NOAA Teacher at Sea Wes Struble Aboard NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown February 15 - March 5, 2012
Mission: Western Boundary Time Series Geographical Area: Sub-Tropical Atlantic, off the Coast of the Bahamas Date: February 21, 2012 Weather Data from the Bridge Position: 26 deg 30 min north Latitude & 74 deg 48 min west Longitude Windspeed: 11 knots Wind Direction: 40 deg / NE Air Temperature: 21.3 deg C/70 deg F Water Temperature: 24.3 deg C/ 75 deg F Atm Pressure: 1021.38 mb Water Depth: 4500 meters/14765 ft Cloud Cover: mostly clear with some clouds Cloud Type: cumulus & statocumulus Science and Technology Log In a previous post I mentioned that two of the researchers I work with here on the Ron Brown are Shane Elipot and Aurélie Duchez. Both are originally from France but currently work for a UK government organization called NERC (Natural Environment Research Council). Shane works for the National Oceanography Centre in Liverpool and Aurélie works for the same governmental department but is stationed at their branch in Southampton. Both have earned Doctoral degrees in Oceanography. [caption id="attachment_8879" align="aligncenter" width="609" caption="Dr. Elipot and Dr. Duchez take a short break from their research to answer some of my questions"]Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
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Dr. Aurélie Duchez attended high school in Nîmes, France until 18 years of age. Following high school she participated in 2 years of of grandes écoles (preparatory classes) held at her high school in Nîmes to prepare her for engineering school. From here she enrolled in an engineering school in Toulon (the ISITV) where she majored in “Applied Mathematics” with a specialty in fluid mechanics. This three year course of study not only involved normal class work but also included three different internships in the following order: A six week internship concentrating on computing, a two month internship in Miami, Florida working on breaking waves, and a six month internship in Grenoble, France studying ocean modeling in the South Atlantic. She remained in Grenoble and after three years earned her PhD by studying ocean modeling and data assimilation of the Mediterranean Sea. She secured a post-doctoral fellowship as a research scientist at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK where she currently works as an ocean modeler.
[caption id="attachment_8881" align="aligncenter" width="526" caption="Dr. Duchez prepares some documents for her research in the Main Science Lab of the Ron Brown"]Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
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Dr. Shane Elipot attended high school in France until 18 years of age majoring in the sciences. After high school he spent two years in preparatory classes to take the competitive entrance examination for the “grandes écoles" (France's engineering schools). After being accepted, he majored in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering with a specialization in hydrography and oceanography. During this period he earned two masters degrees: Master of Advanced Studies in Meteorology, Oceanology & Environment and a Masters in Oceanography & Hydrography. He followed these with a PhD in Oceanography from Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla, California and the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Elipot currently resides in Liverpool, UK where he works for the National Oceanography Centre.
[caption id="attachment_8883" align="aligncenter" width="602" caption="Dr. Shane Elipot monitors a CTD cast in the Ron Brown’s Computer lab during the early morning hours"]Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
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[caption id="attachment_8886" align="aligncenter" width="463" caption="Data acquisition hardware for the CTD in the Science Computer Lab of the Ron Brown"]Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
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They are both serious and dedicated scientists who enjoy their work and they are also a pleasure to engage in conversation. I am glad to have had the opportunity to meet them.
I would encourage you to consider visiting the following websites:
Scripps Institution of Oceanography http://sio.ucsd.edu/
Natural Environment Research Council http://www.nerc.ac.uk/
