Ohhh!!! Is it Day 6 or Day 7 today? It is day 6. We forgot counting the days! That’s how fantastic being on a cruise can be. We lose track of time because we are occupied by our exciting measurements and all the new inputs.
We just passed the Southern tip of Madagascar which shows very interesting phenomena. A large plateau at a depth of 1000 to 2500 meters stretches up to a 1000 km southward. The shallow of depth of the plateau causes upwelling at the northeastern side . During austral summer large phytoplankton blooms occur in this region. It is still poorly understood how they evolve. Even though it’s winter right now, we are excited about the air sample measurements because only few is known about this region. Maybe there are high halocarbon fluxes in this region?

Preparing the CTD in the night. Photo: Kirsten Krüger

Everybody who was interested could volunteer to help with the first CTD sampling during the night. The early risers got up at two o’clock in the night to start preparing the CTD. It lasted till 6 o’clock to take the first samples which everybody was eager to get. After the water samples were collected, they had to be analyzed in the lab, i.e. for pigments of phytoplankton. By filtration of the water samples the pigments were separated and preserved in the freezer for further analysis.
Half of the way of our cruise is behind us. What a milestone! Therefore we are celebrating tonight the Bergfest with a barbecue. Furthermore, tonight is the world cup finals and everybody is excited about it. So please don’t forget your dairies or record books because tonight one of the power houses of world football will be world champions. Germany or Argentina? We will see…
Beside the world cup fever we had one visitor from a distance in the morning… We were not alone, for once.

by Iris Thurnherr and Blessing Kamwi Kamwi