Today we woke up in the middle of nowhere. No trace of life outside the boat, only some lonely fish and a bird (this needs to be confirmed). It is too hot outside to support human life.
For the Sunday feast we got croissants for breakfast, salmon and kangaroo steak with “vins fins” for lunch, and an outdoor welcome meeting in the evening on the working deck.
The captain and the chief officer gave us a tour of the ship. We learned that the ship very big and impressively clean everywhere. The ship is very silent, and special delayed ballast system makes the ship very stable. The tour also included a visit to the food storages, which are huge and contain supplies for about 6 months at sea.
Javier, the PI (chef de mission), gave an introduction to the study area. We learned that great talks sometimes require very small screens. After the meeting Cedric did a photo-shoot with all the scientific crew. The pictures can be found on the “crew” page of this blog.
The captain and the chief officer gave us a tour of the ship. We learned that the ship very big and impressively clean everywhere. The ship is very silent, and special delayed ballast system makes the ship very stable. The tour also included a visit to the food storages, which are huge and contain supplies for about 6 months at sea.
Javier, the PI (chef de mission), gave an introduction to the study area. We learned that great talks sometimes require very small screens. After the meeting Cedric did a photo-shoot with all the scientific crew. The pictures can be found on the “crew” page of this blog.
It has been a busy day. Even the numerical modelers had to get their hands dirty calibrating the magnetometer on the VICTOR (a big unmanned submarine that is guided from the ship). The magnetometer is a tiny device that measures the magnetic field of the Earth, which tells us about the nature, orientation and age of rocks on the seafloor. But it is also sensitive to electric currents on the submarine. Calibration ensures that these don’t mess with the data we are interested in.
The shifts have started, we have reached international waters and data collection has begun. So far the only instrument running is the multibeam. It collects bathymetry data, which allows us to make a map of the seafloor. We are in an area where the seafloor has only been mapped from satellite before, so mapping from the ship gives us maps with better resolution.
We are also training for the baby foot and ping pong tournaments. In the evening we gathered in the living room for card games, accompanied by live Irish folk music by Chris on the mandolin and Miguel on the guitar.
We are also training for the baby foot and ping pong tournaments. In the evening we gathered in the living room for card games, accompanied by live Irish folk music by Chris on the mandolin and Miguel on the guitar.