Month: September 2023 Page 1 of 2

Monday, Sept 11th – Sunday, Sept 24th

The first week started off with adding and attaching hydraulic lines to JASON and mounting a frame on JASON’s basket/face which would hold a large crawl profiler. After testing, we were able to launch and attach several profilers to lines at different locations. After completing the attachments, we then would lock into old profilers and recover them for servicing.

We spent several days transiting back and forth to and from locations to swap out equipment and complete water sampling and visual inspections of hydrothermal vents. During this time, JASON’s main power box (Jetway) began to produce a burning smell. Once inspected, we realized the mount for the large transformer had given out, so the team worked together to remount the transormer using what materials and tools we had at hand. Luckily, it stabilized the system and once testing was completed, we were able to resume diving within a day.

The water sampling dives continued through until the 12th week. JASON’s last dive was at a depth of 2900 meters, where we connected and tested cables/connectors to junction boxes and then surveyed the surrounding area. Once finished, the team immediately began demobilization. Some of the first tasks were to complete one final post-dive check, drain the vehicle, cut the cable/tether, replace all filters, and remove fiber and power connections.

Once at port, the demob was in full swing. It only took a few days to disconnect the remaining power, network, and video connections, organize, fill, and load the tool, rigging, and control vans, break down the crane and winch systems, and crane over all equipment, vans, and systems off of the R/V Thompson. It was impressive to see how efficiently the team worked together to complete a full demob in only 2.5 days.

On Sept. 20th, once everything was loaded off the ship and onto trucks, the team left to head to Portland. We celebrated a successful season by having dinner together and reminiscing on the last few months. I felt honored and priveledged to have been with these amazing individuals, I learned so many things from each one, and I look forward to seeing many of them out at Woods Hole.

Tip of the Week: “Take notes.”

One of the biggest suggestions I could offer is to make sure you take notes at the end of each day, and even during the day too! There were so many times I would go back, again and again, to verify procedures, hardware, tools, helpful hints, or even small notes to myself as reminders when working this summer. When I would learn a new skill, or replacing thruster seals, or even draining and filling the vehicle, I would refer to my notes to confirm I remembered the steps involved.

The time out here goes by quicker than you think, and I am grateful for all of it. We have been home a few days now, but we are already checking in on eachother to see how people are adjusting to home life again. This team, the science members, and the ship’s crew were all fantastic! I hope to work with them again someday.

Best time of my life!!!! Thank you MATE!!!

Week 5: Atlantic Explorer

By Harpoon Seabring

On September 24, 2023

In Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences & Arizona State University, MATE Blog Archive, R/V Atlantic Explorer

The schedule of our last few cruises was moved around in response to hurricanes, and I was very lucky to get to go on one extra cruise for this internship. This morning, we finished our one and only cruise mission. In fact, my internship came full circle, because we recovered one of the lost mooring lines from my first cruise with our visitors from NIOZ. The buoy started communicating its position not too long ago, and it turns out that it drifted very far from its deployment site. It took 20 hours from Bermuda just to get to the mooring. Recovery took place this morning, and it’s nice to see the familiar face of these big orange buoys on deck again.

One of NIOZ’s buoys

I am also grateful for the two extra days of my internship, since it’s given me more time to work on my personal project. In an earlier post, I had mentioned the project but added no specifics because the whole thing was giving me a headache. By chance, I managed to find a component that was absolutely necessary for the project’s completion, one which I thought we didn’t have. I’m extremely thankful that it showed up just in time.

The project, in summary, was to connect a data logger to a weather transmitter, which senses several meteorological parameters like wind speed, temperature, and humidity, and sends them back to the logger. The sensor had, at some point in the past, been reconfigured to communicate in a way that was incompatible with all other devices on board that we could use to talk to it. There was no way to get through to it until I found an RS-422 to RS-232 converter. The converter takes the sensor signal I can’t read and changes it to one I can. From there, I was able to reconfigure the device’s settings so it could talk to the data logger. I even found a way to deploy it just outside the ship’s bridge.

Weather sensor deployed on ship

Right now, it’s collecting data, and what I’ve seen has been consistent and accurate, so I’m very happy with the state of the project. If I can find time, I will plot the data over the collection period and compare it to data from other ship-board sensors.

