My oh my, how the time is flying by! Another week in the books from Monday August 14th to Monday, August 21st of the first leg in the Kelley Cruise series. This leg focused on utilizing JASON to carry down equipment ranging from BEPs (benthic environment profilers), to junction boxes (power supply boxes essentially), and undervators which are extremely large and heavy under-water elevators (thus the name undervator) which we used to transport camera and light systems to the seafloor.
We started out of port on Monday and immediately switched to our 12-hour shifts. I was assigned to the 12am-12pm shift, which took a couple days to adjust to. This is set up so teams can work 24/7, with each team consisting of 5 people: 2 pilots, 1 engineering position, 1 navigator, and 1 data/support person. My role continues to be in the engineering position. This expedition entailed multiple dives each shift usually. We would latch JASON onto the science equipment on deck, crane it over, and gently fly it to the seafloor where the rov would detach, assemble, plug in, and turn on these pieces to start collecting data. Once completed, JASON would then load up the older equipment and bring it up, where it was unloaded on deck. This swapping of equipment was done quickly but carefully. The larger loads can be dangerous to launch with JASON, especially when applying the tether floats in large swells. The load sway can create slack in the tether cable and then snap back with thousands of pounds of force, so communication with the football handlers (myself included) and the crane operator were very important.
Our multi-dive shifts continued throughout the week until the weather worsened with high winds, waves, and large swells. Unfortunately, this led to a weather hold which lasted Saturday and Sunday. By Monday morning the weather calmed, and we were able to get back to diving! We started out at an 80-meter site, which is a new one for me! These shallow dives can be very challenging, but we were able to launch a dive test first at 9am and successfully completed it. By 11:15am we recovered JASON and finished post dive checks so that the next shift would be dive-ready!
We only have 1 more day left before returning to port, but the new experiences I have gained in the last week alone is incredible! I look forward to what tomorrow brings!
Tip of the week: “Team building is a must.”
In a career like this one, you become close with the members of your team not just because you are on a ship for weeks on end, but because you work together for a goal: to maintain and operate JASON to complete all science objectives. All aspects of doing this requires a level of trust and respect, knowing that we each have a vital position in making this happen. There was no better representation of this than a few days ago, when the weather worsened, and my team had to recover JASON carrying a heavy BEP in the dark. Myself and another team member were removing the tether floats, timing each one just right to avoid the dangers of the slack-snap but without seeing the wave actions. Thankfully, our crane operator had a light out to monitor the water and would call out to us when the small few seconds of a window would open for us to safely get in and remove a float. Yes, this process took some time, but we were able to finish it without injury, and safely load both JASON and the BEP back onto the deck. Without this trust and communication, the likelihood of a serious injury happening would be extremely high. I consider myself privileged to be working alongside these amazing individuals.
