At WHOI; Grad Apps Done

Well, I've finished applying to grad school! Next up: summer internships, in case whatever program I go to doesn't/can't fund research for the summer. I'll get to that sometime (first deadline is Feb 1st, so I've got some time).

In other news, work at WHOI is going well. I am getting some pretty interesting results. Still not sure if diving data will be useful to scientists. The seasonal pattern is definitely there, and variance among dive computers is smaller than yearly variance of water temps, so that's good. Young-Oh says if you squint, you can see interannual variability; I don't know how you would quantify it well from what we've got, but I'm not the PI, after all.
Read on for some details on the research.

These are the best representations so far. The first is a controlled test to determine the accuracy of dive computers. We used a hobo temperature recorder, which measures every minute accurate to 0.2 degrees C and 7 dive computers, 4 of one model and 1 each of 3 others. The line is the hobo, and the points are the dive computers; there are often very few points because they line up on top of each other.

 The next graph shows all the data we have from one diver, temperature versus day of the year. He dove at least once a month for the past 12 years off of Cape Ann (MA), and also gave us the few Cape Ann dives from before then. This graph shows the seasonal variation in temperature; the greater spread in the summer is at least partially due to the greater number of summer dives. The line is a cosine for comparison, fit only by eye.

 This last graph is a subset of the above data containing the data from July, August, and September. It shows temperature versus year and is color-coded by depth. This is the best season to look at because storms, and so mixing, are less common, allowing for a more clear temperature-depth relation. This is the graph you could try to see inter-annual variability in; however, I think I will try coding by month to try to adjust the spread within each year.

Well, that's all for now, folks. If you're at WHOI and reading this, you can contact me by coming by my office, Clark309. Anyone else, feel free to ask questions in the comments. I'll post any conclusions we reach in the future.
Oh, and if you dive, and want to give us your data, go to www.divers4oceanography.org .