Tag Archives: Port of Hamburg

When commuting is actually enjoyable. #wavewatching

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What I love about my job (in addition to the awesome job itself, obviously)? That my office is located in pretty much the coolest spot in Hamburg when it comes to touristy views of the city. So much great wave watching (and ship watching) to be done here!

For example below, see the small ferry on the right, and how well you see the bow waves in this kind of light?

And below, it has turned and is heading out into the main Elbe arm and you can spot the turbulent wake that reflects the sun very differently from the rest of the water on either side.

And then just casually strolling past dry docks, container terminals, huuuge ships…

I really enjoy this every day! Hamburg, the gateway to the world.

I see a new hashtag in my future #oceanographyofpuddleswithreflectionsofElbphilharmonie

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There is a theme these days: one of Hamburg’s most famous sights, the concert hall called Elbphilharmonie.

And not only is it a pretty impressive buildings, it’s located right at the port of Hamburg, and, more importantly, right across from my new work place!

Yesterday morning there was a lot of ice on the puddle in front of it (above), this morning, by the time I got there, it was crushed (below).

And when I left tonight, there was some drizzle in the air and I did not feel like checking on the puddle.

Are you going to see this every day now? No, fear not — there are some cool blog posts in the pipeline! :-)

Here is to new beginnings!

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From dawn til dusk (which wasn’t actually as long a time as it sounds ;-)), first day in my new job as programme manager of the citizen science project on biodiversity “GEO-Tag der Natur“. I am looking forward to great views on the way to and from work! And I am suuuper excited to be starting this job! I will tell you more about it once I had the chance to settle in a little.

Even though wave watching is not part of the job, I could not help but notice those puddles. Not only because of the reflections of Elbphilharmonie on them, but because when I arrived there was a little ice on them (see above)! Which was gone when I left, but there were some tiny wind ripples (see below). Which one do you think is more beautiful? I can’t decide!

Yet another view of the Port of Hamburg

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Not all adventures are oceanographic!

Last week I had the chance to join students and alumni of the interdisciplinary bachelor project at Hamburg University of Technology for a flight above the port of Hamburg.

The students were flying for the very first time, so it got quite exciting at times, especially during turns.

 

But luckily they were quick learners and brought us home safely. Always nice to arrive at Hamburg Airport!

 

For all of you getting nervous now, let me take a step back and show you another picture:

We had the amazing opportunity to visit the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) in Braunschweig. And a couple of the students actually got the opportunity to fly the flight simulator! Even though I didn’t get to (sniff!) – it was absolutely fascinating. Even though the simulator opens up into a well-lit room, as you see in the picture above, it was so easy to forget we were staring at simulated landscapes in a simulated plane. It was really exciting! Some people even started feeling sick from all the turning. And we all kept staring out of the “windows” to see which part of the town we were flying over and whether we could spot our campus. Also the technology is pretty cool: the three projectors you see in the image above project onto concave mirrors, which makes the image be far away enough so the eye doesn’t focus on the screen, which makes the whole experience feel completely realistic.

We also got to see other parts of DLR which were pretty exciting, too, like the 3D view of Mars’s surface. Did you know that the highest mountain in our solar system is on Mars, and that it’s 22 km high? I bet you did not.

Thanks, Uta and Siska, for organizing this great field trip!

 

 

Floating dry dock in the Port of Hamburg

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Just because it’s fascinating.

On my recent trips through the Port of Hamburg one thing has fascinated me a lot – the floating dry dock. It’s right there when you get off the tube and walk towards the port:

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Dry docks in the Port of Hamburg. A classical dry dock “Elbe 17” on the left, and a floating dry dock on the right.

The floating dry dock basically has a u-shaped profile of water tanks that can be flooded or emptied to adjust the buoyancy of the whole structure. As the tanks are flooded, the dry dock sinks and a ship can drive in. Then the tanks are emptied, the dock floats up, carrying the ship out of the water so people can work on it above water. Voila.

In the picture above you see some kind of dark fabric blocking the view into he floating dry dock on the right. How disappointing. But when Jenny and I were there we got lucky:

IMG_7290As we went past, we got a glimpse of the stern of the ship inside. And a little while later, the front had been opened up, too.

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Here we can even see the bow of the ship.

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I think it is really cool to be able to see a ship propped up and out of the water like that.

 And still cooler – a while later they started to flood the dock, so it was starting to sink and the ship was starting to float. (And don’t you just looooove this view of the port? No? Is it just me?)

When you compare the (obviously not heavily loaded) Cap San Diego in front of the dock with the ship inside, the ship in the dock seems to be almost floating already, too. Sadly we couldn’t continue watching until the ship sailed out of the dock. But we saw plenty of other cool ships and stuff, so I guess I shouldn’t complain :-)