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Melanie Fewings watches the progress of Hurricane Alex on local TV in the ship's galley. The intense storm has forced us to stay in the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay until the winds and seas abate.
photo © C. A. Linder, WHOI |
Cruise - 2004 - R/V Cape Henlopen
Dispatch 01 - 3 August 2004
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dispatch...
Waiting for Alex...
by C. A. Linder
The past few days have been frustrating ones for us on the R/V
Cape Henlopen. On July 31st, the day before departing Lewes,
Delaware, we discovered that a tropical depression was brewing just
east of Florida. With a sinking feeling, we watched as the depression
gained strength and progressed northward to the exact location of
our study area off Cape Hatteras. Hurricane Alex is now churning up
massive waves and dumping inches and inches of rain onto coastal North
Carolina and Virginia. Since the seas are far too rough for us to
deploy our moorings, we have been hiding out in the mouth of the Chesapeake
Bay waiting for the weather to improve.
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Jim Churchill (background) watches as Craig Marquette (foreground) readies the OS200 for a test cast in the Chesapeake Bay.
photo © C. A. Linder, WHOI
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We have been making the most of our weather delay by testing
instruments and preparing the moorings. Jim Churchill and Teresa Garner
have perfected the use of the OS200, a rapid-profiling instrument
that is deployed using a modified fishing reel. Craig Marquette has
loaded the chain for the first mooring. And several of us enjoyed
a jog yesterday in between rain showers in the small town of Cape
Charles, Virginia, where the Henlopen was tied up for the
night. I will post more dispatches as time and bandwidth allow...
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