Post-Tryptophan

Thanksgiving dinner yesterday on the boat was excellent. It has been the best meal on the boat to-date, for sure. The beer was also great. All-in-all it was a much better day than I had anticipated.

I thought I should provide some additional insight into my post yesterday. Although it was not an ideal situation to be away from home for the holiday. I would not have ever turned down the opportunity to partake in this field study. It is an experience that I will probably never have again. I learned a lot about my science, along with other sciences that are being studied on the boat. I have seen science in action. So all-in-all I am happy with the decision to come on this trip, and I am still thankful for the opportunity of getting to be here.

I have also learned a lot about myself on this trip. It is interesting how being away from home, friends, having no cellphone, and limited internet forces you to evaluate your life. What this re-evaluation will mean when I get home, and how it will manifest itself in my life is unknown. This re-evaluation is referred to as a 'sea-change'. The sea has changed me, hopefully for the better, but that has yet to be seen. I am curious to see how long it will take me to slip back into my life in NC.

Sea Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving from the Southeast Pacific!

The past few days I have been kind of down. It sunk in that I will not be spending Thanksgiving with any of my loved ones. Every Thanksgiving I have either spent with my family, or with Mitch and his family. It has been hard realizing this would not be the case this year. When I signed up to come, I knew I would be gone for the holiday, but talking about it is much different than experiencing it. I hadn't really thought about the implications until the time actually got here and I was already in the middle of the ocean. I think this is forcing me to grow up a little bit and be even more of an independent person. I do think I should caveat this with the fact that I have made some really good friends on the boat. And if I had to spend Thanksgiving with a group of strangers from around the country, I probably wouldn't choose anyone else. Well, I might make a few substitutions ;-).

I should start this next story with the preface that I LOVE BEER. My friends all know this about me. I love good beer. It has been one of the three things I have missed the most (ask me what the others are if you are curious). But, last night we got some excellent news which raised my spirits a great deal. The crew is providing us with beer for Thanksgiving dinner tonight!! How cool is that? I do think that wine would go better with dinner, but I love beer. One of the crew members commented that it would be like a redneck Thanksgiving. I told him that I wouldn't have it any other way.

This holiday has made me realize how important my friends and family are to me. I am thankful for them and their love. I am thankful for Mitch, and the love we share. I am thankful for my health. I am thankful for the education and wisdom I have received over the years. I am thankful for this experience of getting to be a part of VOCALS-Rex. I am thankful for the beer I will drink at dinner. Most of all I am thankful for life.

Take this day and let those around you know you love them. I think that love is the one emotion that makes us human and connects each of us on a level beyond the material world. Love is love, no matter who shares it.




Happy Thanksgiving,
Jake

Windows to the Universe

While at sea, I am taking part in a community outreach project through UCAR (University Center for Atmospheric Research). The goal is get kids K-12 interested in the science that we are doing. Two of my 'postcards' have been posted, so I thought I would link to them. They give a good example of what I am doing on the boat.

Doppler Radar

Moonlight Balloon Launch

Living Quarters

I thought I would provide an update with photos of my living quarters. It is strange because I am taking pictures to show everyone what my room for a month will be, and at the same time someone lives in the room all of the time. It is small and cramped, but my roommate Tyrone will be living in their a hell of a lot longer than me.

I guess my biggest complaint is the size of the beds. They are maybe 3 feet wide, and a little over 6 feet long. I am kind of a big guy. When I close the curtain at night, and it is dark, I feel like I am in a coffin. Then in the room there are the noises. We are on the outter hull. So there is constantly water splashing up against it, and it sounds like when you take your car to a car wash, and you sit inside. There is storage above the room, so when seas get rough, all sorts of stuff starts to fall over and clang around. Then there is the motion of the ship, which is sometimes strong enough to physically roll you over. This scared me a few times since I am on the top bunk.

I guess it all adds to the charm of it. The thing I am most grateful for, is that I am working so much that by the time I go to bed I am utterly exhausted and I don't care.

My room:


My bed:


My bathroom:

Where has all the rum gone?

Greetings from the SE Pacific! I am finally settling in nicely to my new life at sea. I am not longer sea sick, and I feel like a human being again. Those days that I was sick, I didn't know if I could last 3+ weeks at sea.

If you look at our online tracker, you can see we are making a butterfly figure. We are chasing an ocean eddy. The eddy originated near the coast, where there is significant upwelling. The eddy moves the cold water from the coast westward out into the Pacific. The edge of the eddy was sampled the past 2 days, we were trying to make our way into the middle of it and sample. The oceanographers use a tool called a CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth) instrument, which is dropped into the water and lowered to near a depth of 1km. The instrument measures velocities in the water, and takes samples at different depths. These samples are then studied by the chemist onboard. They have been doing these samples all day today. Unfortunately it looks like we might have lost the eddy. It might have moved or dissipated. Later on today I will be helping in one of the CTD measurements. See picture below for the instrument being brought back onto the ship.




I thought I would show a picture of my work area. I am conveniently seated at the end of the lab, so I can see the entire main lab. I am also behind the chief scientist, so I can stay up to date on what is going on. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else on ship.

