Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

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11/24/03

Jeff H.

Final Message

We spent about 36 hours at anchor outside of Panama City, and this gave us all the opportunity to do some shopping, walk on dry land, and have a nice meal at a restaurant. I also got the chance to hang out with my friends in Panama, and I arrived back on the ship at 2:00pm Sunday.

At approximately 3:30pm, a canal pilot came on board, we pulled up the anchor, and began to move toward the first set of locks. By the time it was dark, we were finished with the Pacific-side locks and were in Gatun Lake. At about 3:00am, we completed the transit through the canal and began steaming toward Florida.

We'll take the same path back up toward the tip of Florida that we followed on the way down, except we will turn east then north along the Florida coast toward Charleston, South Carolina. Barring any difficult weather, we should arrive in Charleston sometime around noon Saturday, November 29th.

I've been spending the last few days pulling down all of our instruments and am beginning the process of cleaning them, boxing them up, and repairing any obvious problems. I will also spend some time archiving all of my programs and data on my computers. I will load all of our gear into a rented truck in Charleston, then I will drive that truck all the way back to Boulder Colorado. I should arrive in Boulder before December 6th.

This experience interacting with your classrooms has been a unique pleasure for me. I have to admit that I don't really know what the website looks like with all of our posted information, but I am anxious to take a look. I have learned alot in the process of interacting with you all, and I think I've gained some communication skills....it's been a long time since I had 8th grade science, for example..

I would like to thank all of you students for tuning in and for asking relevant and interesting questions. I look forward to visiting some of your classrooms. I also want to thank you teachers for adopting our tool for use in the learning process. I look forward to future interaction with you, and I would appreciate any feedback about our site, our process of interaction, and any comments you may have to help us to improve in the future.

Best wishes to all of you future earth scientists.

Warm regards,
Dr. Jeffrey Hare.

11/21/03

Jeff H.

Journal

Crossing the Line
On Wednesday, 7 scientists (including Brenda and I) and one member of the crew were summoned to the fo'c'sle (front deck) of the ship.

All of us were what are called 'Pollywogs', that is we had never gone through a Line Crossing Ceremony to become 'Shellbacks'. This is a process of initiation, and although I have crossed the equator many times (including once at the International Date Line) I had never received a 'Shellback' certificate. 'Davy Jones' appeared on Wednesday (actually, it was the Executive Officer, Commander Wade Blake, dressed up as Davy), and he proclaimed to the Captain that there were Pollywogs on board the ship and that that was an infringement of Neptune's Laws. We were then all doused with the ship's fire hose (salt water!).

We were all charged with numerous 'offenses', including 'talking back to the shellbacks' and 'wishing you were somewhere else'. This initiation ceremony originated in the Middle Ages, where hardened sailors would 'test' the novice crewmen to ensure that they were tough enough to endure the hardships of life at sea. The ceremony includes giving appeasent to Neptune, the God of the Sea. The next night, Thursday, we were told that we must dress up as women (Brenda dressed as a man) and were made to give a 'talent show'.

I read a poem that I had composed which included a few barbs and jabs at the crew. Everyone laughed and had a good time, but the Captain declared that we would not receive leniency.

The next morning, Friday, all of us Pollywogs had to serve breakfast to the crew, and then we were blindfolded and brought out to the fo'c'sle again. We were doused with water and walked back to the actual initiation ceremony. This included being standing before a 'Judge' (the Captain) and told that we were 'Guilty' (it didn't matter what you plead, you were guilty), we were made to sit in ice water, squirted with mayonaise and ketchup, made to kneel and fish out a sausage out of a questionable bowl, made to squirm through a canvas bag (into the 'Belly of the Beast', they called it). Finally, we were to kneel before King Neptune (the Bos'n, Bruce Cowden) and given a pardon (after he splatted a few eggs in our hair).

We were therein initiated into the brotherhood of Shellbacks, and all of the crew applauded our 'accomplishment'.

I don't need to tell you that we had to take long showers after the ceremony!.

"For you must know that any craft who'd fain
Cross the Great Sea Lord's Special Royal Domain,
Must pay tribute that King Neptune wishes,
And be received by mermaids, bears, and fishes.
We will see you on the morn,
And any who resist will wish he had not been born".
From the "Crossing the Line" ritual of the British Navy.

11/21/03

Announce-ment

LIVE. SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY. ONE NIGHT ONLY. SEE THE RONALD H BROWN TRANSIT THE PANAMA CANAL THIS SUNDAY ONLY. UPDATED TIMES TO BE POSTED AT A LATER DATE BUT KEEP THE EVENING CLEAR STARTING AROUND 7:00 PM EST LIVE AT WWW.PANCANAL.COM.

