The Columbia River is a busy water highway, with lots of vessels working, many of them upriver in places that folks near Astoria and even upriver in Portland and Vancouver, don’t see. Today we’ll talk about some of what happens as vessels do their work upriver.

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One of my favorite ships is here in town: the research vessel Atlantis. She’s owned by the US Navy and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, located on Cape Cod. She’s been doing research on underwater volcanoes in the Pacific in recent years. She comes into Astoria occasionally to change crews, pick up supplies, etc.

She’s a superstar of a ship, she’s been the subject of many documentaries about her and her famous submersible, the Alvin. We’ll talk about the ship and about times I have been fortunate to go aboard.

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A listener raised an issue about cruise ships and the pollution they create, so I thought I’d explore that topic today. As I was gathering info, I started looking at how sewage is treated both on land and at sea. Turns out, while wastewater treatment is a lifesaver, we are a planet filled with people, and that can be hard on our waterways, despite modern technology.

Today we’ll talk more about the weather, which is in for a change this weekend, and about an unusual meteorological phenomenon we could see called the coastal jet that happens from time to time here. It causes winds along the coast to speed up, sometimes dramatically, while winds offshore can be much calmer.

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Today we’ll talk about one of the most fascinating aspects of the lower river: the presence of a massive salt water wedge that occurs when the tide is rising, as heavier salt water sinks beneath fresh river water.

The next two weeks are packed with astronomical happenings: a new moon, a solar eclipse, and the autumnal equinox. We’ll talk about them in the context of our natural maritime world, where life continues in habitual patterns that play out in tides, moon cycles and waning daylight at this time of year. And, our coastal weather, which continues to see cyclic changes as well.

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Tis morning we’ll see the Serenade of the Seas, a big, blue-water cruise ship that will be docked at the Port of Astoria all day. She’s on her way back down south for the winter, having stopped here in May when she was headed north for a summer of cruises in the Puget Sound region and perhaps Alaska.

Astoria’s cruise ships are usually these repositioning cruises, which move ships between summer and winter cruising areas, with a stop in between to visit our city. There will be three more of these ships arriving here this fall, the last one in October.

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Well, I’m back, at least mostly upright – after a supposedly mild (it didn’t feel very mild to me) bout of pneumonia!

I was flat out on the couch last week, but I’m glad to be back, though I’m moving slowly. Looking forward to reclaiming my energy in the coming weeks.

Today we’ll talk a bit about the weather offshore locally, about a solo sailor out there braving it, and a look at some ships.

Stay healthy!

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A snapshot of who’s on the river today, and a bit about anomalies in the ship schedule, and a look at one cargo ship that’s arriving today that isn’t handling any cargo at all.

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A look at today’s ship schedule, with details about various about ships, protocols and cargo.

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