All photos provided by me during this blogpost
Our first and most important order of business during our last cruise was our fish-tow device. So, what is a fish-tow? It is important to first state the mission statement of our research aboard this cruise- the nitrogen cycle and trace metal uptake in the coastal ocean. The picture posted above, is an overly complicated pump system towed off our crane. The system’s purpose is to collect uncontaminated sea water for trace metal studies, using tygon tubing. The excess lines are attached to lift the fish-tow in and out of the water during morning CTD casts. In addition to collecting uncontaminated sea water, the system offers insight into chemical processes during a time series- in other words, we can see the whole picture of what is occuring in the water- not just at the given time of a sample.
Aside from the fish-tow, which was carefully tended to the whole cruise, we deployed and recovered several CTDs throughout the trip. This trip, and for many more to come, I have been leading many back deck projects and will continue to try new roles and positions until I am comfortable with all technical operations.
Speaking of technical work, I had several opportunities during this previous cruise to perfect and learn new termination skills- more specifically, how to pin-out and terminate a serial RS232 DB9 cable. A serial RS232 DB9 cable can be used for many computer feeds, but in our specific case, we wired the cable to our GPS box/feed and into a scientist’s computer.
Terminating a DB9 cable can be tricky, as the back pins are very tiny and hard to solder. In addition to hard to reach places, every cable is different and it is important to find the correct pin-out before soldering and terminating. After soldering the correct wires, I added heat shrink and a quick cover to finalize my cable. I also stripped and cut the opposite end to wire into our GPS box. Overall, it has been a very productive and busy busy cruise- with many laughs and sights included. Until next time!