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Blog Entry 4 of 4 Cruising for Carbon

Why go to one of the windiest latitudes on Earth to learn about future global warming? Scientists from around the U.S., including CU’s Ludovic Bariteau, with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, are embarking on a 6-week research cruise to measure how much greenhouse gas the Southern Ocean swallows up during high winds and choppy seas. Read more and watch videos at http://cires.colorado.edu/science/field/gasex/

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One Last Storm before Dry Land

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Contributed by: Adriana Bailey on 4/10/2008

After a handful of extraordinarily calm and sunny days, we've left our study site and begun the journey back to terra firma. Our destination: Montevideo, Uruguay.

We were scheduled to arrive in port on April 10th, but the other night we encountered a low pressure system that pounded us like nothing before. We're currently stopped dead, bow into the wind, and bravely facing the waves. Winds have been force 9 on the Beaufort scale, reaching over 41 knots, and the waves have been eye height with the bridge crew - ironically, great conditions for collecting more flux samples!

Right now, feelings amongst the crew are mixed. We are all very happy to have successfully completed our research mission, but we're excited to head home. And we are, of course, very tired.

The movie room last night was crowded as ever, a sure sign that all of us are trying to get some R&R after an intense sampling campaign. Conversations have been along the lines of "Imagine the first nice meal we're going to have once we reach port..." and "Can't wait to trade my small bunk for a nice, big, cozy bed." And everyone's talking about having a good, cold beer again! (I've been missing wine, myself.)

So here we are in our last days at sea, packing boxes and writing cruise reports in the intense rolling during the storm. In my case, I'll wait to pack in port with the next crew, who'll be participating in a research cruise from Montevideo to Barbados.

If all goes as planned, April 16th I'll be back home in Colorado and can start processing (cautiously) the data we've been collecting.

Already we've produced some preliminary results, but they need more analysis before going public. In particular, we need to do quality control on the flux measurements and remove bad data points (like when the wind was blowing from the back of the ship or when the ship was maneuvering...). When that's done, we should know a lot more about gas transfer under high wind conditions in the Southern Ocean.

To conclude this last post, I'd like to say that I've had many memorable moments on this cruise and have enjoyed sharing them through the blog!

To quote the book Ships of Discovery and Exploration by Lincoln P. Paine: "How the wind roars through the sailing ship's ringing! How magnificent is its sound!"

Another author Villiers wrote: "Though it brings us only work - hard, dangerous, tremendous, Herculean work of a kind people ashore can never know - we yet can feel the glory of the roar of the wind."

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Submitted By: Gladys Mercier

posted on 4/14/2008 @ 6:11:21 PM

Rated Blog Entry

Sounds like an exciting cruise.

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Adriana Bailey

Boulder , CO

Adriana Bailey has posted 4 blog entries and 0 comments since joining on 3/10/2008. Adriana Bailey 's average blog rating is 5.

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