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Week 2 with JASON

Monday (7/10)

This was a day of transiting spent servicing parts and completing predive checks to ensure JASON is ready to dive at midnight.

The next set of dives are considered “bounce” dives, where the rov will carry down new science equipment to swap out with older ones on the ocean floor.

Tuesday (7/11)

12am – Successfully launched JASON to complete the first “bounce” dive. The depth is more shallow, only 650-700 meters. Science equipment was switched out efficiently and we recovered by 2:30am.

6am – Prepared JASON for another “bounce” dive, but while launching faced some mechanical issues and aborted dive. The team worked together to identify and resolve the issue at hand, and we were able to resume diving.

1:30pm – Completed a second “bounce” dive to exchange equipment at the same depth and has JASON back on deck by 3:30pm.

Post-dive checks were completed, and new science equipment was secured for the next dive.

Wednesday (7/12)

Last dive for this expedition!

2pm – Launched JASON and switched out the last of the equipment on the ocean floor at a depth of 700 meters. The dive went smoothly and there was extra time to collect visual images of the area so science members could complete a mosaic of the study area. During the collection, everyone was able to enjoy a vast assortment of marine life like octopus, fish, crabs, sponges, and corals.

6pm – Recovered ROV, completed post dives and began transiting back to port.

Thursday (7/13)

On the transit today we started our demobilization with:

Removed science cable wiring from the front port-side j-box.

Stripped down the front basket to prepare for the next cruise.

Drained the vehicle’s fluids and serviced the ROV.

The ship docked at 2pm and the team was able to have the rest of the afternoon off to relax. We ended up disk-golfing and having dinner at a local restaurant. This shorter cruise had gone quite well, and the science and rov team were satisfied with the amount of work completed.

Friday (7/14)

Today was spent servicing the rov. We reconnected hydraulic lines and equipment, filled the junction boxes with oil, secured all lines and hoses with zip-ties, cleaned and situated all pieces on the vehicle so it was neat, organized, and easily manipulated, if needed.

The science team departed this morning and the new one arrives tomorrow.

Saturday (7/15)

New day, new cruise!

Today began our official mobilization of the HUBER cruise. Some of the science team joined us on the R/V Thompson, while others’ schedules have them arriving tomorrow.

A few WHOI personnel flew out to help with this mob and I was able to reconnect with some who I worked with last summer.

This cruise will be heavy on the sampling side, so we began assembling and mounting:

The single bottle slurp system

A SUPR sampler for water samples

3 NISKIN water samplers

-I got to spend a few hours under JASON’s “belly” running and securing trigger lines. Although some of the mob duties require fitting into smaller places, I really like being able to “get inside” the rov and implement new tools for sampling.

Sunday (7/16)

Continuation of mobilization:

Rechecking mounts and lines from yesterday

Tested NISKIN trigger lines

Create a layout for the basket which will hold multiple sample bio-boxes, milk crates, 3 major water samplers, temperature probes, the slerp hose/handle, and other science equipment as needed.

Trained for operation and troubleshooting of the SUPR sampler.

Tip of the Week: “Safety first”

No matter what the situation is while at sea, always remember the most important thing: Safety First! This career focuses on maintaining and operating rov systems for science purposes, but one’s safety outweighs any equipment or operation at any time.

This is extremely important, especially when deploying or launching the rov. As the crane lifts JASON, we do help stabilize the vehicle with a person at each corner. For every lift/lower event, always remember to watch where you position your feet and hands. Equipment can be fixed and replaced, your health and well-being cannot.

Be safe out there!

