Scientist at Work Blog: Leaving the Choppy Waters

Jim Thomson is principal oceanographer at the Applied Physics Lab at the University of Washington. He studies ocean surface waves and coastal processes and wrote about his expedition to the North Pacific in the fall.

Thursday, Feb. 7

Today, finally, we arrived in Puerto Montt, Chile. Sure, the 24 hours of total travel time was long, but the three-week delay of the original departure was much longer. Our equipment became stuck in a maze of customs and hazmat regulations, still not quite resolved, and we are just now executing Plan B.

We are here in Chile to measure the turbulence as the tides rush through the Canal de Chacao. That turbulence will be a key driver for the design of underwater turbines that may one day harness the power of those currents to make electricity. Plan A is a mooring of specialized sonar instruments, which was packed neatly into a shipping container last November. Plan B is a bunch of spare instruments that we lugged onto the airplane with us.

Plan B is going smoothly. We hand-carried the spare instruments through airport customs without difficulty, unless you count the stern questioning about the gluten-free cookies my wife sent along with us. (The cookies did make it through.)

Plan A is, suddenly, on track too. The shipping container is in Chile, which is a vast improvement over the detour it took to Peru. Actually, it is sitting in the parking lot of the local university in Puerto Montt. It?s secured by customs though, and tomorrow morning we will meet with officials to release it ? we hope.

Either plan needs a boat, and that was the focus for the remainder of Day 1. We got to the research vessel Jurgen Winter and met its captain at the marina and began to get familiar with the layout of winches, mounting plates, and other items. We have been e-mailing for months now, but there is nothing like an in-person exchange to bring it all together. Sharing a beer doesn?t hurt, either. In less than an hour, I was convinced that the boat was up to the task, and the captain even more so.

There are still some details, of course. The mooring has a 3,000-pound anchor to hold it in place against the strong currents. If we gain access to the shipping container, that anchor needs to get from the parking lot at the university down to the docks and onto the boat. The captain has arranged for a truck, and we think we found a crane at the fisherman?s terminal that will do the job ? but only at high tide. When is high tide? This is one that we can handle; we?ve already been looking at previous data from the region to make specialized tide tables for this project.

Today, things are coming together. Morale is high and I am optimistic. I?m sure the ocean will correct that soon enough. Until then, we sail on.

Source: http://scientistatwork.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/leaving-the-choppy-waters/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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