I actually got some much-needed sleep my first night aboard the Palmer. Marcy and I are again rooming together. Most of the science crew has cabins on deck 1, but we are the only science crewmembers on deck 2. It has a surprising amount of space and will work as my new home for 37 days. Last night we were set to leave the port at 12 noon, but the time keeps getting pushed back and is now set at 2000. We are all anxious and ready to start our adventure and even more important, the research. I was assigned my working schedule last night, my shift is from 12 noon until 12 midnight. This shift is hopefully the best for observing and helping with the most interesting research! Most people on board have spent their last couple of hours before setting sail securing and tying down their numerous research supplies. Remember we will experience some pretty huge waves and everything big and tiny must be secured and stable! I have just been helping with anything that was needed. My main objective today was getting trained for ping editing multibeam sonar data, which creates maps of the ocean floor.
Here is a short description of a ping editor’s job from the Simrad EM120 Ping Editing Manual:
"Editing the data collected by the Kongsberg Simrad EM120 multibeam system on the R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer is an important and necessary task. Bad beams and artifacts must be removed prior to generating accurate bathymetric maps. The ping editor’s job is to remove the bad beams."
The training took about 1 hour and was lead by Kathleen. There were about 10 other ping editors involved in the training and we will share the job of editing about 25 files a day. I do need to complete my training by editing a "practice file." Hopefully, I will do a good job and help make a beautiful and useful map. The final big events before setting sail will be a big information meeting for the science crew and a safety meeting and drill. I am mostly looking forward to the excitement of the ship pushing away from the port, and will be ready to share my journal and photos of it!