Returning to Palmyra Atoll
I have been invited back to Palmyra Atoll to continue on the project I started last summer. This year we will be retrieving the 180 settlement tiles we installed last summer to bring back to the lab. There we will photograph them before counting, measuring, and mapping the coral recruits. Once we are done, the tiles will be return to their original location to allow them to sit for a second year before they will be retrieved for a second time in the summer of 2015..
newly installed caged and uncaged tiles / photo by Joe Wible
tiles after almost one year / photo by Franziska Elmer
Last year I was the “senior” member of the team which was being lead by Doug McCauley who has spent numerous summers on Palmyra for his Ph.D. research. This year Doug is not able to go — new job, new wife, new baby. Instead, he has appointed me lead scientist as I am now not just the most “senior” member of the team, but also the most “experienced”.
I leave on June 17 and will be on Palmyra for 3 weeks. Don Kohrs and Vicki Pearse will keep the Miller Library running while I am gone. Despite being in one of the most remote places on earth, there is WiFi. I hope to be able to check my email once a day in the evening. Note that the Miller Library will suspend its participation in the Z39.50 until I return.
If you are interested in knowing more about the trip, I have already resurrected my blog that I suspended last fall.
There are already a few new blog posts. Â Once I am on island, the postings will be more frequent.
Joe Wible, Hopkins Marine Station