Day 0: Before boarding the Langseth

By Sara Pierson

On July 13, 2023

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

Arriving at Cape Canaveral is pretty cool. If you haven’t ever been to this part of Florida, you’ll be greeted with signage indicating that you’re entering the “space coast”. You may even run across some streets named “NASA road” and the like.
What is so interesting about my arrival is that I won’t be going to visit the space museum, or watch a launch (which is still on my bucket list), but I’ll be going to the port at Cape Canaveral to board a ship for a 5 week research cruise aboard the Marcus G. Langseth, a Columbia Universtiy research vessel.
I am filled with nervous and excited anticipation, and can’t wait to see what the living quarters look like! Having never been on a research cruise before I am particularly interested in discovering all the nooks and crannies of the ship and making it home for the next little while, whether it’s finding cozy places to read or hanging the small string of battery-powered lights I brought, or putting up photos of friends and family in my bunk.
Which is a great segway into a small introduction —
Hello all! My name is Sara Pierson.
I am a third year (going into fourth year) PhD student in the Planetary Habitability and Technology (PH&T) lab at Cornell University. I began my college career as an Aerospace Engineering undergraduate student at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech, GT, for short), specializing in underwater and space-faring vehicles. I then went on to complete a Masters degree at GT in Mechanical Engineering, and began my PhD there in the Ocean Science and Engineering department (then my lab moved to Cornell about a year ago, and I went with them!)

In my junior year of undergrad I began research with the PH&T lab, and the rest is history!
Intrigued, I continued working with the PH&T lab and began specializing my research on wireless data transfer through ice. This topic is now the subject of my Doctoral thesis work! The novel and interdisciplinary nature of my thesis has led me to studying several topics, namely: acoustics, seismics, and RF communication.
It is these topics that brought me aboard the Marcus G. Langseth as a marine tech intern. As an intern, I will have the opportunity to have hands on experience placing acoustic equipment in the water, using that equipment to take 2D surveys of the ocean floor, and then learning — first hand — how to take and process/read this data.
Not only will this be an extremely unique experience, it will be rewarding to learn more about topics that I am incredibly interested in and that will further my personal goals as a graduate student.

I look forward to updating on all the things I was interested about before I got on board: the accommodations, food, laboratory space, how people spend their time off, what the working deck and instruments look like, and much more I am sure!

Until next time!

Let the adventure begin! Week 1 with WHOI

By Sarah Sergent

On July 9, 2023

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

Week 1 in the books!!!! (7/2-7/9)

Sunday (7/2)

Here we go!!!!!! I’m leaving……on a jet plane………and heading from Traverse City, MI to Portland, OR. The official start of MATE’s long-term internship 2023!

Luckily these flights were merely delayed a few hours, so I made it to Portland by 3pm.

This first evening will be spent catching up with the JASON team members who I worked with last summer. We reminisced about the previous science cruises, successes, and struggles while discussing this summer’s objectives.

Monday (7/3)

After breakfast, we divided into groups and loaded up to head from Portland to Newport. The few hours spent transiting allowed a few of the newer individuals to get to know each other before reaching our next hotel. We stayed the night at a location right on the coast and celebrated our arrival with dinner at the hotel restaurant while watching the sunset over the ocean. I really enjoy watching the JASON team members come together like an extended ROV family, sharing stories of their previous endeavors, future goals, and many laughs throughout the night. It really sets the tone for the upcoming cruises.

Tuesday (7/4)

Happy 4th of July!!!!

Up and at ‘em early! We arrived on the Thompson early enough to unload our belongings into our berths and begin work at 8am sharp!

Mobilization is the name of the game! This morning was intentionally started early so the crew could prepare the back deck so the tool and rigging (equipment/storage) vans could be loaded and secured in place. We were able to load the control vans on top of the tool and rigging vans before having to break.

There is a local race every July 4th, and runners come through along the dock, which pumps the breaks on our mobilization efforts.

Once the vans were secured and runners exited the dock area, we set up the stairway to the control vans, unloaded all the storage vans, set up the ROV lab, and brought JASON onto the deck of the ship.

It is impressive to see how quickly an empty back deck can transform into a major ROV workspace. The communication and teamwork make the process faster than one would expect.

Towards the end of the day, we began vehicle checks and focused on the pan and tilt(p&t) cameras. We removed, cleaned, filled the comps, and remounted the pilot and science cams.

