One of the fringe benefits of being a sea-going oceanographer is that when we join or leave cruises in foreign ports we might take a day to check out the local scenery – either by arriving a bit early or hanging around afterwards. I’m sure all my colleagues share in this sentiment and have stories to tell. Here is one, it is nothing special, but it made my day.
We had assembled in Reykjavik for a cruise on the RV Knorr to deploy RAFOS floats as part of the part of the WOCE (World Ocean Circulation Experiment) to study the North Atlantic Current, the extension of the Gulf Stream where it crosses the ocean at roughly 50°N. This was a joint effort between us, Amy Bower at WHOI, and Walter Zenk at IFM, Kiel. Having a free day, we rented a car and drove north along the west coast of Iceland toward the ice-covered Snaefellsjökull (truly the Icelandic Mt. Fuji!), Ólafsvik, and then east to Stykkishólmur +. We made many stops along the way. At Ólafsvik we were drawn to some wonderful grass-covered lava fields. As I worked my way up the slope, I stumbled upon a flower, an orchid I immediately recognized, growing all by itself. I knew something about orchids from my teen-age years. My dad and I had a hobby bicycling around the island of Gotland in the Baltic scouting for wild orchids. We never picked a flower, but over time I built up a rather complete set of 35 mm slides of orchids that grow there with my Retina 1a camera. This species (Orchis makulata or fläckigt nyckelblomster in Swedish) is particularly easy to recognize thanks to the brown spots on the leaves. Like all other orchids on Gotland, this one prefers basic (high-pH limestone) soils. So, what on earth was it doing here all by itself on this volcanic slope? I haven’t a clue. Just one of those little things that bring back to life a moment in your life growing up. A feel-good memory that makes your day!
+ Stykkishólmur and Ponta Delaga (Azores) are the sites for which we have air pressure measurements going back to the 1850s. The difference in air pressure measures the strength of the westerlies at mid-latitudes and became the basis for the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index.