We are currently headed back to Bermuda, and I will depart from BIOS soon afterwards. I am going to wrap up my project and, importantly, document as much of it as I can in case someone else picks up the same weather sensor and needs help communicating with it. I’ll leave some parting words on this blog site once the internship is over and I’ve had some space for reflection.

Week 4 R/V Neil Armstrong: From the Arctic Back to Woods Hole

By Cassie Ferrante

On September 21, 2023

In MATE Blog Archive, R/V Neil Armstrong, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

09/14/23 – 09/21/23

We just arrived back in Woods Hole! We spent the week transiting and thankfully avoiding Hurricane Lee in the Atlantic. Besides collecting data when we were outside of other country’s EEZs, we haven’t worked on any science operations so the crew has been using the time to catch up on work, start end of cruise reports, or relax. Highlight of the week was playing mario kart.

For personal projects, I cleaned the pesky PC02 filter again (if you don’t clean it periodically, it fills up with marine critters like krill and can get gross real fast, see below), made a sail bag out of old foul weather gear, 3D printed a cover for the cordless phone on the bridge so it won’t fall during a roll, wrote my resume and CV in LaTeX, organized some miscellaneous hardware pieces, helped Emily and Croy prepare for the Starlink installation once we’re docked, and packaged the final science data hard drive using Linux to give to the Chief Scientist.

The PC02 culprit

QOW: What is a marine technician, and what do they do?

The role of a marine technician depends on the ship they’re on and the institution they’re working with. For WHOI, marine technicians are classified as Engineering Assistants and are part of the Shipboard Scientific Services Group (SSG). It’s a unique niche on the ship. They act as a liaison between the ship’s crew and the science party, helping out with science operations and making sure the data that are collected underway are being archived properly. On the Armstrong, the SSGs service the science equipment like the CTD and flow-through system in the lab, and handle any troubleshooting issues with equipment that arise. At least with WHOI, marine technicians sail anywhere from 6-8 months out of the year. That might seem like a lot of time to most folks, but a huge benefit is they may have several weeks off at once. This makes it an attractive lifestyle to those who can handle being away from home for long periods of time and like having extended time and freedom to travel or explore their hobbies more in-depth.

More information here: https://www.whoi.edu/what-we-do/explore/ships/marine-facilities-operations/marine-facilities-operations-support-services/shipboard-technicians/

Week 4: Atlantic Explorer

By Harpoon Seabring

On September 17, 2023

In Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences & Arizona State University, MATE Blog Archive, R/V Atlantic Explorer

This week, we wrapped up our cruise with our visitors from WHOI and Stanford. The last couple days went just as well as the rest of the trip, with the scientist successfully collecting data and having a good time doing it. They were barely sleeping, staying up to participate in as many deployments as possible, and somehow managed to carry their level of enthusiasm through to the end of the cruise.

A group photo with our visitors, MTs, the captain, and two of the crew

Most of the week has been in port, and there’s never a shortage of things to fix before the next cruise. Most notably, we wanted to replace the device which feeds data to winch operators. We tried to do this before the last cruise, but ran into issues the first time using the winch and swapped it back to the old device. Hopefully, we have ironed out those issues this week after installing the new devices again. I spent the first day or two creating documentation for this process, which will hopefully help prevent future headaches with this device.

I have also attached a pinger to the side of the CTD, which we plan on incorporating into our CTD casts in the coming cruises. Several weeks ago, I replaced all 20 of the device’s batteries to prepare it for deployment. Attaching it to the CTD seems conceptually simple, but the pinger weighs 70 pounds and had to be lifted over my head. I probably should have gotten a second set of hands. In any case, it is now held on with 4 hose clamps and a shackle, so I’m confident it will stay put.

The pinger on the CTD

At the end of the working week, another hurricane blew over us, this one more intense than the others. It was a good incentive to stay inside, if nothing else. On Friday, the captain informed us of yet another hurricane on its way, at the time predicted to have a straight track directly over Bermuda. We pushed our cruise departure date up and worked through the weekend. No time to mourn my lost day off, since we had a lot to get done before leaving. In fact, we’re leaving BIOS in only a couple hours.

