Day 16 Wednesday October 12, 2011 00:38 GMT

We've had quite a few days.  Things are not looking so good right now.  We've had even more winch problems which has slowed us down considerably.

The debate now is which stations will need to be cut in order to maintain our time table of getting into Rio, and to maintain the integrity of the cruise.  There comes a point when so many stations must be cut that the data gathered isn't representative of the overall line that is being measured and the option is to end the cruise.
We are all hopeful that this does not happen and that we can continue on even if it means with fewer stations to sample.

The weather has been holding fairly well.  It is not perfect and sunny anymore but at least we are not combating storms as well.

Morale on the ship is ok.  Many of the scientists are just bearing with the setbacks and hoping for the best.


Thats all for now,
-Elizabeth

Our current position is:
30 0.00'  S    and    11 6.70'  W

Day 13 Sunday October 9, 2011 13:13 GMT

Today was a bit rougher weather-wise than we have had in previous days.  We had our first storm cross over us. 

Work is still going well, though we have slowed down due to continuing winch problems.  Hopefully our capable mechanics will get us up and running again without too much delay.

There was an important point I had forgotten to include in the last post about the importance of O2 sampling.  There is a certain ratio of Carbon to other essential chemicals such as Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Oxygen that occurs naturally.  By taking measurements of O2, and nutrients (will be discussed in a future post) as well as other chemicals, a total Carbon budget can be estimated.  This Carbon budget can then be subtracted from the level of Carbon sampled to see how much excess CO2 is being absorbed by the oceans.

 Each day is progressing rapidly and even with the delays there is more than enough work to go around.  We are on Station 46 at this point, only 78 more to go.

If you want to leave a comment or question feel free by clicking on the blue comments link found below this post.  It will open a new screen for you to write what's on your mind.

Thanks for reading!
-Elizabeth

Our current location is:
29 59.96' S   and   5 57.51' W

Below are a couple pictures of: a) Sunrise pre-storm, b) Choppy water and blue skies after the storm

Day 11 Friday October 7, 2011 11:29 GMT

What started out as a grayish, slightly rocky day has turned into yet another sunny, pretty day. 

The work on board has been going well.  We had enough time yesterday to do an independent cast for a student sampling for black carbon, which requires an enormous amount of water, as well as having enough time for the crew to do dive checks of the ship.  The pH group has also gotten their equipment back online (fingers crossed it stays that way for them) after several days of uncertainty.

Yesterday a brief description was given of one of the working science groups on board.  Continuing on that trend, our second set of sampling is Oxygen.  The O2 group samples for several reasons on this cruise.  The CTD that we deploy has O2 sensors on it (primary and secondary), these measure the O2 levels using a membrane that given time and circumstance can 'gum up' and go off calibration.  To prevent inaccurate data from being given to the scientists using the data collected on this cruise, sampled O2 is used like a finger print to check the accuracy of the CTD O2 sensor.  Another purpose for O2 sampling is that oxygen is another type of water mass tracer much like salinity and temperature.  Unique ocean processes and features can be identified and tracked using water mass tracers.  The other reason for this gathering of data is for biological research.  Hypoxic (little to no usable oxygen) regions are of great interest to biologists studying the diversity in the world's oceans.

We will also be releasing GDP drifter number 5 and Argo float number 4 today.

Hope you enjoyed reading.
-Elizabeth

Our current location here at Station 38 is:
30 0.01 S   and  3 21.51 W

Below are several photos of: a)Bringing the CTD back on board after a long cast, b) Another view of that amazing sunrise, c) The CTD at 10 metres under the surface from above.

Day 10 Thursday October 6, 2011 11:47 GMT

Today has been another beautiful day on the water.  The ocean is truly like glass, and if not for the chilly temperatures (around 54 degrees F) would be amazing to jump into.  The sunrise this morning was the most spectacular that I think I have ever seen.

We are progressing well, we are at Station 35 right now.  Only 89 more stations before Rio!

There are 13 different groups sampling from the Niskin bottles (big grey tubes) attached to the rosette.  Each group is sampling for particular elements in order to determine variability in and structure of the oceans.

