Part Fifty-Nine

"I have pictures," said Peggy as she boarded the 5:20 a.m. ferry and joined her commuting comrades.

"I hope they're not too incriminating," said Luke, sitting between Florence and Paula.

"Are you kidding?" said Florence, nudging him. "Those are the best kind."

"Actually, they're from the little sailing trip that Raoul and I did on Sunday," said Peggy.

"Hmm, I'm picturing martinis and skimpy bathing suits in some little deserted cove; could be tabloid material," said Florence.

"Sorry to disappoint you. We went on a Salish Sea Expedition and collected scientific data."

"You know, I'm beginning to think you guys were made for each other," said Florence.

Peggy looked at her with surprise. She always says exactly what's on my mind, thought Peggy.

"I heard those Salish tours were very interesting," said Kelly. "They conduct science expeditions for lots of school groups."

"Exactly," said Peggy. "Here's some of the equipment we used. This is the dissolved oxygen tester."



"We took readings at several depths to measure dissolved oxygen in the water," said Peggy.



"Is it supposed to be high or low?" asked Paula.

"It can be harmful either way, but in most cases we worry about there being not enough oxygen to support marine life. On Sunday we measured just over 6 milligrams per liter. Below 5 is undesirable, and below 3 is essentially dead water." said Peggy.

"We also dragged nets for capturing plankton," said Peggy.



"I'm afraid to ask what you had for lunch," said Florence.

"Copepods and dynoflagellates," said Peggy with a laugh. "I was amazed at the diversity of sea life in the water. When you look at it under a microscope or in a jar you see that the water is teeming with activity."

"I get the picture, but did you do any actual sailing?" asked Florence.

"Yes. We had plenty of help from youngsters on board," said Peggy.



"They raised the sails and got us under wind power, at least for a while."



Peggy passed the pictures around and then poured herself some tea.

Florence looked closely at the pictures. "Peggy, you didn't tell me about the bearded, outdoor science guys with that stereotypical rugged handsome look. Where do I sign up?"

"Don't waste your time," said Peggy. "All they do is travel around and interview plankton."

Kelly said, "I was wondering, did your group measure water temperature?"

Peggy looked at him. "Yes, as well as salinity and clarity. As a matter of fact, water temperature was my main interest. You see, on my new project at work I'm going to be concerned with changes in the ocean water temperature. I need to learn more about how the data is collected."

Kelly snapped his fingers. "I was just reading about that. A lot of scientists believe that higher ocean temperatures are causing more intense hurricanes in the South Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico."

"Yes. And it's very timely that you should say that because Hurricane Rita has just been upgraded to a Category 4 storm, and this is only a few weeks after Katrina. In the opinion of many experts this is no accident of nature."

Kelly shook his head. "What is really sad is that, at the same time, the current administration routinely rejects scientific advice that it doesn't want to hear. I heard an interview with an author who just wrote a book on that very subject."

"It's scary," said Peggy. "But we're going to approach it by going public with good data that's hard to refute. If enough people make noise, things will happen."

"That's the spirit," said Paula.

But Florence looked at her with a shrewd expression. "Sounds to me like you ought to team with a good lawyer."

Peggy blushed. "It so happens that I know a good lawyer."