No, this does not have anything to do with North Pond. But it is my youngest daughter's sixth birthday today -- a great day to celebrate, a great day to core! Here's to hoping everyone makes the best of it!...
February 2009 Archives
We have a ship full of sleep-deprived scientists who are very ready to get back to station, literally (we have been steaming back to North Pond at full speed from the rendezvous with the rescue helicopter). This morning's breakfast discussions...
We have been spending an inordinate amount of time poring over maps, trying to figure out how thick the sediments are, and how heat and sediment distributions are related, if they are. Why is this important? Basically, it is so...
The transfer of the ship's steward to a helicopter for safe transfer to a hospital went off without a hitch today. The entire operation only took about 6 minutes -- professionally executed and delivered -- truly impressive! Kudos to captain...
I've heard some reports of concern over the lack of a blog yesterday -- sorry! Read on and you will see -- a day was needed. Our first coring events went very well -- I'm posting some of the photos...
We are nearly midway through our first microbio sampling. It is a bit slow going, but we are improving our sampling routine with each core. The chemists were up until the wee hours, making direct in situ measurements and extracting...
We are over a major hurdle -- our first drill core up and in the cold room! As I write, the biogeochemists are making measurements in the cold room: oxygen profiles, and drawing off fluid samples -- like taking blood...
Okay, not really. Or eventually, but not on this cruise. What we are doing is technically CORING, because we are dealing with muds. And I will have very little to do with the deck operations except for running mud back...
Guest post by Jennifer Biddle, University of North Carolina We are nearly on station. We are about to core! Today we will do a gravity core, which means pushing a large tube topped with metal weights into the sediments. We...
Tomorrow we'll be coring our first station. I'm excited and anxious at the same time. Still so much to do! Today's factoid about our ship, the Merian: the dining hall is right at sea level. This means that when you...
Today, two firsts for me on the ship -- showering while the ship is under steam and doing laundry. Showering under steam I always find really challenging, and being here on the 3rd deck, particularly so -- just couldn't face...
Guest post by Jennifer Biddle, University of North Carolina I am sitting and working on my laptop in the chemistry lab, trying to finish up some computer work that I haven't been able to do at home. Currently, the ship...
After our last glimpse of land (above, the still-active fort in Martinique), a tumultuous first night on the high seas! One may think that being rocked back and forth all night should have similar effect on us as a...
As predicted yesterday, we launched promptly at 11:00 am this morning. As usual, most of the science party was on deck for our last glimpse of shore. So far so good -- we just had our boat and safety drills....
The strikes continue. But the good news is that as I write here on Monday, we are at the fueling station -- the government is fueling from emergency reserves and we are told we will indeed launch tomorrow. I cannot...
We are here in Martinique at last -- and have had a really busy day unpacking and setting up. We essentially bring portable laboratories and set them up in empty shells of rooms inside the ship. Oceanographers have to plan...
I am NOT writing from 35,000 ft. I am still enroute to our ship, the Merian... today was Miami -> Haiti -> Point a Pitre. And will hopefully finish with Point a Pitre -> Forte de France, but here we...
The AAAS meeting now behind me, I'm once again at 35,000 ft. and heading to Miami, where we will overnight before flying to Martinique and boarding the ship there. The meeting was surprisingly jam-packed with questions and ideas. AAAS attendees...
Though I will not step foot on the Merian until Saturday evening, the voyage to North Pond has begun for this scientist. I write from 35,000 ft in the air, en route to Chicago, Ill. and the American Association for...
The North Pond project involves a series of drilling and research expeditions to a deep-sea valley on the western flank of the mid-Atlantic ridge, at latitude 22 degrees North. The project leaders are Katrina Edwards (University of Southern California), Wolfgang...
What's it like to be on a ship in winter in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean? USC College geobiologist Katrina Edwards is about to find out, along with readers of this blog.Edwards and other marine scientists led by Heiner...