At Mouth of Amazon River

River water as far as the eye can see.

We made it to the mouth of the river!  The water's brown, fresh and extremely shallow, yet we still can't even see land. The water's the color of coffee, and about as fresh.  Fishing boats are everywhere, so we know there's plenty of life in the water.

In most rivers, the salinity gradually drops within the estuary, inland from the ocean.  Due to the volume of freshwater flowing from the Amazon, the salinity in the remains near zero all the way out to the sea.  As this is the first time this project has come this close to the river, we're all excited for our sampling today.  Is this a riverine community?  How does the sediment differ here compared to the high salinity locations?  Is there any photosynthesis in this murky water?  Am I working as an oceanographer or limnologist?  Today, we'll find out all of this and more.

We've just arrived on station, so it's time for me to get to work.  So long!

Andrew