Day 9
04/01/08 4:57 pm by Ocean Debris - Posted In : Daily Log
Woke up this morning to sunshine which was soon clouded over. We prepped for 2 morning flights and during the final radio range test, we noticed some glitches in the radio controls. After trouble shooting for 5 minutes, we asked for a 30 minute break while we continued to find the problem. Right after calling for a break in ops, we entered a rain squall and had to break-down all the equipment (monitor, computers, DV recorders) that were sitting out on deck and get them back into their waterproof cases. The winds came up as well so we decided to call off the morning flight ops. That gave us time to continue our troubleshooting. Ends up that everything checked out fine the second time. Not sure what was causing the interference as we have not seen that before, but we will continue flights with a bit of caution.
It is now about 11am and we will re-evaluate the weather situation after lunch for possible afternoon flight ops. When the winds get above 15 kts, the seas are disturbed enough that seeing objects in the water becomes difficult. That holds true for the video on-board the UAS as well as for the Big Eyes folks looking from the bridge. The UAS can handle higher winds but the risk factor for take-off and landings increase. Curt is making use of this downtime to work out some new code for the autonomous flight computer. We will be trying different methods of surveying autonomously while the ship is under way. The dynamic nature of this type of operations makes creating an adaptable survey method challenging.
1300 hrs - Winds have picked up to 20-25 kts and are climbing. The seas are building and visibility is down due to rain. Flight ops for the day are canceled. We continue on our zig-zag transect as we crisscross the front in a westward direction. With everything ready to fly, Curt is the only one doing any work today as he continues to refine software. Look for pictures to be added throughout the day.
1900 hrs - Gale force winds this afternoon and evening. The seas are building but the ride is comfortable. Peak winds were over 40 kts gusting to mid 40's. Not a good day for flying or small boat operations. We are taking SST and Cl readings as we travel and are tracking the front as we head west. Weather maps show a persistent high pressure system to the west and it is evident we are on the back side of the low. If winds and seas calm down through the night, we will continue with UAS ops tomorrow.
It is now about 11am and we will re-evaluate the weather situation after lunch for possible afternoon flight ops. When the winds get above 15 kts, the seas are disturbed enough that seeing objects in the water becomes difficult. That holds true for the video on-board the UAS as well as for the Big Eyes folks looking from the bridge. The UAS can handle higher winds but the risk factor for take-off and landings increase. Curt is making use of this downtime to work out some new code for the autonomous flight computer. We will be trying different methods of surveying autonomously while the ship is under way. The dynamic nature of this type of operations makes creating an adaptable survey method challenging.
1300 hrs - Winds have picked up to 20-25 kts and are climbing. The seas are building and visibility is down due to rain. Flight ops for the day are canceled. We continue on our zig-zag transect as we crisscross the front in a westward direction. With everything ready to fly, Curt is the only one doing any work today as he continues to refine software. Look for pictures to be added throughout the day.
1900 hrs - Gale force winds this afternoon and evening. The seas are building but the ride is comfortable. Peak winds were over 40 kts gusting to mid 40's. Not a good day for flying or small boat operations. We are taking SST and Cl readings as we travel and are tracking the front as we head west. Weather maps show a persistent high pressure system to the west and it is evident we are on the back side of the low. If winds and seas calm down through the night, we will continue with UAS ops tomorrow.
04/02/08 1:09 am
Hi Tim! Looks like you're all having a great time! Tracking your trek through trekme.com is way cool! By the way, I read something about the 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch'. Are you anywhere near that? What on earth are we going to do about that? Maybe you can invent a liquid that converts plastic to something benign. :-). Be safe, and have a wonderful trip! Peter