11/20/03

Brenda M.

Journal

The other day I was working out in the "House of Pain" when I noticed we were listing pretty heavily to port.....like we were making a sudden turn. Shortly there after, the engines groaned down and we slowed to a stop. Then the Captain announced over the intercom that the crew of the Ronald H. Brown were about to embark upon a mission to save a sea turtle that was caught in a piece of fishing net and long line. I ran out side to see the spectacle. Sure enough, there was the turtle swimming around in the piece of long line to which a float was attached.

I got invited to go out in the RHIB to play photographer (actually I just got invited, but then I had a camcorder thrust into my hands by a friend). We got lowered into the water and off we went.

The Chief Bosun was out with us and shouted out the plan - we were going to bring the turtle on board the RHIB to cut off the line. The warning was given that these things could snap off our fingers in one bite so beware....

We got up to where the turtle and the mess of line were and all of a sudden the turtle just swam away! Turned out she (it had a short tail which apparently makes it a female) was just hanging around the line and nibbling off the algae and such that was growing on the line. She swam around a little and then dove right under the boat..

It was a beautiful green turtle, about 15 inches in diameter. The water was incredibly clear and you could see her dive right down. There was a large school of smaller fish next the boat as well. We hauled aboard the mass of long line and float and made our way back to the ship. While it turns out the turtle was ok after all, it was nice to have a little excitement thrown into our long transit east!

11/19/03

Jeff H.

Journal

A few days ago, the ship's Chief Engineer, Mike Gowan, gave us a tour of the engine room. This is a photo of one of the six engines that the ship uses to generate electricity. That electricity is then used to drive the motors that spin the propellers, as well as provide all the lighting, air conditioning, water-making, etc. This engine has 16 cylinders, 2000 horsepower, and provides 1500 kilowatts of power. Although there are 6 of these engines, they don't all run at one time. A set of 3-4 of them are run for a day or so, and then a different set are used. This cycles through each engine, so that they share the load of making power for propulsion and all the other electrical needs. Mike also showed us the drive shafts (not shown) which are attached to the propellers. This equipment is very impressive and very powerful.

11/19/03

Jeff H.

Journal

Here are Second Engineer Jesse Duncan and Junior Engineer Gordie Gardipe playing drums and the hammer dulcimer, respectively. This is another example of how leisure time can be enjoyable for all of us.

11/17/03

Chris F.

Feature

This week we have a special feature from Chris Fairall. NOAA Climate Studies of Stratocumulus Clouds and Air-Sea Interaction in Subtropical Cloud Belts (PDF, ~1.4 MB).

We will also send radiosonde data (text document) to participating teachers with data that can be manipulated by students..

For you information cloud top at about 1800 hrs looks to be about 1.3 km (judging from the radar). Cloud base is about 1.1 km from the ceilometer. The inversion is at about 1.2 km (where the temperature increases rapidly and the RH drops). The radar should show cloud top at the inversion. It is a little hard to tell with the resolution of these plots. These are probably thin clouds, only a hundred meters thick.

11/15/03

Jeff H.

Journal

This is a photo of the hardest workers on the ship. These are the Stewards, who do all of the cooking on the Ron Brown. From left to right, Second Cook Karen Bailey, Second Assistant Joe Lefstein, and Chief Steward Richard Whitehead. These folks arise between 5:00AM and 5:30AM every morning to prepare breakfast and only get a few breaks from that moment until dinner is finished at 6:00PM. They cook, clean, wash dishes, and clean the mess deck each and every day. Most importantly, the food on the Ron Brown is excellent, and it is soley due to the work of this crew.

11/14/03

Jeff H.

Journal

Here is a profile of temperature measured from the sea surface up to above 25 kilometers. Here we can see a few important features....In the troposphere, temperature essentially decreases with height. However, at about 1.5 or 2 km, there is a temperature inversion. Below the inversion, we call it the "Boundary Layer". You can see that temperature decreases steadily until the Tropopause, which is the dividing line between the Troposphere and the Stratosphere. Over the Tropics, the Tropopause is above 15 km (about 17 km here). In the mid- latitudes (for example, the Continental U.S.), the tropopause is somewhat lower (perhaps 12 km). Also, the tropopause is even colder in the tropics....here it is less than -80C!! In the lower stratosphere (and we have data up to 25 km), the temperature warms again with height.

