Wind, Rain & the Raritan
So last week, the boat cruise on wednesday was my first research trip on a boat. The stormy weather was a perfect way for us to gather some data on temperature and salinity of the water at various points along the Raritan. We used two different types of CTD to measure data. One which was handheld and fairly easy to use and the other which involved manually placing it in the water with someone ready to hold you back, especially with the extreme winds we experienced. It was exciting to be on the river in such a time, but we were all soaked after the trip. At times, I felt like I might actually slip on the boat because it was so wet, but the special suits were pretty good with keeping us as weatherproof as possible. The most interesting part was being able to see a considerable jump in the amount of salinity as we moved along to different points of the river. The weather added much more fresh water but eventually we found a solid amount of salinity in the water. Another interesting thing was the scenery that we passed along the river, ranging from homeless people in tents to old war docks. Overall, I thought our trip along the river was very interesting and i wouldn't certainly like to try it again, perhaps with some more bearable weather.
Alicia