by Anne Scherhag, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz
It is incredible how fast the time is passing on board the Meteor: Today is already hump day. I can’t believe it is already our 10th day in the South Atlantic, and I guess, the second half will pass even faster due to being settled into our routines with the daily duties.
As a scientist from a completely different research area (in my PhD-thesis, I am searching for anti-inflammatory substances to treat different chronic diseases), I am glad that I got the chance to participate in this expedition, and to sample for another research group. It is a great experience, for me, working and living on board the Meteor, and if I ever have to chance to go again on a research vessel, I will definitely say “of course!”
On board, I am collecting persistent organic pollutants both in the air, using a high volume sampler, and in surface seawater, passively sampled from an under-keel seawater jet using silicon rubber sheets. In addition, I help the other groups with their sampling, and get an insight into the different devices and methods being used during this expedition.
Despite my work, I follow the daily lectures on ocean-related topics with great interest. Presentations on different themes like the interaction of the ocean and atmosphere or ocean circulation help us to learn more about the other projects. Without having any prior education in oceanography, marine chemistry or anything else ocean-related, the presentations are at a level that I, along with everybody else can follow, and gain a lot of knowledge in the fascinating research areas. Today, we learned more about “eddies”, which are circulating water rings with a typical size of 200km and interesting composition and movement. The main purpose of our cruise is, in fact, to track these eddies from their origin near Cape Town, across the South Atlantic. Now we finally know, what we are doing and why we are here.
Although we work hard, and learn many interesting things, we also have a lot of fun. The legendary “swimming pool” (actually it is installed for sensor calibration) was finally installed today, and the first eddy-simulations have already been performed by rotating the white plastic cup in the pool. Hopefully, tomorrow will be perfect weather to have a refreshing paddle.
Calibration tank – and Swimming pool. Photo: Anne Scherhag
Today, we also have our first trials for the table-soccer competition . Fourteen teams signed up to participate and the tournament will probably last until the end of the cruise. It is a lot of fun to play this game on a moving ship. However, you should not take it too seriously: sometimes the waves are your friend…sometimes your deadly enemy.