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11/13/03

Jeff H.

Journal

A WEAK EL NIÑO MAY BE PRESENT BY THE END OF THE MONTH.

11/13/03

Jeff H.

Journal

Every orchestra needs a conductor, and that analogy describes very well the role of a captain on a ship. This is the Captain of the Ronald H. Brown, John Wilder. Captain Wilder grew up in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and from his youth, has always had an interest in the sea and marine life. In college at the University of South Carolina, he received a degree in Marine Science (with special emphasis in math and physics), and decided to develop a career where he could study the ocean environment. Thereafter, he enlisted in the NOAA Corps of Commissioned Officers, which is a body devoted to the management of NOAA's fleet of scientific ships, aircraft, and navigational services..

For more than 27 years, Captain Wilder has committed himself to understanding the oceans and waterways (he has a Masters degree in Cartography and Hydrography). This has required alot of formal schooling and on-the-job training (ship handling, navigation, seamanship, radar, management). He's been the Captain on the Brown for one year, but he spent many years working on NOAA's hydrography survey vessels, which work in near-shore and coastal areas. He has enjoyed his experience on the Brown so far, as there is the opportunity to meet new people who are working on interesting projects. Also, he has the unique opportunity to visit new places around the world. For example, just in the past year, the ship has been to Iceland, Brazil, the Caribbean, Madeira, and has studied underwater volcanoes, sunken submarines, carbon dioxide chemistry and transport, etc.

Captain Wilder doesn't necessarily get involved in the steering of the ship or in the maintenance of the engines, but he must ensure that the ship has the personnel, expertise, and tools needed to perform. Captain Wilder feels that the role of the Ron Brown, which is the only deep ocean research vessel operated by NOAA, is to provide the best quality platform from which scientists are able to study the ocean environment.

In addition, Captain Wilder feels that it is important for the Ron Brown to provide the best possible service and safest platform for the scientists to work from. With the implications of possible global warming, he feels that the ship provides a vital function to understanding of our marine climate. The data gathered from the Ron Brown could potentially lead to a better understanding of climate change, and that is a function for which Captain Wilder is proud to be associated.

11/12/03

Jeff H.

Journal

OS Mike Conway and "Bill", the stowaway boobie. He (Bill, not Mike) transferred residence from one of the buoys onto the ship about 4 days ago. He's been riding with us since (usually on top of the crane, as shown), and we have no idea where he wants us to drop him off.

11/10/03

Brenda M.

Feature

The Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) Array.

11/9/03

Jeff H.

Journal

There are a number of fluxes which we care to measure over the sea. I'll give you a short definition of some of these:

1. Momentum Flux: The wind imparts some of its momentum to the ocean surface, and this momentum drives some of the currents and almost all of the waves on the sea surface.
2. Sensible Heat Flux: Any temperature difference between the air and sea surface drives a flux of heat between the two fluids. This works the same as the flux of heat from a cup of hot liquid to the surrounding air (the liquid cools, and the air warms).
3. Latent Heat Flux: Evaporating water from the surface changes phase (that is, the water goes from liquid to gas). When phase change occurs, energy is exchanged, and in this case the evaporation cools the surface of the sea. The gaseous water vapor transports that heat into the atmosphere. Many miles away, perhaps, the water vapor may condense out again into a cloud.
4. Gas Flux: Mass is also exchanged between the air and sea. For example, we have discussed the flux of carbon dioxide and dimethylsulfide.

In order to measure fluxes from a ship, it is necessary to very accurately measure the turbulent fluctuations of wind velocity, temperature, humidity, and gas. To do this, we employ an 'ultrasonic anemometer', which is basically a wind-measuring instrument that uses sound pulses (at ultrasonic frequencies) to make the measurement. To measure water vapor and gas, we use optical techniques, employing the principle of spectral absorption.

In this photo, you can see an instrument Jeff employs to measure the turbulent fluctuations of carbon dioxide and water vapor (the white instrument on the left) and an ultrasonic anemometer (the larger instrument on the right) to measure the turbulent fluctuations of the wind velocity. Because the ship moves (there are six 'degrees of freedom' of the ship motion: pitch, roll, heave, yaw, surge, and sway!), it is also necessary to very accurately measure the ship's motions to subtract out of the fine turbulence measurements.

11/8/03

Jeff H.

Journal

This photo shows the deployment of one of the TAO buoys. The buoy is fully assembled, craned over the side, and released just as it is lowered to the water surface. The ship slowly pulls away from the newly deployed buoy, and a few thousand feet of mooring line will go in next. The anchor drops in last.

