Note: This is a guest post by Dr. Beth Orcutt, Senior Research Scientist at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Maine. Orcutt is a participant in the ECOGIG project and will be blogging here about her experiences on the March 2013 RV Pelican ECOGIG cruise to deploy deep-sea landers in the Gulf of Mexico.
ECOGIG: March '13 cruise: Blog #3
I am often reminded that being an oceanographer is a continued lesson in patience and resourcefulness. Two days ago I wrote that our team was gearing up for departure to Louisiana to begin cruise mobilization for our next ECOGIG cruise to study the impacts of hydrocarbons at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. After 10+ years of sea voyages, you would think I would have learned by now to not tempt fate and, more importantly, the weather. As soon as I posted those fateful words, my colleagues called me to discuss a change in the weather forecast, with seas in our area of operations predicted for 6+ feet - definitely beyond the margin of safety for what we needed. So, now we are in a holding pattern, waiting for the weather to improve. In the meantime, I am enjoying the unplanned weekend at home.
Until next time,
Beth Orcutt