The Summer 2024 Olympic Games in Paris might be over, but here on R/V Kilo Moana, the Olympics are just getting started! We have a fierce field of competitors this year in a number of elite and niche categories. Let’s take a look at some of the people competing and their results so far…
Gold Medal for Fastest Filtering: Dr. Matt Church
After a strong head start in the filtering division, Dr. Sasha Kramer was unable to hold off Dr. Church and ultimately took second place in the filtering competition, with Dr. Church’s particulate phosphorus samples roundly beating Dr. Kramer’s particulate carbon and nitrogen samples. Judge Dr. Lauren Manck thought a photo-finish might be necessary, but ultimately Dr. Church prevailed!
Gold Medal for Best Grappling: Dr. Ben Borer
The competition was stiff in the grappling hook toss this year, with multiple scientists lining up on the 02 deck to take their shot at landing a spot on the winning team. With instruction from experts Blake Watkins and Dr. Angel White, the hopeful contestants tried their hardest to throw the hook with distance and accuracy. Rising to the top of the field was newcomer Dr. Ben Borer. When the time came to snag the sediment trap array and incubation array, Dr. Borer demonstrated his excellence, taking home two gold medals!
Gold Medal for Most Dynamic Weather: The Station ALOHA region!
It’s rare to get a beautiful day for a satellite radiometry match-up just a day before the wind and waves are high enough to shut down operations, but on this cruise, we have had both situations in a matter of hours. On Friday, the sun was out and the conditions were perfect to deploy the HyperPro, a hyperspectral profiling radiometer that provides in situ validation data for NASA’s new Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) sensor. Just one day later, it was too windy to put the HyperPro in the water, and we found ourselves heading to calmer seas to avoid the wake of Hurricane Hone! Some medal-winners in these Olympics can thank their hard work for their accomplishments, but in this case, it might have more to do with luck.
Gold Medal for Best Food: tie between the KM galley and Lab 2 snack shelf (if we do say so ourselves)
Everyone knows that good food keeps the wheels moving on a research vessel – we are lucky to have delicious, fresh meals provided three times a day in the galley, as well as a secret stash of snacks for between meals!
Still to come: we haven’t finished all of our sampling and filtering yet, so there are still many medals to award. In the next 18 hours, the scientists onboard R/V Kilo Moana will be going for gold in the following categories: Most Water Filtered, Loudest Pump, Most Niskin Bottles Prepped, Best CTD Console Operation, and Deepest Samples Acquired. Congratulations to all medal winners and good luck to our remaining competitors!