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Jacquelyn Hams: Introduction 17 October 2011

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Jackie Hams
Aboard R/V Roger Revelle
November 6 — December 10, 2011

My name is Jacquelyn (Jackie) Hams and I  am an Associate Professor and Chair of the Earth Science Department at Los Angeles Valley College (LAVC).  LAVC is a two-year college within the Los Angeles Community College District which consists of 9 major campuses, several satellite locations, and over 120,000 students.

Photograph of TAS Jackie Hams
Teacher at Sea Jackie Hams with the St. Croix River in the background.
This photograph was taken in October 2011 during the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, MN.  The St. Croix River which flows between Minnesota and Wisconsin is in the background.  In just a few weeks my background photos will look significantly different as I embark on my NOAA Teacher at Sea experience in the Indian Ocean.

I am participating in an investigation of ocean-atmosphere interactions in the equatorial Indian Ocean involving meteorologists, oceanographers, and climate scientists from 13 countries called Project DYNAMO (Dynamics of the Madden-Julian Oscillation).   The Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) is a 30-90 day tropical weather cycle that starts over the equatorial Indian Ocean and moves eastward into the western Pacific Ocean where it impacts other  global weather and climate patterns such as El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO),  Asian monsoons,  tropical storm development in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, and Pineapple Express events.  Specialized instruments will be deployed and operated on ships, aircraft, and islands in the Southern Indian Ocean, Maldives Islands, Diego Garcia British Indian Ocean Territory, and the Eastern Indian Ocean to collect data and study the MJO at its source.

 I am a Teacher at Sea on Leg 3 of a research cruise aboard the R/V Roger Revelle in the eastern Indian Ocean which is scheduled from November 6 – December 10 beginning and ending in Phuket, Thailand.  My students are not just following my adventures via this blog – I will be teaching the last 5 weeks of my Oceanography and Physical Geology classes from the ship.  This Teacher at Sea experience is also about learning in real-time and will be a true test of Distance Education!
Photograph of the Research Vessel Roger Revelle
R/V Roger Revelle. Image credit: Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Here are some great general Project DYNAMO links to bookmark and follow Leg 3 of the cruise.

  • DYNAMO Home Page.  Select the DYNAMO Field Catalog menu on the left, then the Reports menu at the top of the page to view the latest report from the R/V Roger Revelle.  You can also view the latest satellite imagery in the Indian Ocean. http://www.eol.ucar.edu/projects/dynamo/

Please remember that I am a TEACHER at Sea and therefore, yes, there will be a quiz at the end of each of my posts.

To begin, test your knowledge of the geography of southeast Asia and see if you know exactly where Phuket Thailand is located.