NOAA Teacher at Sea
Tamil Maldonado
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather
July 18 – 28, 2005
Mission: Hydrographic Survey
Geographical Area: North Pacific
Date: July 24, 2005
Science and Technology Log
I started today on a night shift. I got up at 2:00 a.m. and worked with scientists that were doing a 24:00 – 12:00 (noon) shift. We used the bongo and tucker nets, plus the CTD to collect samples of water. The CTD has 11 fiver-liter spaces that are opened electronically in different sea columns. This gives a good idea of what is going on in terms of salinity, temperature, pressure, and food for fish throughout the ocean (vertically). The other nets just take surveys as a hole or by only two regions of columns.
At 5:00 a.m. I stayed on the bridge and on watch till 7:00 a.m. and tried to make the boat steady. After breakfast I went to sleep. After lunch I went to the engineering department and learned about engines, and how the boat actually works. Some of the engines work with oil, some with seawater, and other ones with fresh water. It was incredible for me to see all the machinery behind a boat’s work. The engineer explained about the maintenance and equipment. We also went to the refrigeration room to see how the system works with compression and condensation, how AC gets to our rooms, and how the boats use all the engines for energy, movement, and stability.
The sea weather today was awful—big waves coming in during afternoon and at night. Many people got seasick today.
