9:27AM

Last night was our first night aboard the Thompson and I can still remember just about everything that happened every minute up until I woke up.  We started the night with long safety and scientific meetings.  We got lectured for a couple of hours on everything from dawning exposure suits, getting MSDS for biohazard chemicals and not taking a shower with the head door open and setting off the fire alarms.  Then the rest of the night was ours.  Some pictures of a beautiful downtown backdrop, ping-pong, tea talk and exploring of the Thompson.  The night capped with a brain busting game of Cranium that ended around midnight when everyone decided to call it quits.  Then for me it began… tossing…. turning… eyes wide open cause I can't sleep in a 2.5' wide x 2.5' high x 7' long metal box with a poor excuse for a mattress.  Around 3:00 or 4:00 AM I thought I was in the middle of a mechanical nightmare, but I was still awake.  The forward thrusters cranked on and the sound of a muted thump as my neighbors head hit the top of his bunk.  The sound was so loud I'd be surprised it didn't wake everyone on the ship.  It was like a combination of NASCAR and Stomp at the Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas at 4:00 in the morning.  It lasted for a few minutes and then the gentle rocking of the Thompson made me queasy and finally put me to sleep for a few hours only to wake to the sound most people dread in the morning; the alarm clock to start the next day.

5:47PM

After breakfast I spent some time trying to find something to do that would prevent me from opening a text book and studying.  First I explored more of the Thompson trying to get lost and almost succeeded.  There was a scientific meeting around noon about our current location and things that still needed to be prepared.  During the lunch hour out location was only at the southern tip of Victoria Canada.  Then I ran into Andy and he was on his way to visit the bridge so I invited myself to tag along.  The bridge has the best seats in the house.  You could see for miles of beautiful mountain tops as we passed through the narrows.  We talked to the 2^nd mate for about 30 minutes about what all the instruments were and how things worked to control the Thompson.  Then I spent the rest of the day helping Rick Keil and the sediment trappers splicing rope.  Apparently, I have a talent for tying knots and finished enough to help the sediment trappers just about finish setting up for their project.  I might have done a bit too much as now my fingers are a bit raw and tender. 

Tonight there aren't any plans.  I've got to study at some point because I have a physical oceanography final to take on Monday and then a climate final on Wednesday. 

March 16, 2008

9:36AM

It's snowing outside right now.  I guess it's a tester for what I can expect to see when we get to Glacier Bay.  As of now, our ETA is around noon on Tuesday.  Yesterday there was a lot of down time.  I was trying to find anything to help past the time without studying, but when you're on a ship there isn't really much to do, especially when the internet is it down.  Last night we were able to watch the sunset while hanging out on the bow of the ship.  It was super windy, but what a sight to see!  The sun set behind some clouds turning the sky bright orange with a foreground of mountain ranges slightly covered in snow.  After dinner we all watched Super Bad and called it quits for the night.  Once again I didn't get a solid night of sleep.  This time though it wasn't the bow thrusters.  We got into some open waters and the weather turned on us.  It started around 2:00AM.  I was rolling across the 2.5' of sleeping space that I had being glad that I wasn't in anything bigger.  The waves crashed on the bow of the ship all night long.  Some soft ones coming with only a muted thump and some giant enough to create loud slapping sound.  The rocking and rolling helped put me out for a little, but rolling 2.5' might wake anyone up.  While I was able to get some shut eye, the rolling of the ship was able to open some of the room's drawers.  At first I didn't know what it was.  I thought the sound was something inside the closet that was just rolling around.  The ship would roll to one side and then there would be a bang.  Then the ship would roll to the other side and another sound.  I finally used the light from my phone to find that 3 of the room's drawers opening and closing.  I probably let it go on for 10 minutes.  I talked to my neighbor this morning and he asked "what the hell was that sound last night coming from your room?  It sounded like your drawers were opening and closing all night?"  I told him that's exactly what it was.  I'm already contemplating what surprises I'm going to experience tonight. 

March 19, 2008

12:19PM

The science had been going on all day and we finally made it as far north as we're gonna get.  Tarr Inlet was an amazing sight never to be forgotten.  Margery Glacier and Grand Pacific Glacier could be seen with a turn of a head.  The weather was a perfect 0^oC and sunny!  Luckily we had tons to do at station 21 and eventually spent almost 4 hours in one spot.  We set sediment traps, deployed the CTD and Go-Flo bottles, did some net tows, and even picked up a park ranger.  Besides all the work, we got lucky enough to watch Margery Glacier calv a few times.  It was tricky business though, as if you turned you're back too soon you'd miss an amazing event.  You could ask about 20 people aboard the Thompson who where unfortunate to miss the calving event.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to capture the calving on camera, but I was able to catch the end of one.  I was talking to Eric Wisegarver when I heard the sound of thunder.  I turned to see a huge chunk of ice the size of a 6 story building begin to fall, but then it stopped and a river of ice started falling in between the gaps.  Don't believe me, check my camera, I got that on video! 

