Josh, Sasha, and Zanna reviewing some of the data.

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REVELLE @ 02/12/02 0503Z, 

-47 26.2547, 179 6.8244

1810 February 12, 2002, At sea

Hi again.  This is my 38^th update - a couple more and we’re on the beach. Things are really slowing down, entering a more contemplative pace as people begin to look at their data and consider the implications. To make things more complicated, we have two experiments to compare - North Patch and South Patch. And the experiments are still running along. MELVILLE has two more weeks to go - but half of that will be transits, and POLAR STAR must just be getting underway, with an arrival date of about February 15 in the South Patch. 

POLAR STAR is leaving from McMurdo Station in Antarctica. Their last e-mail lamented the fact that Princess Anne was visiting Antarctica and all of the bars at the station were closed!

Sue Brown tells me that the North Patch community was spiraling down - growth rates were higher outside the patch than inside. What will our last addition of iron do - will it spur the diatom community along, or were they in bad shape due to lack of Si? It could be that the community was waiting for a shot of Si that might be injected when the next storm mixed deeper, Si rich waters up to the surface. That will be an interesting puzzle that MELVILLE should be able to sort out.  

Without the complete experiment to ponder, we’re all at loose ends, finding the last chores to do. Nick and Ben are washing and drying nets.  Equipment is being packed everywhere else, and I’ve been recalibrating sensors. We’ll look forward to organizing a data workshop later in the spring to bring all of the data sets together and complete the picture.  

These really might be the hardest days of the cruise, not much to do, and everyone is eager to get going home, vacation in New Zealand, just about anywhere but on a boat. It’s a long way home at 12 knots, though. Time to get in - we’re starting to run out of the popular food items - no bread or butter, soda is out, eggs are about gone, cabbage salad is the only fresh vegetable and milk has been rationed (to the coffee drinkers) for the past couple of weeks. Hard to fit enough food for 50+ people and 40 days on board. Thank goodness there is still ice cream.

Still it has been an exceptional experience and I’d like to thank the people that made it happen for us - the National Science Foundation, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and the exceptional support of the REVELLE’s officers and crew. Thank you all. This has been an experience of a lifetime and one that will lead to important breakthroughs in our understanding of how life impacts the climate.

That’s all.  

February 12, 2002

Local time: 1900

Ship’s Position: 66 degrees, 6 minutes South, 172 degrees, 5 minutes West

Yesterday I noticed that cabbage started showing up at the salad bar. I was kind of waiting for this. It has been about four weeks since we loaded stores in Lyttelton and this moment was inevitable. Yet, four weeks is about three and a half weeks longer than lettuce lasts in my refrigerator at home. We are still drinking fresh milk and have had mangos, papayas, melon and pineapple every morning for breakfast. But we are reaching the limit of our fresh vegetable stores and the cooks are making the best of it. By the end of this trip, Cooks Bob Seeley and Jay Erickson will have prepared over nine thousand individual meals (68 people x 3 meals per days x 45 days) under some of the most demanding conditions. Not only is cooking at sea difficult but the food on board often not only sets the cadence by which we march through the day and keep time, but also can dramatically affect the mood. Food is no small part of a successful scientific mission - or any other mission for that matter and Bob and Jay have been dishing out success since the beginning of this trip. Actually they have been doing it much longer than this.

Bob (right) started cooking in the early 80's when he was living in the New Orleans area and had a chance to work with some great chefs through a chef’s apprentice program.  He has been working for Scripps for the last 10 years. As a cook on a vessel that spends so much time at sea, he has seen a lot of the world.  Bob enjoys both traveling and cooking, and this job offers both. One works for a considerable time but then gets a considerable amount of time off. In 1999 Bob took 75 days off and toured Asia and attended a couple of Thai cooking schools, one in northern Thailand and one in Bangkok.

Jay (left) grew up in Kirkland, east of Seattle and has been cooking since he was 18, initially in restaurants and later on ships. Recently he has transferred from the R/V Thomas G. Thompson (University of Washington) to the Melville (Scripps). Jay says he likes his job; it gives him extended time at sea but also extended time at home when he can be with his family. The challenging aspect is staying creative and coming up with new and different dishes.

