FTV January 21

Today the T.S. Kennedy remained anchored off Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. Yesterday we enjoyed ourselves at our Sunday at Sea. Sunday’s at Sea are used to recharge the Cadets batteries since they have been consistently busy working on their academics, and learning as much as possible. For the first time since the students reported to Buzzards Bay for Sea Term, they had an opportunity to stay asleep as long as they would like. It was a slow start to the morning as students trickled out of their racks and came outside. Some students used the day to catch up on sleep while many could be found on the Helo Deck tanning or fishing. For lunch and dinner grills were set up and students had the privilege to enjoy their favorite grilled foods. A typical Sunday at Sea cookout ends with a delicious desert of ice cream: 10 gallons of each flavor. A chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, peanut butter cup, and mint chip. Now that’s a lot of ice cream!

The cadets enjoyed themselves being anchored the coast of Mayaquez, Puerto Rico. If you look at our ship tracker you will see that the ship is anchored right between two Caribbean islands, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
Go to these links to learn more about these islands. Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico

Technology Tuesday:

These two islands are often in the path of Atlantic Ocean hurricanes. Did you know that even a medium sized hurricane is capable of producing as much energy as 200 times the world-wide electrical generating capacity?!

Where does all this energy come from?

As the tropical oceans heat up they store vast quantities of energy. When water evaporates off the ocean surface (turns from a liquid to a gas) it creates warm, moist air that stores some of this energy. The warm, moist air then rises, cools, and condenses (turns back to liquid) forming rain clouds and releasing the stored energy in the process. As long as there is enough warm water, this process can continue to build up energy in the rainclouds, eventually creating a hurricane.

Thanks to the advances in satellite and radar technology over the past several decades, meteorologists and hurricane experts have been able to make a number of big leaps forward in understanding of how hurricanes and tropical storms form and strengthen over time. They don't just use "eyes in the sky," however -- some of the best tools for tracking these storms involve taking measurements inside them.
This website will teach you how technology allows us to predict and prepare people about an impending storm.
Try using satellite data to track a hurricane.