Floats

One of the best parts about being out here is hearing from our shore-side partners! And I do mean partners! Before setting out on this adventure, Climate Central teamed up with eight science teachers from six different schools...and most importantly, their students. Each of the science classrooms is using the SOCCOM floats to study earth science and how the climate is changing, and we couldn't be prouder of them! But this relationship is symbiotic! They use our data, but they help us too! How? By adopting the floats! Through the "Adopt-A-Float" program, SOCCOM is allowing elementary, middle and high school students take ownership and participate in the science. Now that we've deployed the last float, each of our floats has been named by the students, and each of them is successfully collecting data. Here are the names the students chose and where their floats were deployed: Float Number Release Deployment Location School ...

I’ve gotten a few questions about how the floats work, and now’s as good a time as any to answer them! How does the float control its depth in the water?  Inside the float, near the base, there’s a bladder containing oil—mineral oil to be exact. The bladder has a pump that can either inflate the bladder or deflate it. Since we can’t change the mass, all we can do is change the volume. When the float needs to descend, the oil is compressed, using the pump. That increases the density, and the float sinks. When the float needs to rise, the pump releases pressure, and the density decreases, allowing the float to rise. This of course all means that the float itself has to have a very specific mass. How long does the float “live”? Technically, a SOCCOM float has enough battery life to take 268 profiles in the Southern Ocean. If we take a profile every 10 days. That gives us over over 7 years of data! Battery life isn’t the only thing that matters though. During the winters, the float is ...

By now, you know that these SOCCOM floats open incredible windows into a vitally important part of our climate system, the Southern Ocean, but how exactly do they do that? Let’s take a look. First off, there are the sensors. Here’s a photo of the top of one of the floats with the sensors labeled. To start, take a look at the temperature and salinity sensor. That’s the black tower that has the tall holes in it. Salinity is measured by measuring the water’s conductivity. If the water has higher conductivity, that means there are more ions in the water, which means a higher salinity. If you know the temperature and pressure, you can calculate an exact number for the salinity of the water from this device. The temperature probe is actually called a “thermistor” not a thermometer. The traditional mechanics of a thermometer use mercury, but a thermistor is actually a resistor (a metal, ceramic or polymer) whose resistance changes very precisely with temperature. Put thermo- and resistor toge...

As we approached, the British base, Rothera , we got our first taste of ice-breaking. It was thin sheet ice that stood between us and the Brits, the kind that took only a bit of pressure break. A long dark crack shot down the ice in front of us. It widened quickly as we sailed forward. The wind is fierce. I and a few of the scientists, including Stephen Riser, stood at the bow of the ship. Our hats, hoods, mittens, and heavy coats were doing their best to protect us from the chilling wind that came straight to our faces and made our eyes tear up. Every few minutes, we'd pass a pair of seals lying on the pancaked ice. They'd awaken from their peaceful nap in the summer sun, look up at us lazily and gave us a chiding roar. We couldn't really hear them over the sound of ice sloshing against our bow and the loud hum of the ship. Rothera is the largest British Antarctic Survey base. There's an island just west of the Antarctic Peninsula mainland called Adelaide, and Rothera ...

We’re underway! At 0700 on Christmas Eve, the N.B. Palmer set sail from the dock at Punta Arenas and sailed north. The plan was to pick up some large containers of hazardous materials, tie them on to the ship and then turn around, and sail west through the Strait. The N. B. Palmer steams ahead through the Strait of Magellan toward the Drake Passage! Now that we’re through, we’ve reached water deep enough to deploy our first float. (Yay!) The first one, RE Byrd, was deployed in the morning on December 27th at 10:00. The second, RF Scott, was deployed at 0300 on December 28th. It was a long day if you didn’t take a nap. Here, RF Scott (named by the Princeton Day School) is deployed at 0300 on December 28th. The first two floats (of 12 total) were be deployed using a new technique. It goes like this: the float is held in what looks like a cardboard box. It's purpose is to keep the float safe during deployment. The sides of the box are held together by a special kind of tape. In theory...

It's really happening! We're here in Punta Arenas, Chile! It's the first stop on our journey through the Southern Ocean, and that makes it special. Let me tell you a little bit about this city. This map shows the location of Punta Arenas, right on the Strait of Magellan Steve Riser (left) and Ted Blanco (right) walk to the port. Three days go to before we weigh anchor and hoist the mizzen ! But you can look forward to my updates on this blog as we get everything ready. I'll introduce you to the two other science teams on the ship as well as the ship technicians and the rest of the crew.  Punta Arenas is one of just a few gateways to the Antarctic (the others are in South Africa and Australia/New Zealand). It's the largest city south of the 46th parallel south, and it's rich with history—especially naval. The monument pictured above stands tall in the middle of a city park. Up there is Ferdinand Magellan stepping out into the unknown with the confidence of a tr...

Hi there! My name is Greta Shum and I'm asking, "What's going on in the Southern Ocean?" That's the question that's bugging scientists all over the world--and not just oceanographers. Climate scientists have realized that the Southern Ocean, the little-known ocean surrounding Antarctica, is a major part of the story of climate change. And the  Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling Project (or SOCCOM) has set out to study it! It's very possible that you haven't heard of the Southern Ocean. If that's the case, here's a map: And that trail of markers is where I'll be going this winter--but not alone! I'll be on a boat with a team of scientists, who will be using new technology to observe this amazing place... but I'll get to that later. First let's talk about the Southern Ocean! What's important about this particular ocean is how unique and powerful it is. Because of its location, the Southern Ocean is...