‘Moin’ from the hydroacoustic lab!

Moin!

(“Hello” in Northern Germany)

Anne doing a shift in the hydroacoustic lab

I am Anne and I study B.Sc. Marine Geosciences at the University of Bremen. On this cruise, I am working with Dr. Katharina Streuff from the MARUM institute, based in Bremen. As the cruise goes on, we scan the seafloor bathymetry (Multibeam Echosounder ME122 and ME712) and the sediments (Parasound) to get data about what the seafloor looks like. Additionally, we run a mammal watch to keep a look out for animals that might be scared by the ship’s activities so that we can minimize our environmental footprint.

After our watches, we also process the data on board and use it to help the coring and oceanography teams pick their station locations. The goal of the Hydroacoustics teams is to scan unknown regions and help the coring team to make better decisions about where to take a MUC or Gravity core. While we can scan the seafloor all day, coring activities take longer, at least 3 hours just to process one core, so we have to make sure we chose perfect coring sites!

Besides doing the Hydroacoustics, I aim to have a look at every working group on board, help where I can and get as much new insights as possible. Everybody here has lots of expertise in different fields and I always like to have a good chat about what they’re doing. I am working on a video diary about this cruise which I hope to share with you later 🙂

So far I was super lucky: I didn’t got sea sick, love the food on board and also made some new friends. Working as a team and supporting each other is super important, cause we work together around-the-clock and have lots to do. Today I woke up in the Lindenow Fjord, which has one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen and lots of sunshine! We met another ship this morning, which had a helicopter delivering supplies to remote villages and stations in this sparsely populated part of the world.

Being only in my second year of studying, this cruise gives me a lot of oceanography experience and I am super grateful for this chance. This is my first time working on a ship, seeing Iceland & Greenland as well as being further up then 62° North.

Sunny Greetings from the Hydroacoustics team!