Monday, November 20, 2006

The Laurence M. Gould

The National Science Foundation research vessel, the Laurence M. Gould


On Thursday November 16th, Art Quinn and David Ruth boarded the National Science Foundation research vessel, the LM Gould. She is a 230-foot, 48-foot beam and something like 1000 tons. The bottom is round and the boat has a tall structure making for some rolling motion as she glides over the Southern Ocean. However, we were lucky to have good weather and easily survived. Indeed the only bad weather encountered was when we tried to land one of the scientists at Cape Shireff on Livingston Island, one of the South Shetland Islands. It was blowing 40 knots or more with 10 to 12-foot seas, too dangerous to put someone in a Zodiac and land on a windswept beach.

Joe at the "wheel." Most of the steering was by computer.

This is the ship's environment computer. It is saying that we are at 60º south latitude and 62º west longitude. Our bearing is 162º, nearly due south. Wind is 14 knots from the north, water temperature is -0.282ºC, slightly below freezing for fresh water. Outside temperature is 1.7ºC, about 35ºF. Wind chill is -10.8ºC. The water depth was 4138 meters, well over 12,000 feet deep and the barometer was at 970 millibars, steadily declining.

Here we are in the ship's lounge after"muster." We all were required to bring our survival suits and life preservers. I'm not sure how we would really survive a disaster, however. After leaving the coast of South America we only saw one boat. Antarctica is really remote.

Captain Marty at the controls.

Mates Scott, Joe and bosun, Ernest.


The University of California at Santa Cruz was well represented onboard. On the ship's bridge from the left, David Ruth, Porter College '73, Gitta McDonald College Eight '99 and presently a PhD candidate in biology at UCSC, Stian Alesandrini, Stevenson BA '95 and MS '97. On the right is Art Quinn, Porter College '72. Go Slugs!

3 Comments:

Blogger Paula Priscila said...

gostei de suas fotos , moro no brasil , mas gostaria muito de conhecer o gelo , a neve , a beleza de outras naturezas , visite meu blog e leia alguns poemas brasileiros!!

obrigada.

11/21/06, 2:45 PM  
Blogger Roberta said...

Most informative, have enjoyed reading about this, thanks.

11/21/06, 6:38 PM  
Blogger miss bea said...

Stumbled across your blog as it is currently a "Blog of Note" - and boy am I glad I did! I've spent the last hour thoroughly immersed in your fascinating experience. What an amazing opportunity! Thank you for sharing.

-Anna, Cowell '04!

12/4/06, 5:54 PM  

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