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
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
Falkor: Using Nebula to Solve Nebulous Problems
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
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
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