Thursday, 26 February 2004

Gulf of Papua

Driving to work, going to meetings, dealing with traffic jams, getting the mail, paying bills, running to errands, picking the kids up from school, deciding what to make for dinner - making dinner, doing the dishes, someone at the door, running from one thing to the next, the phone won't stop ringing...

Imagine for a moment that's gone - all of it.

You're left with a floating environment, a place where no planes fly overhead, you're commute is a flight of stairs...breakfast, lunch, and dinner, are decided and made for you. Here on the R/V Melville you have found a place where everything is simple. A competent Captain and crew are working to maintain a setting that allows you to focus on one thing - science.

That's what you'll find aboard the R/V Melville, and other research vessels. It's a unique situation that allows scientists and students to work together uninterrupted for the length of a cruise, be it a day, a month, or even longer. It is thanks to the support of programs such as Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the U.S. Navy and the National Science Foundation, to name a few, who make it possible for research projects such as the Source to Sink PNG MARGINS study to be conducted in the field halfway around the world from where most of the scientists call home. It is a simple, focused lifestyle; it has to be for the sake of science and for future understanding of our ocean environments.

There's an alarm ringing on the ship...must sign off. I'll let you know what's happening tomorrow!

Today's weather and location at 1300 (thirteen hundred hours, military time for 1:00 pm)
Air Temperature: 27°C (81°F)
Water Temperature: 30°C (86°F)
Salinity: 29 PSU
Barometric Pressure:1008.3mb
Percipitation: 48 mm
Relative Humidity: 82%
Depth: 22 m (72 ft)

Longitude: 8° 27.2604' S
Latitude: 144° 12.642' E