Dr. Roberta Hamme was the latest UNBC NRESi (University of Northern British Columbia Natural Resource and Environmental Sciences Institute) presenter. She gave an interesting presentation on her current studies of ocean oxygen cycling and the comparisons between the two methods for making measurements. The old school method for analysing water content in the ocean, is to go out on a boat, gather water samples, preserve them, and then take them back to the lab for analysis through titration. The new methods for analysis, is to deploy a fleet of robotic water samplers that transmit signals back to the lab via satellite signals. Dr. Hamme suggests that both methods work in synergy with each other, and that one is not necessarily better than the other.

At some point in time I’ve heard” that only 10% of the worlds oceans have been explored”, and I imagine that within that percentage they were including the migration patterns and biodiversity of the ocean in their calculation. Having seen the incredible number of buoys deployed by the research group I wish I had asked what percentage oxygen cycling contributed. The grid pattern they had covered all but the icy seas, had hundreds of data points and I think that the oxygen concentration trends were very clear.

I was incredibly surprised to see that all of the oxygen intake for the ocean occurs in the Atlantic Ocean off the East coast of Canada, and that the oxygen diffuses through the worlds oceans from there. I didn’t understand enough on how this process occurs, but it has something to do a lot with ocean currents.

Overall the presentation seemed logical. I found the presentation a little drab to look at for a long period of time. The dark blue background was unappealing and in some cases figures appeared on multiple slides, in smaller frames, but I don’t think that the figures related to the information and caused some blurring between topics. I think with this reflection, I enjoy when the figures of one slide are placed in the smaller corners of the following slide to help indicate the connection, but won’t be throwing them in several slides later, even if they are relevant.

All and all I found that Dr. Hamme made a good case for keeping old methods for analysis even though new methods may be cheaper and easier.