Wednesday (7/5)

While in port, the schedule tends to be from 8am to 5pm, but once we depart and dives begin, the shifts change to the 4-on and 8-off split. For this cruise, I will be on the 8-12 shifts, so 8am-12pm and 8pm-12am.

For today, the team divides to conquer mobilization tasks. The team I am working with focus on vehicle checks and maintenance.

In continuing the work from yesterday, we verify the brow p&t is good to go, but had to comp the aft p&t.

Mounted 2 deck cameras, secured their cables, and tested their systems.

Retermination of the Optical Fiber****

I was really excited to be involved in this! My marine electronics fiber fusion splicing practice was essential here! Once we finished connecting the new fibers to JASON’s aft, port-side junction box (j-box), we tested and verified light levels. And success!!!! This was a bit tedious and the retermination process is too much to try and describe here, but it is a favorite of mine. Last summer I was only able to observe, but this year with having completed classes specifically relating to this, I was able to assist with completing this.

Thursday (7/6)

Continuation of mobilization:

Wired science cables into the front port-side j-box and verify voltages.

Tested fiber cables and cleaned connectors, then rested.

Brought up Jetway voltage (105 volts).

Completed Predive checks for ROV.

Friday (7/7)

Last morning in port! The team’s goal is to wrap up loose ends and prepare for departure. The first dive is scheduled for tomorrow, is all goes smoothly.

Tasks completed today included:

CTD configuration and mounting.

P&T camera adjustments

Fill junction boxes

Bleed all of the air out of everything! -J-boxes, comps, manips, cams, etc……on the hunt to remove any and all air bubbles from lines.

Preparing for departure included securing everything that could move once the ship is underway.

Completed Predive checks.

The Thompson departed at approximately 4:45pm and we are officially at sea!

Saturday (7/8)

Back at it again with adjusting the Pilot p&t motion adjustments. We had to ensure that it only rotates a certain distance left-right, and up-down. This morning was spent verifying topside and predive checks.

I identified a small amount of water in the port-side aft j-box, so we drained it, removed the water, and refilled the j-box with oil.

We then completed another set of predive checks, which were successful.

4pm: JASON’s first launch

I was able to participate in the first launch, and it went very well.

This first dive should be around 800 meters deep and is scheduled to last anywhere between 6-24 hours.

8pm-12am: First split shift

Co-piloted from 8-10:30pm, overseeing the vehicle’s systems and completing hourly voltage, pressure, and temperature checks.

By 10:30pm we completed dives tasks and added objectives before recovering vehicle.

10:30pm: Recovered ROV, completed visual inspection, and washed it.

Sunday (7/9)

This morning we completed Post-dive and Predive checks, tidied up the tool van, and now have some free time on our hands.

We will be transiting to our next location, and our second (and possibly last) dive will be in a couple days.

My first week back with JASON has been wonderful. There was no “readjustment” period, it seems we all stepped right back to where we were last summer. The group is fantastic! Each willing and enthusiastic to share their knowledge with others.

Last summer I shared a weekly tip, so I will do my best to carry on this tradition.

Tip of the Week: “See something, say something.”

-In this line of work, the idea of double-checking and triple-checking your work as well as other’s work is essential. Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes, no matter how experienced they are, is just what is needed. If you are newer in this field, always ask questions. The only bad question is the one not spoken. Or even just an observation. A small amount of water in a j-box could prove to be detrimental to mission success, so pointing it out to your team lead is vital.

Everyone contributes to these cruises, and everyone has a voice. This team makes you feel included, heard, and important.

So let’s do this!

Intern Introduction

By Mari Figueroa

On July 5, 2023

In MATE Blog Archive, R/V Sikuliaq, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Hello!

My name is Marisol Figueroa, but everyone calls me Mari! I am currently a graduate student in the physical oceanography lab at Moss Landing Marine Labs in Moss Landing, CA. I study internal waves, wind, and biogeochemistry in the nearshore at the mouth of the Monterey Bay Submarine Canyon. I am going to graduate/defend in Fall 2023 and am looking forward to going on this cruise and starting the next part of my scientific journey.

