9 July 2022
At 3:28 am local time, the Rambler Express began its journey to sample the great Pacific Ocean! It was a chilly morning at 31 45’ N, 119 48’ W, slightly off the coast of San Diego. This float is going into the California Current, which flows from north to south along the west coast of the United States and along Baja California, Mexico. This current is important for many reasons, especially because it allows nutrients to come up from the interior of the ocean to the surface and fuel the growth of phytoplankton! The Rambler Express will float at 1000 m and come to the surface every ten days, collecting data along the way up. It then will send the data via satellite back to land so that scientists like me can study the ocean from our cozy offices!
Image 1: The Rambler Express decorated for The Alva School! Photo by Lily Dove
Image 2: Lily and Seb with the Rambler Express on the back of the RV Roger Revelle.
Image 2: Lily and Gabe lower the Rambler Express into the ocean. Photo credit to Tania Leung.
Image 4: The Rambler Express floats away! photo by Lily Dove.
A big hello to the Alva School in Alva, Florida who adopted this float! I (Lily) am originally from Florida and know that living by the ocean really got me interested in learning more about our Blue Planet. Make sure to follow along with the Rambler Express and other floats as they journey around the ocean – you can see where all the GO-BGC floats are at go-bgc.org/array-status#locations.
Sydney, who does biological analyses on board, captured a great time lapse of the deployment of the Rambler Express! Happy July and best wishes from all of us on board the Revelle.
– Lily Dove