Ocean Interactions
Ocean and Atmosphere connecting Scientists, Teachers & Students

January 16, 2005 (Sunday)

Daily Journal Entries : Judy | Paquita

The Seward Johnson a.k.a. The Bucking Bronco! (Go Blue!)

Captain Ralph is a tall slim man with a short white beard and a calm nature. I liked him immediately. My first night on the ship was totally quiet because we were at port in Antigua (the night of the 15th). At 5 a.m. Captain Ralph fired up the engines and I knew we'd be leaving soon. I scrambled out of bed to sort through my bags and got ready for the day. I knew we were scheduled to leave at 6:30 and I didn't want to miss the moment when we left port. (Breakfast is also served at 6:30.) We began to slide out of port a little early, so I grabbed my camera and went to the main deck outside. The view was incredible. The sun was coming up and the waves began to rock our ship.

Seasickness
At the B-B-Q last night I tried to meet as many scientists as possible. As soon as people found out I was going to sea they would invariably ask "Have you ever been to sea before?" By the time the party ended probably 25 people gave advice. Once on board the ship this process started all over again. It was all good to hear though, because each person added a story or word of encouragement that showed they cared. Thanks all! Here is a synopsis of seasickness advice:

• Take motion sickness medicine on a regular basis. They have at least 3 different kinds on board.
• Eat! Even if it comes up! Nibble and sip, nibble and sip, to keep a full tummy.
• Watch the clouds, sky, or horizon while on deck. Don't fix your eyes on the waves. Watching steady things steadies the stomach.
• Lay flat. Being horizontal can really help overcome queasiness. Nap if you need to. (This is hard to do because there is A LOT of work to do for everyone on board.)

Big Waves & OPs
Wendy our cook said she's been on the Seward Johnson (S.J.) and the S.J. II for four years and she's never seen waves so big! Yesterday Pavlos Kollios (the lead scientist on the first leg from Ft. Pierce to Antigua) was the first to tell us at Ops that the swells were 10-15 ft. high. Ops stands for: "Operation Center" at the Antigua Computer Technology Center, or A.C.T. If I refer to either Ops or A.C.T. you should try to visualize a room large enough to fit 100 people, with wires, equipment, and laptops spread out over rows of tables. It's the think-tank where the weather briefings, flight plans, experiment planning, data analysis, and operations take place. Students can compare it to NASA's mission control. I was a little concerned when I heard about the size of the waves, but Pavlos explained that we would stay at Port in Antigua that night (1-15-05) because that way we would be anchored in calm waters.

The next days' plan was to travel from St. John to the western side of Barbuda. This western side is what they call the leeward side because the prevailing trade winds travel from the east to the west and the island blocks these winds. When the ship gets out away from land, it's unprotected by the land mass and then the waves get big. The biggest producer of waves is wind. When the Seward Johnson traveled from its home port in Ft. Pierce Florida, they encountered really big waves.

The S.J. has two engines and one of them broke down. The S.J. stopped in Puerto Rico for three days to fix the engine giving the crew and scientists a much needed break. After dinner tonight I was talking to Thymios Serpetzoglou and asked him to tell me about the winds and waves he experienced. He said that the wind speed was about 8-10 meters per second which produced 10-12 foot waves, and now the wind speed is about 5 meters per second and accompanies 4-5 foot waves so it's much calmer.

Thymios is a graduate student at the University of Miami. He studies Meteorology and belongs to the Radar Meteorology Group (UMRMG). Some of his fellow students and members of the group are: Ieng Jo and Virendra Ghate. Thymios, Ieng, and Virendra (We call him Vinny) are primarily responsible for the operation of the UM radars, the data collection, processing and archival. They also make sure the radiosondes (weather balloons) are launched and working properly.

When I was thinking about what instruments to bring on the trip. I thought about using an anemometer (but realized one would be on the ship). However, I had wondered how would I be able to tell the wind direction on a ship that is moving? How would the radar and the other instruments (which are pointed vertically, or other directions) be able to detect the clouds and its properties without being influenced by the ships motion on the sea? To answer these questions I first got a crash course in the principals of Doppler radar from Thymios (which I will write up in detail later) but here are some things to consider:

Ships move A LOT. It's even more complicated than I had imagined. I visualized the ship on a forward trajectory, or a forward path going straight ahead in the water. But there's more...

The ship also rolls, pitches, and heaves. The amazing thing is these guys have implemented a program which accounts for the ships movements. They are able to record data much more accurately using the programs they produced and are using on the ship! It's so new it hasn't got a name yet. I think they should call it the TIV.! But Thymios is a very humble guy, and he credits this program to Dr. Reginald Hill from ETL (Environmental Technology Lab of NOAA) and to Dr. Sara Tucker (also from ETL). Sara is also on the trip and she spent a lot of time explaining what lidar is, but that's another story! Dr. Hill did work on the theories and equations that correct all the instruments on the ship with regard to the ships motion. Sara created a computer program that converted the original files to one that is more user friendly.

On a personal note, these three guys are making this trip a lot of fun. They play cards, offer me M&M's, and joke around a lot. Before Pavlos left the ship he stamped Thymios with an ink stamper on the back of his arm. It's going to take him awhile to get rid of the mark "Harbor Branch Operations Institute". At first I thought it was a tattoo. He says "THANKS Pavlos!" (with friendly sarcasm of course). When we aren't working, the ship also has a library of DVDs and has a flat panel LCD TV!