Log Post: Follow The Tide

“I wouldn’t really say that any day at sea is particularly normal,” says Colleen Peters, Lead Marine Technician onboard of R/V Falkor´s MEGATERA expedition, as she talks about the changing nature of oceanic expeditions. “Despite our best efforts, anything can happen and we have to be prepared.” When it comes to working at sea, plans … Continued

Log Post: A Day Onboard

As the MEGATERA cruise proceeds, the workflow and roles of crew have become second nature. The video above gives an inside look at how daily operations function onboard R/V FALKOR.  

Log Post: The Oath

Those in charge of keeping the night watch must first take an oath. Not really. But they like to joke about it, because the night watch can get pretty exciting and we seem to have many Game of Thrones fans here on board R/V Falkor. Night gathers, and now my watch begins… The main job … Continued

Log Post: Detective Work

“The quality of the data is great,” announces Dr. Singh at the daily morning meeting on R/V Falkor’s bridge. For days, the ship has been navigating slowly, at just over 4 knots, while meticulously obtaining detailed imagery of an enigmatic portion of the Wharton Basin’s floor. This exercise translates into more than 530 Km of … Continued

Log Post: A Most Rebellious Plate

Most tectonic action goes on plate boundaries, its interior is not supposed to do much, but somebody forgot to tell the Indo-Australian plate. And so, on April 11th 2012 it did what nobody thought was possible: it produced the largest strike-slip earthquake in our planet’s history. A massive magnitude 8.6 followed by an equally baffling … Continued

Log Post: Water and Life

The existence of humanity intrigued him, and that is why Dr. Nugroho Hananto, from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and co-leader of the MEGATERA expedition, decided to dedicate his life to marine sciences. Hananto knew that life originated in the ocean, but he needed to know more. He was aware of how challenging the … Continued

Log Post: Into Outer Space

In our previous post Dr. Satish Singh, co-leader of the MEGATERA expedition shared his personal experience on the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and the tsunami that followed. “I was shocked by it. I felt that as a marine geophysicist I was best positioned to understand what happened. Most earthquakes that seismologists talk about happen on … Continued

Log Post: Unlocking Tsunami Secrets – MEGATERA Video 2

The region west of Sumatra in Indonesia is particularly prone to tsunami-spawning earthquakes and will likely endure a major hit in the near future, making it an important geological laboratory. Learn how the science team on R/VFalkor is conducting an unprecedented, high-tech expedition designed to clarify the mechanisms that cause tsunamis, and help millions to … Continued

Log Post: The Call of the Seas

Dr. Satish Singh sits down and begins with a confession: “I was not a marine geophysicist when I started in Cambridge, I was a theoretical seismologist. However, after a couple of cruises I got involved in marine science and was hooked.” Soon after, Dr. Singh rose to become one of the top marine geophysicists in … Continued

Log Post: Everything you wanted to know about the science behind MEGATERA

What is the Mentawai Gap-Tsunami Earthquake Risk Assessment -MEGATERA- expedition? MEGATERA is a scientific expedition that aims to gather information on the most seismic area of the world, which is an area with a lot of earthquake/ earth-movement activity. This information will help create better disaster-mitigation plans. During the expedition scientists will focus on a … Continued