Tuesday, 24 February 2004

Gulf of Papua

Boy, is it hot out here! What if it's hotter than it used to be?

Yesterday I asked you to come back to find out more about something we experience everyday...did you figure out what it is? If you guessed weather, you are correct!

Scientists in the Gulf of Papua are looking at the dispersal of sediment from the Fly river to learn more about how and where sediment is deposited. If you were to stand upstream from your friend, and you threw a handful of leaves into the water, your friend farther down the river would see these as the travel past, but where do they go from there? As a river travels from land to sea it carries with it sediment, nutrients and carbon. One of the main goals of the Source to Sink project is to examine the entire system from sediment transport to geochemistry. For example chemical oceanographers study how carbon is transported and if it is deposited or released into the atmosphere. Carbon oxidation releases green house gasses that trap heat radiated from the earth, which may cause global warming.

So why does this matter to us? Well, by understanding these processes, scientists can determine how much carbon dioxide may be released into the atmosphere and be better able to predict future trends in climate.

I hear rain on the windows so I'm going to go see what the weather's like and how the work is going. Take a look at today's slide show for photos of the weather we've experienced here today and plan to check out tomorrow's journal for more from the Gulf of Papua!

Today's weather and location at 1300 (thirteen hundred hours, military time for 1:00 pm)
Air Temperature: 28°C (82°F)
Water Temperature: 30°C (86°F)
Salinity: 30.39 PSU
Barometric Pressure: 1010.2 mb
Relative Humidity: 79%
Depth: 37.4m (123 ft)

Longitude: 8° 29.98445' S
Latitude: 144° 15.070' E