Author: Will Eltringham

Hello for the last time from the R/V Langseth! As I am writing this, I am about 100 nautical miles from arriving at the island of Sao Vicente, part of the Cape Verde archipelago! While my time aboard the Langseth has been relatively short, it has been nothing short of an amazing and worthwhile experience that I would heavily recommend participating in should you have the opportunity!

Early in the week, Theo and I tackled revisions to the DigiBird calibration manual, making it more concise, structured, and user-friendly. We wanted future users to have a clearer, more streamlined guide, and we’re confident our updates will make troubleshooting much easier.

Midweek, we turned our attention to inventorying our equipment, unpacking and inspecting 56 old and new Niskin bottles for damage before organizing them into labeled palletainers. I also got my first experience calibrating Acoustic Pingers, which are much easier to work with compared to DigiBirds. Acoustic Pingers are an essential component of the Langseth’s streamer deployment, as they communicate with not only one another, but also the ship, relaying critical information as to where exactly the streamer currently is in the water. Working up in the protected species observer tower was a nice change of pace—removing and recalibrating Vaisala weather station antennas gave us a reason to soak up the fresh ocean air while still getting things done.

A major highlight of the week was learning about streamer deployment and seismic data acquisition. We unspooled a streamer on deck, attached LAUMs (Line Acquisition Unit Modules), and got hands-on experience using the SEAL 428 seismic recorder system. It was fascinating to see how hydrophone data is converted from analog to digital and how external noise sources, like fishing gear and passing ships, can interfere with data collection.

To end the week, Theo and I tackled the task of replacing the Digibird motor modules that were either bad or paired with bad electronic modules. Cody had recently taught us how to do so, so this allowed us to put his teaching into practice, which we did with great effectiveness! To replace a motor module requires essentially stripping the Digibird of all its interior components, requiring very cautious exactness and patience in order to ensure we do not damage any components during a motor swap.

We were able to complete either a motor swap or a complete haul of every component on every bird we aimed to, allowing us to finish our internship with a great sense of achievement and set the next set of interns up for success, as we tested all spare motors to find which were good and bad so they didnt have to! I can say for sure, I am adept in all things relating to the calibration and troubleshooting of Digibirds!

Thank you for keeping up with my weekly posts, it has been a pleasure sharing the amazing experience I have had. I also want to give a huge thank you to Chief Science Officer and my mentor, Cody Bahlau, for his dedication in seeing that Theo and I succeed, thrive, and take as much advantage of this opportunity as possible. And of course, a huge thank you to the UNOLS-MATE Program Manager Maria Osiadacz for making this opportunity possible and being such a wonderful support throughout the entire internship!

Wishing you the best,

Will

Hello again from the R/V Langseth! This week has been very busy and productive as our responsibilities and tasks have increased since setting sail for Cape Verde 6 days ago! While the weather hasn’t been terrible the entire way, we have definitely hit a few rough patches here and there that have thrown me for a loop, but thankfully, I have started adjusting. Definitely bring some seasickness medication as a preventative!

We have certainly developed a greater understanding for the oceanographic equipment and seismic capability the Langseth is equipped with, as we have spent the majority of the week troubleshooting unique devices known as DigiBirds and monitoring the ship’s data streams. The Langseth is outfitted with 4-15km long streamers that deploy hydrophones into the water – these hydrophones are what makes the collection of seismic data and seafloor bathymetry possible! To adjust where in the water column the hydrophones “sit” and collect data, DigiBirds are placed along the hydrophone streamer ever 300 meters for a total of 52 DigiBirds when fully deployed! While these devices are highly versatile, allowing for the hydrophones to be adjusted within the water column from the comfort of the Langseth, they are just as susceptible to sensor drift and wear-and-tear as any other piece of oceanagraphic equipment.

Our primary responsibility this week was troubleshooting the various issues these DigiBirds had sustained over their last couple deployments, such as issues with their depth indicator, wings not adjusting properly, motor not functioning, or physical damage amongst a host of other miscellaneous problems. With each DigiBird, we would diagnose the issue and formulate the appropriate solution as to how we could return each bird to service. Some were easier than others, requiring a recalibration of their wings or depth indicator; however, some posed more complicated issues that we eventually learned to solve as our experience and confidence grew more and more. The birds that were beyond recovery (ie. physical damage) were labeled to be sent off back to Columbia. Over the course of the week, I believe we went through just about 60 of these devices! Not too shabby for our rookie debutes!

The other of our key responsibilites this week, and one that will continue until the conclusion of our time aboard the Langseth, was the monitoring of the Multibeam & Echosounder data collection, ensuring we were recieved an uninterupted stream of new, incoming data from our current cruise. These devices are responsible for the collection of 2D & 3D bathymetry mapping, allowing us to better understand the seafloor and add to a global database! In the above picture, you can see 2 sets of bathymetry data that are seperated by a black line. This is because the top portion of bathymetry data was from a previous cruise the Langseth took from Cape Verde while the bottom is the data we are currently taking and adding on to our database! The Chief Science Officer does his best to plot a route each cruise that allows the Langseth to maximize the amount of new bathymetry data it can collect.

