From: Captain William Rall, U.S. Coast Guard

 

 

Note: We are steaming south and will arrive to port in Seward, Alaska on Wednesday, July 21.

 

54° 13’ 944” N, 162° 15’ 721” W, July 19 — Each day the Healy sends an “operational summary”  message, or OPSUM, to 30+ addressees. The OPSUM goes to all Healy Coast Guard bosses, the extensive Coast Guard support network, the National Science Foundation, National Ice Center, and others. The message includes the machinery status, communications, personnel, mission accomplishments, weather, position, and intentions. There is a section for Commanding Officer (CO) comments. Often it says “NTR” — nothing to report. This section receives extra attention from our bosses, so NTR means “no news is good news” — another way to say all is well. When I do put in comments, a large number and variety of folks read them.

 

My CO comments in today’s OPSUM are: 

 

THE NASA SCIENCE PARTY IS PACKING UP, AND THE LABS NO LONGER LOOK LIKE A SCIENCE FAIR, BUT A SHIPPING AND RECEIVING HUB.

 

THE CHIEF SCIENTIST, KEVIN ARRIGO FROM STANFORD, HAS BEEN A PLEASURE TO WORK WITH. HIS LEADERSHIP CONTINUALLY MANAGED THE BIOLOGISTS, GEOLOGISTS, ICE PHYSICISTS, OPTICS PHYSICISTS, MICROBIOLOGISTS, EDDY CHASERS, CHEMISTS AND ALL THE OTHER OCEANOGRAPHERS WITH THE CONSTANTLY CHANGING WEATHER AND ICE CONDITIONS TO OPTIMIZE THE SHIP TIME. WE’LL MISS THE AOP, PRR, ASB, CTD, IOP, CTD2, Th PUMP (TH DOES NOT STAND FOR “THE”, IT IS “THORIUM”), VAN VEEN GRAB, 11 SCIENTISTS ON THE ICE, ADCP, MULTIBEAM, TSG, CELL MUG SHOTS, RMD, 2CC2, ALL FOLLOWED UP WITH AN EVENING SCIENCE LECTURE.

 

HEALY TRULY LOOKS FORWARD TO WORKING WITH THIS SCIENCE PARTY AGAIN IN 2011!