September 25, 2006
Emile Baudot
The day does not start off well. The weather forecast is calling for force 3 and 4 winds from the southeast and southwest, but we also have a force 7 and 8 windstorm coming from the northeast. Obviously, we cannot continue our work and we must leave the area in search of shelter. We set sail toward Cabrera, but the direction of the wind indicates that the port there will not be comfortable either. So, we continue sailing in search of a sheltered cove on the southern coast of Mallorca.
Due to the impossibility of continuing our investigation of the sea floors, we decide to take advantage of the day and study the CTD results. All the samples we have taken, approximately a dozen, show similar parameters. The thermocline is located at approximately 30 meters with a temperature of around 24-25 degrees. From there, the temperature begins to decrease rapidly to between 13 and 14 degrees at 80 and 200 meters depth. There is practically no chlorophyll, which indicates the well-known lack of plankton in the Balearic Islands and which affords these waters a particular transparency, allowing the sunlight to penetrate to great depths.