Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 05/21/2007 - 10:19
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Ask Ms. Prevenas

Dear Ms.Prevenas

 I know its been a while since you have been on land. How long did you stay on the ship? What does it feel like to be off the ship? You were on the ship as part of a research team, right? What was your part in the group. Sorry for all the questions, write back if you have time.

Thanx-cheyenne H.

Mon, 05/21/2007 - 19:47

Maggie Prevenas

Hi Cheyenne!I have been back on land since May 12. The Healy is a wonderfully stable big ship, and it was in the ice, so we had a very good sailing experience. I stayed on the ship for 33 days. I loved to be on the ship, I loved the cool weather of the north Pacific and the Bering Sea. I loved the ice and being on the bridge and making observations. The ship was very well run, there is a routine when you get at sea, so you get used to the routine very quickly and time flies!
I tried to get up early, by 5 each morning and I would go down to the scientists lab and poke around, see what was happening and who was doing what. Then at 7 I'd go to breakfast, continue talking with the scientists. sometimes they had things for me to do, sometimes I would get to work on an article I was writing, sometimes I had to do graphics or work on curriculum for public outreach, sometimes I had to help get the material together for the webinar that we had about once a week.
I had ice observations every two hours, sometimes they took longer because the ice was really different. Sometimes things were happening on the ice and I had to keep watching. Sometimes I was up looking for ice seals. I made ice observations from around 8 until 3 or 4 everyday, then Robyn, the other teacher/educator, would take observations until 9 or 10 at night.
So get up early, talk with scientists, eat breakfast, make (ice) observations, write or answer questions for Polartrec, eat lunch, make more observations, talk with Robyn about what she was learning, decide on journal topics, talk with scientists about questions we got, or about what they were doing, or actually work with them, eat supper.. more writing, picture editing, submitting a journal with pictures every day, more observations, get on bridge and just look for animals. I did that everyday, for 33 days. 
My day always went from early to late. I had a hard time getting to bed before midnight and that really made me tired the first two weeks. Eventually I made myself get to bed by 11 and that helped me lots.
I made ice observations, that was my contribution. No one had ever done that before and that was a very big thing for the scientists. They were really happy that we were doing ice observations and we were able to add new information to what they were learning. Robyn and I didn't know when we went on the mission that we were going to do ice observations. It just happened because it needed to be done and we could do it consistantly.
So that was my contribution, a big bunch of data that will be on file in Boulder Colorado, made available to anyone who wants to access it. It's all about the changes in the ice that we saw, complete with three pictures, GPS coordinates, and lots of other info from the ships log.
I hope that answered your questions and don't hesitate to ask more. Although I am back in the classroom, I love working on the questions, writing, and getting my public outreach. Ask all you want! I'll try my hardest to answer :)
If you are interested in following the Healy as it goes even FURTHER north, with some of the same scientists, but many new ones, check out the Bering Sea Predators site, under the virtual base camp side bar on this page. You won't be sorry, that's for sure!
warmly,
 Maggie P.