The prediction we were looking at on Friday. Luckily, the track is now predicted to head off to the east before it reaches Bermuda

I am nearing the end of my time here and have decided to take on one more big project. I would like to document as much as I can in the ship’s internal wikipedia. It houses a lot of information, mostly for MTs, and can be a valuable reference. However, I have found it to be lacking in many areas. The pinger, for example, has never once been documented. When I tried to learn more about the device, like how it has been used in the past, how the MTs want to use it in the future, or even where on the ship it was being stored, there was nothing. For future MTs, and future MATE interns especially, filling in these gaps can be a huge benefit. It would allow them to work independently far more effectively.

Week 4 – Haley Holcomb

By Haley Holcomb

On September 15, 2023

In MATE Blog Archive, R/V Atlantis, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Last week’s schedule was really hectic, but I had a nice chance to relax as the storm began to hit. This storm was not as severe as the first, but there was definitely lots of wind and some pretty big waves. I spent the first weather day reading and watched Get Out with the crew when I finished my book. The following day, I slept in and caught up on some much-needed rest before meeting the team outside for a deck test. The lead mechanic had used his free time to put a Wario face on Sentry with electrical tape, so that was quite a shock to see as I was waking up. He did a really good job and it made the final deployments all the more exciting.

On our final weather day, I was getting a bit restless, so I cleaned and organized our mechanical van. We performed yet another deck test, but I asked to watch from inside this time so I could get a better understanding of the reasoning behind the order of operations of the test.

We decided to move the 24-hour dives from noon and midnight to 9am and 9pm, so we got up early the next day to prepare for a morning dive and did the deck test and pre-dive as the sun rose. Even though we changed the dive schedule, we kept the same watch schedule, so instead of being on watch for the last four hours of each dive, my shift was now the first 3 hours and then the ascent the next day. I asked to watch launch from inside for this dive and learned a lot from that experience. I actually had to leave my watch early this day to register for my fall classes, so I offered to cover some of someone else’s shift instead and started at 6am instead of 8am the next morning.

I had been watching the software engineer execute the post-dive commands, but I was able to run them myself after my watch that day. We recovered at 9am and planned to launch our last dive of the cruise at 9pm the same day. I was outside for launch and then went back in for another watch shift. The sky was clear for the first time in a very long time, so when I was off at midnight, I went out on the bow to look at the stars before heading to bed.

Because Sentry was in the water, I got to sleep in again. There was a merch sale in the main lab and I bought an Atlantis sweatshirt (to support the great cause of course) and was given a Sentry T-shirt and some stickers for my first Sentry Team cruise! I relaxed until my night watch and executed the inside post-dive once again. I found myself getting a bit sentimental sending the final commands, but we played some music to celebrate as I recovered the data.

Today was a very exciting day on the Atlantis, not only because we began our transit back to Astoria, but because a WHOI engineer that many people had worked with on the ship was off to the International Space Station! There was a streaming party for the launch, but I couldn’t participate because we had a lot to do to reconfigure the vehicle for its next cruise. We started the process of removing all of the instruments specific to this cruise, replacing them with what will be needed for the next, and preparing it for shipping. I took off the wings, propellers, and SUPR saddle before cleaning the oil off of the wings and the deck. I also organized the hardware for the saddle once I had disassembled it. Finally, I removed the strobes, beacons, and iridiums, took out the batteries I had put in them the very first day, disassembled the poles I had also put together, and secured the spares van for our transit. It was funny doing things like this in reverse because it made me realize how much I have learned while I’ve been here. These were the very first tasks I was given and I remember feeling so intimidated, but now I know my way around all of the different components of the vehicle.

We ended the day by taking a group picture on the bow to commemorate all of the great work that has been done this cruise.

Aside from my Work Plan goals, I committed to the Sentry Team that I would be able to do a push-up when the cruise was over. After moving countless weight stacks and pulling myself up the steep stairs when my legs were too tired, my skills were finally put to the test. Not only can I now perform vehicle maintenance and data recovery and stand watch during dives, but I can also officially do a push-up. One could say I have achieved maximum personal growth on this trip.

We will arrive back in Astoria tomorrow and spend the day packing up the lab and storage vans before heading out for drinks to celebrate all of our hard work. I am very nervous I’ll have bad dock rock after four long weeks at sea. We’re actually going to spend one last night on the boat so that we can oversee the crane picks on Sunday before driving down to Portland. I’ll stay at the airport hotel again and fly back to Santa Barbara on Monday!

