Day in the Life

By Liz Weidner

The GEOEO US contingent is running the bulk of the geophysical mapping operations during the expedition. This means that while we will occasionally deploy our ASV Echoboat, a typical day for our team consists main of three eight-hour shifts running the acoustic systems on IB Oden (mapping 24 hours a day). Our shifts are split as follows:

• Midnight to 8:00 am: Liz and Brian
• 8:00 am to 4:00 pm: Larry and Bjorn
• 4:00 pm to midnight: Felicity and Jamie
  
  

The shift timing was chosen so that each group has a chance to sit down for at least two of the three official meals served (breakfast at 7:45 am, lunch at 12:00 pm, and dinner at 5:45 pm). The ship days run on UTC (Universal Coordinated Time), for data collection purposes. Of course, being in the Arctic Circle in the high summer, we have 24 hours of sunlight! The positive: even our "night shift" team gets to feel like they work in the “daytime”. The negative: sometimes it’s quite difficult to fall asleep because your circadian rhythm gets thrown off by all the light.

A “day in the life” for me on a typical mapping day (AKA no Echoboat operations) looks something like this:

5:40 pm: Wake up, get dressed, and head down for breakfast (officially the "dinner" meal). The oddest part of having dinner for "breakfast" is combining coffee with the meal.

6:15 pm: Check to see if there are any announcement on the main board in Odenplan (the central meeting area on the main deck). Any important information is posted in this location, since I work the night shift sometimes I miss the morning announcements. 

6:30 - 10:15 pm: I get some work done on the bridge – this is by far the best location to work on Oden. Six stories up, there is a large table with power outlets and nearly 360-degree views of the surrounding area. Typically, I will work on processing acoustic water column data collected during GEOEO. If there isn't any immediate need for GEOEO analysis, I'll work on other research projects or, occasionally, I'll write a blog post! This is a time we also often work on Echoboat (if necessary), because Larry, Brian, and I are all awake and not sitting a mapping shift. 

10:30 pm: I'll head down to get changed for the gym for a quick workout. Afterwards I always make time for the sauna (just one deck up from the gym).

11:45 pm: Brian and I meet with Felicity and Jamie on the bridge to start the mapping shift change over. In the 15 minutes prior to the shift change we review what was completed during the previous shift, cover any issues or changes in procedure, and discuss the plan for the next 8-12 hours. Then we officially relieve Felicity and Jamie of their duties and start working.

12:00 am - 8:00 am: Mapping shift on IB Oden’s bridge. The mapping shift typically includes constant monitoring of the acoustic systems – checking to make sure the settings are appropriate for the current environmental conditions, verifying all systems are synchronized, watching for any unexpected sources of noise, marking any features of interest (gas seeps, sediment layers, iceberg scours, etc.).  

On the night shift we sometime will deploy XBTs (expendable bathymetric thermistors) that given us a sound speed profile without having to stop the ship. 

We also process multibeam data continuously to:

1. Keep on top of what has been collected
2. Determine if we’ve missed any areas (data holes, AKA holidays)
3. Produce daily produces for the larger science team
4. Work towards final bathymetric grids for the end of cruise products. 

Sometime around 1:30-2:00 am we switch off for mid-rats (our lunch meal). Since it is the middle of night, there is no official meal served but there are always leftovers and sandwich makings in the galley. Typically I like to have a peanut butter sandwich, a piece of fruits (often an orange or apple), and another cup of coffee. 

At 7:45 am Bjorn and Larry (the day shift team, 8 am - 4 pm) come up to the bridge and we have the shift change over meeting.

8:00 am: After the mapping shift ends, I'll head down to the mess for my dinner (AKA breakfast) and the morning announcements at 8:15 am. 

8:30 am: If I'm feeling up for it, I will sometimes head to the gym again for a short workout after the morning meeting. Occasionally, I just go straight to the sauna - it depends on how long the previous day was and how much sleep I got. 

9:15 am: After the sauna and shower, I get ready for bed and head to sleep before starting it all over again!