Geobulletin alpha

My undying gratitude 

I owe my entire experience to the co-Chief Scientists, Ian Hall and Sid Hemming.  Were it not for them demanding that an Education & Outreach Officer be included on the expedition, even though the ship was leaving in less than 3 weeks, I would not be here.  I also have to thank the Staff Scientist (our supreme leader!) Leah Levay for putting up with my learning curve.  Of cou read

Secrets of the sediment! 

One of our scientists aboard the ship, Thibaut Caley, is studying specifically the leakage of water from the Agulhas Current into the Atlantic Ocean.  For the most part, due to various interactions and physical conditions, the majority of the fast-paced, tropical water of the Agulhas gets retroflected back into the Indian Ocean when it gets to the southern tip of Africa.  But there's read

Sea Story #2 = The rescue 

This story comes from Kevin Greiger, the Operations Superintendent.  On transit after Expedition 312, January 2006, the ship was sailing from Panama to Galveston when it came across a homemade boat that had broken down three days earlier.  Twelve Cubans were onboard with no water left, and a storm on the way.  The JR rescued the 12 men, tried sinking their boat but it got stuck i read

Sea Story #1 = The suicidal marlin 

This is Edmund's sea story, promised to you 5 days ago.  On Expedition 340, around March 2012, the ship was sailing in the area of Southeast Asia, when they came across a pod of dolphins.  The pod consisted of parents and calves (baby dolphins, also called "pups").  A blue marlin was trying to get at one of the calves for its meal, but the larger dolphins were chasing it away.&nb read

Galley and Stewards 

Last, and perhaps most importantly, true happiness lies in a satisfied stomach.  Many people overlook the importance of the galley and steward staff on a ship, but let me tell you, they are key! read

It’s not all field work… 

We left Palmer yesterday morning, after picking up cargo and some passengers. We headed back up to Livingston Island, where there is a field camp at Cape Shirreff. We have to pick up some scientists who have been living and working there and take them back to Punta Arenas with us. Since the field camp is closing for the season, there was a lot of cargo to load onto the ship! We pitched in to help with the loading and unloading. There isn’t a pier at Cape Shirreff, so everything had to [...]

Sleeping, showering and working on the ship 

On Monday night, I slept for the first time on the ship while it was moving. Laying in my top bunk, swaying side to side, I could hear the water moving and waves hitting the side of the boat. The motion of the ship rocked me to sleep, but every so often the boat would rock further sideways, and I would have to brace myself so I wouldn’t fall out of the top bunk. I could also hear the CTD hitting the deck periodically while the night crew did their

Engineers, Electricians, & Mechanics 

The people responsible for keeping all the engines and mechanical equipment running on the ship are the engineers, electricians and mechanics.  There are 5 engines and two back up generators, as well as 13 thrusters used to keep the ship on location while drilling.  The ship also makes its own potable water supply - maximum capacity is up to 150 tons, or 37,500 gallons per day, though read

Trials & Tribulations of Coring the Agulhas Plateau 

Trying to drill sediment cores while the ship rides large ocean swells off the coast of Africa isn't easy, but it's paying off for science, writes Sidney

Electronics Workshop 

I love this crew!  There are just so many cool people on board.  One of the engineers, Clay, is offering an electronics workshop that will span the various transits.  By the end of the expedition, I will be able to build myself a countdown clock like the one they have on the ship - it counts down until Hump Day, and has a rotating switch to count down to the next BBQ.  I will b read

Under Way 

We are at sea!Yesterday, we stowed all of our gear on board our ship, the Laurence M. Gould (or LMG for short). This will be our home for the next month! Here is the LMG in port at Punta Arenas. You can see the crane towards the back working hard, unloading the gear from the previous research project and loading gear for ours:The LMG is named after Laurence McKinley Gould, an early polar scientist and geologist. He came to Antarctica on Admiral Byrd’s famous first expedition. He died in 1995 [...]

Get well soon, Margit 

We are all very sad - scientist Margit Simon has developed appendicitis and has to be medevac'd to a hospital in Port Elizabeth, S. Africa.  The ship is heading north until we get close enough to the shore for a helicopter to come pick her up.  We all wish her a speedy

Happy Birthday, Thiago! 

On the ship, all birthdays are always celebrated  with delicious cake (we have a frustrated pastry chef amidst our cooking staff, I'm sure of it!)  Today was the birthday of paleontologist Thiago Pereira dos Santos, from Brazil. read

Gearing Up for Our First Cores 

As they get to know their ship, the scientists aboard the Joides Resolution prepare to drill their first sediment cores along the Natal Valley off the coast of southern

Technical (human!) difficulties on Feb. 3 

Due to some technical (or more accurately, human) difficulties, I did not get a chance to post a blog piece yesterday, so here are two today.  First off, my new tag photo is me standing with "Safety Penguin". He gets put by the gangway when the ship is in port so that visitors get a safety talk before being allowed on board (he currently resides on the upper deck, by our satellite dome. read

Get ready... Get set... 

It’s almost time to start our next field season! Our field season begins when we fly south on February 18. That’s just a couple of weeks away!This year, we will complete our “latitudinal gradient” along the Antarctic Peninsula. For this project, we are exploring the diversity of soil biological communities along the entire Antarctic Peninsula. We will discover what species live in all of the places we visit. We will also compare who lives at each site with the plants and soil chemistry [...]

In Isolation, Community 

Being aboard a ship is isolating--but for a scientist, it's not

Elephant Island and the Ghost of Sir Ernest Shackleton 

As we made our way toward South Georgia Island, we stopped for a Zodiac cruise at well-known Elephant Island, made famous by Sir Ernest Shackleton, who was able to land 28 men after a harrowing winter on an ice floe (where his ship the Endurance was crushed by winter sea ice), and a dangerous crossing of broken floes and open water the following summer. I have been coming here for years and never tire of his story or the island.Elephant Island is really isolated. It is considered part of [...]

Halloween Night Onboard the JR: Comic by Jesus 

Freddy: Where are all the scientists? Jason: The ship has been abandoned, they've all escaped!! Freddy: Look on the bright side. At least we are cutting things into pieces. read

Exp359. JOIDES. 50 tons fresh water a day 

  Water is a crucial question  everywhere even on a ship !! aboard the water tanks hold 150 Tons ( 150000 L): that is to say 3 day supply ! So the ship has to produce fresh water very soon after the departure. The production is about 50 tons of fresh water a day; about 575 L /pers/day ( average consumption in USA : 400-500L /pers/day). read