Archive | Scientific cruise, March 2017

Crossing the line

This cruise has been a bit unusual in that we transited the equator four times, and, given our proximity to the vernal equinox, we jumped between all four seasons. As exciting as this is from both a geographical and celestial point of view, I hadn’t appreciated the naval significance of ‘crossing the line’. I soon […]

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The wildlife at sea

I have been at sea for over 3 weeks now and have seen very little of anything beyond the ship. As our internet connection is barely working, I am feeling a bit cut off from the outside world. In contrast, I have never been so aware of my immediate surroundings. We are constantly monitoring things […]

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Fishing for OBSs

Sometimes things don’t always go as to plan. We arrived at site I04D at 15:00, quickly establishing communication with the OBMT and the OBS. The OBMT was on its way to the surface with an ETA of 17.50 – all was going well. After surveying in the location of the OBS and sending an acoustic […]

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Le OBS

France has a rich history of working in the oceans, collecting some of the longest tidal records available, for example. During our voyage, we happened to pass the French research ship the “Pourquoi Pas?” off the west coast of Africa. The Institut de Physique du Globe in Paris (IPGP) runs geophysical observatories that monitor earthquake […]

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What’s inside an OBS

Until this cruise, my experience with seismology fieldwork had been entirely on land. The group at Bristol has deployed seismometers in some of the harshest conditions on Earth, including the Canadian Arctic and the Afar region of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Operating a seismometer at the bottom of the ocean presents a whole new set of […]

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What to pack

If you have been to sea many times, packing is no doubt a fairly simple task and you seldom forget something. However, for many of us on DY-072, this is the first time on a scientific cruise. I am happy to have remembered all the cables and adaptors that I need, but brought too many […]

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