Day 9 (23Jun)

Location: 43° 58' N - 32° 36' W

Temperature: 20°C

Wind: 25.5 Knots - 310°/North

Hello fellow teachers!

After taking cores, there are many things that we must do. For instance, during this time university professors on the cruise give talks about various topics related to the larger topic. For instance, Dr. Kiki (Helga) Kleiven has presented information about marine sedimentation and the properties of seawater and ocean circulation.

The lectures help us to understand more about the significance of studying ocean sediments.

We also visited the bridge where we saw how complicated and sophisticated the equipment necessary to control the ship is. Despite this very technological aspect, the people controlling the equipment are absolutely indispensable. For instance, if the wind is very strong during a coring effort, someone must control the equipment to keep the boat steady manually with a joystick. Otherwise, coring would be impossible during high winds.

We also visited the building housing the winch system and the network of cables necessary for lowering coring equipment to the ocean floor, into the sediment, and back out again. This equipment can withstand an incredible amount of tension, (~ 1.50 x 10⁵ N on the cable to extract the core, but this tension must be reduced to ~ 200 N on the cabledrums) and is designed very carefully for its purpose. For instance, the density of the cable allows it to be weightless in water so that it does not add extra weight to the system. Seeing this equipment made us appreciate how difficult it is to launch and recover the cores. We have had first-hand experience with these difficulties. Our first attempted Calypso core in the Azores was lost due to the bolts failing. We have no idea why this happened. Our second Calypso core in the Azores was very bent. We are unsure what the core hit to cause this to happen. Yet, a little longer than a week into the mission we have already been able to collect many excellent samples which we have already begun analyzing.

That's all for now. Have a nice day!

Your fellow teachers at sea

Hélder - Jean - Gertrud - Catalina - Angela - Carlo

Day 8 (22 Jun)

Position: 38,33° N / 31,15° W

Weather: Light Skies

Temp: 20,8°C

Wind: 12,6Nts

Hello dear fellow Teachers!

We have now reached the Azores and have started coring. First out was a CASQ core at 2024m depth. It takes about an hour or more to prepare the CASQ and then it takes over half an hour to lower it (1m/sec), and finally over an hour to pull it up again (0.2m/sec when still in the sediment and then again 1m/sec). It takes another hour to dismantle it before we start to process the core. It is an interesting procedure to watch. It is a very dangerous and difficult job for the crew members who are actually operating the coring equipment. After the CASQ the Multicore was sent down, and then the Calypso core. However, bad luck hit us and the whole score equipment got stuck in the bottom and was lost. We then transit to another site 4 hours away, where we took a CASQ and a Calypso score. The Calypso did bend this time, but we didn't loose it. We are now on our way to the next site, located in a region called the Charlie-Gibbs fracture zone.

A Casq core

Today we would like to thank you for showing your interest for AMOCINT. We will try to answer some questions that we still haven't covered in earlier emails.

So, why not tell you about the meals onboard? This is a French boat, of course with a French chef. Everything is very tasty and well prepared.

Breakfast: Breakfast is served in a typically French style, with white bread and jam. In addition there is coffee, tea, milk, orange juice and cornflakes. Sometimes there are also leftovers from the night before, like meat. Breakfast is served between 7:00 and 8:30am. Northern Europeans have to adapt a bit, because they are more used to fullkorn bread, muesli and salty food for breakfast, but so far they are adjusting well.

Lunch: This is served in a really nice French style with waiters and everything. Everyone has their own assigned napkin and we sit at nicely covered tables. First the waiters serve the appetizer, which is usually some fresh vegetables or something warm. Next the main course is served. This is often a meat or fish dish with rice, potatoes or vegetables, and is always nicely flavored and prepared. If you are still hungry the waiters show up with a tray of assorted cheeses from different regions of France to choose from. Finally it is time for dessert! Everyday there is a new dessert on the menu. This is a thrill for some of us!

Dinner: The main difference between lunch and dinner is that fresh fruit is served for dessert with dinner. Both lunch and dinner are served with white and red wine and water as well.

Due to the shifts, lunch is served at both 11:00 and 12:15. Dinner is at 19:00 and at 20:15. It is unusual for some of us to go eight hours without food, but we can find us some small snacks in the kitchen in between meals if we want to.

After the meals, good coffee is served in the bar, probably a French roast. It is dark and full of flavor.

That?s all for to today. Have a nice Sunday!

Your fellow teachers at sea

Hélder - Jean - Gertrud - Catalina - Angela - Carlo

PS! Remember you can follow the rout on the www.ipev.fr - position des navires Marion Dufresne. And unfortunately, we have had problems sending photos to many of you. We will look in to that problem.

