NOAA Teacher at Sea
Kevin McMahon
Onboard NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown
July 26 – August 7, 2004
Mission: New England Air Quality Study (NEAQS)
Geographical Area: Northwest Atlantic Ocean
Date: August 4, 2004
Weather Data from the Bridge
Lat. 44 deg 07.58 N
Lon. 68 deg 01.74 W
Heading 035 deg
Speed 7.6 kts
Barometer 1005.17 mb
Rel Humidity 98.3%
Temp. 15.5 C
Daily Log
0700 hours and we are off Mount Desert Island. The air is cool with a light fog over the water and partly cloudy skies above.
The morning was spent on a heading of 035 degrees as we continue our move to the Northeast. I am told that we will just make it to the boundary area between the U.S. and Canadian border. Then we will reverse our course. It is hoped that by being close to the coastline and with the winds cooperating that the ships scientist will be able to measure some of the organic biogenics being produces by the forests of Maine. The relationship between the Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) which are natural in nature, and man made pollutants produced by the combustion of hydrocarbon products is one of the areas that scientist are working to understand.
0930 hours. I have been spending some time on the bridge transferring the Ships Sighting Log to an Excel Spreadsheet File and then putting the file on the ships website so that some of the scientist can compare their pollution data with various ships we have encountered.
I had a brief tour of the LIDAR (Light Radar) operation today. But we needed to cut it short as they were in the middle of a software problem. I plan to return tomorrow when the equipment is functioning more reliably.
1600 hours.
Weather Data from the Bridge
Lat. 44 deg 06.37 N
Lon. 68 deg 12.10 W
Heading 220 deg
Speed 7.4 kts
Barometer 1003.89 mb
Rel Humidity 88.96%
Temp. 15.35 C
We seem to be charting a course to enter one of the many fiords around Mt. Desert Island, ME.
2030 hours. We are in a fjord near Mt. Desert Island off the town of Bass Harbor. Instead of setting the anchor, the ship will hold position with its bow into the wind using its thrusters which are controlled by the GPS system. The plan is for the atmospheric sensors to measure the organic biogenic compounds which are produced by the forests of the surrounding area.
