Questions and Comments Options

[Amy Clapp's Fifth Grade Clas]

Hi Steve,
I really liked the picture you had of when you getting in the helicopter--all the gadgets and stuff were really cool.

The pictures of the ice with the algea on it was really neat too because I've never seen ice with algea on it before, or if I had I didn't know what it was.

The picture of the control room was pretty cool. That is a lot of controls to take care of at the same time.

We hope you succeed in your samples....

Here are some questions we didn't have time to ask.....
Are you traveling or taking cores from any fault lines? We are studying geology in science class and thought about that.

What are you looking for in the core samples?


What is a sonar sample?

What is bathymetric data?

How strong is the boat?

How long does it take the boat to break the ice?

How thick is the ice?

Is it loud when the boat breaks through the ice?

Does the boat get dented at all when you break through the ice?

What kind of minerals will you find in your core samples?

How long does it take to drop the core sampler and then bring it back up?

Do you have a certain job on the boat with the science? If so, what is it?

We know these are a lot of questions---if you can only answer some of them that would be great! Our last day of school is Monday-we hope to check back in on Monday....

Thanks,
Amy, Morgan, Hailey, Brooke, Maria, Allison, Jen, Heather, Seth, Devon, Breeauna, Kayla, Sean, Mattea, Wren, Tor, Elizabeth, Courtney, Dino, Jesse

STAY COOL!!! (No pun intended!!!)

[Steve_Marshall]

Hello Amy and all the students in Ms. Clapp's Fifth Grade Class,

Thanks for all the good questions!!

I'll try and answer as many as I can before they cut the internet off on me (we only have one hour twice a day, but I can't complain, because internet used to not be possible at all on a ship!) Anything I can't get to, I'll answer later.

I don't think we are specifically looking for fault lines, but there is a possibility we will. We are looking for areas of thick sediments (thick amounts of sand, silt, clay, etc), and if you picture what happens with a fault (the land shifts up or down compared to the land on the other side of the fault), that would be a good place for sediments to pile up. When we get to a site, the seismic data we also use should let us know if we are on a fault.

We are looking for all kinds of things like type of minerals, any plant or animal life, how fast the sediment piled up, etc. in the core samples. These are all different ways to help figure out the main purpose for looking at the core sample....What was the climate and ocean current like in the past, and how can that help us predict changes in climate today and in the future.

Sonar is the use of sound waves to determine how deep it is to the seafloor, and it also can penetrate beneath the surface some to let us know how thick the sediment is.

Bathymetric data is again information on how deep the water is. If we know that, and plot the depth at different locations, we can make a map of what the seafloor looks like. If you've talked about topographic maps, it's just like that, but instead of elevations of land, we are looking at depths to the seafloor on a bathymetric map.

I'm close to the end of our internet time, so let me send this now to make sure it gets posted, then I'll continue if I can squeeze a little, more in

Thanks
s.marshall

Hello again Amy, Morgan, Hailey, Brooke, Maria, Allison, Jen, Heather, Seth, Devon, Breeauna, Kayla, Sean, Mattea, Wren, Tor, Elizabeth, Courtney, Dino, and Jesse!!

I hope this will answer the rest of your questions. Let me know if you have any more, or if I didn’t understand the question right!

How strong is the boat?
If you’re talking about how powerful the ship is, it has two engines with 15,000 horsepower each. If you compare that to an average pickup truck, that would be like a total of 100 trucks!


How long does it take the boat to break the ice?
That would depend on how thick the ice is. When the ice was from zero to four or five feet thick, it didn’t seem to take any time at all…We were constantly moving and at a pretty good speed. When the ice got thicker, the boat began to slow down and it took longer. At this point, it has been almost two days and we have moved very little, so it is taking a very LONG time to break through the ice!

How thick is the ice?
As I kind of described before, it changes a lot in its thickness. When we started out, we were in open waters with a few icebergs around, then we got into ice that was 3 to 5 feet thick. The ice we are mostly stuck in now is about 6 to 10 feet thick.

Is it loud when the boat breaks through the ice?
You can definitely hear it breaking, but it’s not quite as loud as I thought it would be. You can also hear the banging as the chunks of ice move along the side of the boat.

Does the boat get dented at all when you break through the ice?
The boat is made with very strong steel, so I don’t think it gets dented, or it wouldn’t be able to sail much. I would think there might be a few very small dents in the boat, but they would probably be mostly at the front of the ship, and I don’t think I want to climb down to look at the front of the ship to find out, especially when it’s moving!

What kind of minerals will you find in your core samples?
Usually there is a pretty good mix of minerals. There will probably be a lot of quartz, some feldspar, some clay minerals like kaolinite, and possibly some heavier minerals like magnetite, hematite, and ilmenite.

How long does it take to drop the core sampler and then bring it back up?
Unfortunately, we haven’t had a chance to find out yet! Hopefully I will be able to answer this question in a day or two. I asked someone who has been on a cruise before, though, and they said it takes about one hour for every thousand meters of water depth plus the coring into the seafloor, and the same amount of time to bring it back up. We will probably be coring in 1000-2000 meter water depth, so that means it will probably be one to two hours down, and one to two back up, or 2 to 4 hours total.

Do you have a certain job on the boat with the science? If so, what is it?
I mainly help out where ever I’m needed. The scientists have been great about letting me participate. I will probably be helping most with sending down the core and bringing it back up and helping put it in the protective liners. I am also going to be able to go out on a helicopter and possibly help get some ice samples if we see some we are looking for--those with a lot of sediment trapped in them. When I’m not doing the science part, I’m busy taking pictures and writing journal entries so you all can tell what we’re up to:)

Thanks again for asking all these great questions! I hope to hear from you again, even after school, but I’ll still wish you all a great summer!!

S. Marshall