Where's Ohnemus?

Geotraces Cruise Begins

2010-10-19T04:12:00.003-07:00

Leaving Lisbon and Early Geotraces Photos

Hi Everyone,
Just beginning the Geotraces cruise here in the North Atlantic, from Lisbon to Woods Hole (arriving Dec 5). Had a few minutes so I wanted to send a few photos out. Click the photo above to check 'em out. Say hello on gchat if you see me online! I'll be madly changing filters, but should be able to (eventually!) reply.

-Dan

boston.com, you sorta suck

2010-04-23T21:37:00.005-07:00

Dear Boston(globe).com, I will give you some props for The Big Picture, your best online feature in years. However your news page totally sucks, every night, from 10pm until 6am. THIS IS WHY.

Australian Dust--How Timely!

2009-09-23T13:31:00.003-07:00

Australian dust turns Sydney skies red. The same day Phoebe and I go to the synchrotron (NSLS) to measure...Australian dust samples. WEIRD!

-Dan

Cape Verde and TENATSO

2009-06-23T09:39:00.002-07:00

Cape Verde and TENATSO (the time series station we visited) in nerd news: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090619125903.htm

-Dan

Cape Verde

2009-03-03T15:29:00.002-08:00

Hi Everyone,

Phoebe, Kanchan and I are leaving tonight for Cape Verde for a short (2 day) cruise from Sao Vincente. Including prep days before and after, however, I won't be back until March 14. Looking forward to seeing you all when I return!

-Dan

Publication and Cruise

2009-02-04T07:28:00.006-08:00

INOPEX Cruise Track

A book chapter [not for the faint of heart] in Methods in Enzymology; Fluorescence Spectroscopy has been published on which I am an author! Now to move-on to peer reviewed journals...

In other news, check out the freakin' ginormous cruise I'm likely going to be on this summer (July 8-August 29!) on the German R/V Sonne.

-Dan

Pine Cobble and Prop 8 Rally

2008-11-17T13:37:00.003-08:00

Pine Cobble Hike

Prop 8 Rally, Boston

Here are some photos from last month's day trip to Williamstown to hike Pine Cobble with my friends Whitney and Alison, and a couple from the Prop 8 Rally in Boston. Enjoy!

-Dan

Mom's Wedding

2008-09-07T12:46:00.003-07:00

Mom's Wedding

Photos from Mom's wedding, 9/6/2008 in Ogunquit, ME.

-Dan

Synchrotron

2008-07-26T22:24:00.002-07:00

Synchrotron, Brookhaven National Lab

New photos from a recent trip to Brookhaven National Labs and the National Synchrotron Light Source, with my PhD advisor Phoebe and fellow MIT-WHOI chemistry student Jess. Enjoy!

-Dan

Joshua Tree National Park

2008-06-07T15:38:00.003-07:00

Joshua Tree National Park

Long time no updates, eh? Here are some photos from a May camping trip (and associated short hikes) in Joshua Tree National Park, California, with my friends Jeff, Jill and Alex.

-Dan

Carly's PhD Defense!

2008-03-18T20:44:00.002-07:00

Carly's PhD Defense

Congratulations, Dr. Carly Strasser! Photoset link above, and videos below!

-Dan

San Diego Zoo

2008-02-16T02:39:00.004-08:00

San Diego Zoo with Kim

Kim's here visiting California for a few days, and our first stop, obviously, was the San Diego Zoo. Come for the gorgeous pictures, and stay for the hilarious commentary!

-Dan and Kim

Xmas at Home

2008-01-05T03:35:00.000-08:00

A few Christmas Photos

Here's a bunch of Christmas photos, mostly from Christmas Eve at the Ohnemus family gathering in Yarmouth. I ended up with my own gift from the grab: the Hillary Nutcracker. Woohoo.

There's some other small new photosets on my Flickr site (here, here, and here), but nothing super blogtastic. Check 'em out only if you're really really bored (and like kitties).

-Dan

Dad's Thanksgiving Pictures

2007-11-24T14:27:00.000-08:00

Ohnemus Thanksgiving in Hudson, MA

Here are some photos my Dad took at Thanksgiving with cousin Jen and Glen at their new home in Hudson. I wasn't there, but I did the best picture titling I could!
-Dan

Thanksgiving, LA pics, and some videos

2007-11-23T21:25:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving '07 in Vegas

Snow at USC and LA photos

Hi Everyone,

Just got back from an EXCELLENT Thanksgiving at cousin Mike and Tammy's house in Las Vegas. Photos of the holiday and a few straggler photos from LA are above. Below are videos of Mike and Tammy's daughter Sophia (SOOO CUTE) and the Bellagio fountains.

I can't believe it's after Thanksgiving, mostly because it's still 60 degrees out here...YIKES!

Miss you all, and Happy Thanksgiving!

-Dan

The Sea Gem

2007-11-05T21:31:00.000-08:00

The Sea Gem

My father just signed a purchase agreement for a wooden lobster boat, the Sea Gem! Click above for a few more pics. Here are her stats:
Length: 34 feet
Beam: 12 feet
Draft: 5 feet
Weight: 9 tons (11 gross)
Engine: 200 HP Perkins diesel
Fuel Capacity: Two 65-gallon tanks
Fuel Consumption: 1 gal/hr

Two berths below deck, including a stove, table, and seats.

