My First Week

June 28th, 2010

Well, I survived my first week! I spent most of the time reading, rereading, and then…some more reading. (Which is great for me since I am typically a bookworm). I just hope my brain is absorbing everything. I am learning about the geologic history of the area, previous studies, and familiarizing myself with the terminology. My first week was really one giant introduction to the project. Dr. Kohler showed me the route for the research cruise and the proposed OBS sites. (Apparently, the Navy might make us move a few sites). I looked at maps of the bathymetry/topography of the area to find some possible deep water sites to test the equipment. I started learning about magnetic field and gravity data collection and the types of corrections made to raw data. I am pretty comfortable using unix and have moved on to conquering GMT. This week, I will hopefully start working with “baby” data sets and writing my own script. I plan to begin looking for magnetic field and gravity data relevant to the project.

On a fun note, I went to Santa Monica this weekend! It was lovely there and I cannot tell you how much I love palm trees. In the process, I conquered the LA bus system...a great achievement. On the way back from Santa Monica, I managed to sit next to that guy. (You know, the one guy on the bus that decides to sit next to you and brief you on his conspiracy theories. Well, his goldfish predicts earthquakes. We might want to look into that). All in all, I am having quite the adventure.    Here are some pictures of Caltech's campus.