Mv Pelagia, Tanzania en Zuid Afrika

En dan nu lieve mensen..
important source region for the Agulhas Current (Lutjeharms, 2006) and a conduit in the global scale circulation of the ocean. The southward transport through the MC takes place mostly by large and deep reaching mesoscale eddies (De Ruijter et al., 2002, Ridderinkhof and de Ruijter, 2003). Deep countercurrents with intermediate and polar waters flow equatorward along the African continental slope. The eddies travel southward into the Agulhas retroflection region at the southern tip of Africa (Biastoch and Krauss, 1999; Schouten et al., 2002). There they affect the timing and frequency of Agulhas Ring formation and the associated flux of heat and salt from the Indian Ocean into the South Atlantic. From satellite altimeter observations we have recently shown significant interannual variation of the eddy activity in the Mozambique Channel and east of Madagascar (Palastanga et al., 2006). It appears to be a lagged response to the Indian Ocean Dipole cycle (IOD) which generates large-scale ssh-anomalies that propagate westward as forced Rossby waves in the latitude band around 10º S (Webster et al., 1999, Feng and Meyers, 2003). They arrive at Madagascar about one year after the onset of an IOD event. In response, the intensity of the South Equatorial Current and its branches along East Madagascar varies: it weakens in response to a positive IOD event and strengthens due to a negative one. The East Madagascar Current (EMC) provides another source for the Agulhas current. After separating from the coast of South Madagascar it seems to bifurcate. The flow in the upper layer may connect to the recently discovered Subtropical Indian Ocean Countercurrent (Siedler et al., 2006, Palastanga et al., 2007). The other part feeds into the Agulhas, largely in the form of eddies and dipoles (De Ruijter et al., 2004). Beal et al. (2006) recently showed from hydrographic observations that the cyclonic, inshore part of the Agulhas current consists of waters from the MC while the offshore, anticyclonic part originates in the EMC. How the connection between the EMC and the Agulhas Current is established and by what processes its variability is controlled is largely unknown (Quartly et al., 2006, Palastanga et al., 2007). Most of the above description is based on analysis of satellite data and individual hydrographic cruises. In 2003 the Dutch LOCO program (Long term Ocean Climate Observations) was launched. An important component of this program consists of long-term (2003-2010) moored observations of the currents and hydrographic properties in the MC in order to quantify the (variability in the) meridional transport from the tropical regions towards the Agulhas current. The program has been embedded in the international WCRP - CLIVAR program and forms part of the global network for sustained Eulerian ocean observatories, OCEANSITES (www.oceansites.org). The LOCO moorings and hydrographic cruises add important information on the subsurface characteristics of this ocean region to the satellite data. During the LOCO period, no full IOD cycle has been completed. In order to observe over the full water column the in situ response to the IOD modulation over the complete cycle, i.e. including also the negative IOD phase, the LOCO observation period has to be extended. In this application we apply for an extension of this program, firstly by adding another observational period to the present program (2010-2012) and secondly by continuous in-situ observations of the EMC during the same period. The required PostDoc will analyse the in-situ observations from both mooring sections and hydrographic surveys. Analyses will be supported with model results from a data-assimilation system for this region that will be developed at Utrecht University. Objectives of the project In view of the above the objectives of this project are: To determine the (variability in the) meridional transports in the Mozambique Channel and the East Madagascar Current using synoptic moored observations To quantify the magnitude and hydrographic properties of the flow in both areas and use this to estimate the relative importance of (variability in) tropical and subtropical sources on the Agulhas current system and the inter-ocean exchange around South-Africa.

Ik zal snel aan boord van dit schip stappen dat luistert naar de naam: mv Pelagia.
Een schip van 66 meter en in totaal 25 mensen aan boord waarvan 11 crew en 14 onderzoekers.

Ik ben erg benieuwd en zoals het stukje al vermeld is het misschien wel al duidelijk waar ik op moet stappen.
Ja, we moeten weer vliegen..

Ik zal 10 maart aan boord van de Pelagia stappen in Dar-Es-Salaam, ja in Tanzania ja ;)
Ik zal dan 3 weken met het schip mee varen totdat we aan komen in Durban, Zuid Afrika, daar stap ik weer af, en dan vlieg ik naar Johannesburg om daar 5 dagen te gaan city touren, alleen ja.
Er is niemand die met me mee wil, ik snap het ook niet!
Dan op 7 april zal ik me bij een groep aan sluiten en met die groep ga ik een rondreis maken van 17 dagen.
Na die rondreis komen we aan in Kaapstad en daar zal ik dan nog 2 dagen verblijven, wederom alleen, en dan zal ik naar huis toe komen vliegen.

Ik ben ontzettend benieuwd hoe dat daar gaat zijn, en of het wat voor me is om alleen op vakantie te gaan. Zelf ben ik er nu heel positief over omdat ik denk dat je sneller contact maakt met anderen in je eentje dan als je met zn 2en of meerdere op vakantie gaat.

Veel informatie heb ik nu dus nog niet, ben ontzettend nieuwsgierig en kan niet wachten om te gaan varen. Heerlijk, eindelijk weer op zee, en dan dat grote Zuid Afrika avontuur!

Wow!

Zodra ik aan boord ben, en we hebben internet zal ik weer wat posten hier, en anders, zodra ik in Jo’burg ben laat ik wat horen!