I have learned so much about the different career paths I can take in this field and where my interests lie, and I am very thankful to have had this experience before I begin to apply to jobs and grad schools in the coming months. Living on a research vessel can feel a little exhausting and isolating at times, but I am beyond grateful to have been able to take part in this cruise and am very excited for my future in ocean engineering. See you all so soon and thank you so much for reading my blog posts, it meant the world to me!

Week 3 R/V Neil Armstrong: Wrangling Buoys!

By Cassie Ferrante

On September 14, 2023

In MATE Blog Archive, R/V Neil Armstrong, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

One of the mates took this photo from the bridge (I’m wearing the puffy jacket)! Source: Lia (Third Mate)

09/07/23 – 09/14/23

We are currently transiting back to Woods Hole! This week, we wrapped up the remaining science objectives by recovering the last of the OOI moorings. I got to hop on the A-frame, one of the lifting cranes aboard the ship that’s hydraulically powered to assist with moving operations, to help bring in the moorings and the science instruments hosted on the cable. These moorings can get up to 2830 meters meaning the recoveries can take several hours as all that cable needs to be pulled in using a series of winches. I also helped secure some of the instruments on deck after they were taken off the cable. The ship’s deck has holes all over so that the instruments like the buoys can be bolted down. I included some more background on OOI’s mission further below.

Map of the completed survey area, including the previous moorings (#9) and the ones we just deployed (#10). Zoomed out photo next to Greenland for context.

For personal projects, I cleaned out the computer racks on the ship with a can of aero-duster and a handheld vacuum, shadowed the OOI crew while they were pulling in the moorings and hopped on the A-frame, cleaned out the PC02 filter and learned how to use the ship’s ELOG or their online record-keeping spreadsheet, replaced the syringe on the tubing that flushes out the temperature sensors on the CTD, helped the engineers repair the LARS (Launch and Recovery System) crane for the CTD since there was a loose connection in the wires that control the magnetic limit switches for the docking head, got a tour of the engine room by one of the engineers and got to crawl around in all the nooks and crannies, added CTD waypoints to OpenCPN (maritime chart plotter software), got a walkthrough of the OOI gliders and the online interface the scientists use to communicate with their acoustic modem and Iridium satellites, practiced soldering and built a new termination ending on some practice 0.322 CTD cable wire, secured the chairs in the computer lab using bungee cords, and practiced some Python coding. I’m also editing a timelapse video of the engineers servicing one of the engines since it reached the end of its lifecycle.

QOW: What are we even doing out here, anyway? Aka the NSF Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI)

The National Science Foundation (NSF) OOI is a collection of ocean monitoring platforms in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. For this trip, our focus is on the Global Irminger Sea Array off the southern tip of Greenland (highlighted with the arrow in the photo below). The Irminger Sea Array is part of two global arrays. The locations for the global arrays were chosen to target areas that were under-sampled based on challenging sailing conditions like high winds that make it harder for research vessels to visit and collect data. The benefit of having high latitude observations is that these areas provide key insight into ocean circulation processes which can help scientists understand large-scale processes like climate change better.

The Global Irminger Sea Array has four moorings, each of which is anchored to the seafloor. In between the moorings, gliders (autonomous underwater vehicles) move in between the moorings to fill in data gaps in between each platform. The gliders communicate to the moorings via an acoustic modem which is then transferred to OOI’s servers via a satellite. What’s really cool is these moorings also have acoustic sound releases that cause the cable to detach from the anchor so we can pick them up.

For the three subsurface moorings (labeled #1, 2, and 3), once the acoustic releases have been triggered and the mooring is released from the anchor, the crew hooks the red buoyant buoy to bring it in. At the end of the mooring are a series of green buoyant balls that help the mooring to come to the surface to relieve the strain on the ship’s winches.

For the yellow surface buoy mooring (#4), the order is in reverse: the crew has to grab the buoyant glass balls first and then finally wrangle the surface buoy once the rest of the cable has been secured. The rescue boat is deployed to attach a cable to the surface buoy to help bring it onto the ship. I included some photos showing the recovery process for both types of moorings below.

For the subsurface moorings:

The buoy comes up to the surface once the acoustic release has been triggered so the crew can hook onto it.

Then, using the A-frame and a series of winches on deck, they bring in the buoy and the rest of the mooring.

