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 R/V Roger Revelle en route to Station 134, southern Ninetyeast Ridge (Indian Ocean), Week 06. CLIVAR I5 Weekly Science Report 0627 April 2009R/V Roger Revelle from Jim Swift, SIO, Chief Scientist and Greg Johnson, NOAA/PMEL, Co-Chief Scientist 31.8°S, 89.0°E; 0600 Z (1200 local);19.7°C (67°F); Winds 07 knots from ENE; En route to station 134 We have enjoyed a productive week. We continue to methodically and carefully collect high-quality hydrographic data as we cross the Indian Ocean at an average speed of roughly 5 statute miles per hour (including stops for stations), a pace between a fast walk and a slow jog. We recently crossed over the Southeast Indian Ridge, worked near the southern limit of the Mid-Indian Ocean Basin, and are now sampling across the crest of the southern tip of the Ninetyeast Ridge. The U.S. CLIVAR/CO2 Repeat Hydrography Program has benefited from interagency, multi-institutional, and cross-disciplinary collaboration from its inception. Some of the ship time has been provided by NOAA on the NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown, and some by NSF on UNOLS ships, such as R/V Roger Revelle. The traditional close cooperation among NSF and NOAA funded partners on this very long single-leg cruise is particularly strong. As usual on these cruises, NOAA analysts are measuring dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), while university teams measure pH and total alkalinity. While NSF-funded SIO-ODF is taking the lead on CTD/O2, bottle salinity, bottle oxygen, and nutrients data collection and processing, NOAA personnel are assisting in each of those areas, allowing for methodological cross-training. Two NOAA CFC/SF6 analysts are working on NSF-funded equipment and with the able assistance of an NSF-funded graduate student. Finally, Jim Swift and Greg Johnson are the NSF-NOAA day-night chief-co-chief scientist tag-team using their complementary skills to lead the expedition. With the exception of a brush with the remnants of cyclone Jade earlier in the cruise, the weather on this cruise has been subtropically pleasant. The equipment is all working well, the science teams are doing great work, and the officers and crew of the R/V Roger Revelle are doing an exceptional job at running the ship and supporting the science. The cooks are doing a fantastic job. From the freshness, variety, and quality of the food, one would be hard pressed to guess that the last time they had the opportunity to lay in provisions was more than 5 weeks ago. All is well. |
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