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As the third largest port on California’s coast, San Diego Bay showcases the grip of humanity’s hands on the ocean. From our location, we can see the domineering San Diego-Coronado bridge, flanked by multiple aircraft carriers. We watch as commercial shipping vessels loaded down with cargo make their way into port. But for all of … Continued

The world’s oceans are 30% more acidic today than only 200 years ago. And by the end of this century, ocean acidity is expected to have increased by an incredible 100–150%. Clearly, this does not bode well and you may be wondering what all of this means for the many plants and animals living in … Continued

My name is Kelly Luis and I am a PhD student at the University of Massachusetts-Boston. I study ocean color from remote sensing platforms and on this cruise, I am ground-truthing ocean color measurements from UAVs and satellites. Hawaiian Blue Water Growing up in Hawai’i, the ocean’s blue hues were the backdrop to my childhood. … Continued

I sit awkwardly, muscles tensed, waiting for my target to float into view. My weapon, a glass pipette, poised to strike. Suddenly something gently glides into view, looking deceptively relaxed, with its’ six legs splayed wide, gently feeling the water currents. I slide the pipette carefully into the water, quietly sneaking upon the baby zooplankton … Continued

World firsts, trichodesmium slicks, exciting deployments, skillful recoveries and a few sharks to boot; the past week or so has flown by (quite literally). With so much action packed into such a short period of time, we have to remind ourselves that there are still a few weeks to go! As we begin week two, … Continued

Two action packed days have passed since the Falkor left port on Saturday evening. Despite a shifted storm track, the ship remains outside the most severe weather associated with Tropical Storm Isaac. The ship is currently ‘sneaking up’ behind the storm and heading towards the first ROV dive site, having avoided the storm’s track over … Continued

Picture Mount Everest, and, on top of that, add One World Trade Center four times over (~36,000 ft total), now imagine a credit card (~1 mm) sitting on top. The former gives some sense of scale for the deepest point on planet Earth, the Mariana Trench; the latter is the thickness of the sea surface … Continued

At last, R/V Falkor has entered the Indian Ocean for the first time in her history and is now docked at Henderson, just 35 km (22 miles) south of Perth, where final preparations are made for the upcoming Perth Canyon cruise. Scientists, visitors, and journalists took this opportunity to visit Falkor and participate in a lecture about … Continued

One of the first things we did once we arrived at West Mata volcano was resurvey the seamount with R/V Falkor’s multibeam sonar system. We knew from previous repeated bathymetric surveys that West Mata has had frequent eruptions during the last decade, as we shared in our last blog. The last survey was in March 2016, so … Continued

14 November 2019 marks the bittersweet conclusion to my journey on board the Research Vessel Falkor. As we continue to approach the final destination of our 2,745 nautical mile transit, I am both grateful and overjoyed to have been able to gain the full experience of living life at sea, and I am sad to … Continued