… bis wir Guam morgen erreichen und unsere spannende Reise mit der Falkor vorbei ist.
Posts tagged as “Leben & Arbeiten an Bord”
Am Montag haben wir in den Morgenstunden (Ortszeit) mit der R/V Falkor den Äquator überquert. Nach Neptuns Willen, dem Gott der Meere, muss man die Tradition einer Taufzeremonie über sich ergehen lassen, wenn man zum ersten Mal auf einem Schiff den Äquator von der Nord- auf die Südhalbkugel überquert. Wir sind eigentlich genau in die entgegengesetzte Richtung über den Äquator gefahren, da sich die Besatzung der Falkor aber nicht die Zeremonie entgehen lassen wollte, hat der Kapitän einen kleinen Trick angewandt.
Mein Name ist Lea, ich bin Master-Studentin an der Universität Oldenburg und bin das erste Mal auf einem Forschungsschiff unterwegs. Ich versuche euch heute das Forschen und Leben auf der R/V Falkor durch einige meiner ersten Eindrücke zu vermitteln.
The focal point of our research on board are bacteria in seawater and sediment. These bacteria are so small that they can only be seen under a microscope. But we are also interested in something that can’t even be seen with a microscope: dissolved compounds that are found in amazing variety in seawater. We want to understand where these compounds come from and how they are used by bacteria.
The smallest forms of life in the ocean, bacteria, are the central focus of our research on board. Bacteria are single celled life forms; they are so small that we cannot see them without a microscope. Nevertheless, we want to know how many bacteria there are in the ocean; how are they counted?
Yesterday we passed through the Aleutian Islands. The Aleutian Islands are a chain of volcanic islands dividing the Bering Sea from the Pacific Ocean. We were lucky: the visibility was good, and it was still light outside, so that we could see one of the islands relatively clearly, and two others could be seen (using binoculars) on the horizon. South of the islands is the Aleutian trench, where the Pacific Ocean is nearly 8000 meters deep.
The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, just as the North Sea is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean. But the Bering Sea covers four times as much area as the North Sea and is also much deeper. For our last two stations, we will deploy our instruments once more to depths of 3500 meters, in order to collect sediments and water.
…and what happens after the video?
Tonight is the time for time-travel! At midnight, the day will start over. Today is Tuesday May 24th; tomorrow is also Tuesday, May 24th. Tomorrow becomes today…
For more than three weeks, we have been underway aboard the Sonne as we transect the Pacific. While we carry out our research around the clock, others are also working night and day. The Sonne does not operate itself - the engines are continuously working. Moreover, the 70 people aboard need power, water, and heat, and we need special technical support for our equipment.
The brand-new CTD from ICBM – Germany’s largest CTD - is being used for the first time during this research cruise with the Sonne. In addition to valuable data, the CTD brings 24 large bottles of seawater from different depths on deck. Not ‘just’ water, but up to 480 liters with every cast.