Tag Archive for: dept-none-3

Next Tuesday, February 2, 2016, Dr. Steele, Dorothy, & I are presenting our research on plastics at the next Surfrider Foundation Ventura General Meeting. Our research pairs well with Surfrider’s “Rise Above Plastics” campaign and I am excited to share what we’ve been working on.

For having so much time off (over a month!) winter break sure did go by quickly. It was so nice spending time with family and friends and catching up on processing data for my capstone project. I have successfully finished weighing/measuring/recording/sorting/processing/whatever else needed to be done with all of the marine debris I collected for the fall mainland surveys. All winter break I’ve had about 18 trash bags in my house in the spare room, so I think my roommates are just as happy that I finished processing everything as I am.

Hopefully I can do this in the lab at school from now on. And now that that’s done with I can go out and collect some more in a few weeks after we get some more rain! Not going to lie, processing all the debris is a tedious process – but I am excited to see what happens after more surveys are done and the data is analyzed. The first week of school I plan on analyzing the data I have now to see if there are any trends with the types of debris according to location. Processing the trash I did notice some beaches had more of a certain type of debris than others, so it will be interesting to see what the numbers say. I also plan on finishing up looking for microfibers in the sand I collected during Week 1 as well.

School hasn’t even started yet but I am excited about starting my last semester and where things are going in terms of my marine debris project.

Here are some random photos highlighting my winter break.

Found this on Hollywood Beach, judging by the vintage packaging it looks like it could’ve been made in the 60s. Crazy how long plastic can last in the ocean.

Our long winter’s nap is over, and it’s time to get back in the classroom for the spring 2016 semester. Time to dust off those laptops and get writing again!

“Cat Nap” (CC BY 2.0) by  SanGatiche 

Getting together with my advisor and research partner about our research questions and the next few steps in our project. On the 20th Cause, Erika and Chris and the NOAA educational advisor about the limpid protocol so that we can teach our classes on it well.