First sorry for the lack of posts while we have been here, the internet has been very crappy.... which is not that bad, makes you disconnect from the world for a little bit.
So.... to update everyone, Monday night was the Super Blood Wolf Moon - Lunar eclipse. If you watched the video I posted earlier, you will note that the organisms we are watching/researching are photosensitive in that they don't start their luminescent signals until it is pretty dark. In the past research had indicated it was tied to the moon cycle in that they always started their signals the night after the full moon and did not signal on the night of the full moon... no evidence to the contrary.... so Monday night was a unique opportunity to investigate whether it was the full moon and the light that it provided, or if it was just the lunar cycle and these organisms were following some internal signal.
So a group of hearty scientists lead by Gretchen braved the very windy and very choppy seas and went out to gather data about the ostracods and their response to the eclipse, while others were stationed at the research station to observe and take video of the full moon eclipse.
.... we found an answer of sorts, but I will let you read the paper when it comes out.......SPOILER ALERT.... displays did happen.... but there is a catch.
Tuesday night was the first night we all went out to just observe the ostracod displays..... There are no words..... it was awe inspiring, beautiful and utterly without compare. I can describe it here (and I will), but I assure you it won't do it justice.
Imagine you are suspended in a dark room where you can barely make out your surroundings. Got it? First there are these little flashes of bright blue light. They last about ½ of a second maybe less. This is happening on the floor around you. Then you catch a little pulse out of the corner of your eye that lasts a little longer, but you aren't quite sure that it was real. You look over toward what appears to be a rock pile and low and behold there are these.... for lack of a better term.... fans of light pulses radiating off the rock pile... in wave after wave after wave... little dots of blue light that last about a second. And then the upward dots start in the middle of the waves of stars. This continues for about an hour and you can't even describe the awe you feel. I'm not going to lie it was an emotional experience for me.
Waiting for six years to experience this, hearing it described by students and colleagues alike, and always wanting to come see it... it was an eye opening experience for sure!
this is a picture of the 3 species of Ostracods that create all that light!