Tuesday 18th January

Today's contributor: Chris Sweeting

Before I start with my diary entry I thought I would highlight just how much things have changed since the early explorers. The first expedition to sail all the way round the globe was led by Ferdinand Magellan in his flagship, the Trinidad. As we left from the Straits of Magellan, it seemed appropriate to choose his vessel. The Trinidad carried 55 people and weighed 110 tonnes. The RRS James Cook carries only 54 but weighs about 5800 tonnes. We are at sea for only 6 weeks, not years.



Replica of the Trinidad in Punta Arenas


As to what we are currently doing...after a slight reshuffle of plans due to rough weather, we are well into a survey for gas bubbles leaking from the seabed. We use an echosounder that sends a ping of sound into the water and listens for the echo that is bounced back from things it hits. Fish and bubbles both create echoes. We are interested in the gas bubbles because they indicate special areas of biology and chemistry that occur at the bubbles' source.



Laura watching for bubbles on 1 of 15 computer monitors
while Leighton keeps an eye on all the other ships systems


The bubble survey took us all day to complete but plans are in place to get the ROV in the water and retrieve whale bone from the seabed very soon...so check back tomorrow.



January 2011

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February 2011

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