Onward!

We just turned into the wind... which means less ship motion side to side! I feel so much better! Too bad we are only on this heading until morning.

nausea ad naueam?

Greetings from the Southeast Pacific. We have been at sea for almost 48 hours. I have been sick for about 98% of them. It will probably take me a while to complete this post because I can only look at a computer screen for about 10 minutes before needing to go outside and stare at the horizon (the only thing that is stationary).
I was lucky to make friends with a lot of the grad students on the boat, and they have generously offered me drugs. The boat moves a lot more than I thought it would. I am guessing my body undergoes a total displacement of 10 feet every 2-3 seconds. It is exhausting. Luckily I think that I am nearing the end of my sickness and am finally getting used to the sea life.

I am working on ironing out my routine and what needs to be done on boat. I am finding it really really hard to focus, so it takes me 3x as long to do anything as it normally would. The soundings are definitely the highlight of my day. We have a competetion to see who can get the highest sonde. I am leading with just over 25km. Sergio thinks he can beat me. The winner gets a bottle of scotch.

FYI, the Chilean observer was able to make it on the boat. So we will be able to use all of the data we obtained early in the cruise. I feel bad for her, she is only 1 of 4 people on board who speak spanish.

There have been some concern about our return to Chile. While in port in Arica, the Ron Brown was not able to re-fuel because there was not high enough octane in port. So now we have to return to Iquique before going to Arica to get fuel. This means 1 of 2 things. We can cut the trip short, and go to Iquique before Arica and get us back to Arica on schedule. Or we can just show up late in Arica. There are alot of pissed off people because depending on what is decided, we might have to change our flights and many of the scientist will have to change their plans to ship home their instruments.

Life on ship (between illness bouts) has been ok. I enjoy the company of a lot of the people. This might change after 20+ more days, but I hope it doesn't. The food isn't that bad.. not great.. but not horrible. All meals are really early, with dinner being over by 5:30, leaving all of us who work late with PB&J sandwiches. It is easy to get away, by going out on the deck.

The most exciting thing that has happend so far has been the low passes by the aircraft near the ship. Everyone goes out on deck and takes photos and waves. It is good clean fun. Well except for the filthy exhaust from the C-130 which screws up the aerosol measurements. I have a video, but it would take me forever to upload it.

That is it for now. I will try to update with photos in the coming days!

Jake

Down with the Brown

I moved onto the Ron Brown today. My stateroom is slightly larger than I thought it was going to be. I haven't met my roommate though. He is a cook, and I have heard he is a nice guy. Apparently the cooks are the best to room with because they have a strict set schedule, so I will know when to expect him in the room. I haven't decided if I am staying on ship tonight or not. Some of my new friends have hotel rooms tonight, and there are extra beds. It might be good to get one more good sleep on land.

I have been spending the afternoon getting my work station set up. I moved some things around from the way Matt had everything set up. There was nothing wrong with his set up, but I am kind of picky about my work area. I will try to upload some pictures later.

Tomorrow we have a meeting at 8am, when we will be instructed on what is and isn't allowed on ship. We don't sail until 11pm tomorrow night. There is an issue with the Chilean observer. Since we are collecting vasts amounts of data in Chilean waters, the government sends an official with us I guess to monitor what we are actually doing. If that person is not on ship, none of the data collected in Chilean waters can be used, ever. The woman who is doing this tested positive for TB, but she claims it is due to the TB vaccination she received and had a false positive. They are doing more tests to see if this is the case, and we are waiting on her results to sail. There will be a lot of pissed off scientist if something happens and she doesn't make it aboard.

That is it for now. I'm going to walk around the city for a bit, and maybe grab a bite to eat.

Jake

Clean Underwear

My luggage came last night! I caught a ride with Dr. Bruce Albrecht from the University of Miami to the airport. His group is working down in Iquique, about 300km south of us. He rented a car and drove up to Arica for the meeting today. He had to go to the airport to pick up one of his students and offered me a ride. I am so glad my luggage is here, I no longer have to stress out about whether it will get here before the boat leaves.

Today is the scientific objectives and findings meeting. I look forward to see what everyone on ship is doing.

That's it for now,
Jake

Arica

So I finally made it to Arica. I got here last night around 8:30pm local time. Of course my luggage was not here. It took me about 20 minutes to communicate to the person working the airline booth about my luggage. She told me it is in Santiago, and it should be here today. I am waiting until about 6 to go up to the airport and see if it is there.

Today has been a very productive day. Matt and I went over everything I will be doing while at sea. It appears that nothing is going to be too hard, but there is just a lot that needs to be taken care of on a daily basis. He worked out a pretty rigid schedule, and I am going to attempt to stick to what he has done. It appears to have worked. Between taking cloud photos every 2 hours, and releasing weather balloons every 4 hours, making sure the radar is working, processing all of the radar data, and finally sending all data back to NCSU I should have my work cut out for me.

For reasons not known by me at this time, the departure of the ship is delayed until Sunday, so I will get a few extra days here to experience the country. I will also be using this time to get some school work done, but I am not sure how much time I will actually have to devote to school work on ship.

