This weekend was great! We went whale watching in Depoe Bay where a resident group of gray whales reside. Our tour guide, Carrie Newell is a retired researcher from OSU who has dedicated her life to researching gray whales. Another cool thing about our tour was her dog, who can smell whales and let us know when a whale was nearby by lifting up one ear.
He senses a whale!
I was dubious at first but I can say with conviction, that dog definitely has a unique talent for spotting whales. We saw three grays, one of which was sleeping! We cut the engine of our boat and floated nearby watching the sleeping whale bob up and down in the choppy waves.
The rest of the week was spent preparing for the Sea Grant Symposium presentation and poster session. It was a great opportunity to share my research with my fellow interns and other researchers at Hatfield. While preparing for the symposium I also found myself reflecting on how much I have learned this summer. After reading over 60 scientific papers related to ocean acidification I feel much more confident in my grasp of the subject. I also know that there are many gaps in the literature and the scientific community has a lot of work ahead of them if we are to fully understand how our changing oceans will affect marine life. I hope I am able to apply the knowledge I acquired this summer and contribute to this field in my future career, hopefully starting this fall when I will be doing my oceanography senior thesis.
Your answers to questions during the final symposium definitely reflected your firm grasp on the subject. I wonder if I could train my dog to spot ice cream trucks like that?
That dog is amazing! What a unique skill; he must have quite a bit of experience whale watching. I agree with Sarah about your presentation and answers to questions at the symposium. You clearly were knowledgeable about your topic and used impressive vocabulary to answer audience members.