Here are our prior photos for June:
Weekends:
If you saw these, would you eat them?
I wouldn't either, but some of my new science friends insisted that they were really good, so I tried.
And I liked them! The thing on the left is called a Ramutan (the spikey one) and the long peanut looking thing is a Tamarind. No, I am not making up these names. So "Skipey", once you peel that stuff off, looks and tastes like a grape, really good. And the peanut has a mushy thing inside that looks like a dried finger and tastes like a sweet date. The lumps are seeds. Great science, huh?
Dredge UP
When we get ready to send out the dredge, we signal to the winch operator. Ron is giving a thumbs up which means, of course, to start pulling in the steel cable. The cable is a braided steel wire about the diameter of a finger and can support several thousand pounds of force!
Once the dredge is lowered, the science team and crew operate the winch from inside the ship. No one is allowed on the back deck because, if the cable did snap, it could turn into a thousand foot whip.
SAFE IS GOOD!
It is Not Really a Lure. Its' a Real Fish!
During the first dredge on June 21st, we came upon a crust of sedimentary rock. The result was that we did GET ROCK, but since this type of rock was relatively recent, it was not the type of rock that allows us to analyze and date the area.
We did, however, bring up a visitor who was also exploring the area. This fish is a type of trigger or file fish and was about 8cm (or 3 inches) in length.
Phuket, Thailand, June 16-18
Here is the RV Roger Revelle at the deep ship dock in Phuket, Thailand. This is the day before departure and the crane on the ship was loading and unloading the supplies that we would need for the next two months at sea.
The crew, and scientists were busy stowing gear, going to the beach, running up to the store for last minute stuff to take with them, relaxing and looking at land because it was going to be a long time before we would see it again.
updated July 1, 2007 from the Indian Ocean
Read more about our June front page pictures
June 27th.
Here we have our 4th dredge. We were in 4,000 meters of water on the edge of a volcanic ridge. Once the dredge was near the bottom, the captain drifted the Revelle across the edge so that we pulled the cable up along the ridge, collecting dozens of volcanic rocks from an ancient landslide. The rocks on this table are only a part of the "catch". They are primarily metamorphozed basalt.
Check this out!
In the second dredge, we didn't catch any fish, but we did find a fossil. This is a fossilized sea urchin, or if you want to be particular, an echinoderma.
Say that three times fast!
The science team that is studying rocks had a talk on the day after our dredge. It was titled "How to Date a Rock". See, scientists have a sense of humor; an enthusiastic scientist was so happy with one of the basalt rocks that she brought it up to dinner with her to show everyone. REALLY! (and we have only been at sea for a week.)
Oh yes!
Our initial passage over to the Ninetyeast Ridge was actually very exciting. To the north was a tropical low pressure region that caused high winds over most of the Indian Ocean. Best yet, there were nice steep waves because we were in shallow water too.
We were also going directly upwind, so our "relative" wind speed was even higher. At one point during the first night we recorded gusts up to 63 miles per hour.
Since the ship had just left port and most people were not accustomed to the motion, there were a few "uncomfortable" scientists. No, let me be more clear; there were lots of people who were green and seasick!
The RV Roger Revelle
This image of the RV Roger Revelle was taken by helicopter off the south shore of Oahu. (not far from Waikiki Beach)
It is interesting; the ship was built in 1994 and has traveled and explored most of the exotic parts of the world. Several of the crew have been on expeditions to the Antarctic, to New Guinea and to most of the Pacific islands...