I finally got to start sampling the waters of Glacier Bay and spent the rest of my day in the radiation van inoculating my water with radioactive sodium bicarbonate, incubating for an hour, filtering the phytoplankton and scintillation counting.  The work is repetitive and tedious, but it's gotta get done.  I'm excited to be the first student at UW to use radioactive isotopes in their senior thesis in the last 9 years.  There is some pressure from

certain people about following rules and guidelines, but nothing I can't handle.  There are some concerns about my radioactivity contaminating Andy Clos' water samples, but I've been very careful to avoid taking his water samples and accidentally brushing up against him.  That's how sensitive this work can be.

The night watch or should I say early morning watch from 8PM to 4AM has been pretty forgiving.  Net tows here CTDs there.  We actually mistakenly skipped station 8, so we're going to station 7, then 6 and going back to 8.  Chief scientist Rick Keil, who has been up for almost 24 hours, seemed to be a little irritated about that one.  Cruise planning and timing sometimes is an unforgivable art.  There are several variables to deal with like tides, weather, and having to meet the needs of 21 scientists each with different requirements for their projects.  Well, it's 2:15AM and we're pulling up to one of our last stations.  Working calling so until next time!

March 21, 2008

5:05AM

It's 5:00 AM and my watch has been over for an hour.  I'm currently in the middle of doing one of my incubations so I thought I'd take some time to share with you about our run and dump situation.  I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet, but Glacier Bay National Park won't let us dump our gray water inside the park limits and now it's an issue.  Gray water is the fresh water used by those aboard the Thompson for showering, hand washing, laundry and any other fresh water use excluding toilet water.  The Thompson gray water tank usually fills and dumps in transit about once a day with regular use.  If you all remember, we're spending 4 days inside the park.  Under this constituent, we've been asked to conserve our fresh water usage to a very finite amount.  No showers, no laundry, no running water while brushing your teeth… If we have to shower, then we've been asked to take navy showers:  Get in, get wet, turn the water off, lather, rinse and get out.  We've lasted 3 days, but now our tank is full and must get dumped.  Some of us on watch noticed it was full around 2:00 AM when there was a funky smell in the main lab that I was quoted saying "smells like a** soup".  We've currently stopped all research sampling to head out of the park to dump our gray water.  It will be a 2 hour trip down and out, 2 hours to dump, and 2 hours back up to where we left.  After the water has finished dumping, some of the students have requested to be notified immediately so they can take a shower.  It'll feel nice to be clean again.  Until next time…

March 23, 2008

2:47 PM

Yesterday evening the science inside Glacier Bay National Park officially ended.  4 straight days of CTDs, Go-Flos, Kasten cores, Tsutar cores, Van Bean Grabs, sediment traps, net tows, hand nets, tracking drifters, ADCP, EM300 Multibeam sonar, 3.5kH single beam sonar; all of which can now rest, as can we.  The girls had "Ladies Night" and fancied themselves up in dresses, lipstick, eyeliner and blush only to have to take in the CTD one last time; which by the way must have been the coldest and windiest one of all!  The boys, well we did was boys do, a few tough games of ping-pong, junk food, the movies 300 and Life Aquatic all in the main lab.  Then we learned we were no longer taking the calm and gentle inside passage back to Seattle, but going back though the outside with a weather forecast that called for the grand Pacific Ocean to unleash her power.  We had to make sure anything that could fall over was strapped down… including ourselves.  The night of sleep started with some gentle rocking, but then we hit 20-25 foot swell.  For few, the rocking helped with sleep.  For most the night was more interesting than sleep.  Rocking and rolling so intense I thought I was falling out of the air about 100 times.  There was so much movement our drawers once again didn't stay closed.  They'd have banged all night if I didn't try to constantly keep them closed.  The loud noise of waves slapping and crashing onto the bow of the ship that sounded like the 4^th of July came 4 months early.  I went to be around 1:00 AM and didn't get out of bed until 1:00 PM.  Of those 12 hours my guess is about 3 were used for sleeping.  I've officially dubbed my berthing room "Sleep There Be None".