The first of these groups (not in particular order) is the CFC (Chlorofluorocarbon) group.  The measurements of CFCs and other 'tracers' (measurable and traceable chemicals in the ocean) such as sulfur hexafluoride help to document several ocean processes.  Through cruises like this one where deep casts are made and water samples are collected at different depths we get an idea of the invasion of CFCs into the deep waters of the ocean.  This is important because it gives us an idea of a time frame of  uptake in the oceans for uptake for other gases such as CO2 (carbon dioxide).  It also allows us to form a better picture of ocean circulation, by tracking the elements we track the flows.
For more information with better explanations, visit the PMEL CFC Tracer Program website at :http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/cfc/review/index.html.

Thanks for reading!
-Elizabeth

If you are tracking our progress we are now on the western side of the Prime Meridian at:
29  59.99 S   and    1 37.98 W

Below are some photos of: a) Sunrise this morning beginning, b) Sunrise this morning ending, c) Part of the CFC lab

Day 9 Wednesday October 5, 2011 02:14 GMT

The last day has been quite busy for us aboard the Brown.  We are just about finished with our stations across the Walvis Ridge, a unique topographical feature in the South Atlantic.  Due to its importance our stations were much closer together, and due to a ridge actually being an underwater range of mountains, they were much more shallow than normal.  This led to a rather large amount of work that needed to be done in a short amount of time.  There were times when as soon as sampling ended the rosette was going back into the water.

Now that things are starting to return back to our normal pace, the different science groups will have a little more time to process and prepare for the next station.

We also deployed GDP drifter number 3 and Argo float number 2.  Pictures were taken of these deployments so you can see how large the Argo floats are.

Since the sun isn't yet up for today, there isn't much of a weather report.  Yesterday was gray and overcast in the morning but the sun eventually made its way out.

Our progress is going well, we are almost at the Prime Meridian! 

Comments are now activated for the blog, so if you have any questions, scientific or otherwise, or any words of wisdom feel free to post. 

Thanks for reading!
-Elizabeth

If you are tracking our progress we are now at:
29 35.98 S   and   1 41.52 E

Below are some photos of:  a)Deploying a drifter, b) Preparing to deploy an Argo float, c) A cloudy sunrise, d) A nice picture of sunset in Cape Town

Day 7 Monday October 3, 2011 12:43 GMT

Another beautiful, sunny, blue, calm day out on the water.  This is the third day that whales have been spotted from the ship as well.  The novelty of it hasn't worn off and I hope that it doesn't.

There has been a cold that's making its way around the ship, so some of us are feeling a bit under this beautiful weather.  That hasn't held us back from making progress on our voyage.  We released another GDP drifter and also released our first Argo float.

Argo is a broad-scale, global array of profiling floats that measure temperature and salinity.  These floats are battery powered and are made to drift around the oceans at specified depths.  Usually every 10 days they pop up to the surface to take more measurements and relay their data and position to satellites.
For more information about the Argo program and the floats go to:
http://www.argo.ucsd.edu/About_Argo.html

We also had our first time change of the cruise, we are now 5 hours ahead of EST instead of 6!  Plus our first set of cups were fantastic.  We will be sending down several bags more through this cruise and hopefully will have quite a collection to bring home with us.

Thanks for reading!
-Elizabeth

If you are tracking our progress we are now located at:
29 44.99'S  and  4 25.49'E

Below are some photos of; a)our beautiful, calm seas, b) An Argo float being deployed, c) The cycle of an Argo float and d) Leaving Cape Town, the first go-around.

Day 6 Sunday October 2, 2011 11:44 GMT

Things have been running fairly smoothly over the last few days.  We were able to get slightly ahead of schedule even after some delays due to winch issues.  The weather has been beautiful.  Clear blue skies and calm seas.  We are hoping that they stay with us for the duration.

Hoping to add to our burgeoning good luck, over the last two days whales have been sighted from the ship fairly close.  If nothing else it has definitely lifted the spirits of those who can go take a look.

Yesterday we also deployed our first drifter (a buoy that measures temperature and other properties), and plan to deploy several more throughout the cruise.  These drifters are part of the Global Drifter Program (GDP) through AOML NOAA.  To learn more about this cool program check out the extremely informative website : http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/dac/gdp_drifter.php .

Some of us are in the process of decorating styrofoam cups that will eventually be sent down with the rosette.  The immense pressure that will be exerted will shrink the cups.  So when the package comes back to the surface we will have mini cups.

Below are some photos of the whales, a GDP drifter, and an example of the cups.

Thanks for reading!
-Elizabeth

If you are tracking our cruise's progress we are currently at:
29  45.00' S   and   6  9.00' E