“I’ve just always had salt in my veins, in my blood,” says Verlaan, who has worked in some of the most remote places at sea. “One of my research areas is in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean… the paramedic on [one of these cruises] said, ‘Do you realise that it will take us longer to get back to Port than it does astronauts to get back from the moon?’ That’s how far from land that site is.”

Verlaan’s scientific research is on manganese nodules. “I’m interested in their trace metal variability and in their formation. Based on what we think we know about them and what we think we know about ocean processes generally, they shouldn’t really be there. There’s far too much sedimentation, even in those oligotrophic waters. Given how slowly we think the nodules form, they should have been overwhelmed long ago. They’re one of the great mysteries of the sea.”

Hard but rewarding

A scientific research cruise is “incredibly hard work. For one thing, sea time is very expensive, so from the moment you leave port, you’re on watch,” says Verlaan, noting that with a 12-hour on, 12-hour off shift, “at least you can get a decent night’s sleep.” 

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Read the full story at On the Radar.

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