2011.01.17
21:15HST
Barna, A
R/V Kilo Moana

Conditions

  • Lat: 17 36.909 N
  • Lon: 168 30.354 W
  • Speed: 0 Kts
  • Heading: Holding Station
  • Sal: 34.541 PSU
  • SST: 26.26 °C
  • Pres: 1012 mbar
  • Air Temp: 23 °C

Weather and Sea State Observations

Quite a nice day, typical tropical clouds on the horizon. Swell height perhaps 3-4 meters. Cloud cover is 25%.

Journal Entry

Quite a full day today. Starting at 0400 for my first watch. I was quickly brought up to speed on all the things I will be doing as a CTD watchstander for the coming week. These duties include checking all the data gathering instruments, deploying and recovering the package, and communicating with the winch operator.

Things went smoothly on this first cast, which started when I was sleeping. As such, I only had to do the recovery portions of the watch. One interesting situation we are in though, is the altimeter for the instrument package is broken. This means to ensure we don’t hit the bottom, a pinger was placed on the package and a display is going in the lab showing the various echoes, a rather old fashioned way of doing things.

We were done in time for breakfast, which was biscuits and gravy, perhaps one of my favorite things for any meal. After breakfast I watched the mooring recovery for a bit before heading off to catch some sleep.

After sleeping I did some studying of the Japanese language. Something I have been slacking a bit on, and well, I feel shame for having slacked on it. Hopefully I will be back up to speed by the time I get back.

After studying for a bit, my second watch of the day started at 1600. A CTD deployment and recovery. With a short break for dinner. It is now getting late and I should sleep to be ready for my next watch dark and early. Perhaps some star gazing is in order before though.