Chief Scientist aboard T-TIDE leg 3, Matthew Alford, talks about the challenges and accomplishments of a day at mooring site “A1”
Listening to the ocean and talking to the deep
Words and photography: Thomas Moore Tasman Sea Latitude – 44.5 degrees south Longitude – 152.3 degrees west Ocean Depth – 4768m The TTIDE team is back aboard the R/V Revelle and we are again plying the fickle waters of the Tasman Sea. This is the final cruise in our latest venture to better understand ocean mixing and how internal waves … Read More
Revelle: Dialed-In
TTIDE Leg II is entering the home stretch, with great weather & even better data coming in. Aside from a brief appearance to steal one of Capt. Dave’s fishing lures. Bruce the shark has been kind enough to stay away from our deep-profiling Fast-CTD fish. We spent last Tuesday doing a series of water sampling stations for Nicole Jones & … Read More
Falkor: You, Me, and the Tasman Sea
Swirling, living ocean I used to think the ocean felt vast – an endless empty expanse of water, deep and unchanging. Within a month of starting my graduate degree at the University of Washington School of Oceanography, I had learned that the ocean is neither empty nor static. The ocean is teeming with life, and not just `charismatic mega-fauna’ like … Read More
Revelle: Breaking Undersea Waves Make Fish a Sandwich
It’s never good news when the phone rings in the chief scientists cabin. It was 7:30 am on Tuesday. We had just lost electrical communication with our Fast-CTD fish. I arrived on the fantail to find the worst-case scenario unfolding. Fifty meters of wire were being coiled on the deck. There was no instrument on the end. The fish and … Read More
Revelle: The Pulse of the Ocean
After several days of exploring nearby sites, we’ve turned attention to a small hill on the side of the continental slope where computer simulations have suggested that large internal waves and energetic turbulence would be found. Using the computer controlled guidance system in the ship, we’ve taken a number of repeated transects across the top of this … Read More
Falkor: Thanks for watching, part 2
We are all happy to be home, but had a great time doing science at sea on the Falkor. In the remaining hours of our T-Beam cruise, we were able to put together a video using one of our favourite songs: Tassie Whalers by The Overlanders (Pete’s uncle is one of the members!). When not working, we were also hard at … Read More
Falkor: Back from the Tasman Sea
After 26 days at sea, the T-Beam crew has sailed back into port along the Derwent Estuary, and tied up on land. We never expected this work to be easy – battling with the constant barrage of storms headed directly from the southern ocean – the Tasman Sea did not disappoint. We did, however, have a successful cruise. Our part … Read More
Falkor: Rollin’ in the Deep
This morning I was handed a small vial of water from the deepest reaches of the Tasman Sea (4800 meters deep, to be exact). So what, you ask? Well, this water has not seen the light of day for about 600 years. That’s right, 600 years ago this water became very cold, salty, and dense, gradually sank to the bottom … Read More
Revelle: Breaking undersea waves make you a fish sandwich
The giant subsurface waves the T-team are studying are triggered thousands of kilometers away. After beaming through the Southern Ocean, the waves break against the continental slope, mixing the deep ocean. But, like bath-time with a hyperactive toddler and an especially slippery rubber ducky, these waves occasionally slosh up and over the edge of the tub. In the relatively shallow waters … Read More