En route to our next sampling station we spotted two eddies (a smaller, eddy # 1 and a little larger eddy #2) and stopped to sample them using CTD and trace metal tow fish. The 'M' in PRIMS - RS stands for mesoscale processes and it looks like there is going to be a lot of those in the Ross Sea. One way to detect these oceanographic features is by looking at satellite pictures for chlorophyll patterns - usually circular or elliptical in shape, with high concentrations at the edges. The moving vessel profiler, which is towed from the ship, is sending in images and a computer software onboard of NBP (Nathaniel B. Palmer) is analyzing the pictures in near-real time and decisions for where to exactly take samples from will be based on these observations.
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