We are interested to know how much methane is coming from the ocean into the atmosphere. One approach (we have several, actually), involves measuring methane at different heights on the Oden; it is possible that we might see more (or less) methane close to the ocean’s surface, for instance. To do this, we installed several air sampling inlets, which are connected to our equipment via long sampling tubes (the tubes are basically hard-plastic coated aluminum; they are durable and stiff yet bendable). The inlets need to shed water that might accumulate or get splashed in, (to avoid sucking water into our instruments), so they are basically inverted funnels with internal baffles.

We have one air inlet mounted very high on the Oden, above the bridge—it’s about 35 meters (114 feet) above the ocean surface. Also, we have several inlets on the meteorological mast at the bow of Oden. In the photo of Oden’s bow,

the mast is the tall structure at the center of the front of the ship. Its top is about 12 meters (39 feet) above the green deck.

Air from all the inlets is pulled into our lab, which sits on the fourth deck of Oden.

But gas one inlet was a bit more fun to install. On the very front of Oden, is a small metal triangle, making a sort of prow. The triangle is actually part of the support structure of the meteorological mast, but it is also the frontmost part of Oden. So we decided to put an inlet out there.

While still in Tromsø on July 5th, I crawled out on the “prow triangle” to install an inlet. The bow of Oden, and the prow triangle, are about 9 meters (30 feet) above the water. I hope that the inlet stays in place and doesn’t need to be replaced during the cruise! So far, a week in, so good!

Thanks to Michael Tjernström for the overhead photo, and Barbara Deutsch for the view from the side.