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Fog rolled over our second full day on the high seas, accompanied by 8-10 ft waves (and the occasional 12-footer). Today, however, the sea is calm and the sun has returned to view.
Like true scientists, we are constantly learning not only about our own field, but about everything. From today’s peek at the engine room, I can truly say that I have immense respect and admiration for the engineers aboard this ship and others like it. They don’t have just one specialty to worry about. They have to understand how everything works, how to fix it, and even how to make their own parts when they don’t have any spares. A huge shout out to the engineers and mechanical crew for all that you do to keep this vessel afloat and cozy!
The ship is akin to a small city, from power plant to sewage treatment – it even creates its own fresh water, distilled from the surrounding seawater. But this crew takes it to another level by treating the ballast water to prevent the spread of invasive species. Upon uptake, ballast water is filtered and treated with UV light to neutralize any little critters trying to hitch a ride. If that didn’t kill them, the water is UV treated again upon release.
If that’s not cool enough for you, perhaps you’ll be more impressed by the Sikuliaq’s* ice breaking capacity. Not only is the bow designed to break through ice, but the ship’s thrusters are also capable of chopping ice. While most thrusters are designed to push the vessel, the Sikuliaq’s thrusters actually pull the vessel forward. This way, the propellers can chop up ice as the boat moves, preventing ice damage to other equipment. What’s more, the thrusters can also rotate 360°, so that the ship can move backwards and even rotate to clear out a large area of ice.
Unfortunately, Arctic ice doesn’t extend this far during the summer, so the we won’t get to see the ship in ice action. But I’ve been told that there’s a great video of the ship breaking ice in the Bering Sea.
– Megan Byers
*Aptly, the name “Sikuliaq” is an Inupiaq word meaning “young sea ice that you can walk on,” which is exactly the type of ice the R/V is equipped to handle.
