31 October - And away we go…
The third ADEON sampling cruise has begun – EN626 left the dock in Narragansett, Rhode Island at 9am this morning. EN626 is the cruise acronym and stands for the ship (EN = RV Endeavor) and the number indicates that this is the 626th research cruise the Endeavor has done. The ship was launched in 1976, but it’s still a beauty as can be seen by the photo last night of the vessel at the dock.
There are 14 scientists aboard the vessel for this trip, including several veterans as well as some folks who haven’t been to sea before. I’m the Chief Scientist for this cruise which means I decide (in conjunction with our ADEON project lead PI Jen Miksis-Olds who is also onboard and the Captain of the RV Endeavor) where the ship is going and what we’re doing when we get to our study sites. Sadly, being Chief Scientist does not allow me to have twice as many cookies as everybody else on board.
We’re steaming down to our northern-most site off the coast of Virginia – however the marine forecast is “less than best” (as a British colleague of mine would say) so it’s not clear whether the sea state (waves, wind) will allow us to work safely at that site. It’ll take us about a day and a half to get to the site so we’ll keep an eye on things and make a determination if we need to further south to get started on our science for the trip. We’ll have at least two blog posts each day during the cruise so please check back regularly to see what is happening on the trip.
Joe
