Okay, we’re still stuck in port. But a ship is a pretty interesting place even when it isn’t going anywhere. This is where we will be going: That’s the Antarctic peninsula, just south of the tip of South America. The rainbow colors indicate the depth of the water in places that the ship has been.…
When I agreed to go on a research cruise to Antarctica, I imagined flying into the charming port town of Punta Arenas, Chile, and boarding the well-equipped research vessel, the Nathanial B. Palmer. It turns out that the town is delightful and the ship impressive, but you don’t just stroll on to a research ship…
Power Plants Might Pipe Emissions Under Seabed
We are in the midst of a four-day transit from our study site on the East Pacific Rise to the Atlantis’ next port of call in Costa Rica. All of the scientists aboard will depart for home from there, while many of the crew will stay on for another leg of the cruise. The transit…
This will be my last post from land. We’re still setting up to do science, but this is so cool I just had to show it to you. We store entire containers on ships. Containers (like the one you saw in the last post) are the big metal things on the back of trucks, and…
Right now, everyone is busy working in port. There is cargo to load, labs to set up, and endless problems to solve. But it will all be worth it once we set sail on January 2nd. Here’s the Research Vessel Nathaniel B. Palmer, otherwise known as the NBP And here’s cargo being moved to one…
My name is Debra Tillinger and I’m a graduate student in ocean and climate physics at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Until now, all of my work has focused on the tropics. My thesis is about the Indonesian Thoroughflow, which transports water from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean via the narrow straits and deep basins…
A team of scientists, technicians and helicopter pilots will sail from Punta Arenas, Chile, for Antarctica on Jan. 2. I’ll be part of that team, collecting data, and serving as co-chief scientist for the cruise. Our home for the next two months will be the ice-breaking research vessel Nathanial B. Palmer. My journey starts with…
As you know yesterday was Christmas, and things are just a little bit different on such a holiday aboard a research vessel. Although the sub was in the water, many of the crew had the day off. As far as I can tell, most of them work around the clock, so such a rest was…