We’ve just started the busiest portion of this cruise for the RAFOS float program. Today we have released the first 2 of the 10 deep floats that will sink to near the sea floor and drift with the currents there for the next two years. It is very tricky to find the best positions for the float releases because the sea floor is very rough here along the flank of the mid-Atlantic ridge. We don’t want to perch a float on top of some underwater mountain, where it might stay stuck for days or longer. It’s rather tense, and not made any easier by the fact that I have to rely on others to read off information from the various displays (Latitude, longitude, water depth, etc). My associate Heather is usually waiting at the ready on the back deck, waiting for the signal to release the float. I need to make the final decision and call up to the bridge to let them know it’s time to slow down so we can release a float. It’s past midnight now and I’ve been up since 9 AM. It will probably be a few more hours before I can catch a short nap. We will be releasing more floats tomorrow, every few hours. Back online when we are done or when I have a spare minute to write.
Amy Bower is a physical oceanographer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. She has been chasing ocean currents in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans for over 25 years, primarily by releasing acoustically tracked floats far below the sea surface. Legally blind since her mid-20s, Amy uses adaptive technology to continue her research.