Floats

Me! Isa Rosso We are on our way towards the third CTD station, where the second SOCCOM float will be deployed!   Few thoughts.. Today was laundry day: I just realized the second week has passed.. Funny, I think there’s a standard number of days after which you suddenly realize you have your own routine, schedule, plan for the day. In my case varies between 7 and 14. As I anticipated in my previous post, I had my first birthday onboard. My new group of friends have organized my very first surprise party!! At midnight of the 16th, my roommate tells me that she wanted to go out to take some pictures. Despite my question mark painted on my face (I don’t know what the temperature was outside, but definitely not comfortable), I followed her.. And at the heli hangar, my group was there, singing me a Happy Birthday song that they wrote for me!! <3 my heart exploded!! And then the night started, with chocolate cake, dances, presents, songs.. and a bit of rhum ;-) It was fantastic, and I’ll n

Isa Rosso OH MY!!! These days have been really “rock & roll”!! And not only for my guitar skills that are improving.. ehee!! Small waves, big waves, this ship doesn’t care. It’s like being on a rollercoaster. I love it..! hehe Not so much a shared feeling by those poor souls who got seasick from the very first day.. and still cannot get over it.   Especially today. Sandy the float -- before the storm The weather has put us in stand by, but finally around lunch time today we started the CTD casts (6 in total), to collect water samples, from 2000 m up to the surface, plus others from 200 m to the surface samples, for biological studies. The rosette (soon I’ll post a photo) is one tiny little guy, with only 12 niskin bottles (used to collect the water at different water depths). I got my samples, sealed the pH bottles and froze the nutrients. After the CTD casts, we had another couple of operations at the same station location, and after that we got to deploy the first SOCCOM float of

Isa Rosso I’m back in the Indian Ocean’s water, after 2 years, and at sea again just after 4 months. My most recent expedition was in the Pacific Ocean as part of the US-GOSHIP repeat hydrography (you’ll find the blog for that expedition at usgoship-p062017.blogspot.com). It’s quite exciting for me, to be in these waters again. Our track will bring us to the western side of the Kerguelen Plateau, a massive topographic barrier to the eastward flowing Antarctic Circumpolar Current, and then down to Antarctica. I have a special love for this area, as it has been the focus of my PhD thesis (see my previous blog on floatsherder.blogspot.com).   I left San Diego on November 30th. Leaving home, especially saying goodbye to my husband Diego, is never easy. But both my friends and he always give me courage and support me no matter what, which makes the departure a little bit less painful. Armed with my big luggage, my guitar and a backpack with my camera and computer, I started my journey to th