Autumn Cruise Log: Days 03 & 04

Click here for our Departure Day report Click here for our Day 01 report
Click here for our Day 02 report Click here for our Final Day report

The last three days of the cruise went very smoothly: we collected in-water data at 13 stations along what's called the "J Line." According to oceanographer lore, this track that runs along the central Gulf of Maine was named by Henry Bryant Bigelow, who later became the founding director of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

On deck operations ran like clockwork during the later part of the cruise. Our first "test cast" (Day 01) took 6 hours to complete. Near the end, we were completing casts in about 90 minutes.

Our main in-water package ("CTD" >>>), which measures temperature and salinity at depth, made use of many "hands." It is deployed and retrieved using a mechanical winch. Our volunteer student helpers, Barbara and Alison (<<<), helped safely guide the CTD on and off the ship, both day and night.

Spectacular sunsets at sea invigorate even the busiest of oceanographers. Most take a few minutes to watch (hoping in vain to see the "green flash")... then it's BACK TO WORK!
| Temperature | Salinity | Biology | Navigation | BIGELOW LAB |