Obviously, the engine room houses the engines that run the ship and emit the constant (and reassuring) hum we hear everywhere onboard, inside and out. In fact, it’s a bit of a misnomer to callContinue reading
1876 report of grappling a basalt in the Atlantic
Joe Cann provided the following article, published in 1876, which may be the first scientific report of the recovery of a mid-ocean ridge basalt. Almost 150 years later, we are still collecting them (this time inContinue reading
Transitioning
Our first round of back-to-back dredging (for 11 days) came to a close with a rainbow-blessed deployment, and grew even more exciting when a pod of pilot whales joined us. The “whale watchers” took photosContinue reading
Dredging (Part 2): The People
On May 6 we posted a description of the various equipment involved in dredging. In this post, we describe the roles of the 8 or so people needed to safely and efficiently dredge the oceanContinue reading
Sympathy Strike
Josh is a member of the University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE) Union and today they are participating in a sympathy strike in support of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). Continue reading
Less Rocks, More Biology and Art
Today we are sharing some photos with you that do not include rocks. The morning watch folks woke up to a decorated lab (by the night watch team) and signs that celebrated the mid-point ofContinue reading
Collecting Rocks (Dredging, Part 1)
From one perspective, dredging the ocean floor for rocks is a rudimentary undertaking – blindly dragging a rugged basket on the ocean floor to try to scoop up rocks. But in fact, dredging involves aContinue reading
Big Pillow Lavas, Clouds and Calm Seas
Dredging is going great and so far every basket has recovered lava rocks–some very big (see photos below) and some smaller, some very young and glassy, and some older and weathered. We also had aContinue reading
This one is for the Captain and Crew!
We wanted to introduce the captain and the crew on the R/V Sally Ride earlier, but what better time than after that remarkably executed rescue (see A Rescue in the Equatorial Pacific, posted on MayContinue reading
We Are on A Dredge Roll!
Our 11-day dredging schedule started immediately after the rescue and, so far, we have had successful dredges from the East Pacific Rise and Segments 2 and 3 of the Cocos-Nazca spreading center (see Scientific Background).Continue reading