Arica has been a cool town to visit. It is much more European than I originally thought. All of the locals also seem to be very happy. The food is good and pretty cheap. My hotel is next door to the casino, so I might try to sneak in a trip. See below for some pictures I have taken.



Flying from Santiago to Arica along the Chilean coast


The Ron Brown

Coastal view

That is it for now,
Jake

Thom Yorke in Santiago?

So, something interesting about the Santiago airport. There are flat panel TVs everywhere. From my seat I can see 14. That is not the best part. All they are showing are Radiohead music and concert videos. Old Radiohead and new Radiohead... Thom Yorke is everywhere I look. I love Santiago.

Also sitting here, the smog has disspiated a little. There are snow capped mountains in the distance. Once again, my photography skills have failed. But I should probably just blame it on the glass panes and low visibility.


View from my terminal. You can almost make out the snow on the mountains.

Oh look... it's the Karma Police.

Jake

Lost in Translation

So I made it to Chile. I’m currently in the Santiago International Airport, on my long layover. I got here around 10:00am local time. 8:00am NC time. Once I got here I had to pay a $131 Visa fee. It appears that only people coming from English speaking nations (USA, Canada, UK, and Australia) have to pay it. I find that interesting. After waiting in line to pay the fee for about 45 minutes, I had to wait another 90 minutes in immigration. Finally, I made my way to the baggage claim, and my luggage was nowhere to be found. I went to the American Airlines help desk, and they informed me that my luggage was probably somewhere between Raleigh and here, but it definitely wasn’t here. The woman saw I was upset, and told me that it usually only takes an additional day to find lost luggage. I have to wait until I am in Arica to file a lost claim though. Only the final destination airport can officially help me. This worries me because I figure even less people will speak English in Arica compared to Santiago. There are a few things in my luggage that I really wish I had put in my carry on now. My power adapter being one of them, so I am trying to conserve my computer battery as much as possible, but I really wanted to update here. Also there are two hard drives that we need on ship, one to replace the non-working lap top, and an external hard drive for bringing data back to the states. The ship doesn’t leave until Friday, so they still have a couple of days to get me my bag, but I can’t help but be a little pessimistic. At least I have a change of clothes and a few toiletries with me.

On a lighter note. Flying along the coast to Santiago and seeing the Andes was amazing. At first there were a lot of low clouds and only the highest peaks stuck out. Then as the day progressed, and the clouds burned off, we could see more and more. The mountains are red, and have very little vegetation on them. These are definitely the highest mountains I have ever seen, and it was a great experience seeing them from the air. I attempted to take pictures, but the bright clouds made the images white washed. I might have a better opportunity on my next flight.

The flights weren’t bad. I got to fly out of the new terminal at RDU, which was really nice. I didn’t get as much sleep on the red-eye flight that I would have liked, but there is a starbucks in the Santiago domestic terminal. I have been refueling on caffeine all morning, and they have free internet! Being here I wish I spoke more Spanish. Everyone seems to understand a little English, but I wish I could understand everything that is being said around me.

Alright, I should probably give my computer a rest. I have some reading to do for class and my flight isn’t for another 3ish hours.
Everyone hope I get my luggage before my ship departs on Friday!

Me without my luggage in Santiago.


Jake

The eve of departure

Here I am, on the eve of departure for VOCALS. I feel like I have been talking about this trip for a very long time, and it seems sureal that it is here. I have an overwhelming feeling, but don't really know how to explain it. I have anxiety about my travels there. I am a little nervous about actually being able to perform the tasks that I have been assigned in a way that will meet my advisor's expectations. I am excited about this once in a lifetime opportunity to take part in a field study examining a phenomenon that I find incredibily fascinating in a part of the world that I will probably never visit again. I am sad that Mitch was not able to come visit this weekend because of work issues, and I have been sick and didn't want to push my luck and go there before my journey. I know once I am in Arica, most of these feelings will fade, and I will be too involved in the moment to dwell.

The Ronald Brown ports tomorrow morning in Arica, so leg 1 will officially end. My flight leaves Raleigh tomorrow at 7:40pm and I will not arrive until Tuesday night around 8:30pm, and will meet up with Matt. There is a scientific objectives meeting on Thursday where scientist will present what data they were able to collect or not collect during the first part of the study. Matt will be giving a talk on the work we have been doing and the data we have. It will be a good time to see what everyone on the ship is doing, and to meet some of my shipmates. During the remainder of the time, I will be trained by Matt on his daily tasks, which will soon be my daily tasks. He ran into some obstacles along the way, but it sounds like he was able to iron everything out. I am assuming this will make my life much simplier, and I appreciate his help.

While I am on ship I will not have access to a phone, so my communication with the world will be limited to e-mail and chat. The bandwidth on ship is also pretty low, so those avenues will not be as quick and reliable as most are used to. I guess some communication is better than none. I am hoping word will come quickly and correctly about the election results.

That is it for now. I am sure I will update while in transit, so stay tuned.

Me waving bye!




Jake