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Old 01-26-2020, 04:27 AM   #35
johndallman
Night Watchman
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
Default Re: Scientific Specializations for Exploring Unknown Island

Quote:
Originally Posted by Icelander View Post
There were major problems with all sorts of electronic devices near the island. Some could be made to work, but this required constant babying and fine-tuning.
The specific question is "Do radio (including GPS) signals propagate from outside the zone where the island is visible to inside that zone?" Sunlight appears to, but there might be a similar sun there.
Quote:
The island itself is clearly anomalous and any person familiar with Caribbean flora will notice that the vegetation is unusual. The rain and the thick fog that persists during times when it isn't raining make it hard to see whether there is anything else odd about the island, but Kessler and most of the people behind the expedition expected the island to be extremely divergent, simply because of how it suddenly appeared.
Given that information, your botanist needs to be less of a taxonomist and more an expert specimen-collector and photographer.
Quote:
An astronomer is an excellent idea. The expedition could hardly avoid staying overnight, as the island was around 250 miles from Puerto Rico and 300 miles or so from British Virgin Islands, so in any boat that could handle potential heavy seas, the trip would take more than half a day.
You want a positional astronomer (an important speciality), who's an expert in the history of their field, so that they can make the relevant observations with portable equipment.

An oceanographer is a good idea, and finding one who's a former naval officer, like Don Walsh but younger, would suit Kessler's style. That hopefully gets you an expert in Navigation (Sea) without radio navaids in the same person.
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