She's currently in Salem, MA but should be headed to the Cape by the end of November. Can't wait to check her out on my own!

-Dan

More Halloween 2007

2007-11-05T17:01:00.000-08:00

More Halloween 2007

A few more Halloween pictures, from an earlier Hollywood party with Cyndi Wong (a college entrymate), Spencer Wong (also a college housemate) and Dreux. You finally get to see my (not-so) awesome costume, and I promise there are no flashers in the photoset.

-Dan

West Hollywood (WeHo) Halloween Festival

2007-11-01T16:16:00.000-07:00

WeHo Halloween 2007

Nothing much like the largest Halloween street party in the country, in the gayest city of Los Angeles. Click Queen Elizabeth to see more.

To clarify (there are no pictures of me), I went as a "Bostonian" with a Red Sox hat (Spencer Wong's), a Bruins jersey, and a tea bag. After wandering around all night, here are the final results:

"BOSTON SUCKS!!!": 2
"YEAH, BOSTON!!!" (or equivalent): 7
Other Boston/Sox/Bruins costumes: 2
"You just missed the Rangers guy. He's up ahead.": 1

-Dan

Boston Bruins at the LA Kings

2007-10-13T16:07:00.000-07:00

Bruins vs. Kings

Pictures from last night's game at the Staples Center: the Boston Bruins vs. the LA Kings (final score: Boston 8, LA 6). I went with Dreux and Spencer but, sorry guys, no photos of you. Mostly pictures of the Bruins themselves during the warm-ups, with a few others of the arena. Enjoy!

-Dan

California and More

2007-10-07T23:50:00.000-07:00

Pasadena Condo

Cross Country Drive Set 3

Hi Everyone!

Lots has happened since my last post. Nicole and I arrived in San Francisco, where we parted ways: she was bound for Oakland and I went to Berkeley to see some friends. Bill "Mr. Bill" McDowell and his brother Andrew and Andrew's wife Ruth put me up for the evening there, and we went into the city to meet up with Mark "Mark" Burkhardt and Mike "Biter" Obeiter. Dinner and a band performance featuring Mike's friend from high school made for a great end of the trip!

I got to LA the next day, after stopping for dinner with another old chum, Eric "Guidobeast" Daub(-erino) in Santa Barbara. Eric is doing earthquake mechanics modeling in the Physics department. Apparently the "big one" is nothing to joke about either...good to know! Here in LA, Dreux put me up for a few days in Pasadena while I searched out a new place to live. I've now managed to find a great condo and roommate here in Pas, and have moved in as of today! Hope you enjoy the photosets of last leg of the trip and the new pad and roomie. I'll have more soon!

Love and miss you all,

-Dan

PS: Below is a video walkthrough of the new place

Cross Country Drive: Photoset 2

2007-09-30T00:51:00.000-07:00

Cross Country Set 2

No time to put captions on these yet, but I figured the pictures could stand for themselves for now. Western Nebraska through Wyoming, Utah, and the Bonneville Salt Flats at sunset.

Captions coming soon!

-Dan

Cross Country Drive: Day 3

2007-09-29T06:42:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone,

Well, not too much exciting to report from the road. Yesterday we drove through the states of Illinois, Iowa, and a large chunk of Nebraska (485+ miles wide), all the while following I-80. We stopped in Ogallala, NE, which boasts a beach of some kind (I believe it is a man-made lake beach). Today, with any luck, we should at least make it through Salt Lake City, putting us in San Francisco sometime the following evening!

We did stop at the world's largest truckstop (in Iowa), and also saw some great thunderstorms in Nebraska. We'll do pictures eventually, but until then, we've gotta head out the door! Wyoming awaits!

Talk to you soon,

-Dan

Cross Country Drive: Day 2 addition

2007-09-28T06:09:00.000-07:00

Cross Country Set 1

Whoops, forgot to link to these pictures I put up last night!

Cross Country Drive: Day 2

2007-09-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

Another exciting day of driving behind us! Well, at least the "behind us" part is true. Today we passed through, in order: Buffalo, NY (stopped for wings, of course); autumn trees; Erie, PA; fewer autumn trees; sunflowers and corn; Cleveland, OH; corn; Indiana (with corn); and a portion of Illinois (probably corn, but it was dark, so I'm not sure).

Tonight we're staying in Ottawa, Illinois, thus continuing our trend of staying in foreign-sounding cities that, in addition to not being glamorous centers of culture, also bear disturbing likenesses to Pittsfield, MA.

Tomorrow begins our trek through, according to my travel-mate, "the endless, boring states." Roadside attractions, however, promise to pick up in number. It's also possible that Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and Wyoming will turn out to be giant carnivals of fun, with brilliant Americana museums (which you can visit whilst still driving) and movies playing on giant screens that you can watch while you drive. Yes, like a giant drive-in theater, only the length of entire states! Somebody get on that.

All right, time for this driver to hit the Hampton Inn hay (free breakfast!). I'll catch up with y'all soon (they say "y'all" in Illinois, right?), and feel free to give me a call while we're on the road. There was a plan a few years ago to get cell service to the large Midwestern states using weather balloons. We'll see if that plan worked out.

So long for now!

