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May 28, 2018

1530 local time

Happy Memorial Day!

It is a beautiful weekend, and I can’t think of a better place to be than sunny San Diego. The Revelle was back at the dock on Wednesday afternoon following a really short but eventful cruise. In the afternoon of our last full day at sea, the Jason engineers finally got the ROV in the water and took it all the way down to the seafloor some 4500 meters below. It was really cool to see them testing out the two arms on deck and running through all the various checks and “football float” attachments to the cable before the long descent.

After dinner, I went in the Jason control van and watched Jason land gently on the seafloor, kicking up plumes of sediment all around it. Multiple, high-definition camera displays allowed us to see the surrounding seafloor as the pilots white-balanced the 3D camera and used the arms to remove heavy, metal plates acting as ballast. During the dive, the engineers could also test the accuracy of the USBL to detect Jason’s position. It was really cool to be able to see the operation and to watch live feed from the deep ocean.

Since the Jason team were mostly operating independently, this left Matt and me free to prepare for upcoming cruises. I was able to update the inventory for the CTD, including all of the spare sensors and cables, as well as clean and defrost the science freezers in the various lab spaces. Had it been warmer out on deck, I would have suggested a snowball fight with all the frost I managed to scrape off.

Matt and I also terminated the 0.322 CTD cables for the Desh 5 and Cast 6 winches. Matt printed out the instructions for me to review, and it was really beneficial for me to work through a different procedure from that at WHOI, but still arrive at the same result, which is a successfully insulated and communicative connection between the deck box and CTD. I also got to use an automatic wire stripper for the first time and found myself wondering why anyone bothers with any other style. Instead of the Scotchcote mold used on the Armstrong, we made our soldered connections water tight by carefully wrapping a layer of vulcanizing tape and electrical tape, and then brushing on some Scotchcote compound. It made the process a lot quicker, so you can easily re-terminate if there are any problems during science operations.

After we arrived back in port, the first two days were incredibly busy. All of the Jason accessories needed to get packed away in various storage holds and two containers needed to be moved to the bow of the ship and secured. We also needed to bring on the CTD carousel and rosette and some huge equipment for coring operations on the upcoming cruise. I also got a chance to work with Kelsey on attaching two Niskin bottles to the frame of a multicore sampler in a way that would ensure the bottles are tripped when the multicore tubes are also triggered. This took some engineering on our part, especially as the bottles themselves weren’t even in working condition yet and had to have various replacements made. I think it will work, but we will see!

In addition to all of the equipment preparation, moving, and securing, they also had to move the Sproul from it’s docked position in order to make way for the Sally Ride. On Friday, they sailed her over and ended up side-tying her to the Revelle and running a power cable and gangway from the Sproul to the Revelle.

Overall, it was a very busy but rewarding week, and I am glad I got to assist in some of the preparation operations for the upcoming cruises. Next up for me is a quick trip out on the Sally Ride, leaving this upcoming Friday, supporting the NSF GEOPATHS initiative for hands-on training and research experience for students in geoscience. I am looking forward to assisting in the collection of sediment samples with the use of the multicore, and am also interested to catalogue the many similarities and differences between the Armstrong and the Ride as I have never sailed on sister ships before.

– Emily

Wait it’s only been a week?

By Charles Brooks

On May 22, 2018

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

It has been an absolute whirlwind of a week on the R/V Hugh R Sharp. I don’t think I’ve ever learned and experienced so much in such a short period of time!

After arriving at the ship on Monday the 14th I spent a couple days learning my way around the ship as we loaded gear, provisions, and prepared for departure. We departed Lewes, DE last Wednesday evening as I slept in preparation to go on watch at 2330. During that first night offshore we launched and recovered our HABCAM, a towed camera array that is used to take high definition pictures of the bottom, allowing the scientists to test it and adjust the trim so it flew nice and level above the bottom as we towed it along. We spent three days using the HABCAM during which we had to recover and redeploy the vehicle numerous times to allow the scientists to address some persistent camera issues. The pictures that it sends back from the bottom are really incredible, I was blown away by the clarity and the fact that the scientists can use them to count and measure scallops without having to bring them onboard.

Speaking of bringing scallops onboard….on the 19th we switched over to dredging! My first night of dredging was incredibly busy and a nice change of pace, giving me some great experience working on deck. That first night we deployed and recovered six dredges and three CTD’s. We have been doing a combination of 10 and 15 minute dredge tows from which the scientists have been collecting scallops and sometimes scallops, crabs, whelks, and more! Recovering the dredge and unloading what can be over 1000 lbs of catch is challenging physical work, but a lot of fun!

