By Kasey Cantwell - Web Coordinator
May 16, 2015
NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer approaches the Bridge of the Americas, officially leaving the Panama Canal. Okeanos transited through the canal during Leg 1 of Tropical Exploration 2015. Image courtesy of NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research. Download larger version (jpg, 46 KB).
A few days ago, we crossed through the Panama Canal and the officers, crew, and science party aboard Okeanos Explorer received the Order of the Ditch. There are many traditional maritime fraternities and symbols connected with transiting through specific parts of the world’s oceans. Many of these have nautical traditions dating back to the time of sail, and some have been more recently adopted and passed on the civilian maritime community from the Navy. A full list is below:
As we left the Panama Canal, dozens of ships were waiting just offshore for their turn to transit through the canal into the Atlantic Ocean. Image courtesy of NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Tropical Exploration 2015. Download image (jpg, 36 KB).
NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer left the pier in Panama City, Panama this morning at 0900, and so begins our adventure in the Pacific. Leg 2 of Tropical Exploration 2015 began with a day of orienting new personnel to the ship, conducting safety briefings and drills, and training new mapping watch standers and interns. For many of our mapping interns, this is their first time at sea and the first time ever working with multibeam sonar so we ran through a systems orientation and over the basic principles of how we collect, process, and use our sonar data.
During an abandon ship drill, new mission personnel were required to don immersion suits, or as we call them, Gumby suits. Here LT Kevin Micheal and David Rivera demonstrate the proper way to wear the suit, hood on and flap closed over your face. Image courtesy of NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Tropical Exploration 2015. Download image (jpg, 51 KB).
We also deployed the Salinity Snake, a new technology that measures sea surface salinity. Stay tuned to future mission logs for more information about this later.
