Month: April 2024

Time has been slipping through my fingers like so many grains of sand, especially on this cruise. And just like that, the penultimate dive day is upon us all. There are no words to encapsulate the experience of working on the Alvin Ops team and with the amazing scientists and boat crew! I will have the whole of transit to get used to the idea of leaving, but I definitely am already a lil misty just thinkin about it.

We have been in the Sea of Cortez since the end of March. The science mainly involves the utilization of mud cores and water samplers (niskin bottles or brine bottles). The weather is extremely calm out here, as if we were on a lake. The coast is aligned along one horizon typically on the port side of the ship, and all that can be seen is a silhouette of mountain ranges. There is not much to add from the day to day that differs from my previous posts, so I intend to offer some advice to any potential MATE interns. Network, network, network. Talk to everyone, and pick their brains. Time tends to fly at sea, at least for me. There are some incredible people that work on board UNOLS vessels, and they are all very personable and willing to chat. If you are interested in the science, the scientists are always excited to share their work and talk about their research. Squeeze every ounce out of the MATE internship, because it will get you some very valuable connections, skills, and experience. When it comes to working on board be that person that is always willing to help. If you are left without a task don’t pull out your phone. Start cleaning, organizing, scrub every inch of a space if it keeps you busy. Be enthusiastic and positive, I promise that it won’t go unnoticed. When you are spending an extended period of time on board a ship the world shrinks to the size of the ship, and that means that you stand out more easily. In the good and the bad. A good mood goes a long way as well as a good work ethic.

“Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor motion;

As idle as a painted ship

Upon a painted ocean.”

    – The Rime of The Ancient Mariner

It is a good thing this version of the R/V Atlantis isn’t a sailboat. With land in sight and the sea of Cortez, we are diving Alvin in an extremely flat sea, which is extremely beautiful. The reality below the surface is less tranquil, with exciting evidence of recent destructive seismic events. It was very cool to hear the accounts of this exciting development immediately upon recovery of Alvin and see the videos of this dynamic area of the ocean floor in the science meeting later tonight. The kind of research communities present on research vessels is unparalleled and a joy to be a part of.

We are back into the routine – and I could not be happier! The ritual of preparing the sub for launch before the sun comes up – and recovering it before dinner is an incredibly rewarding way to structure the day on a ship. The Alvin team is singularly lucky in that the entire team is awake and working during the same periods, as opposed to having different watches. On top of that, only diving during daylight hours allows us to have a relatively normal schedule. The Joye cruise is a very interesting mix of science and promises to be exciting and educational.
 

Many days have passed since the last blog post, but less sea time than expected. The inevitable logistical challenges of conducting international research had us awaiting visas in port for an extra week, which was terminated by a last-minute scramble to LA and back to be processed and issued documents. So turn the halting gears of diplomacy. Once we were on the water, we were doing anything but halting as we booked it to the sea of Cortez, tossing and turning and ultimately cutting our transit time in half. Luckily, there are no speed traps in da sea. One happy consequence of the delay in transit is that we were closer to the path of the eclipse than we intended to be, so while we did not see totality we did see some-taility. Luckily, many forward-thinking scientists have obtained eclipse glasses. It was a cool way to spend the last day before dives!