KenMankoff

More on Sextants on the LMG

My brother made an excellent point that an EMP is not the only event that could take out a ship full of GPSs. A solar storm (it would have to be one much larger than anything on record) could take out multiple satellites.

I once studied the Bastille Day Geomagnetic Storm when I worked on upper-atmosphere physics and Sun-Earth interactions at the Laboratory for Atmosphere and Space Physics. An anecdote about this storm is that on Bastille day the British and French fly homing pigeons across the English Channel. These birds navigate, as many animals do, using the magnetic field lines of Earth. Very few of the birds arrived at their destination the year of the severe storm.

I therefore presume a large storm could take out both satellites and compasses, leaving us fully dependent on a sextant.

Sextants on the LMG

This is my first post-via-email so I’m not sure if it will work. I’m not sure if my blog is even running right now…
 
I have a question from a student: “Is there a sextant on the ship in case other navigational instruments fail? If so, could you take a picture of it?”
 
A photo is attached. The answer about using it involved a lengthy conversation. The First Mate said that they keep it for show-and-tell, and that if the navigational instruments ever failed there would be a lot more to worry about than navigating with a sextant. This is because we have several dozen GPS instruments on the bridge alone. If all of them or all the satellites that provide the location information were to fail, something else is very wrong with the ship and the world.
 
In my opinion, all of these failing is unlikely but still possible. One nuclear weapon detonated in the atmosphere anywhere nearby would create an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) which would permanently turn of all electronic devices within range. Unfortunately we live in a world where this is becoming a realistic possibility. Fortunately our ship, located in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica, would probably not be within the target range.
 
In addition to the above, a sextant requires a) a horizon and b) an object that can be tracked. For the past 2 days we have lived in a black-and-white world. The ship is bright orange, but everything else is a subdued gray. Thick clouds blanket the sky and we cannot easily detect where the sun is, nor where the sky ends and the sea begins.
 
Therefore, should GPS fail, we would resort to Dead Reckoning. This technique requires your current position to be known, and a compass. (A compass would survive an EMP.) We would point in the direction we want to go, put the engines to a certain speed of X knots (X nautical miles per hour), and then we would just drive in that direction. This technique does not take into account drift due to ocean and air currents.
 
One of the other mates told me that until 5 years ago all ships were required to carry a sextant. That is no longer the case, and some maritime schools are considering dropping sextant lessons from their curriculum. There exists a generational gap where many older captains require a sextant on board and younger captains my not even know how to use it, or learned out of an appreciation of an historical science, as opposed to a job requirement.
 
I hope this answers your question.
 
  -k.

Web Troubles

I seem to be having some website troubles… Such is the case when you host and admin your own server in a basement three continents away. (A big thank you to those helping out stateside.)

 However, if you can read this, then you can work around any troubles that I might have. I’m posting to http://kenmankoff.com by emailing things to http://mankofffoo.posterous.com/ This means you can follow along there rather than on KenMankoff. I’d prefer you use KenMankoff (if it is online) as KenMankoff will exist after the cruise while Posterous is temporary.

   -k.

Heading to Palmer Station, Antarctica

On Sunday I will depart the U.S. to begin another trip to Antarctica. Four days later our ship sails from the port of Punta Arenas, Chile on the southern tip of South America. Our voyage takes us through the Drake Passage to the United States Antarctic base Palmer Station. The Research Vessel Laurence M. Gould will be the first ship to cross the Drake Passage and dock at Palmer following the Austral winter.

Our crew’s mission is threefold: to conduct onboard scientific research, to transport researchers, and to resupply Palmer Station. The ship is set to be out to sea for 24 days. As a lab technician, my job will be to help with onboard research. We expect to hit multiple storms, and to study how these storms mix the ocean and allow carbon transfer between the deep sea and the surface.

I will use this web journal to document my experiences, as I have done during my previous two trips to Antarctica (see ANDRILL and NBP09-01). I will upload some photos following my return to North America and high bandwidth. In addition to my posts, there exists at least one other blog that will be updating from the ship: http://harrietmankoff.com

Antarctic Base Trifecta

Visit number three appears to be falling into place. Four and a half weeks crossing the Drake Passage and visiting Palmer Station. I’ve already spent time at McMurdo and South Pole. It will be nice to complete the U.S. Antarctic Base trifecta.

They say:

First time for the adventure.

Second time for the money.

Third time because you don’t fit in anywhere else.

I say:

First time for the adventure.

Second time for the adventure.

Third time to start a new adventure on a whole different plane.

Then:

Fourth and beyond to collect more data.

LMG v. NBP

The R/V Lawrence M. Gould appears significantly smaller than the R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer. The LMG holds 26 rather than 37 scientists and is 18 m (60 ft) shorter. That probably means it is cozier but moves more with the waves. And unfortunately it does not appear to have those wonderful wings on the bridge which provide an amazing place for watching whales, seals, penguins, ice, and skies.

The Lawrence M. Gould and the Nathaniel B. Palmer. Source: USAP Photo Library.