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River Science: The Deck Log

First introduced on board the Half Moon in 2007, the Deck Log is a record of river science readings maintained from one Voyage of Discovery to the next.

Each half hour during our operating day, the student crew work in tandem to collect and record the current date and time, the ship's position (using latitude & longitude), the surface water temperature and air temperature, salinity levels, wind speed and direction, relative humidity levels, and cloud cover. While at anchor, we also tested water depth and clarity. On this voyage, we also tracked air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed overnight as part of our anchor watch duties.

Most of these water and weather phenomena are too essentially unpredictable to serve as suitable presenation projects (at least, within our available time frame and resources), but the Deck Log still allows our students to be exposed to these fascinating aspects of the natural world around them, as well as maintaining a permanent record of the Hudson River environment as the Half Moon has experienced it.

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