Laulima A 'Ike Pono Internship: New Season, New Projects, New Faces

Our first week together included introductions, and a Saturday research day at Heʻeia Fishpond.


Becoming acquainted with Heʻeia Fishpond, and the fickle weather From left to right: Kinaʻu, Christian, Jacob, Jordan, Sherine, Danielle, Pua, Tiffany, Sherril. Pua and Sherril are difficult to see. Not pictured: Michelle.

Faces! From left to right: Laura, Michelle, Kinaʻu, Christian, Jacob, Jordan, Tiffany. Missing Pua and Sherine.

This season we will be working with Danielle and Sherril on their respective projects.


Danielle explains set-up and recording with the YSI

Danielle introduced us to the YSI, a very expensive device (parts of which can be submerged underwater, and parts that must never get wet) that typically has several probes designed to measure dissolved oxygen, pH, conductivity, and pressure.

We all give a go at handling the YSI. We practice taking surface and deep data.

Tiffany, show 'em how it's done

Surface data requires dipping roughly 1/3 of the sonde into water, and recording for 3 minutes. In the same spot we then take the deep data which requires lowering the sonde, slowly so as not to stir the sediment, until the sonde reaches the bottom, recording for 1.5 minutes. We record the start times for each.

Some of Danielle's background questions include:

What's in the water?
How'd it get there?
How does it affect water quality?

Specifically, Danielle is interested in the chemical exchange that is influenced by storm events.

We start our Saturday research day by collecting water samples.

A symphony of "bloop-bloop-bloop-bloop...bloop" as the interns practice filling their bottles to the utmost.

From left to right: Jacob, Pua, Sherine. Collecting ocean side samples.

We split into 3 groups, one to collect water samples along the ocean side of the pond wall, one to collect water samples within the pond, and one to start filtering samples.

Collecting water samples and YSI data

Water samples are taken at the surface or bottom of a water column, or both, depending on the site. Bottles must be rinsed out at each site prior to collection.

We reconvene and filter our samples ferociously. We learn that each drop of water sample is crucial, as we are using each set of water sample to run 4 filtration tasks.

We are introduced to our filtration rigs.

Christian, Michelle, and Kinaʻu explain the steps to filtering.

We filter for Total Suspended Solids, SEDEX and Nutrients, Alkaline Phosphates Activity, and Dissolved Organic Carbon on filtration rigs that are hooked up to vacuum pumps. Each type of filtration requires a specific filter.