First science mission

The fruit of 2.5 days travel has just passed by in the last 14 hours. I was on shift for 5 of them. Out of the 10 stations we collected data at, I operated the equipment for 4 of them. I did not break anything, nor did I get yelled at, we'll call this a great success.

Time to go home (another 2.5 days travel)....

All this time and money...and for what? Apparently these Dissolved Oxygen surveys have been conducted since 1982 by the EPA because it was discovered that Lake Erie becomes anoxic during late August (ppm<2 vs 9ppm during this survey). According to the EPA scientists on board, this happens like clockwork every year and he wonders why time and money are wasted on this when they could be focused on other, newer points of interest (nearshore activity). I ask the same question, why not run this survey every 5 years from a ship based in Lake Erie to see if the pattern ever deviates from what we have mapped out at the present time? Seems like a reasonable proposal, so it will probably never happen.

Detroit is a much nicer city than you might have been led to believe (or at least I was...)...from the water anyway...I got to see the Joe Louis Arena and GM place, the two things that stuck out for me anyway...Windsor, Ontario just across the river still looks like a better place to be...must be tough to live in Detroit, just for that one reason alone.

Mayday...?

Yesterday..?...we left Milwaukee for Lake Erie, where we will collect samples for a dissolved oxygen survey. It is about a 2 day steam to Erie and here in the middle of day 2, at 7.30am we overheard a mayday call on the radio.

Spellbound, a 41 foot sailboat(!), was hailing the nearest Coast Guard station (Ste. St. Marie) and trying to give their coordinates for rescue. The radio operator aboard the Spellbound, however, could not use the radio properly it seemed and for the next 20 minutes, the Coast Guard kept asking for them. Finally, a younger voice aboard the Spellbound arrived and in 5 minutes, we had the coordinates, off someone's cellphone. They were only 6 nm away, the Captain was awoken and he gave the order to break course and see if we could help. As we made our way over there we heard information given to the Coast Guard. Things like: we're taking on water, the engines are out (reason for distress), we have no sails, we're hypothermic, send a helicopter, and had been adrift for ~14 hours. Upon arrival we learned more, like: not taking on water (unless raining --- weirrrrdddd), sails were present, just lost rigging during the bad storms that had been taking place the last...week, and they were up and walking around (not hypothermic at all, just 'cold and wet'---there was no foul weather gear in sight...it had been raining for a week, I repeat, a week). The Captain, a navy veteran, did not seem overly impressed by this mayday call and proceeded to interrogate the Spellbound's 2 man crew (what looked like a grandfather and grandson) about the situation. The words, not really in distress were frequently said during this discussion. We had plenty of time, too, as the Coast Guard was not to arrive for about an hour. By the time they arrived, half the crew had woken to see want the increase and decrease in speed during their sleep meant and it had become a circus. This was made official when the rescue Helo came and started circling awaiting instruction. I thought, "Just go back to base now - save your fuel." They waited 10 more minutes for the boat to arrive. They assessed the situation much the same as we did and told us we were free to go, to stop babysitting these people. We finally left them, with Captain cursing them under his breath, exclaiming he'd put them in jail for a false mayday call...I shared his sympathies. What a complete waste of time...there were still sails (that were not shredded) and at least half of the jib/jenny sheet to get to shore with, they just gave up hope. Quit. It is assumed that the Coast Guard left them to float around some more, having them call a private tow service (since the Coast Guard does not tow) to get them to land.

All I can think is: "These people don't deserve a boat" and "what a misappropriation of government funds for these sods."

In other news, the Mackinac Bridge is quite something to see...even if it was shrouded in dense fog. A feat of engineering to be sure.

Milwaukee, at first glance

Let me just give you an idea of what I have experienced of Milwaukee so far.

When I am working on the Lake Guardian in port, this is what I see. A research facilty/warehouse, a liquid pavement lot, a human waste to fertilizer lot (when the wind is jusssst right, this is miserable), a coal plant, and the world's largest 4 faced clock. There are many smells that sting the nostrils, to be sure.

I haven't yet been able to explore much, but I can say this, I am deeply entrenched within the latino ghetto. Most of the signs are not in English, and its not a great part of town, either. To the north, there is more of an inner city feel, more bars, shops, tall buildings. More to the north, more of a college town feel, college bars (I outgrew those in a hurry: give me space, let me sit down, don't make me wait in line etc etc etc)

Today I went south. From what I saw, I liked it. Reminded me of smalltown, Maine a bit. Just had that feel of old shops and buildings along a main drag, with residential streets on either side. More exploration is definitely needed. I barely have a clue where anything is.

First Cruise - Purdue University SCAMP and AUV Survey

After a week of reading instrument/software/hardware manuals and practicing operating the various winches/instruments that I will eventually use on the Lake Guardian, my first test was an easy one. A group of 7 recently graduated/Ph.D/Masters civil engineers from Purdue made their way aboard for a couple of days in the exact middle of Lake Michigan.

My first shift was uneventful. Due to weather, the captain had called off all activities from 12am-6am at least (the duration of my watch)...the challenge was staying awake. The second shift (6pm-12am)...their SCAMP instrument managed to get caught on the underside of the boat...then it started to pour...aside from listening to the BRUINS WIN THE STANLEY CUP...the rest of the shift was just as slow as the first. When I had awoken, the sun was out, the SCAMP was freed, and come 12pm, I was called into action. My role was to drive the Rescue boat (Vega) with 3 scientists aboard (along with the SCAMP and AUV) towards their selected GPS coordinates as they took their measurements. Thanks to 30 minutes of smallboat training two days prior, I handled this like a champ, and everything went smoothly, even when the fog was so dense I had a 10m sight radius.

Along with the smallboat chauffeuring, I was given duties practicing preparing and deploying the SeaBird, a contraption with multiple instruments used for taking chemical/physical properties and samples of the water column. This involves steady use of the winch and knowledge of the computer software that records the data taken by the SeaBird.

After the fun in the Vega was over, we steamed back to Milwaukee, where we will be until the Lake Erie dissolved oxygen survey starting on the 21st of June.

The arrival

It was a Wednesday. It was a HOT Wednesday. I left Indianapolis airport, said goodbye to my lovely girlfriend, put on my working boots, so to speak and hopped on a plane, a very small plane. As I boarded, I thought they'd made a mistake. "There is no way there is a seat 15B on this plane," I thought, as I walked down the aisle. Sure enough, 15B put me as far back as possible, the only row behind the wing. I wasn't alone though, a nice lady from the backcountry of Wisconsin proved more than capable of making the hour flight seem like 15 minutes. When I landed in Milwaukee, there was no relief from the heat, with temps reaching 90 F on the water, the R/V Lake Guardian, my new home fro the next 4 months.

I am not the only one joining the crew mid-season, and this is a relief. 1/3 of the crew (and 2/3 of marine technicians - my position) are new to the boat and just getting settled in, easing the pressure that I had been feeling to perform up to snuff early. The crew is pretty dynamic with the mates and deckhands from the midwestern US and the engineers from the Gulf, trying to pay the bills as the Gulf recovers from the BP oil spill. The marine techs come from Colorado, Michigan (by way of Cape Cod). Apparently we are the only position not represented by a union. I'm too naive to care. I am desperately needing money and experience, and for the next four months, that is exactly what I expect to receive.