State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

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I Love Rock and Roll

Which is good, because we’ve been doing plenty of rocking and rolling! Things have calmed down a bit, but we were getting 40-foot waves. I wasn’t actually seasick, but I couldn’t do much besides lay down in my bunk and wait for calmer waters. I kept waking up because I was sliding around in my bunk!

Boats, like airplanes, can move in three ways: roll, pitch, and yaw. Roll is when the while ship moves port and starboard (left
and right). Pitch is when the ship moves forward and aft (front and back), which I think feels much worse. Yaw is when the boat points in different directions. That one isn’t usually a big deal, because the captain keeps the boat going straight. But if the boat were spinning in circles, that would probably be enough to make everyone dizzy.

This is what it looked like when we left port:

portI’m sorry I couldn’t get any pictures of the rough seas for you – it looked awesome from the windows – but I wasn’t feeling well enough to go outside with my camera. Here is a map of our current position:

cruisetrackmapOnce we passed the tip of South America, we were no longer sheltered by land. That meant we got the full force of the Drake Passage, which is the roughest water in the world!

Science for the Planet: In these short video explainers, discover how scientists and scholars across the Columbia Climate School are working to understand the effects of climate change and help solve the crisis.
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