Hi Everyone,
I hope you are well. The days are starting to blur together and get a bit samey with roughly the same setup of CTD and salinometry each day, but we do get some highlights.
The highlight today was the launching of an Argo float. We will be launching three of these over the course of the cruise. We have launched one already (when I was asleep) but this is the first that I got to see before it was released. It is also tradition to decorate these before releasing them and this leads to some beautiful artwork from the more creative members of the crew (hopefully I can treat you to some photos at some point). We spent an hour or so in the afternoon decorating the float and then at midnight it was released from the back of the boat. We then watched forlornly as it slowly floated away, never to be seen again.
For those of you that don’t know, Argo floats are autonomous floats that are released into the ocean at different locations around the globe to produce profiles of temperature and salinity. They do this by floating along at 1000m depth and every 9 days or so they will do a vertical profile from 2000m depth to the surface and report the result via satellite. There are thousands of these floats in operation all over the world and together they give us a good real-time(ish) understanding of the world ocean and how it is changing. Individually they last around 2-4 years depending on conditions. It is even possible to track them online (for those who are so inclined or are sentimentally attached to their floats). Their tracks are actually scientifically interesting as they give useful information about the currents found at 1000m depth as they move the floats around. If you would like any more information about the detailed workings of these floats I can recommend this site: https://argo.ucsd.edu/how-do-floats-work/
The rest of the day was spent in either work or efforts to maintain sanity (relaxation). A few of us have been suffering a bit from cabin fever and having enough of the inside of the ship, particularly as the weather has been a bit cold and unpleasant. However, a few of us got desperate enough to brave the weather on front deck and stand in the cold and wind for about 20-30 minutes before we got too cold and came back inside. Nevertheless, the outside, sunlight and fresh air did a world of good and we all felt a lot better.
I also made it to the gym again, and spent some time on the treadmill (in preparation for some anticipated park runs on my return to the UK). It is a very taxing process as you are constantly having to judge the motion of the ship and adapt to it to avoid falling off the treadmill or tripping over yourself, so far this has only happened once…. Leaving the treadmill can also lead to some strange sensations as you have become used to the behaviour of the treadmill and so coming off your body has to readapt to the motion of the ship again and so you can feel a bit unsteady and look a little bit drunk. Very strange times indeed.
12/01/23
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