-Dan

Cross Country Drive: Day 1

2007-09-26T20:48:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

So without any prior warning (at least blog-wise), I'm on my way out to California. After grabbing an oil change at Ye Olde Supere Lube in Falmouth, MA this morning, and an obligatory stop at Pocasset Deli for a bittersweet sub (emotionally, that is), it's me, the Corolla, and I-90 for a couple days. The plan is to travel "from sea to shining sea" over the course of the week, heading first to San Francisco to see Mike and Mark at Stanford, and finally on to Los Angeles. Props to my Mom for pulling in the Kathy Lee Bates theme, by the way.

I have a travel partner (two, technically): a nine month old puppy named Mazteltov, and her owner, Nicole of Norwich, CT, who replied to my last second Craigslist ad. Nicole is headed to San Francisco as well, and the company is very welcome. Mazeltov is very well behaved, affectionate, doesn't bark, and has a funny quirk of not jumping over anything. Of all the dogs I'd like to travel with, it's hard to imagine one with better qualities. (Except the bacon farts; we could do without bacon farts.)

For now we're settled in at the Ramada in Geneva, NY, hoping to get through at least Cleveland by tomorrow. Talk to you all soon!

-Dan

Revelle Cruise Photos

2007-09-23T21:17:00.000-07:00

Revelle Cruise Photos

Hey Everyone!

Here are some photos from the cruise on the Roger Revelle in the Arabian Sea. Enjoy!

-Dan

Back in Goa!

2007-09-16T11:19:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!

I'm finally back in India and in contact with more than shipmates! Turns out we never got Oman clearance and had to return to port here in Goa instead of heading to Muscat. But we still got to Muscat, albeit briefly...hmm, have to explain that later.

Anyway, in my absence apparently we are backing out of Iraq and Greenspan is slamming the administration? Honestly, I was hoping that something incredible was going to happen with the Bruins, like Gretsky coming to coach or some tragic plane crash involving the entire front office, but I guess I'll have to keep waiting.

BUT, don't keep me waiting for email! Would love to hear from you all, so send me a hello. Miss you all very much and looking forward to saying Hi. I should be back in the states around the 20th (I mean, my 25th, I mean, what?), but until then email's the way to go! Did I say I miss you all, because I do.

Talk to you soon,

-Dan

Alive and Well

2007-09-05T11:19:00.000-07:00

I'm alive and well on the R/V Revelle (it rhymes!) but due to an equipment malfunction I will be without email/internet for the remainder of the cruise (mid-September). this may be my last posting until then, so I wanted to five you all my best and let you know everything is going great. Miss you all, and talk to you in a few weeks!

-Dan, via fax to Alysia

On Board

2007-08-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

A good portion of the science party, including myself, just got aboard the Roger Revelle here in the harbor of Dona Paula. We had about two hours of waiting at customs, on buses, trying to get clearance to come aboard. Then an incredibly sketchy launch boat operation to actually get out to the ship. An Indonesian navy ship, here in India on a goodwill mission, has taken what was originally going to be our berth in the small Dona Paula port (~11 berths total), so for now the Revelle is anchored in the harbor. The navy boat leaves tomorrow morning, so we'll get to go dockside around 8AM to start loading our equipment, and setting up our lab space. It promises to be a busy day. Tyler and I got assigned a rather palatial room away from the noise of the deck (thanks, Jim!), and the galley is, so far, very well stocked.

I'm going to grab a bite and see what else needs to be done around here. I should be in touch soon, but don't expect too many pictures; the internet is sloooooow.

All the best,

-Dan

Around Goa

2007-08-19T09:50:00.000-07:00

Around Goa

Hey Everyone!

Tyler and I had a few days without work, so we toured around Goa a bit via taxicab and took a whole bunch of photos! Check 'em out, because the captions tell most of the stories.

Besides that, things are going great here. The beds are a little hard, but the food is great, the A/C works, and we've gotten most of our shopping done too. Looking forward to actually getting some work done the next few days, considering the boat freakin' leaves on Wednesday! Will let you all know how that goes, and should be in touch via email throughout the trip.

All the best, and enjoy the pictures!

-Dan and Tyler

Greetings from Goa!

2007-08-17T06:24:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

My travel partner and fellow lab tech Tyler Goepfert and I have arrived in Dona Paula, Goa, India. We got in right on schedule and had pretty much the easiest air travel either of us has had in a while, including actual sleep on the planes and decent in-flight movies (Blades of Glory and Shrek 3, among others!). We've checked into our hotel at the International Centre in Dona Paula, showered up, and plan on sticking around here for the night, try out the hotel restaurant, and decompress (read: sleep) after 22+ hours of air travel and airline food.

A few things to note at this juncture

Driving here is only slightly more insane than on Cape Cod in summer
Everybody speaks english but it's impossible to tell what they are saying
I'm going to be eating a lot of curry the next few days

Photos will be coming eventually, and all the best from India for now!

-Dan

Octet Summer Reunion 2007

2007-08-08T10:53:00.000-07:00

Octet Summer Reunion 2007

Belated photos from the Octet's summer reunion in Williamstown, July 21/22, 2007. IF YOU HAVE MORE PHOTOS, send them to my email listed on the right sidebar.

