#1. I am headed to the Indian Ocean!

In 1 week I will be leaving for the beautiful island of Mauritius to embark on my second scientific expedition to continue research for my PhD thesis. It will take me 2 days to fly to the island. Upon arrival in Mauritius, I will spend 3 days preparing the ship for departure and exploring some of the island in my free time. As part of my preparation, I will get to visit the Mauritius Oceanographic Institute, meet some of the local scientists, and hopefully learn more about the research they are doing on the island. Then I will embark for 28 days aboard the R/V Isabu as part of the Korean-US InDian Ocean Scientific (KUDOS) Research Program. The KUDOS program is part of a larger research goal set up by the Second International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE-2) "to advance our understanding of the Indian Ocean and its role in the Earth System in order to enable informed decisions in support of sustainable development and the well-being of humankind".

My ability to go on this research expedition is mostly due to the Mary Roche Fellowship I was awarded this past year by the University of Miami. This fellowship is intended to support a graduate student with at-sea research from the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

An Aerial View of Mauritius from worldatlas.com.

An aerial view of the R/V Isabu.

You can track our current ship location throughout the expedition by searching the vessel name (Isabu) on www.marinetraffic.com.