Life Aboard Ship

August 18, 2013

Day 15, and only 4.5 more days until we get into port in Madeira, Portugal. As always, the days have sped past. The first 3-4 days tend to be the hardest as you adjust to your new schedule and getting your sea-legs. After that, one day, more or less, blends into the next - especially when you have a 05:00 start scheduled for the next day, as we do tomorrow. Some groups aboard are running their analytical systems 24-7, and so are doing shifts. For the trace metal four, life is a little different. With the exception of Joe Resing, who is analyzing dissolved Fe and Al, we are collecting samples for analysis in our home labs. We are collecting samples from approximately every 1^o of latitude, or every other station. This means that we don't have a regular schedule. Although we try to avoid doing our CTD casts in the middle of the night, sometimes, due to our arrival time on station, it is unavoidable. Our early start tomorrow will likely be followed by breakfast (07:00 - 08:00), and an nap!

Having said all days blend into each other, that is not entirely true. For example, Tuesday night is games night, and Saturday night is card night. I have yet to make either, due to schedule clashes, but card night in particular is the talk of the day on Sunday (i.e. today). It seems that the CO (Commanding Officer) cleaned up at poker last night!

Safety

Safety is taken very seriously on oceanic research cruises. On the Ron Brown, there is a safety drill at least once a week. Participation is mandatory. Last week there was a simulation of a fire in the laundry room; the result of 'someone putting their tennis shoes in a dryer.'  Smoke canisters were set off and the crew, some using Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA; like SCUBA, but without the 'Underwater' part) had to respond by isolating and extinguishing the 'fire.'  We also did an abandon ship drill.

This week, we did a full set of drills: 1) Fire; 2) Abandon ship; 3) Man overboard. Man overboard was the most exciting, with a full rescue simulated. Boatswain Bruce Cowden threw Oscar overboard (see pics). Oscar was equipped with not one, but three GoPro cameras to capture his dramatic rescue. The rescue boat was launched, and I can happily report that Oscar was successfully rescued and is recovering well from his ordeal.

Oscar
(photo: Rachel Shelley)

Oscar goes overboard!!
(photo: Bruce Cowden)

Onlookers include Boatswain Bruce, Engineer Megan, Captain Pickett, me (Rachel), and Christine.

Oscar's view of the Ron Brown - HELP!!!
(photo: Bruce Cowden)

Man overboard!!!
(photo: Rachel Shelley)

The rescue boat speeding to save Oscar!
(photo: Rachel Shelley)

Look at the color of that sea!! We are truly in blue water now. Primary production is low in this region of the North Atlantic. Major nutrients (nitrate and phosphate), as well as trace metal concentrations, are too low to support high biomass. As a result, visibility is excellent. At 28 m (84 ft) we can still clearly see our CTD rosette.





Oscar's rescue from his perspective
(photo: Bruce Cowden)

Junior Officer Jim Rosenberg, swims to Oscar's aid. Crew Mike, Megan and Nick watch from the rescue boat.

Oscar makes it safely back onto the Ron Brown
(photo: Rachel Shelley)

Clear water - the trace metal rosette at about 10 m.
(photo: Rachel Shelley)

Note that the bottles are all open. This indicates that the rosette is on the way down. We fire our bottles closed on the up-cast so that they are rinsed with seawater on the way down.

It's good to be the PI...

This is what post-docs in the Landing group are expected to do! This is a picture of me 'holding the umbrella' to keep Dr. Bill Landing shaded from the hot sun!
(photo: Bruce Cowden)