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Oceanographers, marine biologists, acoustic researchers, a Student Opportunities Participant, and an Artist-At-Sea: the team of the ‘Listening for Cryptic Whales Species’ cruise has come on board for an exciting cruise that focuses on investigating species of whales around the main Hawaiian Islands. This includes species of beaked whales, which have been called “the least understood … Continued

Kaena Point on the island of Oahu feels like the end of the line for many island residents.

Metals are present in our ocean, this is nothing new to us. Scientists have been measuring metals for decades and have a fairly good idea of their average concentration at different ocean depths. Some of these metals are very abundant, including ones that belong to the alkali metal and alkaline earth metal group, such as … Continued

“Have you ever done a XBT cast?” John Fulmer asks. I have not, but I am excited to learn about another device used for deep-water oceanography. He hands me a cylindrical tube fastened in a holder that looks a bit like a caulk gun. At the point of the cylinder is a small pin that … Continued

When I step out of the van, I set my bags down on the pavement and look up at the R/V Falkor for the first time. Compared to the massive cargo ships at port it is small, but the research vessel appears huge to me. I can’t help but feel nervous. While I have a … Continued

If you’ve been paying any attention at all to the news in the last, say, two decades, you will know that the temperature of the ocean is increasing.

Once the LRAUVs Opah and Aku rendezvoused with the Falkor in the center of the eddy, it was time to switch them from survey mode to tracking and sampling mode. Our target eddy feature, the Deep Chlorophyll Max (DCM, discussed here), is indicated as a bright red/orange color in the data visualizations of Opah’s sensor … Continued

After a bumpy night of sailing from Kahe (West O‘ahu) to the south of O’ahu and Moloka‘i, avoiding [most of] the roughest seas in the channel, we have arrived at our target eddy of interest – a cyclonic eddy (shown in blue) just North of Maui. We have been tracking this particular eddy for several … Continued

How even ideal conditions at sea can be a challenge for a research vessel. The R/V Falkor is currently stationed at 1° North and 170° West, heading North, conducting a 10-day time-series, looking at small scale mixing throughout the Equatorial Pacific. Jennifer and I have been onboard for long enough to realize that conducting science … Continued

One of the joys of exploration is getting surprised. And boy, were we surprised when we found a lava flow on the seafloor that looks like it could have erupted yesterday! It is right in the area where we found big plumes and the most intense chemical anomalies during the last CTD tow-yo on what we … Continued