Has this been a whirlwind of different events! Much different than the boats I’m used to back in Alaska!
Meeting everyone that is involved with the program was fun, everyone has been so warm and generous with their knowlegde and specialty. Very sad when I learned that most of the key crew we would be shadowing would be leaving us when reaching San Francisco, so I took as much time being present for most of the calibrations and testing they were doing for the equipment on board. One person I got to work close to was the chief scientist Jennifer Johnson, who was overlooking calibrations with the EK80. Not only did I help her log some of her testing over an oceanic shelf area off the coast of washington at 3am, but we also had the opportunity to view methane seeps off the coast of Oregon! It was very exciting for me because using this equipment goes hand in hand with what I hope to do for future research explorations and having someone there who was passionate in her field and allowed me to shadow her made a world of a difference to me.
Since the other crew members disembarked, we are near Cancun in Mexico. It is balmy and sunny than what I’m used to, but I am enjoying the work I’m putting into the preparations for the boat before we arrive to Woods Hole. I also saw flying fish for the first time! Looked like shining skipping stones as the fluttered out of the ships way.
Working with Jennifer watching for noise disturbances during EK80 calibrations
Deploying a XBT
One of the 2 methane seeps we observed off the coast of Oregon. We viewed it with the EK80 and the multibeam aboard, very exciting to note the differences and similarities between the 2 equipments!