I have been given the opportunity to join the R/V Sikuliaq research cruise to the Arctic with the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and I am beyond excited. I am using this internship as a launching point to get more into the fields of marine technology and ocean engineering as I want to continue in this field as a future career.

Week 4: C’est la vie

By Claire Mayorga

On June 30, 2023

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

Our cruise retrieving Ocean Bottom Seimometers (OBS) is ahead of schedule. We’ve spent the last four days recovering OBSs around-the-clock. As the boat floats by the sensor, the scientists attach a line to it, so that it can be raised onto the deck using the winch. During my shift, I operate the winch for the science crew. My skills have definitely improved over the last few days!

On Monday, we had successfully collected 36 out of the 40 OBSs deployed; we were unable to communicate with 4 of the instruments, making them impossible to release from the bottom or recover. With 90% of the sensors on board we began our transit back to Florida late Monday night, two days ahead of schedule.

We will arrive back to Cape Canaveral (Florida) around 10:00AM July 1st, just an hour before the next SpaceX launch, which will be at 11:11AM! I can’t thank everyone enough for this great cruise. Shout out to Todd and the science crew for the memories.. I’ll be back soon enough..

Intern Introdution – Mija Wheeler

By Mija Wheeler

On June 23, 2023

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

Aloha all!

My name is Mija Wheeler. I’m starting my third year as a Computer Engineering major attending the University of Hawai’i at Manoa in my hometown of Honolulu, Hawai’i.

I initially learned programming from my experience in high school robotics. Having grown up going to the beach and hiking, I wanted to learn more about the application of technology in terms of environmental research when I graduated high school.

So in my first semester of college, I landed an internship at a local marine conservation non-profit called Malama Maunalua. During my year with them, I got the wonderful opportunity to build and program low-cost marine habit cameras which have since been used to study coral nursery beds, invasive algae, and sea urchins.

I’m excited about the chance to work as a short-term intern with the Alvin Team aboard the R/V Atlantis this coming July to learn more about the technology used in environmental research.

Week 3: OBS’s everywhere

By Claire Mayorga

On June 23, 2023

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

We left Cape Canaveral (Florida) last Saturday, June 17, 2023. It took us roughly 5-days to transit to our survey site, which lies about 60 miles (~100km) south of the Cayman Islands. This is the site where scientists from Scripps Institute of Oceanography placed 40 Ocean Bottom Seismometeres (OBS) last Decemeber. The sensors sat on the ocean floor for approximately 6 months gathering data on the movement of the Earth under the seafloor. This site is located over two techonic plates that slowly move away from each other, increasing the elevation of the surrouding seafloor.

The 40 OBSs will be retrieved one at a time by sending a burn signal to the instrument, which releases the OBS from the bottom. They take anywhere from 50 min – 2.5 hours to rise, depending on the depth. Once the OBS reaches the surface, we use its radio beacon, its red flag, and its white light, to locate it. The boat pulls up next to it, where scientists attach at least two lines to it. One of the lines is attached to the winch, which is used to lift the OBS onto the deck.

My job, as marine tech, is to operate the winch, lifting the OBS out of the water and onto a platform on the deck. It is fairly easy to use with only two levers; one lever moves the A-frame in and out, and the other moves the line up and down. Once on deck, we can retrieve its inner data and move onto the next OBS. We will continue in this fachion until all the OBSs have been retrieved. The other marine tech and I operate on 12-hour shifts (2:00-2:00) so that we can work around the clock with the scientists. We hope to have all OBSs onboard by Wednesday (6/28).

Week Six – Back in Lewes

By Jacob Stremlow

On June 20, 2023

In MATE Blog Archive, R/V Hugh R. Sharp, University of Delaware, College of Earth, Ocean and Environment

Hello, Hello this will be my final blog.