For the surface buoy:

The rescue boat is deployed so the crew can hook up a line to the surface buoy directly to help wrangle it back on the ship with two points of contact (one on the bottom as part of the mooring, then one on the buoy). Source: Croy (SSSG/Marine Technician)

Recovery of the old buoys was just one step – we had to both deploy the new moorings AND recover the old ones, all while working under a tight weather window. Suffice to say I’m amazed at all the crew and science party have pulled off!

For more information on OOI: https://oceanobservatories.org/

10th week with JASON/WHOI

By Sarah Sergent

On September 10, 2023

In MATE Blog Archive, R/V Thomas G. Thompson, University of Washington, School of Oceanography

(9/4/23-9/10/23)

Another exciting week with the JASON team! This week we wrapped up leg 3 of the Kelley Cruise. On Monday the team had to reterminate JASON’s cable because it was compromised on one of the dives. Luckily with everyone working together, the turnover time was approximately 8 hours, and we were back in action and launching by 5:30am. The multi-dive shifts continued into Tuesday where we ended up flying around some really amazing hydrothermal vent sites! Some of them ranged in height from 12 to 18 meters! Absolutely fantastic to see. By 6pm Tuesday, we began the transit back to port. We were able to finish all science objectives for this 3rd leg and spend the last little bit of time exploring and surveying the area.

Our days back at port were spent prepping the ROV for the 4th and final leg of the Kelley Cruise. I was even able to replace the starboard horizontal thruster seals on Wednesday by myself! Since I was trained the week before, the steps were fresh in my mind and then I was able to help guide another team member through replacing the port horizontal thruster. On Thursday, September 7th, our team met at a local park called Tsunami Hill, where we grilled steaks and had ourselves a team cookout. It was a really nice reprieve to get off the ship and get together for something like this. We shared our stories of struggles and successes on not just these current cruises, but previous ones as well. There was music, super delicious food, and a lot of laughter.

By Friday, September 8th, we were prediving the ROV and preparing for transit. Those of us on the midnight shift had to adjust back from a couple of day shifts to the midnight shift, so we primarily napped in the afternoon so we would be ready come midnight. The first dive of the 4th leg started at 1am Saturday morning. JASON was used to carry down and attach a float to a buoy system, survey cable hookups, and was recovered by 4am. We then launched again at 5:30am, where we attached a large winch system to JASON’s basket and connected it to the buoy. By 7am, JASON was back on deck and the science and ship’s crew were switching the buoy’s line from JASON to their own winch system on the back deck. They were able to recover the buoy but lost a beacon that was placed on the buoy for location. It most likely popped out of its location on the buoy while they were recovering it.

On Sunday, September 10, we started our shift with recovering the lost beacon and then flying around the seafloor, following different cable systems from junction boxes, and verifying their locations while dodging hundreds upon hundreds of fish. One even wedged itself in our latch/winch system and I was able to remove it once on deck. By 2:30am, JASON was recovered, and science started work on deploying moorings.

My time at-sea is quickly coming to an end. There is only another week left before we head back to port, so I am making sure to enjoy this last week and learn as much as I can.

Tip of the week: “Timeout while at port.”

When working at-sea for extended periods of time, make sure you take time off the ship while at port. The days can melt together, and especially working the midnight shift, you never really know which day is what, or what time it is. One of the port days, I was able to walk over to a local beach and lay out in the sun for a few hours. It was invigorating! Many of us will go out to eat together, have bonfires on the beach, or just run to the store for needed essentials. Although there is work to be done, I have found that in our time off in the evenings, we each tend to leave the ship and spend some self-care time on land. This little oasis time off ship can reignite your energy levels!

Week 3: Atlantic Explorer

By Harpoon Seabring

On September 9, 2023

In Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences & Arizona State University, MATE Blog Archive, R/V Atlantic Explorer

This week, we finally got to go back out to sea. The hurricanes of last week kept us in port for far too long, and another hurricane may be on its way. Our guests at the moment are from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and Stanford. Unlike the last cruise, we have a very packed ship, and our numerous visitors work round the clock deploying moorings and nets, running tests on collected samples, and gathering vast quantities of data. Every one of them is enthusiastic and more than willing to talk about their projects.

One of WHOI’s enormous net traps

Because we are on a 24-hour schedule for this cruise, the marine techs’ shifts are spread around the day, with me working from 4 AM to 4 PM. It took a couple of days to get used to the unconventional work schedule, but I’m feeling very well-rested after night three. My main focus is running the CTD deployments and recovery. While my mentor still sticks by me to make sure I do everything correctly, I can now run the entire process like a full-fledged marine tech. A special shout out to the ABs who were very patient with me in the earlier days of the cruise when I was still getting the hang of things. I’m very happy with how much progress I’ve made.