Satisfying to both is being part of a team, both in the galley and as part of a larger scientific mission. The drawbacks are many, cooking in rough weather and the limitations of life at sea, but the worst for both is being away from their families.

Dinner tonight:  Sautéed Prawns, Chinese Noodles (vegetarian), Egg Rolls (vegetarian), Rice, Kim Chee, Chinese Beef Stew, Apple Crisp with whipped cream

Hello everyone. We are still in the Southern Patch @ about 66 Degrees South, 171 degrees W. We've been doing lots of CTD & Rosette deployments to gather water at in & out stations. We've done two transects (3rd is tomorrow) where we travel in a line from outside through patch to other side taking water samples. We don't sample from everything, just the CTD on the transect days. After one station is done, we have to hurry to the next station, so that we can get in at least 10 stations during the day. So far, we've only been able to do a radius of the patch, not a complete diameter. Yesterday & today were beautiful! Very different from two days ago where we had so much snow fall one night it was crazy! Like white out conditions in Ohio, but the work still goes on & the MBARI drifter was deployed successfully. Today though, lots of sunshine & warm weather, very calm seas & some rumors about getting the hot tub revved up. Yes, the Melville has a homemade hot tub, with compressed air for bubbles, & warm sea water generated from the cooling waters for the engines. We saw stars out last night for first time in awhile, & two beautiful sunsets last night & tonight. Showers are good. Some people have trouble in rolling seas, I take a shower no matter what. Some gross out because when the rolling ship goes to starboard, the shower curtain goes into the shower but when the ship rolls to port, the shower curtain has the potential to dip into the toilet. Ewww! We had more birthday cake today. People are starting to get antsy to come home. More and more people are reading books during our down times. There is a great library on board for anyone who needs a good book to read. Anything from oceanography texts to the latest Stephen King novel can be found. We also hold science meetings in the library, watch safety movies, or find someplace quiet to lay down on a couch to read. 

More next time, Jodi

Greetings from the Polar Star-

We have been out for two long days and are within a short 24 hour steam to the S-patch and our SOFeX colleagues aboard the R/V Melville. We've just crossed the date line at 180 degrees longitude and we are at roughly 70 degrees South leaving the Ross Sea, which is an area of complete ice coverage in the winter which has now melted opening up highly productive seas surrounding Antarctica. It was a thrill to leave McMurdo Station and see seals lazily watching us from the ice, and a pod of Orcas carousing in the waters before us. 

I'd like to report that we are ready for the fun to begin in the SOFeX patch, but for every piece of equipment that is set up and operational, another one seems to refuse to report ready for duty. With have set quite a high benchmark to attain in such a short time and with very limited resources. But somehow all feel that we are fortunate to be here to make these final measurements that may hold the answer to our understanding of the longer-term fate of carbon that originated from a bloom that Ken Johnson and colleagues on the R/V Revelle seeded with iron some 25 days ago. We are anxious to make direct radio contact with Kenneth Coale and his crew from the Melville in order to plan our experiments while we are together for about a day and a half on the southern site. 

Its also a new world for us to adapt to life on the USCG Cutter Polar Star, a ship with some 150 ready and able sailors compared to our gang of 13 scientists. This icebreaker is a fine ship in ice, but rolls considerably in open water and was only late in life converted to scientific work. So we must work all the harder to accommodate our gear, which literally spills out of every corner of the 3 small labs where we operate. Our small research group consists of hardened sea going oceanographers, first timers, graduate students and a willing volunteer. We have arrived from 5 countries (6 if you count the Antarctic base). We are assisted by a strong team of USCG Marine Science Techs and other ships personnel who have helped turn this ship into a sophisticated sea going lab in under 48 hours (well, we're almost ready to be called that). 

We've had little time for photos, but I am able to pass on two more, one of the Polar Star at the docks just before we left McMurdo, and a parting shot of the Antarctic continent as we headed north a short time ago. After a grueling but short 7 day/24 hour per day schedule at the study site, we head on a long steam to Valparaiso, Chile, next port of call for this crew on its way to the home port in Seattle and debarkation point for our group. Whatever this next week holds for us, we will give it our best. We hope we can contribute to the experiment and still have time to keep you updated. 

From the date line- Ken Buesseler