First off, this has been a life-changing experience and I feel very fortunate to have gotten this opportunity. I had high expectations that we would get to spend the next two weeks working on the scallop mission but some more problems arose.

Alex and I had twelve-hour shifts, mine was from 12 AM to 12 PM and his shift was the opposite. Our tech leads were doing six-hour shift changes so Alex and I would get time with each of them on our shifts. Christian was the lead tech and Hunter is the secondary tech. We had picked up the science team and sailed almost 200 miles offshore to do the scallop surveys. My shift ended just before we made it to the survey sites and it was close to 12:30 AM. I went off to bed to get rest for my next shift. Alex and the night crew started dredging and hab-camming that night and into the morning. Unfortunately just before my shift was about to start that next day the hydraulic break on the dredging winch broke. This was disappointing news to start my shift off with but we were still able to hab-cam. We got the dredge up on the table and secured it. Hunter and I helped lower the hab-cam behind the ship with the engineers controlling the winch. Then Hunter and I helped the science crew get the hab-cam winch controls set up and functioning. Everything with the hab-cam seemed to be operating correctly to start off.

After about 30 minutes the hab-cam winch controls started failing. The engineers tried to fix the hydraulics issue and even managed to get the controls working again. It ended up failing again twice more and the science crew decided to pull the hab-cam out of the water. This was now a total operational shutdown, we could not hab-cam or dredge. There was a lot of talking and deliberation between the captain and the science crew. In the end, it was decided that the chief engineer was unable to solve the hydraulic issues, and the scallop survey was canceled. We headed back to Woods Hole to drop the science crew off and all of their equipment. After they were off we spent the evening in Woods Hole and left for Lewes in the morning.

It was about a day-and-a-half journey back to Lewes. Once we arrived it was late on Monday and most of the crew left to sleep in their own beds at home. We ended up being out at sea for only seven days out of the planned three weeks but it was a great experience. Tomorrow we are set to offload all the dredging equipment and clean the ship. Alex and I are set to leave this Thursday to fly back to Traverse City, Michigan.

Thank you all for following my blog,

Jacob Stremlow

The Picture is Hunter, Me, Alex, and Christian (The Tech Team)

Week 4 & 5

By Jared Gursslin

On June 16, 2023

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

Week 4 & 5

May 28th

Today I did inventory on the streamer cable modules onboard the vessel and observed data for the rest of the evening.

May 29th

Happy Memorial Day everyone! I woke up to the whole crew on the bridge deck grilling hotdogs and burgers. There was also cornhole and music being played while we all enjoyed our lunch. It was a great moment for everyone. After lunch I assisted Riley with moving winch cables so we could reroute them to the wet lab. After, me and Riley removed old deck units from the mainlab and placed them in the storage room above the lab.

May 30th

Filled out more navigation logs and observation logs and updated certain data sheets.

May 31st

Fairly easy day. I filled out logs and plotted survey lines for lines 46 and 47 on the ORCA planner software.

June 1st

Today I filled out three more logs and plotted 2 more lines. I created the last log for the last survey line which would be completed overnight.

June 2nd

Today I woke up and immediately reported to the streamer deck to join the recovery of the streamer cable. We ended up recovering 12km of streamer cable because we had to deploy 6km more of streamer to set up for the next survey job. My job was to detach the digibirds off the streamer and remove the batteries out of each one before I placed them on the rack. I did this for nine hours and spent the remainder of my shift cleaning the streamer deck. I also ended my day doing inventory on all the digi birds on deck. We are now sailing towards Morehead NC right now.

June 3rd

Woke up to the boat already docked in Morehead, NC so we could unload and load some equipment and switch out some crew personnel. Claire (another mate intern) got onboard and introduced herself to the crew. After Claire, Emma and I explored Morehead, were able to get a scoop of ice cream!

June 4th

Today was supposed to be our first day of coring but we have sailed into five meter seas. Claire and I ran around the boat picking up stuff and strapping down more equipment. THe seas were so rough that Todd (our new mentor) told Claire and I that the conditions were unsafe to work in.