We also had some fun today taking a photoshoot in full PPE “working” around the ship. The avid reader might notice I am working on the shelf that was fully constructed last week, anything for the LDEO LinkedIn! Some other minor tasks this week included inventorying our spare multibeam equipment, modifying the DigiBird storage in the A-Deck Lab to have dividers to increase organization, performing walkarounds to ensure all of our equipment is secure, and learning my bowline knot! Oh how I love my bowline knot. Thanks for reading, see you next week!

-Will

Greetings from aboard the R/V Marcus G. Langseth! We have had a very busy, productive first week aboard the Langseth, assisting LDEO’s technical team in preparing to get underway. In regards to getting underway, the Langseth will now be setting sail for Cape Verde, off the coast of Africa, to retrieve OBS equipment as opposed to our initial plans of traveling to Costa Rica to deploy OBS equipment. This change comes in light of concerns with next year’s NSF funding, with fears that there may not be enough funding to retrieve the equipment that was to be deployed off the coast of Costa Rica.

The Langseth is a remarkable ship, and the only one in the UNOLS fleet equipped to carry out multi-channelled seismological research, making it a world-class floating Earth observatory! One of the very first things we did was a vessel famaliarization tour with our supervisor and Cheif Science Officer, Cody Bahlau, allowing us to familiarize ourselves with all of the impressive lab spaces that we would be frequently working in.

One of the first major projects we had aboard the Langseth was the construction of a set of shelves that would be fitted into the ship’s Dry Lab in order to replace the old filing cabinet and fencing, create more workable area, and improve the overall quality of the lab.

The shelves were contructed in about 3 days, leaving us very proud and fulfilled with our final products! This was the first time I had every built something from scratch using power tools, so I was thrilled to put some hard work and new skills under my belt so shortly into my internship! The three of us even signed our names underneath, which I thought was really cool!

We also began to learn about the instrumentation aboard the Langseth that is used to conduct research, such as the multibeam sonar system, Digibirds, weather station and gravimeter. While still waiting till we are underway to really begin using and maintaining the sonar and Digibirds, this first week exposed us to running the sonar’s instrument testing, ensuring the weather station was transmitting data properly, and performing a Gravity Tie and weekly checks in preparation for transporting the gravimeter off the ship.

Moving and preparing the gravimeter for transportation was a very precise task, as we had to ensure it recieved uninterupted power at all times, otherwise, we could be risking thousands of dollars in damage and repairs! While our time with the gravimeter was short, we learnt a lot about how it functions and were involved in every step of its offloading.

We also had the opportunity to join Cody for a venture along the Savannah River in the Langseth’s science workboat, which provided us a nice break from the ship out on a beautiful day, but wasn’t free of complications! While issues with the port motor were not ideal, it gave us the opportunity to perform some maintenance and troubleshooting, all valuable experience!

Besides these larger activities, we have been hard at work preparing the Langseth to set sail for Cape Verde, which includes less glamarous but essential tasks such as securing items to the ship, cleaning and organizing work spaces & labs, installing computers & monitors, offloading non-essential equipment for transport back to WHOI and Columbia University, labeling equipment, loading provisions, inventorying PPE, and continuing to familarize ourselves with the vessel, daily operations, and emergency procedures. Cody has been a great supervisor, forthcoming with his experience and wealth of knowledge, and always present to assist us as needed but allowing us the autonomy to work and troubleshoot tasks independantly. Unfortunately, we did lose Ethan a few days ago, as he could not do the couple extra days added to the trip by Cape Verde due to other commitments he had.

I am super excited to get underway to Cape Verde soon, and I look forward to continuing to share my experience during this internhship! See you at sea!

– Will

Greetings! My name is William Eltringham; I will be interning aboard the R/V Marcus G. Langseth from February 20th to March 9th, starting in Savannah, Georgia, and ending in Puntarenas, Costa Rica!

I am currently a Junior at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, where I am pursuing a degree in Marine Science, Safety, and Environmental Protection with a minor in Marine Biology! As an undergrad, my goal is to build my work experience to make myself a great candidate moving into my professional career! Having had plenty of previous outstanding internships, I am particularly excited for this unique and remarkable opportunity to join the LDEO team aboard the R/V Langseth as a MATE-Marine Technical Intern! Working aboard the ship during its transit to Puntarenas will provide a great opportunity to develop my technical skills and knowledge as I work and familiarize myself with the onboard equipment and operations.

I look forward to sharing more of my experience and will be sure to touch back soon!