science at sea and life on a US Antarctic Program icebreaker (The
Nathanial B. Palmer) over the next 50 days at sea.
I am a graduate student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography studying
the role of the Southern Ocean heat budget in global climate with Dr.
Lynne Talley who is the Chief Scientist (the Science boss!) for this
research cruise. My role on the ship is as a CTD watchstander (you'll
find out more about my job and other people's jobs at sea later on).
Today we set5 sail from Hobart, Tasmania but many months of planning
and preparation have gone into getting us here on the ship today. The
process starts many months before the cruise, with planning coordinated
between the chief scientist and the US Antarctic Program and CLIVAR to
decide when and where the ship will sail and what science programs will
be on board. Next is figuring out who will sail on the ship and making
sure all of the scientists meet the US Antarctic Program physical
requirements. This involves a lot of medical and dental tests to ensure
that everyone is fit and healthy because working on rough seas can be
quite physically demanding and when the ship is out in the Southern
Ocean we will be a loooong way from any kind of emergency assistance.
Another aspect of the cruise that required a huge amount of planning is
coordination and shipping of all the scientific equipment to the port in
Hobart. Remember that when you are at sea and something breaks there is
no Walmart on the ship to go and pick up a new part. So we have to make
sure we have every piece of equipment we could possibly need and at
least one spare of everything in case something breaks.
All of the gear was shipped to Hobart and a few days before departure
the science team arrived to work with the crew to load all of the
equipment. This involved carrying a lot of heavy boxes and playing some
Tetris to figure out where everything would fit on the ship and setting
up lab spaces. We may encounter very rough seas in the Southern Ocean,
so everything has to be very carefully secured for when the ship starts
rolling. Unless of course you want a new laptop and camera, in which
case you can just leave them on a work bench and see what happens!
The last few days were also the last chance for the crew and the
science team to be on dry land for a while so everyone took advantage of
the opportunity to be off the ship and explore beautiful Hobart and its
surroundings (including some amazing Platypus sightings!).
The preparation for the cruise is the long and boring part. Now we are
finally at sea the fun and excitement begins!
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