Today Don and Joe photographed Sargassum at Station #5 from increasingly higher altitudes, using the red rokkaku kite. The Sargassum windrows are just barely visible in the second photo, but then they are obscured by clouds at the highest altitudes. The device attached to the line in the third-to-last photo is a wind sensor. Expedition log: http://www.schmidtocean.org/story/show/619
Some more great photos from Don and Joe in the Atlantic Ocean. They used the kytoon and the white and red rokkakus today, using the higher kite to take photos of the lower kite. They also engineered an aerial photo of the research team on the deck. This day they traveled from sample station #3 to sample station #5. Upon arriving, everyone went swimming.
Don and Joe took some great photos of Sargassum at station #3 from the lifting kites and from the collection boat. The fisheye photos were taken from the GoPros–either on the kite or on a handheld pole. The lower-res photos with the black borders are from the Axis cam. Expedition log: http://www.schmidtocean.org/story/show/608
Here’s the first photo update from Don on the Lone Ranger. He and Joe are on a 14-day voyage between Bermuda and the Bahamas to help scientists from the Schmidt Ocean Institute document the Sargassum population in that area. They took the aerial photos using GoPros and a Canon G12 on an inflatable rokkaku kite and an inflatable Fled. The camera rig shown is a gyro-stabilized mount that hangs from the kite bridle or kite line. In the photo it is holding the G12 and the Axis cam, but we can also use it with GoPros or other small or mid-sized cameras. The rows of Sargassum that are visible from the higher-up kite shots are called windrows. The SOI cruise […more]