What I’ve enjoyed the most so far is getting to run the CTD casts. A CTD is a cylindrical array loaded with niskin bottles, which can be remotely closed from the surface to collect water samples, and a suite of sensors that record conductivity, temperature, and depth (hence the name CTD). Every few dredge sites, the captain will stop the ship allowing us to lower CTD down to the bottom, where we collect water samples that are tested for salinity or micro-plastics, giving us a wealth of data for the water column in that location. The head technician on my watch Drew, a former MATE intern, performed the first few casts so I could learn the procedures but since then I have done the majority of the casts. It has been awesome getting so much experience with such a mainstay of oceanography and I’m looking forward to getting more familiar with the system over the course of the next four weeks!

Currently we are transiting to Woods Hole which will conclude the first leg of our scallop cruise. It’ll be nice to have a day to stretch my legs, but I’m already looking forward to getting back offshore and continuing our work!

We are currently on satellite Wi-Fi which is insufficient for posting pictures, but please check in on Wednesday for an edit with some pictures from my first week on the Sharp!

Signing of for now,

Charlie

038 48.26 N, 073 36.37 W

Week Five: Hit Ground and Run

By Emily Shimada

On May 20, 2018

In MATE Blog Archive, R/V Roger Revelle, UC San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceaongraphy

May 20, 2018

1830 local time

Hi there!

I am not sure about you, but I have had a very busy week. When I last wrote, the R/V Neil Armstrong was just a few hours away from tying up in Reykjavik. In the final hours, Amy and I finished up the termination on the CTD, secured the underway systems and echosounders, and started the data transfer process while the pilot climbed aboard and guided the ship in.

Joe met us once we went through the immigration process, and he and I tried our best to waterproof a security camera monitor for the gangway watch stander as there was no port security on this specific dock. Our delay getting in meant that he was not the only one waiting to board. We had a full science crew who started moving on almost immediately. Thankfully, I had already packed my duffel and moved it out of the way. After the rough seas we had all transit, it was a nice feeling to be on solid ground again. The crew celebrated the arrival that night and less than 24 hours later, I was on a flight to San Diego to board the R/V Roger Revelle and begin my time at Scripps.

The Shipboard Technical Support (STS) team at Scripps is a well-oiled machine headed by some very cool and seasoned people. Within the team are a Geophysical group, Oceanographic Data Facility group, Computer Technicians, and Resident Technicians. On the morning after I arrived, the staging area next to the dock was a hotbed of activity. This worked out for me, because I was able to jump right in and help the Geophysical group load vans with new equipment and gear and met a lot of the team members in the process.

Being closer to home also means that I am closer to some of my family. My dad is a UCSD alumnus and I was able to take him and my stepmother on a tour of the Revelle and give them a better understanding of what I hope to be doing for a career once the internship ends. Roger Revelle was a household name when I was growing up due to his innovative and influential work, so it was a real treat for my dad to set foot on the ship named in his honor.

This ship has an impressive history and she is incredibly active throughout the year. For the next few days, we are off the coast of San Diego to complete a series of engineering tests for the ROV Jason, in preparation for a packed summer of OOI cruises. Being a day late, I missed the mobilization of Jason and all his accessories. However, it has been pretty cool to watch the operations and assist when I can. So far, this has included setting up the ultra-short base line (USBL) system, which will help calculate Jason’s subsea position and required mounting and lowering a pipeline down a well that led straight from the deck to the ocean below. Thankfully, no bolts, tools, or cell phones were lost in this effort.

Jason has an amazing engineering team traveling aboard right now, so they do not need much assistance from the technicians. When we are not needed for operations, I have had the chance to familiarize myself with the ship and learn more about the responsibilities and skillsets of a resident technician from my new mentor Matt. I have had the chance to assist in crane operations and putting an asset over the side as well as an XBT launch – love those! On the Armstrong, a flow-through SSVS system provided sound velocity profile data to the EM122 multibeam. Here on the Revelle, the XBT probe profiles are uploaded for the EM122 to reference. The science team can request one launch per day and the portable laptop/deck box system the technicians created makes this a very simple operation.

Hopefully, the weather will improve and allow the Jason team to get their testing satisfactorily completed during the next couple days. Even though this is my only cruise on the Revelle, I think it is an exciting one, and I am looking forward to seeing Jason piloted through the water. My next post will be back in port during cruise preparations for R/Vs Roger Revelle, Sally Ride, and Robert Gordon Sproul – oh my! See you then.

– Emily

Week Four: Countdown to Reykjavik

By Emily Shimada

On May 14, 2018

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

0800 Local Time

Goðan dag!

Today is our last day at sea on the Iceland transit, hence my Icelandic greeting. We were originally meant to be in Reykjavik yesterday afternoon, but two days of really rough seas set us back.

Despite the weather and sea conditions, we did still manage to deploy 3 wave buoys as well as a glider over the side. Tina was our lone scientist on board and was fun to work with to get these things deployed. The round, orange, surface float is designed so that the drifting buoy will move on the surface with the currents, helped along by an attached, underwater drogue. A variety of sensors are also enclosed in the float, and an onboard antenna transmits the sensor data and buoy position. I have no doubt that those little surface buoys picked up some interesting climate and weather data.