11/8/03

Jeff H.

Journal

Although data collection has not stopped for us, the TAO buoy group has been taking a short break in their activity. For the past 3 days, we have been in transit from the 95 West longitudinal line of buoys toward the 110 West line. This transit also gives the Ron Brown deck crew a chance to clean the fantail from the previous deployments and recoveries (barnacles!). One benefit to all of us during the transit was a barbeque, held on the fantail. We had fish, burgers, hot dogs, baked beans, etc. Some of the scientists came up with a crude volleyball and a crude soccerball (a tee-shirt wrapped up with duct tape). In addition, a hacky-sack appeared, and we all sat under a nice tarp that the Bos'n had rigged up for the event. Today, we have arrived at the 110 West line (at 8 South), so the work on the buoys will begin anew. We will head North along this line for the next week.

11/6/03

Jeff H.

Journal

Here a mooring anchor, comprised of stacked railcar wheels, awaits deployment. This stack weighs about 5000 pounds.

11/6/03

Jeff H.

Journal

A few times each day, we use a psychrometer to calibrate our automated electronic instrumentation. Here, Jeff reads the psychrometer (wet bulb and dry bulb temperatures) and will record the information in the log book (out of the picture).

11/5/03

Jeff H.

Journal

The TAO buoys can sometimes be rather plain looking. On this buoy, Second Assistant Engineer Jesse Duncan used spray paint to create a blue marlin.
Photo by Brenda

11/4/03

Jeff H.

Journal

A large pod of pilot whales swam around us yesterday during buoy recovery and launch. There were at least 15 whales in the group and they swam fairly close to the ship. I finally managed to get a picture of a couple of them as they surfaced.

11/4/03

Jeff H.

Journal

This is a photo which demonstrates the significance difference in pressure which is exerted in the ocean depths.

The photo shows 2 rows of ice cream cups. One row shows regular size cups. The others are a set of cups that Brenda and I decorated for our 8 participating schools. These cups were attached to the rosette of bottles which was dropped down into the water to a depth of 3000 meters. That's a little less than 2 miles. The pressure at that depth, which is due to the weight of all the water above, has crushed the cups to 'miniaturize' them. The same principle of pressure applies to the atmosphere as well. The atmospheric pressure at the surface is due to the weight pressing down from all the molecules of air from the Earth's surface up to the top of the atmosphere. We will be sending the crushed cups to our participating schools so that you can see first-hand the effect.

11/3/03

Brenda M.

Journal

Yesterday was an exciting day. We reached the buoy at the equator about mid afternoon and since we were going to be there for a while, ENS Jeff Shoup decided to put one of the ship's kayaks in the water. I got to go with him. We lowered the kayak into the water and Jeff took a flying leap into the water himself. The current was so strong it took him several strokes to make it to the kayak. I decided not to be so crazy and went down the jacob's ladder to the kayak instead. We pushed away from the ship, and wow! what a feeling!! The size of the swell was much greater than it had appeared from the ship - had to have been around 4 feet, which may not sound like much, but it's pretty big when you are sitting right at the surface of the water! We paddled around the buoy and the ship a few times, and had mahi mahi pass close by, right underneath of us, along with some much larger fish that might have been marlin. It was a beautiful day to be out kayaking at the equator.
Here's Jeff (rear) and I (front) in the kayak, heading towards the buoy and the rib boat.

11/3/03

Jeff H.

Feature

Oxygen.

10/31/03

Jeff H.

Feature

Radar (RAdio Detecting And Ranging) .

10/30/03

Jeff H.

Journal

The reason we are out here is to tend to the TAO buoys which reside along the 95W and 110W longitude lines (see the TAO webpage for more info). There are temperature, salinity, and current measurements being made under the water, using sensors which are attached to the mooring line. These data are being logged by a computer inside the sensor housing. Also, sometimes the meteorological instruments get busted in a storm, and sometimes, because the fish congregate under the buoys, fishermen from Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, etc, tie lines to the buoys and inadvertantly break the meteorological instruments (they aren't supposed to tie their lines to the buoy, but they know that they can get away with it). The first task to be undertaken when we arrive at a buoy is to bring the entire assembly (float, instruments, mooring line, etc) on board the Brown.

