Yesterday afternoon, at Captain Victor Broi’s suggestion, I went up to the bridge to watch Navigation Officer Mr Turcu Lucian and Helmsman Mr Dumitrache Lucian (no relation), execute a rather complicated series of turns that would allow us to pass over the first coring site three times from three different directions.
For students participating in the MIRAGE, every day is an opportunity to learn something new. For example, when entering data into the log book, it is an opportunity to go beyond the numbers and learn—in real time—what those numbers mean. Similarly, when students are cleaning up the bathymetry (the underwater study of the terrain of the ocean floor), attending the daily 4pm meeting, or dining with a member of the Institut Paul Emile Victor (IPEV) who they have not yet spoken with, they are free to soak up as much new information as they like.
When I spoke with Captain Victor Broi the other morning, he mentioned that one of the biggest challenges facing his crew on this voyage was keeping everyone happy when it comes to food. In particular, he cited the need to prepare a special pre-dawn breakfast for those passengers observing Ramadan, the month-long period (it ended yesterday on Wednesday) when Muslims fast during daylight hours.
As the captain of the R/V Marion Dufresne, Captain Victor Broi is new to research vessels, but that doesn’t mean the 57-year-old seaman (whose birthday is today) lacks experience. Though the MIRAGE is only his second voyage as the captain of the Marion Dufresne, Capt Broi has spent his entire career with CMA CGM, a French container transportation and shipping company that manages the Marion Dufresne, as well as one of the largest fleets of container ships in the world.
Although a number of seafloor samples will be cored towards the end of our four-week expedition, the main data-acquisition instruments aboard the research vessel Marion Dufresne are an echosounder and a sub-bottom profiler, both mounted on a gondola attached to the ship’s hull. These two instruments will produce the bathymetry that is so essential to the mission of the MIRAGE.
At a three-hour event on 28 June 2016, more than 40 representatives from partnering research institutes, ministries, embassies, and media outlets gathered at the headquarters of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) in central Jakarta.
The Indian Ocean basin has long fascinated geoscientists. Currently one of the most actively deforming oceanic basins in the world, it’s produced five great earthquakes in just the past ten years – ranging in magnitude from 8.2 to 9.2.
Sinabung volcano in Sumatra, Indonesia, has been almost continuously erupting in the last three years. It has been on the highest alert level since 2013.
A magnitude-6.2 earthquake occurred about 300 km southeast of Bali Island on 9 June 2016 at approximately 12.13pm (Singapore Time). Its epicentre is estimated to be close to the Java Trench front with a shallow focal depth from the global seismic network.
