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Date: 8/4/99 Time: 10:30 p.m. Lat: 29°19' N Long: 87°41' W Today we traveled from Station 1 to Station 2. We took our day of rest by sleeping in, fishing, reading books, and watching movies. Jeff caught a shark (a small one) and while attempting to take a picture, I broke his camera. After we were finished fishing, I got to "drive" us to the next site. It is a little tougher than it looks because once you think you have a heading of 137°, it will change and you have to tool around to fix it. Thanks to Max and Joe in the "wheel-room" I have some cool boat information. All the crew members live in Louisiana but only Chief has a Cajun accent, although Joe is of Cajun decent. The crew is working 230 days out of the year. This boat, The Pelican, is rented out to different groups, mainly through the National Science Foundation. The Navy also uses this boat for some of its shallow water research testing the accuracy of some equipment in water (the Gulf War prompted this). This boat can go a top speed (without current help) of about 9.2 knots or 10.5 mph. The boat has 4 engines. Two are used to move the boat (at 900 hp total) and the other two are to generate electricity for the boat (which uses quite a bit of electricity). The boats dimensions are 107 ft. long, 26 ft. wide, and 38ft high. The boat uses two radars that have a electronic plotter hooked up to the navigation software. By using GPS, or Global Positioning System, the ship can know where it is anywhere on the planet (even the Bermuda Triangle). Using this hand in hand with the Differential System, the position reports are accurate up to 2 meters, plus or minus. Two other computer systems are at work. The SeaNet (radar and satellite) allows quick interaction with people on the mainland so they can transfer information. The SeaSave program is what the tech room operates with. It can project depth, salinity, and other sea factors. The other programs help Lavern, the boat's technician, work the CTD and the other research equipment. The fathometer calculates the depth of the ocean at the particular spot we are at. It uses a beam to bounce off the bottom (this can be intercepted by the thermocline or the nephyll, which is a thick layer of nutrients/plankton). Our depth at the moment is around 600m. On a sad note, our tree frog stowaway has been reported missing. This has brought boat morale down, although nobody except me really cared…so only my morale was brought down by the unfortunate event. We are trawling and using the ROV and CTD tonight but some problems have arisen that need to be worked out. My Questions: There are explosive dumping sites in the gulf. All of them are listed on the gulf chart that all boats have. If a boat was nearby when a bomb went off, would the government be responsible for the damage? Where did the palm tree floating in the water today come from? (You don't see miniature islands in the middle of the water, and it is a long way for palm trees to float against the current to the middle of the gulf.) Is the water that is draining from the boat harming any sector of the marine life in any significant way? Why did the shark Jeff caught not bleed much when we cut it up? Would the results of the trawls be influenced if the waves were 10 ft high? Why is it necessary to take CTD water samples at the same site more than once? What would cause deep water organisms (like the Lantern fish usually found at 300m) to migrate to the surface? |
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