To give some added background to my summary- we have spent this week preparing for our upcoming BATS cruise- BATS, an ocean data time-series established in 1988, provides long-term data for the open ocean of Bermuda. Similarly, a nearby relative HYDRO is another data-time series established in 1954. Together, these two regions have been supplying innumerable data, insight, and measurements within the field of oceanography. Every month we go to these stations to conduct work with a BATS crew and other scientists from BIOS.The cruise and team are called BATS because we spend a majority of our time around this particular sight.
After arriving back to land, we spent two days demobilizing: removing our fish-tow from the crane, recovering its tubing and pumps, removing chemical waste, backing up cruise data and documenting additional paperwork.
Following the demobilization process, a majority of our time has been dedicated to preparing for our very important BATS cruise. The director of BATS, Rod Johnson, and our Port Captain will be accompanying us during our travels, so it is very important to be in tip-top shape. I spent the beginning of the week changing out all our CTD sensors, with freshly calibrated ones: 2 O2 sensors, 2 conductivity sensors, and 2 temperature sensors. The process was long and tedious- involving the removal of several Niskin bottles- but was a very helpful learning process as I changed them all out myself- with limited assistance. After swapping out the sensors, I made a new configuration file in sea save and printed out several cast and SCS sheets for our casts (a paper back-up method we use). In addition to CTD prep, chemical disposal, and other duties, I set up an event logger for future cruises. An event logger will help us log and back up data electronically- eliminating our some of our paper methods. This week has been very hectic and busy, but I am very excited to go on another BATS cruise, as the repetitive and similar work will help me learn well!