#2 Wheel House Reports from the Project Kaisei Science Team (PKST)

Day One- August 4, 2009- Bon Voyage!

Sargassum Weed From Sargasso Sea With Polymer Debris

Creating Our Space:

When we lost sight of land, the PKST then tackled the arduous task of setting up our lab space. We were happily rewarded with a package from The North Face including warm water-resistant windbreakers and blue beanies. After enjoying a brilliant sunset, the science team and the rest of he crew gathered for man overboard, fire, and other emergency drills. Principle investigator Dr. Andrea Neal and Co-Principle Investigator than shared their experiences with the team from last week in the Sargasso Sea on the Atlantic Explorer with the Ocean Flux Program (OFP) at The Bermuda Institute for Oceanographic Sciences (BIOS) run By Dr. Maureen Conte, Professor at both BIOS and Woods Hole Institute of Oceanographic Research.

http://ecosystems.mbl.edu/conte/ofp/index.html

They relayed the amount of debris that they had seen as well as the infiltration of debris in Bermudas fragile reef systems and beaches. PKST once again thought about Project Kaisei, and all of the amazing individuals on the ship gathered together as one team on one mission to help the one planet that we all share.