mensaje fue escrito sin acentos.