Science Ops off the R/V Neil Armstrong

To all you SSTORM-troopers...thanks for checking out our research. We left Charleston, SC on Wednesday morning and have been working around the clock. We are currently about 20 miles offshore of Cape Hatteras. We have been surveying the seafloor off the coast evaluating geomorphic variations. As this data is collected, we select interesting sites to collect sediment samples using a multi-core device (see photos). The samples will provide insights into the type of sediment depositing and the nature of transport and accumulation. We put together a multi-disciplinary team of scientist for the cruise...the characters (beyond Walsh and I) are:

Erin Field - a microbiologist and will be studying microbes in the water column and surface sediments
Sid Mitra - an organic geochemist evaluating the sources and fate of black carbon on the margin
Mike Muglia - a scientist and PhD student focused on Gulf Stream dynamics
Dave Sybert - focuses on outreach at the UNC CSI

There are also several graduate students (Ryan Gibbons, Ian Conery, Beau Benfield, Caroline Webb) and technicians (Keith Garmire, Trip Taylor) onboard helping get the research done. It is nice getting back out on the "big blue", especially on this brand new global-class research vessel. This cruise is part of a Science Verification process of the new ship. Our objective is to collect data to meet as many of our scientific objective as possible AND to help evaluate processes that are working well on the ship and those that may need some improvement. Although it is a very experienced captain and crew, it is a brand new ship, so just about everything is a "first" for this ship. We are trying to help work out the kinks as we collect our own data. Pretty exciting!