June 5th

All the sediment coring spots were placed off the coast of North Carolina and South Carolina. Today we sailed to the two north coring spots so we could dodge the southward storm. Our first core was a challenge because we were in the middle of the Gulf Stream with a 3.5 knot current. The core was not stable while dropping through the water which led to us missing our exact coring target. Yet both of our cores were successful in collecting sediment. The scientists were fast to extract sediment out of the cores to test for evidence of gas in the sediment. They would also x-ray the cores and scan them for different materials.

June 6th

Today at the start of my shift I found out that the winch had loose cables from the company that we rented the winch from. We had to coil miles of three string wire cable from the wench so we could rewind back in the winch tighter than we found it. This process started at 5 am and didn’t finish until 6:30pm. After the winch was fixed we were able to do our first piston core. While dropping our piston core our bow thruster started malfunctioning which didn’t allow us to keep the boat stationary enough to let the temperature probes that were attached on the core to collect a temperature reading. Temperature probes were placed on the cores to collect temperatures at different depths of the sediment. The sediment in the core was still collected thankfully.

June 7th

We were able to complete four core drops with no sediment collection but temperature readings were able to be collected each time. For four drops we punctured the seafloor for 8 minutes to get a temperature reading. Claire and I had stayed up late to see the last coring operation of the day through but had to stop all deck operations. At 2 am due to high wind and rain the coring team decided it was too dangerous for deck operations to continue.

June 8th

When I reported on to the deck we were in the middle of recovering another core when around 2:30 pm the winch stopped working. The core was hanging 1500 meters in the water with a broken winch. The technicians, engineers and core guys got together and worked all day on figuring out how to fix the winch. Luckily by midnight we were able to get the winch fixed and recover the first core of the day. Sadly all the time spent on the winch led to us missing other coring spots. Due to loss of time and a troublesome winch coring, operations were over. We had started a 36 hour transit to Port Canaveral FL.

June 9th

Today was a transit day so I spent most of my time cleaning the main deck while helping the coring team clean up their equipment as well.

June 10th

We arrived at Port Canaveral but were unable to enter until an available pilot could sail us in. A pilot boat was able to reach us around 4 pm and drop off a port pilot who took command at the bridge and got us in. I was asked to help with lines off the starboard bow of the vessel with the chief mate and bosun. Once we were tied up everyone changed into clean clothes and went into town to celebrate a successful research mission at sea!

June 11th

At port helping with mobilization.

June 12th

Goodbye R/V Marcus G. Langseth!

Week 2: Gravity brought me down

By Claire Mayorga

On June 15, 2023

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

We arrived at Cape Canaveral, Florida, last Friday (06/09) seeing dolphins, sea turtles, and sharks on our way in. The first cruise has ended and the crew and I have spent the last few days demobilizing the ship and removing all the science gear. It will likely be taken to a new port to board a new vessel. The best part was that we arrived just in time for the SpaceX launch! So on Monday morning at 3:10AM, most of the crew climbed to the highest part of the ship to get the best view possible of the launch. It only lasted about 5 minutes, but it was something I will never forget.

We will be in Cape Canaveral until 06/17, completing maintance, conducting land surveys, and loading the new science gear for the next job. Our big task as marine technicians was to perform a gravity tie and land tie survey, these are done to calibrate our gravimeter. Aboard the R/V Langseth we have a BGM Gravimeter, that measures the gravity in mGal. This instrument must be recalibrated everytime we arrive to a new port to account for machine bias, this entails going to a known survey site on land to re-measure the Gravity, then comparing it to our ship’s gravimeter to reduce the bias. This in-and-of-itseft proved to be the most trying job yet, as all the sites were closed off behing highly restricted areas (one survey site was on Space Force land). It took us 5 days to access a site, only after acquiring permission from the Port Authority.

Our next step is to meet the oncoming scientists from Scripps to onbard their equiptment for the next cruise. We will be traveling down to around the Cayman Islands to retrieve sensors placed 6 months previously.