Author: Jessica Leonard

This week started off with lots of rain, lots of wind, and lots of swells. We did some recoveries in some pretty nasty weather followed up by a break in operations while waiting for some heavy swells to pass. During this time, I got to shadow some other departments including engineering and the galley.

Down in engineering I got to learn a skill I have always wanted to learn but have never had to opportunity to. To repurpose some of the weights onboard intended for HWCP deployments to use for DAP deployments, we must weld them together as they are solid 15lb cylinders. The DAP will require 25 of these weights, and we will weld together circles of 5 to be looped together with chain running down the middle. Because of this, I got to try my hand at stick welding in the shop.

Upstairs in the galley I got to fill in for our mess attendant one evening cleaning up the mess deck and doing the dishes during and after dinner. I also got to send some kiwis up the elevator for restocking.

The next evening, I got to shadow the chief steward (head chef) and prepare dinner. We made meat pies, squash, brussels sprouts, and spinach pies with a finale of chocolate chip cookies. I was responsible for the spinach pies consisting of sautéed spinach and a blend of feta and ricotta stuffed and folded into phyllo dough brushed with melted ghee. I helped top off the meat pies by torching the tops to crust the cheese and added a dusting of paprika and ship-grown thyme to the top. I learned how to keep the galley squared away and clean, how to setup the buffet line, and how much goes into the meals on this ship.

We also celebrated Halloween on the ship and the 3rd engineer and I decorated the mess hall for some overall ship morale boosting as we come into the end of our long haul cruise. Unfortunately there were no photos taken showcasing our efforts.

While I don’t have any bird photos to showcase this week (sigh) please enjoy some other phenomena captured. This salt was made by our wonderful chief steward from water collected at the bottom of the trench (10,000m deep!)

Before heading into Auckland for a short port call, the DAP (Deep Autonomous Profiler) succeeded in multiple deployments surpassing 10,000m in depth. On one of these deployments, we filled a bag full of styrofoam cups, a common practice by sea going marine scientists. Under pressure, these cups shrink, and now I can say I’ve sent cups past 10,000m which is a feat I’m not sure I’ll achieve again as there are only about 3 deeper places in the world.

We transited into Auckland to pickup a crucial piece of instrumentation that was delayed in shipping. UH’s HWCP (Hadal Water Column Profiler) will make observations in Tandem with the DAP within the Hadal Zone (>6,000m). We got some first looks of it in action once we got back out to the trench. Due to the nature of the instrument, deployment and recovery must be done slowly. There are shear probes on the bottom which can break just from touch and there are very few areas to grab onto as the profiler needs a slick surface to descend and ascend in the water column the way the scientists intend for it to.

While we were docked in Auckland, I was able to go into town and experience society and nature again. It was the perfect amount of time to take a break from staring at the ocean for a month straight.

In less picturesque news, Andy has tasked me with learning basic networking using a Raspberry Pi and a network switch. I have been learning how to connect to other devices and send information via a network switch from a Linux-based computer (the Pi) to my Unix-based Mac both connected to the switch with ethernet cables. After learning how to communicate information between the two, I learned how to build and host a local web server that I could connect to from any other device on the switch. These local web servers are used for just about everything on the ship’s network except they can be accessed over the network. I also learned how to receive UDP packets and write cron jobs to parse the information automatically into a usable file. These IT skills are necessary at sea as some ships don’t have a designated IT/ET position and it is the responsibility of the SSSGs to update and troubleshoot systems when necessary, often on Linux-based machines. Lucky for us, there are plenty of Linux books and guides for us to reference as well as hand written documentation on our systems.

For this second leg we are short an AB meaning the SSSGs are stepping up to complete some deck tasks. Because of this, I have been brushing up on my knots and learning new ones that I can use on the fly during operations. It is important to be able to adjust and step into different roles at any moment on the deck as there are always moving parts and unexpected interruptions.

And for this week’s bird photo, we had a Buller’s Albatross camp out off the side of the ship for hours.

This week we had some of the calmest waters one could ask for going right into 5 meter waves! This range gave me lots of practice deploying the CTD in variable weather conditions as well as the knowledge of when it’s just too much to deploy safely.

While the sea was dead calm, an AB and I went up on the flying bridge to assess some railing damage near one of our radars. Going up top means rigging up in climbing gear and using lobster claws to climb the mast. From the top you are able to get the best view of the ship! As some of the radars emit radioactivity, it is necessary to shut these systems down beforehand.

Our CTD is still experiencing issues so we spent our time transiting between stations and the bad weather days troubleshooting and reading as many manuals as we could to find our potential issue. We replaced the slip ring on our fore winch that serves as the connection between the winch wire and the SBE11 deck box for CTD power and communications while deployed.

I spent some time Megger testing our aft winch wire and triple checking it was not suitable for use. We also checked out the SBE11 deck box’s electrical guts to see if a capacitor had fried or a wire had disconnected, but, there was nothing to be found. We decided to switch out the deck boxes anyway and electrically re-terminate the CTD which I got to do in full this time…in the 3-5 meter waves! Our CTD is still having some electrical troubles, not as many as before, but, zero issues are the preferred amount so we will continue to troubleshoot. By the end of this cruise I will have been trained as a decent at-home and ship-based electrician.

