Ahoy!

Welcome to the blog-at-sea for the US GO-SHIP I09N research cruise!  We are sailing the Indian Ocean north from Fremantle, Australia, to Phuket, Thailand, and will be describing our experiences along the way.  In the 5+ weeks at sea, we will measure various ocean properties, including temperature, salinity, carbon, nutrients, and other gases, with the goal of understanding the links in the biology, chemistry, and physics of the Indian Ocean. 

In Fremantle, we met up with our colleagues who had just sailed the southern leg of the Indian Ocean on the I08S cruise track ("I" for Indian Ocean) - going from Western Australia to Antarctica (and back again!).  Check out their blog for details of their cruising experience and some nice background on the history of shipboard research programs, such as the GO-SHIP program.

This is not the first time scientists have sailed these seas, however.  The I08S and I09N cruise tracks were previously sampled by scientists both in 1995 and 2007.  By taking repeat measurements of these chemical and hydrographic parameters on decadal timescales, we hope to gain insight on the effects of a changing climate on the ocean, and vice versa.

On this cruise, there are 31 scientists participating from 14 different institutions, plus 21 permanent crew members from the research vessel R/V Roger Revelle.  Stay tuned as we meet the various members onboard and hear about their research interests at sea.

[Morning on the bow. Photo credit Net Charoenpong]