Week 1 of my MATE internship down and I’m eager to get back out into the Gulf. The Pelican is currently being chartered by the Naval Research Labratory, (NRL) who are conducting research to test the accuracy of Satelite monitering. Our four stations are layed out in a box pattern in the upper, Northern part of the Gulf of Mexico. At each station, a mooring and a string mooring is deployed to moniter conductivity, temperature, oxygen content, chlorophyll content etc. along the entire water column. In the center of the box, what we call “C1” is a wirewalker and another mooring. The wirewalker uses wave generated power to slide down a cable, taking samples of the water column. We’ve also deployed a scanfish takes transect measurements as we circle the entire box. Unfortunately, there’s a tropical depression forming off the Gulf, which has brought swells of 5-6 feet, which hinders the deployments the scientists can do. So for now, we are back in Chauvin, Louisiana waiting out the weather. The forcasts say the weather seems like its going to stay strong throughout the entire week, however it seems like to me the weather in the Gulf changes on a dime, so we will see if it holds out. Hopefully it doesn’t becuase I want to see some gliders deployed!
The crew and the science team has been very easy to get along with! By the third day of being here, I’ve been running my own CTD watch, being in charge of the computer program as well as deck operations relating to the CTD. I’ve also been able to help the scientists a lot, helping to attach sensors to their instruments and helping them get the information needed back to their computers and labs. Looking forward to my last week on this internship.
Julianna