NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) is a partner in the CalCOFI program, sending out four scientists who work in pairs, each for 12 hours per day. After the CTD on each station, nets are deployed. Samples are preserved out at sea and then processed back at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, near the SIO campus. Fish … Read More
Science Focus: Hydrography
The first operation at each science station during a CalCOFI cruise is a CTD cast. Conductivity (salinity), temperature, depth (pressure), oxygen, nitrate, and chlorophyll sensors are strapped onto an aliminum rosette frame, along with 24 niskin bottles that can be closed via a computer program run from the lab. On stations deeper than 515 meters, the package is sent to that depth and 20 … Read More
Let’s Science!
The first official science cruise aboard R/V Sally Ride is underway! Just after 0800 the ship left Point Loma. As we left a fogged-in San Diego bay, the restech Keith gave an overview of the ship to the science party, including safety and drill information, situational awareness, and housekeeping basics. There’s a lot to know about, even if you’ve been onboard … Read More
CTDs vs XBTs
A sound velocity profile is helpful for calibrating instruments that rely on a ping sent from a source that reflects back to that source’s location. In some cases, it’s enough to assume sound travels through seawater at 1500 meters per second. However, there are many exceptions and an accurate profile of the water column can shift data points from other instruments significantly. … Read More
WIRED tour and unanswered questions
Scripps Ships Operations director Bruce Appelgate gave WIRED magazine a tour of the R/V Sally Ride while it was docked in San Francisco. It was done via Facebook Live, so there were a lot of questions asked in the comments. The videos below cover many of them, and more have been covered already in other blog posts, but I’m going … Read More
SVC2 – testing the ship
The second science verification cruise took place on R/V Sally Ride last week. CalCOFI (California Cooperative Oceanic and Fisheries Investigations) is a collection of scientists from SIO and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), that run transects off the coast of California once per season. Thus there are four research cruises a year, occupying the same stations, and sampling … Read More
Deploy, Recover, Repair, Repeat
The first science verification cruise (SVC) took place on R/V Sally Ride earlier this month. If you’ve read the earlier posts, about the project goals and loading of the ship, you know that the objective of the chief scientist, Dr. Bill Hodgkiss of UCSD, was to record acoustic signatures from ships in the Santa Barbara Channel. We departed SIO’s marine facility … Read More
Loading the ship for science!
The R/V Sally Ride leaves tomorrow morning for its first science verification cruise (SVC)! Click here for the previous blog post with more information about the project. Today was spent loading all the science equipment onboard, and securing it. First, the setup on the fantail had to be changed to accommodate the science plan. Cleats and other items that were … Read More
(Seafloor) Mapping the Way Home
I love maps. When my family drove across the country when I was a kid, I was the navigator, tracking how many miles until the next junction, or Dairy Queen. When my dad asked me what I wanted for my 25th birthday I told him a globe, the kind with sea monsters on it! I love that it’s easy to find … Read More
Gearing up for Science!
The first science verification cruises (SVCs) scheduled on the R/V Sally Ride are fast approaching. September will be the month to test out various winches, wires, and pretty much every other system in the lab spaces onboard to make sure everything’s ready for the ship to enter full service at SIO. Dr. Bill Hodgkiss will be the chief scientist for … Read More