In science news, we reached our station that is the deepest point in the Kermadec Trench! Sitting at 10,049 meters in depth, this point is the fourth deepest point on Earth. URI’s DAP (Deep Autonomous Profiler) has already completed two successful deployments to this depth and will continue to for the next couple of days.

As always, featured are the petrels that have been following us for days along with a rainbow that graced us after the rough seas.

That’s a wrap on 2/6 weeks at sea!

This week we spent the first half transiting to the northern most end of the Kermadec Trench and have been sampling here ever since. This means lots of downtime and lots of repeated operations. This week I added deploying the CTD in addition to A-Frame operations now working the hydroboom and working the communications line between the deck and the winch house. This includes ensuring safety of the deck, people, and the CTD. We watch the winch cable to ensure it doesn’t hit the side of the ship, bring up the CTD in a safe, controlled manner, rinse the CTD once onboard, and secure it safely in the bay for scientists to sample from the niskins.

During the transit I learned how to make RJ-45 Ethernet cables which we’ll use on the switch boxes connected to the science servers. Electrical work and network management is just as important as deck operations in a marine tech’s role if not more important.

Because this has been a slower week, I wanted to highlight some non work related but very ship related content! Luckily, we have some of the best chefs in the fleet, and I want to showcase some of their offerings. Our chefs have been providing us with a great variety of meals, flavors, foods, and are accommodating to all dietary restrictions and preferences. Outside of meal times we have a plethora of leftovers, breads, cereals, ramen, snacks, cookies, candies, dried fruits, ice cream, sodas, seltzer water, juices, coffee, teas, milks, and coconut water available. Featured below is a standard breakfast for us and a particularly phenomenal dinner we had.

To follow the trend from my previous post I’ll include some fun happenings this week. On a clear night we got to see the Milky Way streak across the sky. I finally saw my first green flash after over 120 days logged at sea! In the downtime I’ve had plenty of time to tend to my hobbies including crocheting.

The first week after pulling of the dock was definitely an eventful one! We are at the base of the Kermadec Trench dropping a lander to the seafloor and running CTD casts to 6,000m. The whole week we experienced one issue after another with the CTD which involved days of troubleshooting. Alas, the CTD is now fully functional, and I have spent a great deal of time helping overhaul it while at sea.

Aside from CTD troubleshooting, I helped train the science party newbies on how to setup the CTD for deployments as well as use SeaBird’s Seasave and communicate with the CTD and winch house for deployments.

Dropping the lander to the seafloor involves using the A-Frame for deployments and recoveries which is the SSSG’s responsibility. Running many deployments a day, I am becoming a pro at operating the A-Frame.

For the CTD overhaul, after experiencing lots of modulo errors (electrical related issues), we opted to re-terminate the wire at least 4 times. I got to take a jab at this one of the times, but, this was unsuccessful (not by my termination likely, but other persisting issues). Calling it quits after this, we changed out some sensors, some wires, and after that didn’t quite do it, we replaced the whole SeaBird unit all together and moved winches. Luckily, as I have used lots of SeaBird products on gliders and in lab, I was able to help in this rebuild.

After our rebuild, no modulo errors! We got down to ~5,000m where the scientists wanted to collect water, and……the bottles wouldn’t fire. Just when we thought we’ve solved it, one more issue. We brought up the CTD and replaced the last electrical component on the CTD, the SBE32 carousel. Now, I can officially say I’ve done a full CTD build, minus the frame and the bottles.

Our CTD is functioning better than ever, and we are en route to the top of the Kermadec Trench ~700nm away (~60h transit).

We have had some lovely Cape Petrels, Wandering Albatrosses, and Common Dolphins following us around which I will showcase below.

After flight cancelations and hours on the phone with United’s customer service, I am in Auckland, New Zealand experiencing the Southern Hemisphere to the fullest aboard the R/V Thomas G. Thompson. We have been in port running pre-cruise preparation, welcoming on the science party, and getting ready to set sail tomorrow.

Following some jet lag napping (8hr time difference from the East Coast!), I have gotten into a groove following around the SSSGs and learning everything I can.

We replaced the slip disk on the winch which will be used for CTD operations and terminated the CTD cable both electronically and mechanically. This was a delicate task that the science party heavily relies on so because of that, Liz (SSSG) did the real termination, and I did my own termination on some spare wire on the side. After running some wire tests, we did a load test on the deck and calibrated the winch readout.

For the 24 hours before we set sail, I have been aiding the scientists in whatever they need to get going once underway which has consisted of moving tables, lending tools, and acting as an extra hand when needed. On the crew side, I helped unload stores (food for the cruise!) and shadowed the safety meeting.

Tomorrow we will be out of here at 1000 and on our way for 45 days at sea!

Hey everybody, I’m Jess, and I’m joining the R/V Thomas G. Thompson working with the SSSGs on a 6 week research cruise departing out of Auckland, New Zealand September 28th surveying ventilation in the Kermadec Trench.

This will be my 4th time at sea and my 4th vessel! While I have historically been a member of the science party, I am excited to bring my technical skills crew side and learn from some of the best expanding my skillset and working knowledge.

Writing about my work and experience is nothing new for me as I maintain an Instagram highlighting what it’s like to be in the field and what goes on behind the scenes. For those interested it can be found at:
@thatoceanographytech

Aside from work, I enjoy traveling, swimming, cooking, fiber arts, and curating music. While at sea, I hope to use my time off shift to enjoy these hobbies as well.