-Dan

PBF Homage

2007-07-15T23:55:00.000-07:00

Never has a cartoon series so perfectly captured my sense of humor:

The Perry Bible Fellowship by Nicholas Gurewitch; easily the funniest strip on the net. pbfcomics.com

Uno Launching

2007-06-24T10:35:00.000-07:00

Uno Launching

Some photos (click above) and videos (below) of the launching of my father's first hand-made wooden boat, Uno, which he built over this last winter and spring. He launched it this last weekend at Barlows Landing in Pocasset.

The Launching:

Rowing Out:

Rowing Around:

With Motor:

Cat Fire, Manhattan Beach, BH

2007-05-15T13:50:00.000-07:00

Cat Fire, Manhattan Beach, BH

Hey Everyone! So I'm back from Catalina, which caught fire on Thursday, burning more than 10% (5,000+ acres) of the island. The most recent reports say it started when some workers servicing the Christian radio station tower (grandfathered on island land) used blowtorches to cut some of the guy wires. From where I was at the Wrigley Inst. near Two Harbors, you wouldn't have known about the fire if the utilities hadn't gone out because the smoke was all blowing southeast toward Avalon. We watched news reports on generator-run broadcast TV and made cell-phone calls from the cliffs above campus.

There was never any danger to those of us us north of the fire, but it did make for a hectic few days of packing up equipment, setting up a summer-long experiment with limited tools, and lending a hand with some of the critical work going on once the lab lost power. Namely, once the seawater pumps stopped flowing, tanks of researchers' live fish and marine cultures started biting the dust! People came up with some great solutions to save them, including hanging live mollusk cultures from bags under the skiffs, a gravity-fed truck-loaded tank of seawater to keep the fish tanks fresh, and transferring all still-frozen samples to the mainland labs, in addition to returning most of the touch tank creatures to the marine reserve.

The photos I've posted are mostly from the time I spent this weekend in Beverly Hills, Manhattan Beach, and then traveling back to the Cape. Hope you find them entertaining!

-Dan

Chamber, Peeps, Another Hike

2007-05-07T00:16:00.000-07:00

Hyperbaric Chamber, Peeps, Hike

More Catalina photos! I know you are all very excited. This time I tried to mix it up: there are photos of the Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber (here on the Wrigley Inst. campus), pictures of the USC peeps I've been hanging with, and some great shots of a hike with Jim to the ridge that overlooks Two Harbors.

-Dan

Drive from Avalon

2007-04-16T15:09:00.000-07:00

Road from Avalon

Here's a photobatch of this morning's ride from Avalon (where the Moffett family was leaving on the 8am ferry) back to Two Harbors. It's a one hour, 25 mile drive to go 10 miles as the crow flies. In a manual vehicle one rarely gets into third gear. Details and comments for the pictures are in the captions, so take a look, and be sure to zoom the panoramas. I linked to a couple topographic maps which help explain things a bit.

-Dan

Stanley

2007-04-10T16:38:00.000-07:00

My 2007 Stanley Cup predictions (winners in bold)

Wedding and Hiking

2007-04-09T13:36:00.000-07:00

Jen's Wedding

Early April Cat

Posted some new photos of my cousin Jen's wedding on the Cape, and some panoramas/photos from a Catalina hike.

Things are going well out here on the island, though research has hit some snags as something ate through the fiber optic cable I was using to take data down at the dock. Going to have to re-adjust our plans. Other goings on:

-The construction workers broke a water main last week, forcing most people to stay down in Two Harbors for a couple nights. A few of us less-liable people (me and Jim) were able to stay despite running water and fire supression, though we did get a good meal at the local restaurant out of it, and an excuse to hang out at the bar and drink $5 beers.
-A group of Northeastern students in the "East-West" program have arrived and are staying (loudly) in the dorm through the end of May. Some...strong...personalities among them.
-Watched 300 and Cool Runnings in the past couple days via A/V room downloads by USC students, with plans to see TMNT tonight. Also I got to mess around on a Nintendo Wii, which is actually pretty awesome (though I'm just as bad at fake bowling as I am at real bowling). Got to see somebody use a controller without a strap too, nearly smashing the TV during a bowling match. Awesome. Try that with an xbox.

Enjoy the pics,

-Dan

Catalina Part 2

2007-04-02T23:43:00.000-07:00

More Catalina

Hi Everyone,

Took some photos today of a bison who found his way into the fenced off area around Two Harbors this weekend. He's been exploring the Wrigley Institute and grazing near the dining hall and dorms, startling people and getting himself startled a bit here and there. Made for some good pictures though!

Also tossed in a few shots I took in LA the past couple weeks, and a view or two from the ferry on my way back to my cousin Jen's wedding in Mass. Still waiting for pictures of that from my sister and Dad, but should have some of those up soon too.

I'll be out here on Catalina for a few weeks until coming back to WHOI for a bit in early summer. Miss you all lots already!

-Dan

Dolphins

2007-03-05T18:38:00.000-08:00

On the Catalina Island ferry the other day, we passed through what could easily be classified as a "superpod" of dolphins (videos below). They were swimming from LA out towards Catalina, and despite the three marine biologists on board, we weren't sure of their intentions. Check out the clips below!

