Question: What was your biggest challenge while working in the field?

Asked by coditadan to Alice, Andi, Bas, Daniel, Rhian on 13 Mar 2015.

0

  1. Photo: Alice MarzocchiAlice Marzocchi
    answered on 13 Mar 2015:

    Hi!
    I haven’t had any super difficult challenges while in the field. But for example while I was working on a research cruise in the North Atlantic Ocean we had some pretty bad sea conditions. At some point we were really close to a giant storm that was forming and we had to really quickly fins shelter somewhere. In those cases there were pretty big waves and we were feeling a bit sea sick, stuff on the boat was moving a lot and falling, so we had to be very careful, even just walking around.
    Also we were working in shifts, because the work on the ship never stops. So every day I had to wake up a 4 in the morning to start working and that was a bit hard, especially after some time, because you get more and more tired.
    But this was still such a great experience, even if it was a bit challenging sometimes, and I’m definitely going to go again!

    1

  2. Photo: Daniel Pastor-GalánDaniel Pastor-Galán
    answered on 15 Mar 2015:

    Hi coditadan,

    In the field, the biggest challenge starts at day 10 after ten days of 12-14 hours per day working. That is exhausting! It is also tough to drive, collect samples and some times climb up mountains with a lot of equipment. But I have never had a great great challenge, like something that was impossible to do or so.

    1

  3. Photo: Bas van den BergBas van den Berg
    answered on 16 Mar 2015:

    Hi Coditadan,

    For me many times the biggest challenge is thinking in 4D! Imagine standing on a hilltop and you try to understand the landscape around you. You somehow have to make a mental video in your mind of your entire surrounding and see it evolve through time, what affected what, what followed what and why, and does it make sense with how it looks today and the rocks we find. So, during all the physically hard work of running up hills, digging, sampling etc. your mind is constantly thinking about the possible explanations of what we find and how they fit together, not only in space but also in time! You can imagine that it can be quite exhausting and Dani is right. after 9 days like that, putting the same effort in the 10th (or 20th!) can be a real challenge.

    1

  4. Photo: Rhian MearaRhian Meara
    answered on 16 Mar 2015:

    For me, the biggest challenge was having to camp for six weeks without a shower or a real toilet! 😀

    You have to learn to not be shy when there is no real toilet in your campsite! as you can imagine, i was VERY smelly after not washing for six weeks! 😀

    1

Comments