Saturday, Nov. 25, 2006

R/V MIRAI

"end of intensive observation"

Heavy precipitation from midnight to the dawn, later cloudy.
Southerly wind (6-8 m/sec) changed to moderate westerly (5 m/sec) in the daytime. Significant wave height was 1.6 m.

Observations:

Radiosonde at every 3 hours and some coninous observations have been carried out. CTD casting down to 200m depth was conducted every one hour for 24-hour period.
Videosondes were launched at 02:54 LST and 06:00 LST.
From the midnight to the early morning, we had heavy precipitation and its maximum rainfall was recorded at 65 mm / hour (0100-0200 LST). This rainfall was caused by two cloud systems that were originally located north and south from the MIRAI and were merged just over the MIRAI.
Satellite-based cloud images show that the cloud area extends from tropical western Indian Ocean to central.

Remarks:

After the heavy precipitation, we had calm cloudy morning (photo-1). While some observations have been finished, 24-hour continuous CTD casting was carried out to detect the internal wave in the shallow layers (photos 2, 3).
As we will have only one-night at Maldives for passengers' exchange and Leg-2 will soon start, marine technician must work hard for the preparation of Leg-2 observation (photos 4, 5). By 2345 LST, all CTD observations have been done. (Photo-6 was taken at the last CTD operation.)
Right now as of 0000 LST 26 November, MIRAI is cruising to Maldives with 15 knots.