We are down to just 5 days left on our research expedition on the R/V Isabu. We have been moving rather quickly between our stations, so we will actually be arriving in Mauritius 2 days earlier than scheduled. I am definitely excited to be on land again and I am ready for a much needed break from all of the sampling on the ship. I will have a quick few days in Mauritius before I head back home to Miami to begin analyzing the hundreds of samples that I have collected on the ship.
In between all of the sampling on the ship, I have had a few moments of relaxation in the past week. I was able to finally find the sauna! I had to walk through a doorway labeled as a shower room by the gym and then go through a secret doorway to find both the sauna and a hot tub. This past evening, I joined a few other female researchers to a relaxing time in the hot tub after a long day of work. Hopefully I will have time to use the sauna or hot tub at least one more time before we get to the port in Mauritius. Additionally, in the past week I have managed to get in a few trips to the gym. I have been starting off my workouts with a nice run on the treadmill before doing some weight lifting and floor exercises. Overall, working out has been a great way for me to exert some physical energy and let out some of the stresses and tensions from constantly working on the ship. I had not realized how stiff I was getting from standing in the same spot all day while I processed my samples.
As we continue to move southward towards Mauritius, we have left the calm seas behind and are experiencing larger waves and stronger winds. The more intense rocking of the boat has not affected me in terms of seasickness, but it does make standing still during my work a bit trickier. As the waves have been getting more intense, running on the treadmill has also been much more interesting. I have to constantly focus on countering the motion of the boat to ensure that I stay on the treadmill. I have become an avid user of the side handrails and may or may not bump into them throughout my workouts.
On the science side, we have just left our main station where we deployed a long-term surveying instrument, a mooring. The mooring is a buoy that is anchored in place and left for a pre-deisgnated amount of time. The mooring that was deployed on our ship had 7 CTD electronic packages spread out along the cable from the bottom to the top of the mooring line. Each CTD will be constantly recording the temperature and salinity of the water along with that CTD's respective depth. These parameters can be used to track different water masses in the ocean. Moorings can have a variety of other instruments on them to measure different parameters over long periods of time. These other parameters include a variety of things from the movement of ocean currents to biogeochemical parameters such as oxygen and pH.
The photos above include a view of the sunrise from the port hole by my work station, the sauna and hot tub, a miniature replica of the R/V Isabu that is on display near the top deck of the ship, photos taken by Jae-Hyoung Park of me processing my samples, and a photo during the mooring deployment taken by Purena Son.
Refer to the post "#7. Non-stop ocean science" for more information about CTDs or visit https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/ctd.html. For more information about moorings visit https://www.pmel.noaa.gov/co2/story/Open+Ocean+Moorings.