NOAA Teacher at Sea
Karolyn Braun
Onboard NOAA Ship Ka’imimoana
October 4 – 28, 2006
Mission: TAO Buoy Array Maintenance
Geographical Area: Hawaii
Date: October 16, 2006
Science and Technology Log
Well my morning started with a cloudy sunrise, which quickly turned to a nice rain shower. With very low visibility, the winds and waves picked up again, so the ship was pitching and rolling. More learning: Pitching is where the bow and stern move up and down, and rolling is where the vessel will move from one side to another.
While in transit I practiced my knot tying with Jeff and Chris, two of the deck crew, and Carrie, one of the cooks let me borrow her handbook of knots. I am learning! We had an on-time arrival to the TAO buoy at 8S/155W. The RHIB was sent out to retrieve it; it was secured on deck and lines were spooled in. We were able to take a half dinner break and then it was back to work. The new buoy was deployed into the water and the lines were fed out. We worked until about 7:15 then conducted a CTD and deployed our ARGO float. I even got a workout in. All in a days work.
