January 8th, 2011
Today was a little more relaxed and comfortable as we settle into our new life here. I started switching nose cones on the REMUS’s to get all the right instruments on the right vehicles. We will have one vehicle that is measuring salinity, temperature, depth, water velocity/volume scattering, Colored Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM), Chlorophyll a (plant matter), Turbidity (suspended particulate and biological matter), and upwelling/downwelling light at 7 different wavelengths in the visible light spectrum.
The other vehicle will measure salinity, temperature, depth, water velocity/volume scattering, Chlorophyll a, and Turbidity. The two vehicle were not in these configurations when they arrived, which is why I have to switch them around.
The station also had a visit from a small cruise vessel called “Big Fish”. They got a tour of the station and Mark and Matt Oliver (who is running gliders and working with satellite data) gave a small presentation of the types of underwater vehicles that are here at Palmer Station and what their goals were.
We have 4 gliders and 2 REMUS’s right now. This is unbelievable since there has only been 1 REMUS on station before and couple gliders, but none at the same time. A glider uses a piston to change its volume or displacement of water, which allows it to sink or float in the water column. This allows it to use minimal battery power and stay out in the water for weeks at a time. It takes similar measurements to the ones I described above and moves at 0.5 knots. The REMUS’s use a propeller and fins to move up and down in the water column and can move at speeds up to 5 knots. Since they move faster, they use up power faster and need to be picked up after ~10 hours.
After the tour we took a zodiac out and launched one of the gliders, which is out collecting data. You can find it here (http://marine.rutgers.edu/cool/auvs/index.php?did=195&view=imagery) if you want to check on it.
Mark and Matt had a meeting with the penguin group to talk about plans for the next couple of weeks. The penguin group already have an established sampling routine so it is important work into their routine. The insect group went out collecting again as did the penguin group and other scientists continued to do their work.
The station works a half day on Saturdays and then has House Mouse followed by a station meeting. House Mouse involves pulling jobs out of a hat and then cleaning the whole station for the next hour. Mark and I worked with a group in the kitchen.
The rest of the evening was spent putting the REMUS units together and then relaxing. We watched Icebound, which is about a woman at the South Pole station who discovers she has breast cancer during the winter where there are no flights in or out for eight months. It is fairly good depiction of what life can be like down here.
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