Research Voyages

Pamela Brodie

Pamela Brodie will be the data manager and provied technical support role on the voyage. It's her job to ensure valid data is acquired from all the scientific instruments both on and deployed from the vessel, 24 hours a day.

"The ship supports a comprehensive array of sensors and our work involves designing and maintaining the software and electronics systems that control them," Ms Brodie says.

"A differential GPS (global positioning system) ensures all our measurements are referenced with precise times and accurate, geo-referenced position. Meteorological instruments mounted on the vessel's mast measure wind speed, direction, air temperature, pressure and humidity.

Pamela Brodie has seen some wonderful sights at sea. She took this photo of the Kavachi volcano from the RV Franklin in May 2000. The ship was on a CSIRO investigation of volcanic-hydrothermal systems near Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

"On the ship's hull are various acoustic transducers for collecting bathymetry data, seafloor mapping and current profiling. A thermosalinograph plumbed with a continuous supply of surface water is used to measure temperature and salinity and a fluorometer measures the chlorophyll concentration.

"All these instruments operate while the ship is under way, sending a stream of data to be logged by the data-acquisition computers in the operations room."

Ms Brodie's expertise is in marine-related software engineering. She enjoys this work at sea. "I've spent about two years of my life aboard research vessels," she says. "A dozen voyages with CSIRO, and a year in the Southern Ocean on voyages of the RV Aurora Australis.

"You sail with scientists and crew expert in their fields. There is always exciting science and on deck there are lovely sights: whales, dolphin, sea birds and seals. Sea ice is fascinating and I like watching the weather too: you really see the elements at their best."

She says her most memorable experience was seeing the seawater boiling at her feet near the Solomon Islands during the eruption of Kavachi volcano, which she says was "one of the most wonderful days at sea".

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Updated: 29/03/07