Weather and Wildlife

Weather and Wildlife

By : Dave Sybert

Weather the last few days aboard the R/V Armstrong has been what I would refer to as "sporty."  Rough seas and strong winds have limited deck operations but there is still plenty of data being collected.  The last few days we have been conducting transects back and forth across the western edge of the Gulf Stream and have experienced some pretty fast swings in the weather.  The water temperatures change nearly 20 degrees from the Gulf Stream to the shelf water.  We have seen very thick sea smoke, warm sunny skies and cold rainy weather depending on what water body we were steaming over.  In these areas of great change we have experienced high seas at times, and also had the opportunity to see some amazing wildlife.  Turtles, whales, many many sharks and manta rays were all spotted from the bridge.