Abstract
For my MPS internship project, I worked for the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), in the Physical Marine Laboratory, as a lab assistant for Andrew Dickson. I processed water samples to determine pH levels at various depths collected from hundreds of sampling locations along the 30˚ North parallel line, for three months aboard the R/V Roger Revelle, between April 22nd and July 18, 2022, as part of the GO-SHIP PO2 research cruise from Guam to San Diego. Part of my project is to learn how scientific data is collected from the oceans. I expect to gain knowledge of how the processes are executed, from beginning to end, to provide pH levels that are publicly available to be used by scientists and others. In performing my internship duties I will be taught, with hands-on experience, how to collect, handle, process, and enter results into a database. I will also expect to understand what at sea life is for a scientist, and how to manage routines which will include working 12-hour daily shifts for several weeks at a time. Another part of my project is to understand all the preparation that is needed to participate in a research cruise, what it takes to complete the work of a lab assistant until the collected data can be made available, and write a guidebook for anyone who will intern as a research vessel lab assistant