SEAPLEX

SEAPLEX is away! The Research Vessel New Horizon departed from the Nimitz Marine Facility this very morning amid sunny skies and calm weather. The science crew embarked at 6 a.m. to make last minute preparations before their scheduled 8 a.m. departure. They left on time, and are now cruising somewhere in the California Current.

The SEAPLEX scientists will spend the next three weeks taking samples and making observations, but it may be worth spending a minute discussing their home away from home, the Research Vessel  New Horizon. The ship is 170 feet long, a little longer than an Olympic-sized swimming pool. It has 1,265 square feet of laboratory space, and 1,730 sq. ft of work deck. That may seem like a fair amount of space, but it’s less than half the size of a professional basketball court, and the basketball court isn’t usually jam-packed with scientific gear and heavy equipment. The ship’s engines use, on average, 1,000 gallons of fuel a day, which probably contributes a fair bit to the $18,000 to $19,000 a day it costs to run.

The ship has beds for 12 crew members, and up to 19 scientific crew members, though the SEAPLEX science team include 17 scientists, volunteers, technicians, and communications professionals.  The New Horizon can convert 960 gallons of sea water a day for drinking and washing, in addition to the ability to carry 8,736 gallons of water in its tanks (which isn’t enough to fill up a pool, but . The ship will be out of sight of land for most of its run, so it will carry all the food for the crew on-board. There are two ships’ cooks aboard, and food is served cafeteria style.

For more information on the New Horizon, check out the ship’s handbook, detailing the New Horizon’s layout (including schematics), and many of the procedures.