Well, the VOR has passed by and left the Southern Ocean. On March 1st, Brasil passed south of the Knorr by 17 nm in the middle of the night. It wasn't great visibility but they would have seen our deck lights to the north. That is if they took a break from their "carnival".

The fleet was lucky with the weather. Right behind them was a very deep low that has been making science work very interesting aboard the Knorr. Up until this morning, the wind was averaging 40 kts and gusting up to 55 kts. The real trouble for the ship was the 30 foot and occasional higher seas. The ship can hold position well enough but it is the science gear used to take readings and samples of water that can be under a lot of load do to roll and heave. These deep casts go down to a bottom depth around 5,000 meters.

In the lower left hand corner of the picture, you can see the Hydro Boom and block that hold out the CTD (Conductivity Temperature and Depth) Rosette. There is also a Doppler Current Profiler attached to the unit.

It would have been great to see one of the boats. Maybe next time.

A. Seamans

03/06/06