By Walt Meier I have arrived in Barrow, Alaska. It was an interesting flight up from Anchorage: the plane had seats only in the back half of the plane because the front half is used for cargo. That is because there are no roads into Barrow, so supplies need to be brought in by plane […]
By Walt Meier Whenever I tell people that I’m a polar scientist or that I study sea ice, inevitably one of the first questions I’m asked is, “so, have you been to the ice?” I’ve always had to answer no. I’m a remote sensing scientist who works with satellite data. Other than a few aircraft […]
The Dark Side of Optics at Sea & The Development of Boat Brain The old adage of Murphy ’s Law states that: ‘If there is the opportunity for something to go wrong then it will inevitably happen’ Well for all Oceanographic engineers it’s obvious that Murphy spent a considerable amount of time trying to get […]
The Light Side of Optics Have you ever stopped to think about the color of the ocean? I mean, really stopped to think about why the ocean looks the way it does? If you’ve been to a variety of beaches, you’ve probably noticed that some waters are crystal blue, while others are emerald green, and […]
A Peek into the Inner Space of the North Atlantic Thinking of a “NASA mission” generally conjures images of a telescope pointed towards outer space visualizing a myriad of stars, planets and other celestial bodies. However, NASA’s NAAMES mission turns it focus, quite literally, from outer space to the Earth’s inner space, the North Atlantic […]
The Ocean. A chemical soup that covers 70% of the Earth’s surface with a total volume that provides approximately 300 times more space for life than that combined by freshwater and land. Tiny microbes…phytoplankton, zooplankton, bacteria, viruses, but also fish and marine mammals live in that mighty ocean, which is tightly coupled to the atmosphere, […]
Ups and Downs Life on the ship. Up at midnight, Half awake in the dark, My feet feel for the Steps of the ladder down my bunk, And my hands for the clothes piled up from last night. Up one deck to main lab, And another to the galley, For a well needed cup of […]
We are on our way to the 3rd station of the expedition, the sea is relatively calm and cloud are freeing the sky to let the sun shine. Sleep schedules are adjusted: many of us sleep between 4pm and 22pm, whereas others have their night between 3am and 9am, naps are more than welcome when […]
My eyes begrudgingly opened today around noon and the slow but steady accelerations of the rocking ship made their way into my consciousness. I hardly ever wake feeling thoroughly rested but the excitement of starting another day at sea always drags me out of bed. The start of a work day on-board is always preceded […]