Between CTD deployments, the MTs and scientists do mooring recoveries and deployments. I am still learning the rhythms of this process, and I get hands-on when I can. We had an especially interesting recovery yesterday morning when the ship was stuck in a storm. It was already raining hard when I woke up and only got worse for the next hour or so. Coming out to the back deck was an eerie experience. The only lights were those on the ship and the occasional lightning strike off towards the horizon. Everything else was completely black. We had to find a window of relative calm to bring everything in quickly. Of course, relative calm still meant zero visibility, waves crashing over the side and back of the deck, and rain soaking everything that wasn’t already splashed by the sea. It sounds rough, but it was pretty exciting.

Me, looking very happy to get to hold a line (with chief engineer Mike in the background, looking very neutral)

This week, I am more independent than I was able to be on the first cruise. I am far more cognizant of where I need to be and what I need to do. A log entry of mine from the last cruise reads “This job requires a lot of waiting.” I do not think that’s the case anymore. I’ve had something to do nearly every moment of this cruise, and it’s been a great experience. There’s so much to learn, and this week has been an excellent teacher.

Week 3 – Haley Holcomb

By Haley Holcomb

On September 9, 2023

In MATE Blog Archive, R/V Atlantis, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

As predicted, we did not end up being able to launch last Saturday. The weather was too severe to work with the vehicle out on deck, so I took the time to update my Matlab script for my weather predictions. Since I first wrote it, I have been inputting new data as I receive it each day and therefore making my predictions more accurate as time goes on. As the day progressed, the weather began to subside, enough so that we could do some light work on deck drilling holes into a bracket that would hold the bottles for the SUPR water sampler. The SUPR (Suspended Particle Rosette) sampler consists of a flowmeter, a pump, a valve, and 14 bottles to take individual water samples throughout Sentry’s dive. The pump draws water to be fed into the valve, which has 14 positions for each of the 14 bottles. Because the bottles go into the water full of DI water for neutral buoyancy, the flowmeter is necessary to have record of the amount of water that was collected.

The following day, we were finally ready to prepare for the first dive since the storm had hit. We removed the Nortek to make space for all of SUPR’s components and took off the lead that had been used to account for its weight. I also watched as the lead mechanic replaced a centering spring in one of the wings, which have to be replaced about every 6 dives and are critical to Sentry’s performance. I made two sets of weights, and each weight comprises of 72lbs of steel. There are three of these in each set: two used to descend, and another dropped to ascend. We concluded this busy day with a deck test. It was so exciting to have things back up and running after the storm as downtime seems to pass pretty slowly here.

On the day of the dive, we secured the tubing and flowmeter for SUPR. After some ballasting calculations, we put 8lbs of lead back on before conducting the pre-dive. Because we were launching at midnight, I had some downtime in the afternoon and used it to write a Python script to search through data from the ship so that I could include real-time wind speeds in my Matlab script. The next day, while Sentry was in the water, I started a new book and read until my 8pm watch shift. Because things were going very smoothly, the expedition leader gave me some tasks to keep me busy like estimating where in the tracklines we’d be when it was time to come off bottom and how much battery we would have left when we began that ascent. My shift always takes place during recovery, so I’ll be inside for the post-dive and outside for the pre-dive and launch. I really enjoy being able to see all aspects of the deployment because I do really like the software side of things and get to see how everything connects.

We had a quick turnaround as we recovered at midnight and were launching again at noon the next day. The scientists had collected their samples from the SUPR bottles, so we resecured them to the vehicle before preforming the deck test and pre-dive tasks. Once Sentry was back in the water, I decided to use the time to make my Matlab script more efficient. I had been inputting the new data I collected each day as independent matrices, but as time went on, my script was getting really long and I was having to copy and paste the same loops each morning just to change their variable names to the correct date. I decided to go through the script and stack the data from each day into just a few 3D matrices and use a nested loop to iterate through each day, eliminating many lines of code and greatly reducing the time it takes me to update it each morning. At the end of the night, I finished my book from the previous day and started the first few pages of a new one.