Dolphins Part 1

Dolphins Part 2

Catalina Island

2007-03-03T23:50:00.000-08:00

Catalina Island

Hi Everyone,

I still have some photos and videos from Australia to post, but I wanted to get this set of Catalina Island shots up first, because I really like some of the pictures! The rattlesnake one is a personal favorite, though some of the night shots are pretty solid too.

I'm coming back to the East Coast tomorrow night (arriving Monday AM in Boston), and will be around Woods Hole and the Cape until the 18th. Then headed back here to do some more research in LA Harbor (nasty) and out here on Catalina (SWEEEEEET).

See you all soon!

-Dan

Jervis Bay and Bondaroo Nat'l Park

2007-02-27T21:33:00.000-08:00

Jervis Bay

Hi Everyone,

Here are some new photos of Jervis Bay and the nearby Bondaroo National Park. A narrative (or something close to it) is done through the captions, so have a look through the set by clicking the picture/link above!

Also, below I've added some videos. Check 'em out!

-Dan

Walking up to the cliffs at Jervis Bay

Some birds going fishing

An older video of a dingo I saw at the Brisbane koala sanctuary

Parrots at the koala sanctuary

Koalas at the sanctuary

More koalas eating and climbing over each other

Sydney

2007-02-23T21:34:00.000-08:00

Sydney

Hi Everyone,

I'm on the road, traveling through a bit of the coast and mountains south of Sydney. I spent some time in Jervis Bay ("where dolphins play" but "where Dan doesn't see any") and now I'm in the Snowy Mountains, attempting to do some hiking/climbing. The weather didn't agree with me today, so after a very water-logged short hike, I'm in the mood to put some photos up!

Here's a set of pictures and captions from Sydney, taken by me, Dreux, and Whitney. The three of us were together for a few days, then Whitney and Dreux flew back to the US and I had a couple days to explore on my own. I'll put up pictures from Jervis Bay, my road trip, and Thredbo/Snowy Mountains tonight, though some of them are better in video form. We'll see how much I can stick online over this wireless signal I'm pirating!

All the best, and hope to call lots of you once I'm back in the US on Monday!

-Dan

Brisbane and Byron

2007-02-15T21:13:00.000-08:00

Brisbane, Koalas, and Byron

Hi Everyone,

Here are some photos from Brisbane (where we unloaded the ship and spent two nights), the Koala Sanctuary outside Brisbane (visited the afternoon after the ship was finally unloaded), and Byron Bay (south of Brisbane, where we spent a night with the Rose family prior to flying to Sydney). Lots of pictures and captions, with some videos to come, so enjoy!

-Dan

Finally: hello from Australia!

2007-02-15T05:55:00.000-08:00

Last Week on the Kilo

Hi Everyone,

Long time no post, I realize! It's been hard to get internet time since the end of the cruise. I'm in Sydney now and will try posting a few updates the next few days with the most recent adventures. To get you started, here are photos and captions from our last week or so aboard.

Looking forward to this weeks pictures and videos myself, now that I have time to work on them!

All the best from Down Under,

-Dan

Videos

2007-02-04T04:28:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

I finally got a few videos uploaded to Google. They are admittedly quite small, without sound, and rather boring, but they're up there! Here are the links:

Waves at 37°S
Retrieval of the CTD
Flying Fish
An Albatross

-Dan

Engine Problems, Birds, and Diel II

2007-02-02T05:58:00.000-08:00

Birds and Diel II

Hi Everyone,

So a bit has happened since I last wrote. Most notably, the Kilo is having some engine/generator difficulties which have forced some changes to our plan, as those of you watching the cruise track or reading the Journal may have already noticed.

Due to some electrical problems, and now apparently some mechanical issues as well, two of the ship's four main generators are now offline. We felt this rather directly a few days ago when all shipboard power suddenly went out mid-morning. Not exactly a fun situation, as you can imagine, and a little bit surprising sitting in the middle of the Tasman Sea. Some excellent work on behalf of the best on-board engineering team in the UNOLS fleet (University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System, which runs US research vessels) has gotten us up and running again, but orders from the Home Office in Honolulu have forced us to abandon our plans to sail to 50°S. Instead, we have to make a bee-line for Brisbane.

We should arrive on schedule in Brisbane on February 11, running at half-speed all the way there, but we will be making normal science station stops along the way, including a third, unscheduled diel experiment (now that we have the extra time). It's a bit disappointing that we won't be hitting the harder waters of the Southern Ocean--in fact, the weather looked quite good for our foray into the cold--but obviously nobody is complaining under the circumstances!

I put up a few pictures of some recent bird friends we've had and of the Diel, and there are even some videos in the works, should Google Video decide to cooperate in the next few hours. I'll try and update the post tomorrow with links to those. For now, the pictures will have to suffice!

-Dan

Island Stations and Port Call

2007-01-27T04:43:00.000-08:00

Islands and Port Call

Hi Everyone! I just put up more than thirty pictures of the past week to the Flickr site, so click the photo above and check them out! We did some near-island sampling stations the day before New Caledonia, and then made port in Nouméa where I got out and stretched my legs a bit. The photoset captions have most of my comments and a bit of narrative, so head over that way and read through them to follow what's been going on.

