Day 2 Instruments are in the water

Sunrise on deck

The spar buoy is prepared to measure waves and bubbles

The spar buoy and a red float marking its tether

The buoy is recovered again

It's day 2 of the cruise and the science programme on the James Clark Ross is well under way. We are in position just west of the Falklands Islands opposite Volunteer Point. When we were waiting for the ship toget ready we didn't have the time to visit this on land - the beach at Volunteer Point is know for its large penguin colony whith several breeding pairs of King penguins. I kept a good lookout but couldn't see any Kings visiting the ship. I did see several groups of Gentoo and Magellanic penguins purpoising past on their way back to the colony. The team studying gas exchanges between the ocean and the atmosphere was busy taking measurements with their spar buoy. It is basically a long yellow rod, which is light at the top and weighted at the bottom, so it rights itself in the water like a float used for coarse fishing. Several instruments are attached to this buoy to measure the activity of the waves (bobbing the buoy up and down) and the effects of breaking waves.

One of the science experiments studies the bubbles that form when a wave breaks. Some bubbles are microscopic so they stay under water for a while. I just takes a glass of mineral water to see that bigger bubbles rise quicker than smaller ones. These bubbles trap gasses from the air and transfer them into the ocean and vice versa they also take onboard dissolved gasses from the ocean and transfer them back into the atmosphere. The ocean is practically "breathing" every time a wave breaks.

One of the scientists who are studying the bubbles is Helen Czerski who writes a blog on the science pages of the Guardian newspaper. Her blog explains much her work better and also gives some more insight into the science onboard our cruise. The link to the series of articles is: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/series/scientific-log-southern-ocean

The photos above show a beautiful sunrise out at sea, and the work with the yellow spar buoy. During measurements the buoy remains tethered to the ship, so it can easily be pulled back to the side and hoisted over the gunwhales with a crane.