Here is a photo showing this recovery operation. Shown here (L to R) are: the Field Operations Officer (FOO) Mike Hoshlyk, the Executive Officer (XO) Wade Blake, Bos'n Group Leader (BGL) Dave Owen, Chief Bos'n Bruce Cowden, NOAA PMEL Technician Mike Craig, Ordinary Seaman (OS) Chris Kaanaana, and Chief Scientist Ben Moore. As you can see from the photo, the buoys take a beating after one year in the open ocean. There is alot of bird 'guano' on all the surfaces. Also, after one year of being in the ocean, marine life takes hold underwater.

Here is a photo of a collection of barnacles (and algae too) one one of the instruments as it is being pulled out of the water.

10/30/03

Jeff H.

Journal

As Brenda mentioned, it is tough to get good photos of the marine life out here. However, we'll keep trying. Here is a shark (about 3.5 feet long) that Second Cook Karen Bailey hooked (we let him go).

10/30/03

Jeff H.

Journal

We have seen a fair amount of marine wildlife since we left Panama. We had a flock of brown Boobies follow us for a couple of days. They would soar around the bow of the ship until they spotted some flying fish. They would then dive down and chase after the fish until the fish went into the water and the boobies would dive into the water after them. It was pretty cool to watch them skim along the surface of the waves after the fish. Sometimes they would catch the fish in the air before they dove into the water. The flying fish are really cool. They will jump up out of the water and "fly" a long ways from the boat before diving back into the water. They just skim along the surface of the water, following the contours of the waves. They do actually have wings, and when they are spread, they look a lot like dragon flies, as on scientist on board says. Unfortunately, because they are so fast, it is really tough to take pictures of the flying fish. Sometimes they end up on the deck, so I have been told, so maybe we can get a picture then to send....

There have been a few groups of porpoises or dolphins swimming along the boat. none have actually swam with the bow yet, but it was really neat to see them jumping out of the water in such gracefully arcs. They would sometimes jump out of the water and turn over before they dove back into the water. A pair of pilot whales swam across our path one evening. Pilot whales are smaller whales and look similar to killer whales, but are all black. At one point while I was standing on deck, I spotted a very large fish jumping out of the water a little ways from the ship. It was either a marlin or a sailfish..

Last night we had the lights on all over the boat because a buoy was being brought on board and a CTD was also being performed. The light had attracted a school of squid to the side of the boat, and they were actually jumping up out of the water! They seemed to be after the flying fish, who were also jumping up and flying. One actually flew into the side of the boat. I've been told by the deck crew that the squid will sometimes jump high enough to end up on deck!!

10/28/03

Jeff H.

Journal

Here is a photo of Brenda with a prize size yellowfin tuna, caught on October 28th near the buoy at 10N.

10/28/03

Jeff H.

Journal

We have reached the first goal for the work on the NOAA Tropical-Ocean Atmosphere (TAO) buoys. As we approached our first buoy, the crew readied their fishing gear. After a only year in the water, an ecosystem develops under the buoys. Since these buoys are re-deployed every year, schools of tuna, shark, and other fish surround the area.
Here, Second Cook Karen Bailey, Deck Utilityman Reggie Williams, and Chris Kaanaana (and others) prepare to haul in tomorrow night's supper.

10/27/03

Jeff H.

Journal

Today, we are approaching the first buoy. We are prohibited from making measurements near the coast of Panama or Costa Rica (because we didn't ask for permission), so we have had to wait until today to take data. The photo shows Brenda, ready to release the first radiosonde of the cruise. A radiosonde is a device which measures temperature, pressure, and humidity in the atmosphere as it rises with the balloon. Brenda is holding the radiosonde in her right hand, and the balloon in her left. The name 'radio-sonde' is derived from 'sounding', which means 'to measure with height or depth' and 'radio' because the device has a little radio transmitter on it that sends the data back to us on the ship. We have a special radio receiver on the ship which is tuned to the correct radio wave frequency.

10/27/03

Brenda M.

Feature

Phytoplankton and the ocean carbon cycle.

10/26/03

Jeff H.

Announce-ment

Brenda Mulac flew to Panama City to get on the Ron Brown. Brenda is working on her PhD at the University of Colorado, and she is also working on this outreach project. Here she is on the water taxi.

10/26/03

Jeff H.

Feature

There are literally thousands of words which have derived from ships at sea. Part of the reason for the vast number of terms is the fact that being at sea is a very different environment than on land.

There are devices on the ships which have unique applications there, and therefore have unique names: bitt, binnacle, windlass, pintle, mizzen, lateen, lazaret, jib, hawse, halyard, gunwale, gaff, brow, flotsam, jetsam, fathom, fantail, dunnage, dittybag, davit, cofferdam, bulwark, bilge, ETC!

