Jonathan Franco: R/V Melville Day 9

Day 9: Question of the day

VISIT- https://sites.google.com/site/mixingatthemargins/

for more info and images of our trip

What is your daily schedule like? How many marine animals have you seen? How fast does the ship travel? -Edith Rosas

When do you drop the machine in the water? what does it do? -Steve Garret

What is the temperature out there and in the ocean? Have you started the Styrofoam cup experiment? -Lupe Rangel

-My daily schedule consist of waking up at about 1 pm, doing a quick workout, shower and get ready, then i will head up to the main lab, prepare my station, and go get breakfast. After that i will work, help out where i can, and start my daily blog. Then dinner time! and after at about 1830 (6:30) we have a science chat in the main lab. After our chat i will go to my room, change into my rain or work gear, and head back up. At 8:00 pm my shift starts and we perform CDT casting. My shift ends at 4:00 am and i am in bed at around 5:00 am. resting up to do it all over again.

-I have seen a ton of marine animals, everything from bait fish to whales!! Some of the more memorable ones would have to be the HUGE sperm and blue whales, the sun fish, sea lions, Humboldt squid, jellyfish, and probably most memorable the pod of hundreds of pacific white side dolphins!

-The ship has a max speed of about 12 knots ( nautical miles)

- The instrument is in the water 24 hours a day unless we are changing locations.

-The Instrument measures Conductivity, temperature, and Depth which gives us data on the salinity, and density of the water column.

-The air temperature is 68 degrees (F) and the water temp at the surface is 57 degrees (F) but there is a strong 30+ knot wind that makes the air feel extremely colder then i actually is.

-We have not started the styrofoam cup experiment yet, we are waiting to get into deeper water so that it will have a greater effect on the cups