We're starting our southern shot now that we're on the second leg of the cruise, so it's time to make sure everything's tied down in case there's some dicey weather ahead! The water's already dropped ten degrees celsius in the past week of stations, and it should drop down to almost 6°C if we get to 50 South before turning back for Brisbane. Will be sure to keep you posted. Keep up with the emails, too! Great to keep hearing from everyone, even from the middle of the Tasman Sea!

-Dan

Tricho Bloom, Diel, and more pics

2007-01-21T04:15:00.000-08:00

Diel and Tricho Bloom

Hi everyone! Just got through with a few very busy days here on the Kilo. We did a 36 hour near-continuous sampling station (called a "diel") during which time I helped out Dreux and Annette as they sampled for their organism, a nitrogen fixing, colony-loving bacteria called Trichodesmium (aka "sea sawdust") or "tricho" for short. The diel was over Friday and Saturday during which time we did several net tows (the way Dreux and Annette collect Tricho) which consist of casting a fine conical net on a long line off the stern of the ship, then pulling it back and forth through the surface, which is a pretty good workout! The Tricho (and other things, like today's bark from nearby islands) get stuck in the net and held in a bottle at the back of the net. These were done every two to four hours during the diel, regardless of when one normally sleeps!

I've posted a few new pictures, some from the diel, and others of our drogue recovery operation (as yet unphotographed here, though plenty of pics on the offical WP2 site). Yours truly has been successfully grapping the drogue each of the two times we've recovered it, so I have to say I'm feeling pretty proud of that.

Hope all's well back in the states! We're schedule to make port in New Caledonia on Wednesday the 24th at 10am. Then we'll have about 27 hours (minus a night back here on the ship) to explore Nouméa, and maybe even make a few phone calls before heading back to sea!

Talk to you soon,

-Dan

Arorae (land sighting!), Drogue, and More

2007-01-17T02:32:00.000-08:00

Arorae, Drogue, and more pictures

Hey everyone! I've uploaded a whole bunch of pictures from the last few days, with comments attached as captions. I've got to hit the hay to get ready for our 36 hours on station coming up (one of our two diel experiments where we sample for more than a day straight), so I'll let the photos do the talking. G'nite!

Into the Southern Hemisphere

2007-01-13T00:42:00.000-08:00

Equator and more photos

This afternoon we crossed the equator and date line! It was sort of like New Years, only without the champagne (no alcohol allowed on board), kissing, confetti, or Dick Clark. My first time in the Southern Hemisphere! Here was the ship-wide announcement, shortly before the crossing:

Attention all hands; attention all hands. This is the Captain. In approximately ten minutes, the ship will cross the equator. To mark the occasion, there will be a sounding of the general alarm and a blast from the ship's whistle. Furthermore, it has come to my attention that the ship is infested with a number of vile, slimy pollywogs [first-time equator crossers]. You wogs thought we wouldn't notice, but we have, and this is your last call to get off the ship. Trusty Shellbacks [experienced equator crossers]: there will be a meeting at 1500 tomorrow on the mess deck to determine what to do with all pollywogs who remain on board.

Uh oh...

Also, sorry about the long posting delay: it's been a busy
week here out in the middle of nowhere! With largely the same schedule
every day, it's starting to feel a bit like Groundhog Day, actually.
Breakfast and casts in the morning; lunch, casts and net tows in the
afternoon; dinner, movies and cards at night.

I've started doing a bit of my own research, however, so that's spicing
things up a bit. The project I personally work on involves using
engineered proteins as biological sensors (biosensors) for metals in
the ocean. Let's see if I can explain (skip the next two paragraphs if
you're bored by science):

Carbonic anhydrase (CA) is a protein made by many living things. It is an
enzyme, whose normal job in the body is to convert carbon dioxide into
carbonic acid, something important in breathing and in keeping blood from
being too acidic or too basic. Like many enzymes, CA requires a co-factor
to do its job. Some enzymes require co-factors that are vitamins (why
your body needs vitamins to survive), but CA requires zinc--a metal--as
its co-factor. To do its job, CA attaches to a zinc molecule whenever it
comes into contact with it. We exploit this to study metals in the ocean!

First, the CA is mutated so instead of zinc it prefers other metals, like
copper. Second, we attach a fluorescent dye to the CA right near where
the metals also attach to it. When we shine a laser onto the CA, the dye
normally shines back a deep red color. BUT, when a metal attaches to the
CA, it interferes with the dye and the whole thing doesn't shine back
anymore. From this we can tell how much of certain metals are in the
ocean at a particular place and time, something that normally has to be
done back in a lab on land.

Okay, enough science. There's also a new set of pictures posted up on
Flickr, so you should take a look at those. Among them is our salt water
wading pool. Not exactly a chill dip considering the seawater temperature
is approaching 90 DEGREES, but it's still nice because a) the air is even
hotter than the water, and b) we can't go in the ocean, despite being
surrounded by it!

Will post again this weekend, and thanks to everybody who's been emailing!
Fun to hear from Dani that it was 70 degrees in NYC last week, though that's
ruining my ability to brag about the tropical weather.

Another huuuuge shout out to Benjamin, who successfully defended his thesis
today! Congratulations, Dr. Walther!

-Dan

At-Sea Pictures and Science

2007-01-08T13:37:00.000-08:00

Finally some at-sea photos! I spent about an hour last night trying to
get these babies up online, so I hope they look all right. They are some
highlights of us leaving port and our first few days at sea.