Dia 8 (22Jun)

Coordenadas: 42˚38’ N 32˚16’ W

Olá a todos!!!

Como vos disse ontem o tratamento dos sedimentos recolhidos durante o dia de ontem e madrugada de hoje deram-nos bastante trabalho. No entanto, ao terminarmos o turno às oito da manhã, como é Domingo, tivemos direito a um pequeno-almoço especial que incluiu croissants recheados com chocolate. Estavam uma delícia…

Para além da Ciência, às vezes também é preciso lavar roupa.

Entretanto, durante a madrugada após se ter recolhido o tubo Calypso para o convés zarpámos rumo à região da falha Charlie-Gibbs onde, em 1967, o navio oceanográfico R/V Charcot conseguiu obter cerca de seis metros de sedimentos. Durante o cruzeiro MD168 AMOCINT pretende-se obter sedimentos mais profundos usando os equipamentos de carotagem Casq e eventualmente também o sistema Calypso (que vos descreverei amanhã detalhadamente).

O Sol brilhou durante toda a manhã. Um pouco antes do almoço tivemos a oportunidade de avistar novamente terra firme. Passámos relativamente perto das ilhas das Flores e do Corvo, Todavia, algum tempo depois, ao atravessarmos o paralelo 40 deixou de brilhar e a tarde foi um pouco cinzenta e chuvosa. Isso fez com que nos lembrássemos que nos esperam condições climatéricas bem mais adversas e todos receamos o frio com que certamente nos iremos deparar nas latitudes para onde nos deslocamos. O mar esteve também mais agitado do que durante o resto da semana.

Durante a equipa de professores a bordo aproveitou para escrever e actualizar as notícias que temos enviado a professores de escolas de vários países relativas ao cruzeiro e ao projecto AMOCINT. Aproveitei ainda para lavar a roupa suja.

Esperam-nos cerca de dois dias de “trânsito” até à Charlie-Gibbs.

Dia 2 (16Jun)

Coordenadas: 30˚51’ N 10˚ 06’ W

Olá a todos!!!

Ontem esqueci-me de vos dizer que fiquei no turno das 4h às 8h e das 16h às 20h. Como vos disse antes participam neste cruzeiro pessoas de vários países, pelo que terei como companheiros de jornada Gertrud Cigen (Teacher at Sea – Noruega); Hanno Kinkel (Institut für Geowissenschaften, Marine Paläoklimaforschung, Christian Albrechts Universität, Kiel – Alemanha); Kikki Kleiven (Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Univ. de Bergen – Noruega); Genna Patton, (Univ. de Chicago – EUA); Catalina Sureda-Carrio, (Teachers at Sea – Espanha); Catherine Kissel, Aurélie Van Toer, Camille Wanders, Georges Oggian, Nathalie Dubois, Stephano Bonelli, de Itália (Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l´Environnement, Gif sur Yvette – França) e Martin Mellet (IPEV).

Como vêm não é só o navio que é grande… e a diversidade de línguas faladas não se fica por aqui, como vos contarei depois.

Por falar em línguas esta tarde fui chamado à cabine do comandante do navio que me pediu para traduzir um documento, enviado pelo Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros do nosso país, relativo à autorização para que o R/V Marion Dufresne possa cruzar as nossas águas territoriais e recolher amostras de sedimentos na região dos Açores.

Um pouco depois deste facto curioso, assistimos a uma breve sessão de esclarecimento sobre as regras básicas de segurança a cumprir a bordo do navio, deram-nos as instruções necessárias para vestirmos os fatos salva-vidas (que temos à nossa disposição em todas as cabines) a que se seguiu um exercício de simulacro de evacuação do navio em situação de emergência.

O sistema Casq

Chegámos já de noite à margem continental de Marrocos e, após algum período de pesquisa do melhor local para perfurar, foi efectuada primeira carotagem Casq (que permite obter testemunhos de sedimentos curtos e quadrados. Apesar de inicialmente se pensar que os sedimentos tinham sido perdidos durante a colocação do equipamento no convés, verificou-se que se obteve testemunho de sedimentos, com cerca de 7 metros, correspondente à zona mais superficial do fundo do oceano. Efectuou-se também o primeiro lançamento do equipamento Calypso. Neste segundo furo as coisas não correram tão bem e, ao ser colocado no convés, verificámos que o tubo estava dobrado na parte superior. Devido a esta situação efectuou-se um segundo furo na mesma zona.

O tubo do sistema Calypso dobrado

Amanhã iremos abrir os tubos e ver os primeiros sedimentos recolhidos nesta campanha oceanográfica. Logo vos conto como foi…