Curation and Core Handling Lab Working Group Minutes

11/10/15

Present: Katerina Petronotis, Leah LeVay, Jason Sylvan, Algie Morgan, Phil Rumford, Hannah Kastor, Amy McWilliams, Bill Mills, David Houpt

Item 1: Update on the GCR renovations

Demolition is completed and the lab is empty. The emergency shower is gone, making more space. Wall construction is finished and utilities have been installed. New flooring has been delivered but still needs to be installed. The original deadline for completion was December 1, but it will likely be the end of December.

Item 2: Update on upcoming sample parties

Two are scheduled – 356 and 359. There is about a two-week lag after sample parties for checking samples, shipping, cleaning, etc. Finding sufficient space for racking and organizing the cores will be an issue. The 355 cores are currently here for XRF right now, Peter Clift will do color reflectance on them over Christmas break. Since the 355 cores will be here when the 356 cores arrive, we will have to rack 356 cores to make room. Kara wants to XRF 356 cores ASAP (ideally December 1). The GCR staff will need at least a week to sort and rack cores once they arrive to the GCR before the 356 cores can be XRF scanned. Two new student workers have been hired who will dedicated to wrapping and packing core. Two more will be hired in January to help out with the sample parties since student workers cannot work more than 20 hours per week. Hopefully we will have a new minibus by then.

·       X356: 30,000 samples are expected. PMAG will sample February 15-19. The sample party will be February 19-26. There are 25 people attending, who will be split into two shifts (08:00 – 14:00 and 14:00 – 20:00).

·       X359: Tentative date set for mid-April. 

Item 3: Alternative plastic tubes and scoops

Current tubes and scoops are priced at $0.25 each and made from virgin plastic that has no additives. $40,000 was spent on tubes and scoops this year to supply regular usage and the sample parties. Phil would like to investigate alternatives with same hardness and resilience but at a lower cost.

Action item 1: Phil will put together a proposal. 10cc tubes aren’t used as much as the other types.

Action item 2: Phil will send out a memo of current options for new materials.

Item 4: Additions to sample party template

Please see John’s emails and files in “attachments”.

Item 5: Consistency formatting of templates

Bill has found it difficult to track down samples that1 have been routed through multiple shipboard tests. Currently we can only assign one value (TEST) to a sample, but would like to associate multiple labs with an individual sample. Doing so would be easier to associate data with samples in the database. In the short term we can create defined, standardized templates for sample entry and upload. David suggested adding a field in Sample Master that routes samples between labs to make tracking the data easier.

Action Item: Bill would like to meet with the Chemistry Lab Working Group and the Curators to discuss how these templates can be more consistent and find a solution that standardizes the way they are used.

Item 6: New front end entry screen for catwalk samples

Bill would like to make a Core Entry interface to make all catwalk sample entries consistent and reduce error. Making individual apps (driller app, catwalk entry app, chemistry lab app, sample entry app, etc.) has been suggested.

Action Item: Look at Chris Bennite’s template and start investigating the Sample Master front end for a core entry app.

Outstanding issues from previous meetings

·       Data migration for legacy cores is currently on hold due to the prevalence of other projects.

·       The new parallel saws were supposed to be finished before expedition 359 but has been delayed. There will be one for the GCR and one for ship.

·       Katerina and Helen suggest American pmag cubes will be acceptable for the sample party. If the scientists insist on using Japanese pmag cubes, they should bring their own (to sample parties only, both are supplied on the ship). Phil will make the staff scientists and future science parties for upcoming sample parties aware of this. IODP cubes are already stocked at the GCR.

The Curation LWG site can be found at:

https://sites.google.com/a/scientific-ocean-drilling.org/lwg-curation/