Because we launched during the day, I had an 8am watch. When I showed up, the mission had just gotten to a point where the previous person on watch had started to command the vehicle to leave its tracklines. Because this is more involved and a mistake could be critical, they decided to stay on until we came off bottom. During this time, I met with the expedition leader to go over my weather project, and he gave me some helpful advice about how to word my outputs to be more clear and concise for a user, and suggested that I begin to include my observations of the actual wave height during the day. I had been making calculations on the offsets between different forecasts for both wind speed and wave height, but the ship only had real-time data for wind speed. Now that I’ll be observing the height of the waves, I will be able to tie it all back to actual conditions and best predict when we can launch. When it was time to ascend, I took watch and stayed inside for the post-dive once again. While I was inside, we found out that a Canadian research vessel is also in the area and we’d have to change our dive schedule because they’ll have an ROV at our dive site. Instead of beginning a 24-hour dive at midnight, we’d launch at 8pm and come off bottom at 6am. We prepared for this quick turnaround by performing the pre-dive right after the post-dive and had a short break before putting the SUPR bottles back on, conducting the deck test, and launching. This was the first time I played a critical role in the launch and it was very nerve wracking, but went well. I had watch from 1:30-4:00am and then met back up with the team a little before 6:00am to prepare for recovery. It was hard to wake up for watch, but after a cup of coffee there was no way I was going to nap before I had to be ready on deck. When we began to ascend, I took over watch again, got breakfast after the post-dive, and finally fell asleep. There is another storm coming in, so we won’t dive again until Tuesday and I’ll have this weekend to catch up on some rest.

Week 2: Advent of Storms

By Nikko Hernandez

On September 8, 2023

In Columbia University, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, MATE Blog Archive, R/V Marcus G. Langseth

To say the second week aboard the Marcus G. Langseth was turbulent is an understatement! Acclimating to life aboard the ship was a bit odd at first, but I’ve since grown accustomed to the rocking and swaying of the vessel…at least in normal conditions. During the period between the first blog entry and now, the Atlantic grew tumultuous with not one, but three different tropical systems! Hurricane Franklin, Hurricane Idalia, and Tropical Storm Jose, oh my! Their proximity near the lines (referring to the data points we want to record) influenced the weather over the Atlantic Ocean, impacting the experience. The tropical systems agitated the waters of the Atlantic and caused a mixed swell period along with seas of 6 to 9 feet! Fortunately, the Langseth is quite sturdy as no instruments nor equipment was damaged during this active period. Though rough, it was an incredible experience to feel the vehicle lurch and roll from the traversing the choppy waters!

I digress from the main topic though: OBS Recovery. After escaping the confluence of the three systems, the ocean was in a far better condition to recover the devices in despite its continued roughness. Recovery of an OBS can be rather tricky, requiring coordination from those in the bridge and the main deck to spot and maneuvur towards the equipment. Using large rods that can be equipped with rope, it’s fishing time! Not really, the rods are used to attach ropes, or tag lines, to the OBS that allows the device to be pulled onto the deck via a mechanical winch and pulley system. Once on deck, the device is wheeled into the Wet Lab where it is fully disassembled and put away for future use. Hiccups can occur during this part such as the device being too far on the Langseth’s approach or the device requiring more time to respond to the release command sent by instruments onboard. Despite these difficulties though, the crew of the Langseth persists and has successfully completed 2 of the 3 lines required for research!

Of course, not all of the time aboard the ship is dedicated towards the OBS’ deployment and recovery. The periods of time during transit are usually spent for improving the vessel’s functions, diagnosing problems and finding solutions, as well as leisure. This can be as minor as fixing a certain phone falling in the Wet Lab in rough conditions (thanks Riley, rubber bands are very helpful!) to larger projects such as installation of antennae for improved equipment range. There’s also plenty of places to explore on the ship during downtime from the Theatre Room to the Gym; boredom is hard to achieve while on the Langseth.

We are transiting to the 3rd and final line planned out for this voyage. After the deployment of the OBS devices onboard, we’ll be able to utilize the airguns by streaming them behind the boat and firing over the devices. The percussive effect generated will be collected and interpreted by the OBS devices, allowing for the synthesis of seabed imagery! This will take place later into the week; I’ll make sure to go further in detail when the airguns are deployed, stay tuned!

The Mighty A-Frame

Spotting the OBS (Alan, Nick, and Leon)