Weather

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3^rdJuly

It’s another beautiful morning here at 61^oN 33^oW, just off the coast of Greenland. The Arctic Circle is at 66^oN, so we're not too far off. Since we set sail about 17 days ago, we’ve been warned that we're in the North Atlantic, so stormy, cold, wet weather is to be expected. In the past few days, however, we hear “this just isn’t right… It’s never this nice for so long in the North Atlantic”. In fact, we’ve been very lucky, and have had magnificent weather most days. There have been a few cold, windy and grey days, but even those weren’t too bad. We were supposed to encounter a storm on Sunday, but we travelled north and it stayed put, so we missed it. Instead, we had the most amazing day. The sky was clear, and we found ourselves on the deck, in the sun, chatting, playing games and passing the time. It felt like a day in the park. I know they say to be careful what you wish for, but I think I would like a little storm. Just to feel what it’s like. People look at me funny when I say this, but I can’t help it, I paid the ticket and I want the full experience

The sky over the Atlantic is different than any sky I‘ve ever seen before. Ilan, Orit and the rest of our “cloud friends” at Weizmann will be very jealous when they see the pictures. The clouds are so impressive, sometimes it feels as if you can reach out and touch them. At any given time you can look at the sky and think that the clouds you’re looking at must be the most beautiful ones you have ever seen. A few days ago, while it was very misty and grey, we caught a glimpse of a full rainbow. It kept changing its position, and there were times when it looked so close to us, we could see water in front and behind it.

There might have been a small pot of gold at the edge of that rainbow… we caught a bloom!! We're now at a station termed “Cocco 1”, where our pet algae Emiliania huxleyi is growing nicely. So, although the weather is spectacular, we spend most of the time inside, sampling like lunatics. Everyone seems to be that bit more focused; trying to get the maximum out of every day we have left aboard the Knorr. In the lab back home we’re used to working with algae cultures that are at a minimum concentration of 100,000 cells per milliliter. Here we measured a peak of 4000 cells per milliliter and were so happy we danced a jig… So we had to adjust our methodologies and expectations to the real world, it took a few days, but now it seems we’re on the right track, and initial promising results have started to pour in.

Okay, its 05:55, and I have to go help get some water out of the ocean and get this day started.

Thanks Liti for the pictures!

Next time on Vardi VICE – wildlife at sea.



Have a good one

Daniella

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