It’s a beautiful night outside. The sea is calm, no wind. The sky is clearing up, to reveal a glimpse of the midnight sun. I just took a walk outside on the helicopter deck and the bridge wing. The picture above was taken at 1 am, which means astronomical midnight, when corrected for daylight saving time.
This has been a good day. All the seismic cables and the air-guns are deployed. We have tested the guns, and checked that we record data as expected. In the instrument room the geophysical crew is ready: the navigators, the gun controllers, the quality controllers, and the on-board data processors.
Right now we are steaming towards north, before we make a ninety degree turn into the first line. Then we have an hour run-in to straighten the hydrophone cables. It’s not easy to make these turns. The seismic cable spread we are towing behind the ship is 800m (half a mile) wide, 6km (about 4 miles) long, and covers an area almost one and half times the size of Central Park.
The first shot will be fired two hours from now. When I wake up tomorrow morning, we will have some interesting data to look at. Life is good >:)
It's good you're enjoying it.
ReplyDeleteBargain with the Devil
I can't wait to find out about the data...what are you trying to learn out there and how can it impact little ole me in Colorado?
ReplyDeleteGood question, Anita. We're doing petroleum exploration, such that you can still gas up your car in Colorado in the future >:)
ReplyDeleteI hope you'll explain the data in ways I can understand. It all sounds very fascinating and adventurous.
ReplyDeleteHelen
Straight From Hel
The data will be secret for a long time, Helen. But I will show you another example some time, to illustrate and explain the concept >:)
ReplyDelete