Yashwant Meghare, U Washington

Undergrad at University of Washington, School of Oceanography

Bio: I am an undergraduate studying oceanography at University of Washington, Seattle. This is my first time at sea for an extended duration of time. The longest duration I have been at sea is 5 days. So, I am really excited to be a part of this cruise. I am very interested to work full time on a boat and this experience is going to give me a peek into that lifestyle. This is also my first time going into the southern hemisphere, so I will be experiencing the Coriolis Effect in the opposite direction (my nerdy side is really fascinated by this!)

Everyone in my family is a doctor but I wasn’t a big fan of dealing with people, individually. I feel more can be achieved at higher levels. So, I decided to be the doctor for the environment. The reason I am interested in marine science/oceanography is quite interesting. I grew up nowhere near the oceans, in the dead center of India. But, learning about the fact that I had an impact on the oceans from even so far was very interesting. Even more, the oceans played an important role in my life from such a great distance. Understanding this connection, between oceans and humans, really peaks my interest in this field. I want to make people understand the role that oceans play in our daily lives and the mutual relationship between us. 

What I’m doing on this cruise: I am going as a student CTD watch stander. CTD stands for Current (which concurrently measures salinity), Temperature and Density. I will be handling the equipment that measures this for any water parcel at any given depth.