Log Post: A Chief Scientist’s Thoughts on Falkor

The bumpy sea abated through the night, and by morning, the winds were light and the sea a confused wash of old and dying waves. We steam along at our preferred MVP speed of eight knots, and sample with particular purpose. We’ve used the MVP to find exact locations across the continental shelf front for our … Continued

Log Post: Blurred Lines and Shear Brilliance

Dr. Kelvin Richards, the Principal Investigator on the Mixing Up The Tropical Pacific Cruise beams with excitement at the prospect of collecting new data. For him, this cruise is a significant step forward, or east, to obtain long awaited information. After working in the western equatorial Pacific for many years, Dr. Richards is curious to see … Continued

Log Post: Predicting the Ocean on the Ocean

“All models are wrong. Some models are useful” – George E.P. Box, Mathematician Predicting the ocean physical environment – the tides, currents, water temperature, etc., requires a mathematical model capable of capturing the important physical processes. Luckily for us, Isaac Newton discovered many moons ago that force equals mass times acceleration that in turn led to … Continued

Person: Ko-ichi Nakamura

Ko-ichi studies marine geology including hydrothermal and gas hydrate sites in various settings. Subseafloor fluid emission makes variety of geologic phenomena on the seafloor as well as variety of chemical and biological process in the water column. He joined the first 2009 expedition in the Cayman Trough utilizing HROV Nereus on the Cape Haterras with … Continued

Log Post: Falkor’s crew and their Essentials

Anyone’s first experience traveling on the open ocean can be strange and overwhelming, but I’ve been so well taken care of onboard R/V Falkor, it has basically become a floating home away from home. The crew have gone out of their way to help with everything. You don’t hear people saying “That’s not my job” —everything … Continued

Log Post: Student Opportunities: Becoming a Marine Technician

I have been onboard R/V Falkor for a week now, and have had the opportunity to intermingle with each of the departments, learning every possible aspect of the ship.Falkor’s crew is divided into four major departments: deck, engineering, interior, and science. Each group plays a very important role in the daily life of a research vessel. However, … Continued

Log Post: Women in Marine Science

For most people, 2020 will forever be known as the year of cancelled plans. For a small group of students, the last months of 2020 brought an opportunity that none of us could have planned: the opportunity to go on the R/V Falkor to get hands-on experience in marine geoscience, thanks to the Schmidt Ocean … Continued

Log Post: Catching the Wave!

A very big part of this project depends on a piece of equipment called the ADCP (acoustic Doppler current profiler).

Log Post: Plume Contest Review

Options are narrowing and a winner may be in sight You might be wondering how our Hydrothermal Hunt is going – and perhaps more importantly – you might be wondering how you are doing in our betting pool. (You have made a guess as to where we’ll find the biggest hydrothermal plume, right?) A recap: … Continued