R/V Melville
The past
several dredges have been virtually empty, as we tow over old
ocean crust buried in thick sediment. We are about 23 nautical
miles (42.5 km) east of the East Pacific Rise, where we first
started sampling. We are moving east along the incipient rift
collecting samples and data as we go, and have only another 13
nautical miles to go before we’re done. There are certain people
aboard the ship without who we all would be at an utter loss.
The next few days will highlight these individuals and their contribution
to the success of this adventure. The first of these is Dan Jacobson,
the ship’s computer technician (see photo). Dan is essentially
in charge of making sure that our myriad of scientific equipment
successfully collects and stores data. He works for Scripps Institute
of Oceanography, mainly on R/V Melville and R/V Revelle. He hails
from Northwest Iowa, near Lake Okoboji, and worked in Indiana
before seeing an advertisement from Scripps that would allow him
to work on research vessels like this one. He says the best part
of the job is working with the crew and scientists, always getting
to know new and interesting people. The worst part, of course,
is the crises that occur when something goes wrong. We are all
very grateful to Dan for his hard work in making sure that all
goes smoothly in the technology department.
