Sometimes, science can be amazing. Sometimes, scientists can be amazing. When these two elements come together, anticipate great things. The North Atlantic Aerosol and Marine Ecosystems (NAAMES) study is an interdisciplinary investigation of planktonic ecosystems, the processes that over the course of each year recreate the largest phytoplankton bloom on Earth, and the link between […]
Hangashore Day As of the writing of this BLog it is the day before landfall. Spirits are high and writing a blog is not my first activity choice and by the time this BLog will be posted I plan to be in recovery stage from the Cruise Apres Party. That being said I am happy […]
I have the uncanny privilege of penning this blog on the very day that we return to terra firma. In other words, we’re finally back on land and you expect me to write about the cruise?!? It is true that most everyone’s thoughts are bent toward home and whatever awaits them there (kids, family, […]
Waking to a dry morning, I sluggishly dawdled to the water dispenser where my housemate was staring at a strong column of ants. “They’re back in force. We should do something about them.” It was a predictable biological event pattern – one that happens whenever there is a long spell of dry heat. I thought […]
One of the best parts of a field campaign are the ‘little moments’ that sneak in while you work. They can really make your day. On that front this field campaign has been no slouch. Yesterday for example, we saw a juvenile black bear while we were traveling to a new field site. We also […]
Autonomous Mission Operations (AMO) Run 2: Following the successful completion of the first AMO experiment run last week, today the crew executed the second of three crew initiated experiment runs by using onboard AMO software to complete the autonomous deactivation and activation of an EXPRESS Rack (ER) 7 at Lab P2. The AMO investigation tests …
While the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) gazes into space, another experiment is listening for whispers from the Earth itself. Housed in two humble white boxes tucked behind COSI’s solar panel, a triad of microphones are recording infrasound – sound too deep for humans to hear. Infrasound sources include volcanoes, earthquakes, ocean waves, the aurora, …
The hatch to BEAM was opened up again today for the second day of outfitting the expandable module to determine its habitability and durability. BEAM, or the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, is set to demonstrate the overall performance and capability of expandable habitats for the next two years. The crew is predicted to enter BEAM …
Multi-Omics: Over the weekend the crew checked the remaining Fructooligosaccharide (FOS) packages and stowed the Fructooligo Bag for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Multi-Omics investigation. Today, the crew collected samples and inserted them into the Box Module in the Minus Eighty-degree Freezer for ISS (MELFI). The Multi-Omics analysis of human microbial-metabolic cross-talk in the …
The recent megafire around Fort McMurray drew worldwide attention. Not only did this fire devastate a community, the fire also grew exceptionally large and started very early in the fire season. Northern forests are rapidly changing, and fire plays a crucial role in this transition. Fires in the boreal forest emit large amounts of carbon […]