However, there are many objects or actions that have a name on land, but when used on ships, they have a different word applied for them.

Some examples of common nouns and verbs which have different words for usage on a ship:
to mop = swab
rope = line
rear = stern
front = bow
left (facing bow) = port
right (facing bow) = starboard
hospital = sick bay
dish sink = scullery
drinking fountain = scuttlebutt
window = porthole
dining room = mess
kitchen = galley
ceiling = overhead
to go = lay
restroom = head
food = chow
note = chit
bedroom = stateroom
jail = brig
lounge = wardroom

10/20/03

Jeff H.

Feature

DMS (Dimethylsulfide) Science.

10/18/03

Jeff H.

Journal

Today was Sunday, and I realize that I have missed the NFL games all day. Also, we aren't able to get scores from the games until tomorrow. There used to be a shortwave radio service (Armed Forces Radio and Television Service, or AFRTS) from which we could listen to sports and news. However, the military launched a satellite TV service a few years ago, so the shortwave radio signal has been shut down. The satellite receiver for the ships is very expensive (because it has to compensate for the movement of the ship), so this vessel does not have one. When I sailed on the NOAA Ship Ka'imimoana a year and a half ago, they had purchased one of the satellite receivers so they could watch TV. The weather has been very sunny and hot, and there aren't too many waves to speak of. So, it has been kind of nice. We are steaming south from Florida, heading for the Panama Canal. We should reach the start of the Canal in about 2 days, then we will drop anchor and await our turn to go through the locks. The process of crossing the Isthmus of Panama through the canal takes about 12 hours or so. Once we get to the Pacific side of the Canal, we will drop anchor again. Some scientists will get off the ship, and others will come onto the ship. We will use a small motor boat to transfer the personnel. My colleague and fellow Ocean Interactions cohort, Brenda Mulac, will get on the ship at that time. Tonight's movie: Bowling for Columbine.

10/18/03

Jeff H.

Journal

The ship left the Port of Pensacola at 4pm Friday. I managed to unpack all of my gear, make my bed, and stow away all my clothes and gear before the ship reached deeper water. If you leave your things lying around, the rolling of the ship will cause everything to fall onto the floor. Also, if you leave round objects (chapstick, batteries, etc) in the metal drawers, they will roll back-and-forth in the drawer and keep you awake all night.

At 5:00pm, we had dinner. Crab legs, rice, vegetables, potatoes, salad. After dinner, I went to my room to relax for a little while, and then there was a movie at 5:30....the movie was called 'A Guy Thing', and it was kind of funny. At 8:00, they had another movie in the lounge (Tomb Raider), but I didn't watch it. I spent some time talking with people and checking on my computer systems (at sea, you have plenty of time to check to be sure that your equipment is working, and our systems run 24 hours a day).

I went to my room at about 9:30pm, read for a little while, then fell asleep at about 10pm. I didn't sleep very well. The beds are kind of small (very narrow), and I tossed and turned. I woke up at about 7:00am, and went to breakfast. Right after that, I started to write this dialog.

On board the ship are 5 sets of scientific instrumentation:
1) The University of Colorado / NOAA Environmental Technology Lab turbulent flux measurement system
2) The University of Hawaii dimethylsulfide measurent system
3) The Princeton University oxygen measurement system
4) The NASA chlorophyll (satellite) validation system
5) The NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (Seattle, WA) buoy group. Over the next week, I will explain what each of these systems does.

10/17/03

Jeff H.

Journal

This morning, I woke up early in my hotel room in Pensacola Florida. I had to eat breakfast, pack up all of my belongs (a total of 3 bags), check out of the hotel and pay my bill, return a rented car, grab a cab back to the ship, get all of my bags onto the ship and into my room, check on my equipment and instruments, and prepare for departure at 10:00am.

When 10:00 arrived, we were told that there was a problem with a pump that is part of the ship's steering mechanism and that the ship will not depart until 4:00pm. Everyone was ready to go, but it sometimes happens that a vital part of the ship needs to be repaired. The Chief Engineer (Mike Gowan) told me that they had a spare pump ready to go, but our delay was due to the fact that the spare needed to be installed and thoroughly tested. We will not leave the pier without every system on the ship having been checked.

A few people have taken advantage of the opportunity of the delay in order to make a few phone calls, mail some last-minute letters, take a walk into town, etc. But, most people are staying close to the ship since we are ready to go. We have spent the last week preparing, installing, and testing our instruments.