Right now we are at Station #6, located at 12 degrees north, 170 degrees
west. Sunday night at 0200 we crossed into a new time zone (the same time
zone as Midway Island), meaning we all gained an hour of sleep. This was
nice, considering everybody worked all weekend (no days off at sea!).
We're getting ever closer to the dateline/equator too...

Our daily schedule is posted by Zack and Erik (the chief scientists) on a
whiteboard in the staging bay at the stern of the ship. A usual day looks
like this:

0800 CTD Cast #1 (CTD stands for Conductivity, Temperature and Depth)
0900 TM Cast #1 (TM stands for Trace Metal--meaning Tracey)
1000 Hand Net Tow and Pumping
1200 Secchi (a device used to test water clarity)
1215 CTD Cast #2
1300 TM Cast #2
1400 ARGO Deployment
1415 Depart
1800 Science meeting

The CTD casts are when a large, 24 bottle rosette is suspended into the
ocean. Water from these casts are used for ecology studies (to determine
which microorganisms live at which depths, like the Prochlorococcus that
Zackary's lab studies). The TM cast is when Tracey is launched, used by
Dreux and Jim to study metals. The Hand Net Tow is when Annette casts a
large, very fine net into the surface waters behind the ship. At the end
of the net is a bottle that collects diatoms, bacteria, and other
microorganisms that she later sorts through to see what is growing.
Annette specializes in Trichodesmium, a iron-loving organism that grows in
small puffy brown balls, thin brown lines, or teeny red colonies depending
on the conditions in the ocean.

The Secchi device is a round disc painted with black and white squares
used to measure water clarity. The disc is lowered into the water on a
line marked off with measurements that tell how deep the disc is. When
the disc disappears from view, the line is read and the depth recorded.
Around here the water has very little in it and is very clear, so the disc
goes pretty far before disappearing. 21 meters yesterday, meaning you can
see more than 60 feet down into the water!

The ARGOs are automated devices, shaped like mini torpedos, that drive
through the ocean on their own, bobbing up and down from the surface down
into the ocean darkness. Along the way they take measurements of what is
growing, temperature, how far down sunlight reaches, water currents, and
more. They periodically report back to scientists on shore, and can be
recovered from the ocean at a later date after their mission is complete.
On the Kilo, we drop one into the water at each station, still inside its
cardboard box! The tape holding the box together dissolves in seawater,
and within a few hours the box opens, letting the ARGO out into the ocean
to do its work. Each one costs over $50,000!

I'm getting geared up to take some trace metal measurements of my own
today, so back to work for me. All is going well though, and don't forget
to check out the pictures, leave comments, and drop me an email!

All the best,

-Dan

169 Degrees West

2007-01-06T05:56:00.001-08:00

Hi from 169 degrees west!

We had a great day today doing our first full station. No more
preparations: this was the real McCoy! After breakfast at 0715 (those who
know me can imagine how much fun I am at that), we went out to set up
Tracey. The weather was cloudy, and the seas were still around 8-10 feet,
but over the course of the day things brightened up, the clouds burned
off, and it ended up being a beautiful sunny tropical day.

At 0800 the ship stopped on station, and we had some time to program
Tracey and load her with clean sampling bottles to collect seawater. At
0900 off the boat and down 100 meters she went, and about half an hour
later she was back on board, bottles closed, and secure on deck.
Everything went great! Our after-lunch cast, which went down to 600
meters, went well too, though due to a slight programming error we didn't
collect samples exactly where we wanted to. Also, we got some funny
pictures of me and Dreux working with the Kevlar line used to suspend the
rosette. In our low-tech setup, a lot of things have to be done by hand,
including measuring how much line has gone out (using a handheld metered
block), and leveling the line on the winch as it comes back in (otherwise
it gets bunched up). I hope to post those pics tomorrow afternoon
(evening/night for you guys on the east coast).

As the day went on, the seas calmed down a bit, and by the time we left
station we finally came to know why they call the Pacific the Pacific!
The tradewinds are still blowing a bit, and there are a few whitecaps
visible now under the moon, but the ship is rocking a lot less. Most
people on board have their sealegs and are doing very well. As of now,
we're steaming SW at 16 knots, making our way towards the equator!

We've been passing the time while we're not at work mostly watching
movies, meeting the other people on board, and, oh yes, EATING. It seems
like all we do is eat. As for movies, so far we've watched Bridget Jones
("Happy New Year Brenda!"), Ocean's Twelve ("Terry
Benedict...ahahaha...ohhhh, Terry"), and Black Dahlia (boring). Playing
cards and taking silly pictures are some other pasttimes too.

Love and miss you all, and thanks for all the emails! Keep them coming!

-Dan

Updates and Observations

2007-01-04T14:25:00.000-08:00

Another update from the Kilo:

First things first: an email address for you. I'll be checking my gmail
account once a day, but I have access to ship email all day long. These
messages get sent/received every 15 minutes and are limited to text only.
The address is: sci45@km.soest.hawaii.edu Please email!

We had quite an interesting morning! In order to make reasonable time to
Australia, we are moving pretty much all the time. But for a few hours a
day, from 0800 to 1400 or so, we stop and the bridge keeps the ship on
"station". On station is when we conduct water collection experiments,
net tows (to collect bacteria colonies from the water) and other sampling
experiments.

