Cafe Thorium

Dispatch 01 - July 22, 2005
VERTIGO is a go!
How to build a seagoing lab in two days in Yokohama, Japan. That’s the challenge facing the crew of the RV Revelle and their home Institution at Scripps, and 30 scientists from around the world as we readied for departure from Yokohama a few days ago.

Dispatch 02 - July 24, 2005
A Birthday at Sea
I just celebrated my 40th birthday, July 22, at sea!

Dispatch 03 - July 26, 2005
Out of the Frying Pan and into the Gyre!
After an eventful and anxious few days at port in steamy Yokohama, we were relieved to finally get to sea, with all our equipment and people on board.

Dispatch 04 - July 28, 2005
IONESS a Success
Not long ago, communications with research vessels between scientists and home were difficult, slow and/or expensive. Now, most US scientific research vessels have some sort of email connection, maybe not continuous and maybe not for free use, but available none the less to write a quick note to someone back home.

Dispatch 05 - July 30, 2005
Life at sea without email
Last year we used the MOCNESS (Multiple Opening and Closing Net Environmental Sampling System) on board the R/V Kilo Moana to sample zooplankton at discrete depths. This year, due to an unfortunate shipping mishap with the MOCNESS . . .

Dispatch 06 - August 1, 2005
X marks the spot
Our VERTIGO cruise is focused on "K2" a Japanese time series site in the NW Pacific where we expect to find unusually high particle fluxes.

Dispatch 07 - August 3, 2005
What lies below?
We are holding position here in the far northwest Pacific (47N, 160E) under a white dome of sky. Little moves on the sea outside - a feather drifts by from a disappointed gull. She's unimpressed with our fishing abilities. But below all sorts of things are a-fin.

Dispatch 08 - August 4, 2005
Hunting for marine particles
VERTIGO is spending a considerable effort, stalking marine particles that are sinking out of the surface ocean to the deep sea. We capture them by placing open tubes at different depths to form a "sediment trap", analogous to a rain gauge on land. This is the easiest way to explain a collection process that is much more complex in the oceans.

Dispatch 09 - August 7, 2005
What grows up doesn't all go down
Here on the VERTIGO voyage, at a site north-east of Japan, we are studying the mechanisms that control the export of particles to depth.

Dispatch 10 - August 9, 2005
We are out of points
The words “We are out of points” was written on a small post-it left by the Captain on my laptop this morning.

Dispatch 11 - August 10, 2005
How to make a living in the twilight zone
We concentrate our studies for this cruise on the mesopelagic zone, between about 100 and 1000 meters below the ocean surface. This zone of the ocean is cold (about 2°C here in the North Pacific), there is very little light- hence the nickname “twilight zone”, and phytoplankton (microscopic plants at the bottom of the food chain) cannot grow here.

Dispatch 12 - August 11, 2005
What lies below? - Episode 2
In our earlier note "What lies below?" we pointed out that the strong near surface stratification in this corner of the North Pacific is a key aspect of the environmental conditions that influence phytoplankton production and the overall structure of the regional ocean ecosystem.

Dispatch 13 - August 12, 2005
A Needle in the Haystack (or how we find an NBST in the Gyre)
We have a number of instruments on board the ship which when deployed are tethered to the ship or to surface moorings so we're able to track them and know where they are at all times. Other Instruments known as NBSTs (Neutrally Buoyant Sediment Traps) are free drifting, and when deployed are not tethered to the ship.

Dispatch 14 - August 15, 2005
Heavy Breathing
The most unexpected thing about the ocean is that it breathes.... heavily. How and why? Well that’s what we’re here to find out. Most of us have some understanding and contribution to respiration.

Dispatch 15 - August 16, 2005
Life Aboard a Research Vessel
It’s 5.00am on board the R/V Roger Revelle, 300 nautical miles off the Kamchatka Peninsula. Soon, the sun will rise and once again be obscured by the dense layer of fog that surrounds the ship.

Dispatch 16 - August 17, 2005
Hidden Beauty
They say "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Firstly, this assumes that you have the appropriate anatomical, biochemical and physiological apparatus that miraculously constitutes an eye. Secondly, it assumes that there is sufficient processing power to undertake a cognitive evaluation of the incoming complex data streams to rationalise these into something inspiring to the owner.

Dispatch 17 - August 19, 2005
Next Stop - Honolulu
Heavy seas and 35-45 knot winds kept us off the decks and inside as we counted down the last 24 hours of our VERTIGO cruise.

Dispatch 18 - August 22, 2005
Micro-submarines in the Ocean
Humans regularly travel to 10000-m above the land during our airplane travel across the globe, but we do not take many trips the other direction- down into the deep sea.

Dispatch 19 - August 24, 2005
Identifying with Deep Sea Creatures
One of the most exciting things about collecting animals with the IONESS is that you never know what unusual things it might bring up from the deep.

Dispatch 20- August 25, 2005
The View From Below: An Oiler's Perspective on VERTIGO
The ship moves almost imperceptibly, rising and falling gently with the faintest of swells. The sea is flat, glassy; so much that two planets setting in the western sky cast reflections that shimmer all the way across the water.

Dispatch 21 - August 26, 2005
Land ho, VERTIGO
We have had a rare opportunity these last 4 weeks to sample a remote region of the ocean on board the Research Vessel Revelle.