Stacy Deppeler Day 1 Feb 27th 2013 Setting off into the EAC (East Australian Current) Our first morning on the Southern Surveyor was a hive of excitement and anticipation for the five day voyage ahead of us. After a hot breakfast our group of nine student scientists and two chief scientists assembled in the lounge to go through the necessary morning briefs as we sailed away from Sydney Harbour. Safety instructions, inductions and a maze of narrow corridors left a number of the party feeling a little green. However, there was no time to rest as our first sample station was waiting for us just after lunch. At each station a CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, Depth) was placed in the water, which measured temperature, salinity, oxygen and chlorophyll to a depth of 1000m. XBTs (eXpendable BathyThermographs) were thrown off the back of the boat while the CTD was at the surface and at various intervals throughout its descent to provide water temperature profiles. The data from both of these instruments would be used for calibration of the XBT fall rate to ensure accurate temperature profiles for climate studies. A plankton net was also towed through the surface water to catch phytoplankton and zooplankton samples for analysis. Throughout the evening and into the early morning hours another three stations were sampled as we made our way into the centre of a large warm-core eddy. During each CTD ascent we collected water samples at various depths (from 1000m to the surface) for further analysis by the instruments on board. A number of different containers were filled with water from the sample vessels to assess the salinity, oxygen, nutrient, and chlorophyll concentrations at pre-determined depths. After the final station was complete, at 4:30am, the four scientists on night duty headed for bed, while the five scientists on the day shift would rise in a few hours to prepare for the next scheduled station that day.