Out here in the Tasman Sea, chasing the internal tide involves a lot of detective work, piecing together clues from water velocity, temperature, and density to determine where exactly the tide beam is heading. Scientists know from 20 years of satellite altimetry (sea height) data where it is most likely to be, based on estimations of energy flux. But there … Read More
Falkor: Stormy weather
With most of our field work on the RV Falkor located in the middle of the Tasman Sea, we have had our fair share of rough weather. We were able to hunker down (or escape) the biggest storms that rolled through, but sometimes we had to stop collecting data for a few hours. Below is footage of one time we … Read More
Revelle: Digging In
We shoved off from Macquarie Wharf in Hobart on Friday afternoon. Departure is always a bit spooky on the Revelle. There’s no roaring of diesels or shuddering of massive driveshafts. The Z-drive propellers are vectored, the electric propulsion motors are energized, and the dock silently recedes. We spent some time swinging the compass (swinging the ship to calibrate the compass), & … Read More
Falkor: Engineering a Career in Ocean Science
As you may have noticed, there is a lot of high-tech experimental equipment and instruments on an oceanographic research cruise. We are in an era of ocean exploration that sometimes rivals the technologies used in space exploration. While research scientists may be involved in the design or concept of research equipment, the majority of this design work, along with the … Read More
Falkor: It’s getting hot in here, let’s mix it up!
Last week, the great dark turquoise waves rolling past the ship in the dark looked impressive, at 15 feet tall or more, but they are nothing compared to their giant cousins below. As you know, the internal tide we are chasing across the surging Tasman Sea is hundreds of feet tall, heaving water deep below the ocean’s surface up and … Read More
Revelle: TTIDE Leg II shoves off
Well, Folks, We’ve just shoved off from Macquarie Wharf in Hobart The Captain is spending some time calibrating the ships compass. Then we’ll head down the Derwent Estuary and into the Tasman Sea. Matthew Alford and his Leg I Team brought the ship onto Hobart Tuesday morning. They had their gear well organized for offloading, and after a few hours of work by … Read More
Falkor: A Steep Slope
The continental shelf of Tasmania is pretty steep. If you were on the bottom of the Tasman Sea, it would be like driving in a car across a desert and running into a mountain 4,000 meters high (13,000 feet). The grade up this mountain road would be about 8%, the steepest of any interstate in the U.S. The mountains that … Read More
Falkor: Beginning a Research Career
For new comers to science, it is important that they begin their journey in some particular way. Some may embark on land based science or even pure laboratory work. I have started with something way out of my comfort zone… a research cruise. If you had of told me this time last year that I would be embarking on ship-based … Read More
Revelle: Thanks for Watching!
We’re thrilled to be back at port in Hobart after a productive and successful 25 days at sea. We deployed a whopping 15 moorings in 10 days and managed to recover two moorings to re-deploy number 16 elsewhere. Years of planning have made this month of work in Tasmania possible and we’re thrilled that almost everything went off without a … Read More
Falkor: The climes they are a changin’
Having collected another set of data from our familiar C2 site, we are now steaming to a location a bit south of the A1 mooring. Once there we will begin another CTD/LADCP profile until the weather chases us away again. This time a storm is coming up from the south, and so we will be running north to stay just … Read More