My
name is Pete Lens and I am computing support for this science cruise.
I’ve been working for BAS for 17 years having wintered at Halley
and Signy bases and enjoyed many science cruises to the Antarctic and
Arctic. My main work is in Cambridge as Head of Windows Systems, but
for 2 months of the year I could be on a ship or research base
enjoying the wildlife and icebergs, but also making sure the
scientists and other support staff have the computing resources they
need for their work.
Pete at Gull Lake on South Georgia |
So
what does that entail? For the scientists it’s all about the data.
The ship is flooded with cabling and instruments carrying sensors and
most of them terminate at a central computer which handles data
acquisition. Each piece of data is logged and given a timestamp and
can then be retransmitted to other instruments as an input.
Some
instruments can produce data at very high speeds but the central
logging system has a resolution of 1 second. Even at that slow rate,
large files will be produced by the end of a 2 month cruise. There
are many monitoring tools checking the quality and existence of the
data and if it stops flowing then I am called, night or day. I am
also involved with the processing and presentation, on hand to
demonstrate how to use scripts or write new ones if required.
Thankfully, most students will come armed with knowledge of tools
such as ArcGIS, matlab, R and Python.
One
of my favourite systems on board is the multibeam echo sounder which
can produce a 3D map of the seabed. Instead of a single ping like a
submarine, it produces a phased burst of energy into the water every
few seconds, depending on depth. It then listens to the returned
sound and does some serious maths to produce a rolling picture of the
sea floor. It’s incredible to see mountain ranges or deep ocean
snaking riverbeds which are thousands of metres below us.
Example echo sounder image |
Of
course, it’s not entirely about the science as there are plenty of
administration systems as well. Everyone needs an account and
personal space for storing data, access to printers, scanners, wifi,
web, wiki, applications, anti-virus, security patches. The same stuff
required if you’re running a network of 10 people or 10,000.
The
IT staff on the James Clark Ross have to be innovative and flexible.
Every day there is something new to learn and everyday there’s the
chance of looking out of the window at a pod of whales or something
equally amazing. As a job, this is just about as good as it gets…
This
is my first trip away since becoming a Dad and Hal has just learnt
his first few words, one of them being “no” so I think Suzy has
some explaining to do. Please get in touch if you would like more
information on the ships systems or base/ship life. I’m always
happy to help. pcdl@bas.ac.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment