Scientist Away at Sea

The past few days

2010-03-24T11:03:00.000-07:00

We have had a very busy and interesting few days on the JCR. We carried out a test station on Monday morning where we lowered the CTD (conductivity temperature depth) rosette to test if all the instruments attached to it were working correctly and so that we could test if the water bottles attached were working. The physics team are mainly interested in the equipment attached to the rosette while the chemistry team are mainly interested in the water that is collected in the bottles attached to the CTD structure. The chemistry team had a practice run of taking water samples and using these test samples to test the equipment they will use for on board analysis. Our team hit a couple of snags but we eventually managed to solve our problems and move on with sealing our samples and packing them away.

Later in the day the scientists had to attend a fire safety brief. This was no ordinary brief. One of the crew, Spencer, demonstrated what we should do with each type of fire extinguisher found on board the JCR and then each scientist also had to demonstrate the correct use of each fire extinguisher. After we had worked our way through each of the fire extinguishers and had extinguished a hundred or so imaginary fires on the back deck of the ship we all had to learn how to operate the fire hoses. This was very interesting and exciting as well. Working in pairs we were instructed in how to hold the fire hoses and how to support the lead fire fighter, how to turn on and off the hoses and how to create a fire wall and the best way to extinguish a fire. While the crew will deal with any fires, big or small on the ship sometimes they might need the help of the scientists. The scientist will not be asked to tackle any major fires inside the ship but we may be instructed to support the crew by spraying the outside of the ship with water to help keep the ship cool so the crew can get on with fighting the fire without getting dangerously hot.

If a fire does break out on the ship it is very important that we all work together. The ship is our life line as well as our home while we are working at sea. We are working very far away from land and in a very cold and inhospitable environment. If we must abandon the ship we have the life support (life boats, life rafts, life jackets and exposure suits, medical equipment, food and water) that we need to survive until some other ship can come and pick us up but this is really a last resort. Ultimately we are much better off if we stay safe and warm on the ship where we have plenty of supplies and shelter from the elements.

I am working along side an American scientist from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) named Brice. We are the Noble gases, tritium and C14 team. We will collect water from different depths from the outside rim of the Weddell gyre. We will not be carrying out any sample analysis on board the ship. We will pack up the samples we have collected to ship them home for analysis at the University of Manchester and in WHOI. In Montevideo we found out that the equipment from WHOI was never shipped to the JCR. This means that we only had half of the sampling equipment that we originally planned to have. Brice managed to get some more copper tubing and some of the chemicals that he requires in Montevideo before the ship left port. Many of the chemists on board have been very kind and have leant us sampling bottle and equipment. Today it looks like we will be able to collect all the samples that we originally planned to collect. There are still a few things that we need to do to ensure this but it seems possible at the moment.

Yesterday we stopped in the Falklands to collect an electrical engineer from the British Antarctic Survey. The weather was bright and sunny and the Falklands looked beautiful if a little barren. Sei whales, Peel’s dolphins and lots of penguins were spotted as we came closer to the islands and again upon our departure.
We are currently passing through Drake’s Passage. The weather is good and the swell is not so bad. To my knowledge no one has been seasick yet and everybody is working away trying to get everything ready for sampling in Thursday/Friday. Drake’s Passage is usually associated with really bad weather and it is a place where even the most experienced sailors get seasick. Hopefully the weather will stay this way but we will have to wait and see.

Once we start sampling the CTD we will be very busy but I will try to keep the blog up to date and explain a little more about what I am doing.

P.S. finding it difficult to upload pics at the moment, sorry. Will try again later.

Leaving Montevideo

2010-03-20T03:58:00.000-07:00

Internet access is pretty limited and so I am going to keep my posts short but hopefully at a two to three intervals during the week.

We arrived safely in Montevideo the capital city of Uruguay on Tuesday afternoon. We headed straight for the ship and got settled in. The crew have been very helpful and we managed to get all of our great out of the hold on Tuesday evening. I was waiting for a shipping container of equipment to arrive from NOC in Southampton for the last two days. Thankfully all of my equipment arrived today. I am however working with one other person and none of his equipment arrived in the container! We have managed to salvage part of the work he will carry out but we will miss out on half of one suite of samples we are going to collect. It is unfortunate that his equipment did not arrive but we have to go ahead as planned and begin the cruise.

We left Montevideo at 16:00 local time and are now seaming towards the Falklands where we have arranged to pick up one more member of the crew. Over the next couple of days we will not carry out any sampling but there is lots of work to do to get ready.

If you are interested there is a ship's blog run by some of the other scientists and you can find it here. This will focus a little on the day to day life at sea but mostly on the science.

The weather so far has been fine but we are heading towards rougher seas. The boat has a really nice up-down and side0-to-side motion so nobody is feeling ill so far.

Last day at work

2010-03-12T05:50:00.000-08:00

Today is my last day at work before I head away on Monday. There is not much to do now, just to pack my bag, dig out my passport and get ready to head for Heathrow on Monday.

The majority of equipment that I need for my work at sea was put on the RRS James Clarke Ross (JCR) when she was in the UK last September. One or two items that did not make it to the ship when she was docked in the UK were sent to Montevideo in Uruguay by sea freight, from the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton (NOCS), to meet the JCR when she arrives in Montevideo to pick up the scientists and crew.

Everything that I need to carry out my work on the ship has to be wrapped and packed in sturdy plastic crates to prevent damage. Myself and a colleague packed hundreds of glass sampling bottles, three hundred meters of copper tubing and all the tools and safety equipment that I will need for the six weeks I will spend on the ship.

When we arrive on at the ship my first job will be to track down all my boxes and check that I have everything I need. I am pretty sure everything will arrive safely but we shall have to wait and see.

Heading away to sea.

2010-03-09T03:44:00.000-08:00

I will be heading away on a scientific research cruise next week. I hope that I may be able to keep friends and family updated on my whereabouts and what I get upto in the course of my work at sea. Hopefully there will be pictures each day and a brief description of what has happened. I also hope that anyone interested in science-at-sea will find something of interest in this blog.

First I will travel to Montevideo, Uruguay in South America, by airplane, to board the Royal Research Ship (RRS) James Clarke Ross. Then we will travel across the waves to the Southern Ocean to the rim of the Weddell Sea where we will carry out our work. Once finished we will travel home via the Falkland Islands and an RAF flight back to the UK.

Fingers crossed for a good internet connection and a successful voyage. Enjoy!