The Research Vessel Fay Slover - owned and operated by Old Dominion University [Ocean, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences - College of Sciences] set out for a routine research day last Sunday... with ME as one of the crew!
Not officially a crew member, but I helped with the lines and the experiment/research.
I was invited to board and observe as part of an outing by a University Event Planning Group - Town & Gown.
We motored out into the Elizabeth River just off the Naval Operations Base, Norfolk and lowered some equipment into the water.
They had a contraption [I later found that it is called the 'rosette'] that could [and did] take water samples as they lowered it deep into the River... all the while, streams of data [salinity, oxygen levels, chlorophyll, etc.] were being read thru a data cable that ran inside the steel tow cable. A computer on board had multiple screens and readouts that were fairly easy to understand, especially with a scientist rattling off continuous explanations.
Here are some recent pictures of the vessel/operations.
:)
Fun was had by all... but... what on earth are they going to do with this data?
I would really like to follow up and see how they use the data collected... perhaps they can see how the water is changing over time as the Navy Pumps their bilge into the river.
:)
No comments:
Post a Comment