This morning I woke up at 4 a.m. eastern time to start my journey out to the west coast to board the R/V Atlantis, the research vessel we will be sailing on for the next 3 weeks. Usually, in our family, my oldest son Reuven (9 years old) is the first one up and out of bed. But today, I was out the door before he woke up! This blog is for him – and for lots of other kids who may be interested in what we’ll be doing out in the middle of the ocean.

The ship is 273 feet long, almost as long as one football field. During this expedition, we will be returning to a series of holes drilled by the JOIDES Resolution last summer and checking up on the instruments we put there.

To get back down to the seafloor, we do not need a drill this time. We will use a little robotic submarine, called the JASON. It has arms and lights and we will operate it from the ship. Here’s what it looks like:

More soon!