Monday – November 2, 2009 – The Argos Have Landed
Student Argo Sachi Sanghavi

After twenty-five hours of flying, the reward was volcanic – literally.

My journey started in New Delhi, India, with my parents. We flew half-way around the world to New York, and then to Portland, Oregon. As we started our descent, I gazed out the window and saw two majestic, snow-covered mountains (I’ve never even been in the snow before!) Seeing Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens rise from the Cascades was a thing of beauty.

I had to wonder, how did they get there? What's really going on beneath the surface of the earth that caused those mountains to form? The wonder was surpassed only by the excitement of knowing that I'd soon be finding out, as I start my JASON missions.

After getting off the plane, I was anxious to reunite with some of my fellow Argos. We all became friends during bootcamp, but I hadn’t seen them since. I was also excited to meet the host researcher that would be guiding us through our first mission – Dr. Walter Smith from NOAA. Dr. Smith uses satellites to help map and understand the volcanic mountains that lie beneath the oceans. Tomorrow, we’ll be starting our day at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, where we’ll use NOAA's Science on a Sphere to kick off our mission on plate tectonics. Then, we’ll be driving to the coast, conducting a transect along the way, studying how the land has formed over the last thousands and millions of years.

Now, it is time for some rest – tomorrow, the real journey begins.

Tectonic Fury Student Argonauts at Bootcamp	Dr. Walter Smith and the Argos getting ready for tomorrow at OMSI
Dinner with Dr. Smith	The Argonauts at their Mission Briefing