Our research group (currently me, Jim, Dreux, and Annette) studies the
very low concentrations of "trace metals" in the water (some less than one
molecule of metal per 10 billion molecules of water). Open ocean
seawater, especially near the equator, has very little nutrients and
metals in it, and without small amounts of iron, zinc, and copper,
bacteria and other living things cannot grow. To study these very low
amounts of metal, our group uses a special "rosette", coated plastic and
suspended from a non-metal Kevlar line, that we use to collect water
without contaminating it with trace metals. The rosette is affectionately
named "Tracey".

This morning we were doing a test cast of Tracey, suspending her into the
water from the huge a-frame off the stern of the Kilo, when the Kevlar
line slipped out of the block (pulley) and got stuck in the side of the
block. This was dangerous because the line could easily break, dropping
our whole 400-pound friend Tracey permanently into the water! Some quick
action on the crew's part managed to get her back on board, however, and
we're going to try again (using a better block) this afternoon.

The seas are up too, with swells around 10 feet. Not too many people at
lunch today!

Will post again tonight,

-Dan

Underway!

2007-01-04T14:24:00.001-08:00

Hello from the Pacific Ocean (finally)! We left the fuel dock yesterday
at 1600, and after steaming for a few hours at 16 knots, we finally lost
sight of land. Highlights from the first few hours included: flying fish
skimming through and around the hulls of the ship, stopping for a few
hours to try a quick dry run of daily science station procedures
(including a 1000m cast of the water collection device), and watching all
the people out on the deck trying not to barf from all the wave action.
The sea has been relatively calm: around 6 foot swells with winds at 17
knots, but the boat is swaying quite a bit. Our drawers just flew open,
in fact, and my coffee almost flew off the desk onto me. Some of the
members of the science party did a short preparatory cruise last fall, and
apparently we are already experiencing more challenging conditions than
they ever did. Nevertheless, I think it made for a pretty great night's
sleep, and so far I haven't been seasick at all.

More to come later in the day, and, at least for now, pictures will have
to wait until I get some longer periods at the computer to upload them.

The Kilo!

2007-01-01T10:39:00.001-08:00

Honolulu 2

Here's a more complete photoset of the Kilo Moana. I've added descriptions and comments to the photo captions. Off to work for me now!

Honolulu and First Kilo Pictures!

2006-12-31T04:26:00.001-08:00

Honolulu Photos (instructions below)

Finally uploading some pictures from the 29th and 30th! My camera sort of bit the dust today, so some of the pictures were lost (including, alas, my only few of the ship itself from this morning). Never fear though, because I grabbed a new zoomier camera at Best Buy on my way home today!

For most of these posts I'm going to use Flickr to host the pictures and most of my comments. Click on the incredibly dorky shot of me above (wearing my sister's Fallout Boy t-shirt) which will bring you to Flickr, then click the big thumbnail to start. You can read my comments underneath each photo, then go to the next one by clicking the bottom-right thumbnail. Try to avoid the annoying "Photostream" box on the top right, because this doesn't shows the pictures out of order.

Also, you can click the "all sizes" magnifying glass icon to get larger/full-size versions for saving to your computer. All family members and friends are expected to have a nerdy photo of me on their desktops at all times, capiche?

Arrival in Hawaii

2006-12-30T01:05:00.000-08:00

After two six-hour flights and a three-hour layover at LAX, we're finally here in Honolulu! All of our luggage arrived too, including a checked bag containing some pretty important reagents frozen on dry ice this morning at 3 am. They're now happily frozen in my hotel fridge. A WHOI colleague leaving from Denver even made it despite the snowstorm, so things are looking good! The only bad news is I just realized I don't have a card reader for my camera, so pictures will have to wait until tomorrow after we do a Walmart run.

We're heading down to the warehouse to make sure our equipment arrived at 7:30 AM Hawaii time tomorrow (12:30pm as far as my body's concerned), and if you know my sleeping habits, you know that time is totally fine be me. For now, though, time to crash after a 25 hour day!

Welcome!

2006-12-27T16:42:00.000-08:00

Hello, and welcome to my cruise and travel blog! Here's what I'll be doing in the upcoming few months:

Dec 29, 8:15 AM: Leave Logan for Honolulu (via LA), arriving 7:30 PM Honolulu time
Dec 30-Jan 2: Load R/V Kilo Moana with equipment; pray nothing broke during shipping
Jan 3, 8 AM: Don dramamine patches, leave port
Jan 3-23: Study the Western Pacific Warm Pool (WP2) (details to be posted later)
Jan 24-25: One night in port at Nouméa, New Caledonia
Jan 25-Feb 11: Study the Tasman Sea and "Southern Ocean" (down to 50°S)
Feb 11: Disembark at Brisbane, Australia
Feb 11-12?: Unload equipment and ship things back to the US
Feb 12-26: Personal travel in Australia
Feb 26: Return from Sydney to Los Angeles
Feb 27-?, Catalina Island: Work at University of Southern California

More information about the cruise, including a ship-maintained blog (click "Outreach"), questions from students, and eventually pictures, is available at this UHawaii site of one of the Chief Scientists.

Will post more soon, but now it's time to pack!