I am so excited, my email has been forwarded and today when I opened up my shipboard account I had 176 email comments and questions. Yahoo. I am trying to answer all but if I don't get to yours then I probably already answered the same question by a different student. There are also many questions that I can not yet answer as we have not yet started the scientific research. Currently we are transiting from the Straight of Magellan through the Scotia Sea to Bird Island, which is a part of South Georgia. Once at the island we will be conducting GPS work. I will keep you in the loop as we get closer to that scientific station.
Me on the bow watching the sunset.
Since we are transiting the crew has been working on getting equipment
ready for science. One piece of equipment is the "High resolution
multi channel seismic system" (MCS) (say that three times fast). The
Marine Techs were working on the filter manifold for the high pressure
air which will be used.
Ok, wait a minute, let me back up. Scientists want to study the sea floor, and to do this they use different equipment to make a picture of the bathymetry of the sea floor (mapping the sea floor). On board the Palmer we have three tools to take these measurements: The Multi-beam, the Chirp, and the MCS (multi channel Seismic). Think about your back yard. The "Multi-beam" is the lawn mower, the "Chirp" a rototiller, and the "MCS" the plow. Each designed to give scientists a better picture of the sea floor, with each piece of equipment delving deeper and deeper, hopefully to get a picture down to the crust of the planet, below and sediment or organic matter that has settled on the bottom.
The MT crew working on the multi channel seismic system.
As I write this entry many people have come over to help me understand this part of our research, and when I asked my favorite question: WHY, the response was, to help unravel the geologic history of the Scotia Sea.
Bud teaching me about how to collect data on board a research cruise.
I have learned the distinction between Water bottom and ocean crust, high energy waves with low frequency and low resolution. I have been given visuals on sea floors with 100 to 150 million year old rocks, and the 10-20 million year old volcanoes upon those sea floors.
The work we are attempting is to get the true story from the rocks, to see how our tectonic plates have historically moved by looking at the evidence they have left behind. I am not an expert, nor novice, but a beginning learner, just dipping my toes in to the geologic history of this region. I know that once we start the seismic runs, I will have more information to share, but until then my head swims with knowledge that I am just starting to unravel.
I also wanted to add in a quick note about food. I have received lots of questions about food. The food is marvelous, delicious and I am eating too much.
Thanks to Mrs. Feige's class from Green River, Wyoming for joining us at lunch today.
Saddle River Day school from New Jersey also joined in today during breakfast.
Thank you St. Mary's Visitation from Wisconsin -- great to share a meal with you.
We celebrated our first birthday today on this cruise. Happy Birthday Hannah!
Happy birthday Hannah (one of our Marine Techs). We hope you had a great day!
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