Cups for the kids!!!!!!!!!!!!

          So a fun activity often associated with Research cruises that use CTD's or other equipment capable reaching the deeper depths of the oceans is the shrinking of Styrofoam cups. ( A CTD is a combination of sensors attached to a winch and profiles the water column as it descends as well as collects water using niskin bottles at three specified depths. The CTD allows us to record the temperature, salinity, and a sensor which determines chl_a concentrations in the water, so we can determine the chl max and capture a sample of water at that depth. )  Nooooo, this is not magic but simple science, as the pressure increases with depth that pressure forces the air out of the spaces between the Styrofoam causing the cups to be crushed to about 1/8th of their original size.
            The routine sampling during SEAMAP cruises only requires sampling of the CTD down to depths of about 200 m which is not deep enough to shrink the cups to the full 1/8th of their size.  However this year we have added a few deep water CTD sampling stations in order to provide some scientists at RSMAS at the University of Miami a profile of the water column at certain points in the Caribbean. Given these sampling requirements Dr. John Lamkin the Chief Scientist for the cruise, has participated in a bit of science outreach with the Mrs. Leslie Lamkin's class at The Corporate Academy South Senior High School. Corporate Academy South is a school of choice for at risk low income students, with about 90 students and 7 teachers, located in Homestead, Florida. The The children of the class were provided with Styrofoam cups which they decorated and Dr. Lamkin then traveled with, to send down 2,000 meters on the CTD.... I gotta say I was pretty impressed with some of the artwork.

Full sized Styrofoam cups ready to be shrunk at depth

Cups before and after

          These cups are a fun and exciting way to hopefully link  to the exciting work we do out here in the gulf, hopefully helping to engage these high school students into a side of Marine research which they had not seen before. Also it got a lot of people on the ship interested in shrinking Styrofoam cups so after our port time in Grand Cayman a package of the 10 oz Styrofoam cups was picked up at the local grocery store Kirk's, and we found that a 500 meter CTD cast works just as well for shrinking the cups.
          Well it seemed like the cups we're such fun among the scientists and we hope among Mrs. Lamkin's class at Corporate Academy South, that if the opportunity for deeper CTD casts present themselves on future cruises, I'm sure we will repeat the exercise.
Keep posted
Sennai