Ahoy, ahoy, greetings from the Armstrong!
We’re having a knot too shabby of a time up here in the sea-nic north.
(“You’ve yacht to be kidding, you’re anchor-rigible. These terrible puns are keeling me…”)
Last week was an exciting one. We’ve been going back and forth around and across the Atlantic Front Current doing repeat sections with the bow chain and underway CTD, as well as plenty of deep CTD casts. The cruise track so far can be found here (don’t worry, there is a method to the madness of our seemingly random crisscrossing).
Credit: Luc Rainville, APL
In particular we deployed a bunch of different types of gliders that have been collecting data on temperature and salinity as well as the microstructure and acoustical properties of the water. The majority of the gliders are subsurface, but we also have one Wave Glider that travels on the surface and can measure atmospheric and surface wave parameters too. However, they all require some form of piloting. Basically, we have to tell the glider where we want it to go but at the same time be careful so as not to exhaust the limited power and memory. Some of the piloting is done by the scientists onboard the Armstrong and some by other colleagues and collaborators across North America and Europe.
Sea Glider deployment.
Besides very serious science we did some other fun stuff last week.
First there was a quite realistic fire drill involving a smoke machine on full power and a ‘missing’ member of the science party, and then we got to try on the suits (boots, pants, jacket, gloves, face mask and air tank) used in case there is a fire onboard that needs to be put out. Definitely harder and heavier than you’d think!
Dr. Savage donning a fire suit.
Soon-to-be Dr. Ferris in a fire suit.
Then there was an emergency recovery mission. One of the SWIFT drifters we deployed earlier ended up getting a little bit too close to Jan Mayen for us to be able to recover it from the ship. Hence we launched the small boat and sent three people in red suits (Anna had to quickly change out of the fire proof one) to go pick it up from where it was hanging out near one of Jan Mayen’s glaciers.
The rescue team.
Small boat, big glacier.
R/V Neil Armstrong as seen from the water.
A SWIFT in front of Jan Mayen.
We’re happy to report that everybody survived the fake fire and that everyone made it back onboard the Armstrong safely, including the runaway drifter.
We’re keeping a close eye on the forecasts (obsessively updating windy.com, anyone?) and it seems like there is some more rough weather coming for us, this is the North Atlantic in September after all, thus there will be some more hiding behind Jan Mayen in the upcoming days. In addition to that, we also have not one, but two(!) birthdays in the science party to celebrate this week. Exciting times ahead!
Signing off with a picture of the clouds enveloping a snow-covered Mt Beerenberg on Jan Mayen and a final bad pun, promise (for today at least):
Q: What is a sailor’s favorite breakfast?
A: Boatmeal!
Text and photos by Kerstin Bergentz