Roi-Namur! Data & Radar

MFT: My shoes -- be it my chaco sandals or my oboz hikers
LFP: Radar messing with our golf cart, GPR data, and maybe us?

Hallo!

Sorry for the long hiatus, things have been crazy and internet is not always as connected as I would like. Anyways, we flew up to Roi-Namur Tuesday morning. We got to get weighed in (our baggage and us) and then got on a small 15 seater plane. Chris got some good pictures from the plane (my window was all cloudy :(. Once we arrived, things were a bit of a pain. Bureaucracy did NOT work for us on Tuesday because it was MLK holiday. So there was no one to meet us at the airport and more importantly no GOLF CART. Luckily people are very nice here so we were able to hitch a ride to the hotel with all of our stuff. Ok so calling this a hotel is a bit of a misnomer except we don't have to clean (most days). But it's got clean beds, a bathroom with mostly hot water (my first shower was all cold) and a small kitchenette. 

Anyways, that first day we managed to go scramble and find a golf cart and then tour the island doing GPR transects for the USGS. Also Richard went to get some bathy from a pass on the boat. By the end of the day we had covered the half of the two islands Roi-Namur (we covered Roi). We also got surface samples (and went swimming at those pretty beaches). The good part was that the boat got up here with all of our stuff! The best part of the day? Definitely having spagghetti for lunch with garlic bread, YUM. I haven't had pasta since I got out here and I've definitely been missing it! 

Then yesterday, we had a really busy but productive day! We split up in the morning so Chris and I did GPR covering pretty much all of Namur in the morning while Steph and Richard went to go do another pass. So there are some huge radar antennas stationed on Roi-Namur (especially Namur) and we had been getting strange warnings about how the radar would interfere with our equipment (the GPR etc) and could even turn off the golf cart at random times (because of course we can't find out when the radar is turned on...). Anyways, all true! All of our GPR data was fuzzy and when we went close to the antennas it got REALLY bad (apparently our antenna is transmitting close to a harmonic for the frequency the radar transmits on). 

Also, while driving the last two days around the island, periodically the golf cart shuts off (how on earth this happens when it is an electric golf cart, I do NOT know). Nor do I want to know what it is doing to our bodies...

Anyways, we had to wait for a piece of equipment (CTD) come in on the noon plane, so while we waited we went to the store to buy more gatorade (we drink a LOT of that) plus some lunch food. Then because we had extra time to kill, we may or may not have investigate the hole! So on the ocean-side of these atolls there are maybe 100-200 meteres of old-reef flat about 1 ft deep or less depending on the tide. Anyways, various humans have dug out blocks of rock from these reef flats (mostly for building things) and you get a hole in the reef-flat that is completely enclosed and has minimal interaction with the ocean (so at high tide water is exchanging but only about 1-2 feet deep exchange. Supposedly they are great for snorkeling but you only want to go at low tide because of currents/waves. However low tide is smack dab in the middle of the day (when we are normally working very hard and far away from these holes). But since it was around 11:30 -- we got to go check it out. To be honest, the coral part -- not so great. All mono-species of coral, no sponges or fans. Plus the coral did not look all that healthy. However, there was a pretty good selection of fauna -- a fair amount of fish and diversity in species. I even saw a couple of barracuda! It was fun taking a break and eating lunch there. 

In the afternoon, after we successfully got our CTD (go Julie!), we went over to Third Island. The GPR did not work so well there (it was working the morning). But I had fun tramping around with the GPS (also not working great). Then we did a quick stop at another island and did the same thing (surface samples and GPS no GPR). All in all a good day for terrestrial teams (I logged over 9 miles of walking). We even managed to get another pass in later that day and get several CTD casts. 

The evening ended with lots of fun playing pool and shuffleboard at the Outrigger Bar. Turns out the guys from the boats are aLOT better than we are at most of that. I got SCHOOLED in pool (I did warn him that I was bad). But we had lots of fun anyways. I'll try to post pictures later cause right now the internet is too BAD.
Kwajalein Atoll :)  
Snorkeling in the hole 

Fish catch of the day

Walking around the pretty village

Our cute little CTD

Playing with the hydrolite

Look at the gravel sand transition on the beach!

Chris enjoying the lounge chair ;)


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