October 26
The Argos and the JASON crew are here in Seattle, Washington for Mission 2. The underlining theme of our Mission is to explore the behavior of waves and the transformation of energy. On this Mission I have been reunited with Toba from Mission 1 and Tim and Madhu from Boot Camp. It's going to be a great week filled with many exciting learning opportunities and laughter. I am really looking forward to the adventures that lie ahead for us Argos.
The first challenge the Argos faced was at the local ice cream shop down the street from our hotel. The challenge: will the mouth-watering 10,000 caloric intake of choice be rum raisin, dulce de leche, or cookie dough? After careful testing and taste bud deliberation, the ice cream flavor of choice is… rum raisin.
October 27
We had a production meeting today with the entire JASON crew. During the meeting we brought out a giant 100-pound suitcase. Inside was a mix of different objects. The common theme that each of these objects shared was that they would all become ingredients for our Rube Goldberg contraption. I'm not going to tell you the exact contents of that suitcase but you can find out more about it yourself on the JASON Argo Field Assignment video for Mission 2.
After a few practice runs with the Rube Goldberg contraption (and a few burns and a shattered Pyrex dish) it was time for us to go to the Pacific Marine and Environmental Laboratory, a.k.a PMEL. Here we were introduced to Dr. Vasily Titov, the Host Researcher that we will be working with during our stay in Seattle. We learned, through his presentation, that his research encompasses mathematics along with geography and physics in order to help model and forecast the direction and power of tsunamis. His work is very important for the safety of coastal communities because at the end of the day, research into better understanding tsunamis will help save lives by predicting where, when, and the magnitude of future tsunamis.
October 28
Once we arrived at PMEL, we divided ourselves up into two teams, Madhu and myself versus Toba and Tim. The challenge was this: which team could make the better Rube Goldberg contraption using the contents of the suitcase in one hour? Dr. Titov contributed greatly to this event by giving constructive criticism and positive feedback of our contraptions. He also helped to clarify some of the various energy transformations and transfers involved in our contraptions and related this activity to the way tsunamis transfer energy.
After we had finished with the Rube Goldberg, it was time to model some waves in our glass dish wave simulator tank. The Argos had a lot of fun playing with this scaled down wave simulator however. At some points during the activity, I couldn't tell who was having more fun, the student Argos or Dr. Titov himself. He was having a great time playing "god" as he calls is, making all the different types of waves. It is truly refreshing to know that scientists are real people too and they are not the stereotypical "serious" types all the time.
October 29
The thing that struck me as being the most interesting point of today's events is how there are only 40 tsunameters scattered around all the oceans worldwide. Tsunameters are special devices that sit on the ocean floor and measure the pressure at that depth. When the column of water above the tsunameter suddenly rises (usually due to tsunami activity), there is an increase in pressure and this data is sent via satellite to the NOAA control center in order for scientists and researchers to warn coastal communities that might be at risk.
Well, the world's oceans cover approximately 70% of the entire planet and there are only 40 tsunameters out there in the deep blue seas. Personally, I think the world could use a few more of those things especially when the device costs only $20,000. Your average family sedan will cost about $20,000 and I'm sure there are more than 40 of those around the world! I say make more tsunameters so we can better understand and forecast tsunamis.
October 30
This week flew by so quickly! It seems like only yesterday I was experiencing October 26th for the second time (thanks to the International Date Line.) Now we're on the last day of shooting and preparing our good-byes.
Today we made a few silly vocabulary videos. We had a strict time limit when making our videos and we managed to get them all in. For example, the machine that helps us predict tsunamis is the tsunameter. In the spirit of fun I came up with a list of the reasons we, as a society, should put more tsunameters in the ocean. Enjoy!
Top Ten Reasons to Have More Tsunameters in the Ocean
#10: There is no scientific evidence but, tsunameters can actually communicate with sea creatures like whales and dolphins.
# 9: One day I would like to own some beachfront property and therefore we need to keep it safe.
# 8: Perhaps one day the data obtained by tsunameters will help scientists develop a universal scale that we can use to measure tsunamis. We could call it the Titov scale.
# 7: Tsunameters cost only $20,000. That's roughly the same price as a Volkswagen Beetle.
# 6: Not many things can work 6,000 meters under water - tsunameters can.
# 5: If you deploy enough of them in the Pacific Ocean, you can hop, skip and jump on the backs of them from Seattle to Tokyo
# 4: Tsunameters give pirates who like to steal NOAA property something to do.
# 3: If you lived on the bottom of the ocean, you could send free text messages to NOAA.
# 2: Tsunameters are very accurate in measuring the size and speed of tsunamis and that helps save lives.
And the # 1 reason why we need more tsunameters is….
The way tsunameters make their squeaky noises during filming makes Dan the sound man make funny faces.
Q&A with Argonaut Bryan:
What's it like traveling as an Argo?
Well it's always an adventure! For example, it's October 26... again. I left Sydney, Australia on October 26 at 11 in the morning and I arrived in Seattle, Washington on the same day 30 minutes later!?! Traveling halfway around the world in a mere 30 minutes - amazing!
As an Argo, you're on camera a lot, who do you think was the real star of the Mission in Seattle?
Throughout the week, I believe the star of the show was Dr. Vasily Titov. He was amazing from start to finish and seemed to have a way of portraying his passion for science and tsunami research and the way it contributes to the good of society.