I am back from my excellent field trip to Iceland. Thanks to the GUF, I was able to research not only what my supervisor at the NIOZ was planning to do, but I could fulfill an idea for a sampling trip to Northern Iceland. There, a very shallow hydrothermal vent field is located. My supervisor and I were able to scuba dive to the vent and sample copepods directly at the hot vent fluid. This required not only a rental car and equipment, but also an extra orientation dive to get used to dry suit diving. In addition, I was able to design my own underwater sampling gear and execute the sampling during the dive. This was an amazing experience! On the way to the dive site, I even saw a humpback whale. This was all made possible by this fund.

In addition, my supervisor and I used the road trip to northern Iceland to sample copepods along the coast and we were able to get great samples from a multitude of different locations. Most of the time in Iceland was spent at a marine science center in south eastern Iceland, where we were able to stay and use lab facilities. I learned a lot about the local flora and fauna in Iceland. In addition to the sampling, I was able to help with a project on cataloguing the local fauna by taking pictures of the specimens we collected. Since I am fascinated by photography, this was a great opportunity as well. We collaborated with an Icelandic researcher who was able to give us tips on good sampling locations.

I look forward to presenting about this project at conferences in the future and am already registered to present posters at Icymare in Bremen and at the European Marine Biology Symposium in Dublin. For these occasions, I am working on a movie to show interested scientists the wonders of the underwater world in Iceland, as very little is known about this and especially about the hydrothermal vent field.

Thank you very much for providing me with the fund to cover the expenses for this amazing opportunity.

Best wishes, Eva Paulus