Wednesday 28 January, 2004

Today is the second day of work on Leg 3 of Cruise II. We learned that the night watch had spotted a sea snake slithering across the water's surface. They had also seen and heard a large group of dolphins that were quite close and actively chasing flying fish in the water. The researchers commented on how interesting it was to hear the breathing sounds of the dolphins as they chased their prey close to the ship.

The morning began as the day before with an early morning Chirp deployment. There were more knots to be learned and work continued at a steady pace. In the afternoon we approached an area of the Gulf of Papua (GOP) near the mouth of the Fly River where there was a large ship, the Karabi, which is affectionately referred by us as the "Mother Ship." It is commonly anchored at the same location. The ship is used to store copper ore from the Ok Tedi copper mine, which is located in the Highlands (see map) on a tributary of the Fly River The ore travels in a pipe from the Ok Tedi mine to the town of Kiunga where it is then transferred to ore boats which transport the ore down the Fly river to the Karabi. From here, international ships meet the "Mother Ship" to transfer the ore. The copper from Ok Tedi is primarily purchased by Germany and Japan.

This evening, sediment and water samples were collected following dinner using the box core, multi-core, BLISP and CTD. A couple people watched a movie selected from over 400 DVD's available in the lounge. Movies at sea are a great escape!

Weather
Air temp: 30° C (86° F)
Water temp: 31° C (88° F)
Salinity: 30.709 PSU
Barometric pressure: 1007.1 mbar
Precipitation: 19.2 mm (last 24 hours)
Relative humidity: 78.8%

Location
Latitude: 08° 36.915' S
Longitude: 143° 58.527' E

(weather and location are recorded daily at 0900)
What's on the Menu
Breakfast: bacon, ham, eggs, potatoes, fresh fruit,
Lunch: ribs and beans, franks and fries
Dinner: Salisbury steak, fish and potatoes
Dessert: pound cake