The glider was the last to get deployed this week and was a challenging operation as the weather had once again turned against us. The Bosun thought it would be safest to attach a tag line to one of the starboard side winches and jib the glider out as far away from the ship as possible. Even then, it still drifted dangerously close to the hull and the Chief Mate had to engage the bow thruster to move us away from it. The danger was that the sensors on the nose of the glider are incredibly sensitive and could not come in contact with the vessel at all. Even rubbing against a shirt sleeve could destroy them.

This past week also provided a lot of opportunities for troubleshooting instrumentation and working on new projects. I think Amy and I totaled a solid work day worth of time trying to troubleshoot connectivity issues with the EM710 multibeam (offshore, shallow water unit). We inspected the transceiver unit and ethernet connections, swapped TX boards, bypassed the remote switch (which also seemed to have issues), and even pulled out the remote switch to inspect the connections inside. We got some good transmissions for a time, but it is not consistent, which remains a real head scratcher! Once we were in deep enough waters, we tried booting up the EM122 multibeam, and then found out that the database for it was missing. So that was another day of problem solving and configuration on that particular unit that, thankfully, ended in success. Go, Amy!

One project that I was excited to undertake was editing and reprinting a cylindrical coupler for the electrical slip ring on the CTD winch. The first print, unfortunately, did not quite fit the bolt pattern required and so I took some additional measurements and created a new, printable file in Autodesk Inventor. Thankfully, I worked with that program at Cal Maritime, but had yet to facilitate an actual print job. The ship has a LulzBot 3D printer, and I downloaded the printer software and slicing program for it. We did a test run of 3mm each of the top and bottom of the piece to check alignment and then, just 12 hours later, the part was successfully printed and is a good fit!

Now, just 4 hours out from Reykjavik, I am a bit amazed at just how quickly this month has passed by. I am so grateful to Amy, Joe, and Cris for their guidance and the multitude of learning opportunities and hands-on projects these past few weeks on the R/V Armstrong. They work really hard and need to be savvy with so many different systems and skillsets. Their services are vital, and I hope they know that they are appreciated!

Due to our delayed schedule, I will be staying in Reykjavik tonight and flying to San Diego tomorrow to board the R/V Roger Revelle at Scripps. Stay tuned for more as I head back to the West Coast!

– Emily

Ready to Depart

By Charles Brooks

On May 13, 2018

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

My Name is Charlie Brooks and I am one of MATE’s summer interns who will be working and learning onboard the R/V Hugh R Sharp for the next six weeks.

I’ve spent my entire life on and around the ocean sailing, surfing, fishing, and more. It was this love for the ocean that brought me to the University of Rhode Island where I majored in Marine Affairs. It wasn’t until late in my college career that I learned about the incredible work of marine technicians. With the goal of further developing my skills in order to become one, I attended the IYRS School of Technology and Trades for a six-month course in marine systems.

I will be arriving at the R/V Hugh R Sharp tomorrow afternoon and I cannot wait to get onboard to start learning from the scientists and crew! More blog posts ahead in the coming weeks, but for now it’s time to triple check my duffle bag and my camera gear ahead of an early start tomorrow morning.

-Charlie

Week Three: Transit to Iceland

By Emily Shimada

On May 6, 2018

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

May 6, 2018

1730 local time

Greetings!

I am writing from our current position off the coast of Nova Scotia on our way to Iceland. We have a few stops planned during the 9-day transit in order to deploy a couple of gliders and a massive buoy, which is currently taking up quite a bit of prime real estate out on the fantail.

Getting ready for this cruise certainly made for a very busy week for everyone! The science teams from the previous cruise were all packed up and off the ship by Monday morning after a fun sendoff party at the local eatery in Woods Hole. We then spent a solid day cleaning up the lab and berthing spaces to make way for the new cruise, and the rest of the week was dedicated to maintenance projects and new installations.

One of the new additions is the work boat, which was left behind on the dock during the last cruise. Since it was laid up for a few weeks, the 3^rd Mate was tasked with refueling and running the engines. I was invited along for the journey and even trusted to drive for a while around the harbor. As you can see by the lack of wake, I took it easy out there, unlike the 3^rd Mate who really gunned it and managed to get us impressively wet out there. All around, quite a fun experience.

I thought the ship was impressively kitted out when I arrived, but there is new, shiny tech installed all over the place for this cruise. Earlier in the week, I tested my hardware skills by mounting and connecting 4 new monitors around the lab space as well as a new deck box for the expendable bathythermograph (XBT) probe. After being elbow deep in data cables in the main lab rack for over an hour, I actually got a chance to go out to the transom and use the XBT hand launcher. Though the look and feel of it suggests that the launcher could pack a punch, it is really just a means of keeping the probe cannister steady. Once the pin is released on the underside, the probe just sort of plops out undramatically and makes its long journey down as the conductor cables pay out smoothly to 1800 meters.

The start of a new cruise has also meant that I am finally able to work with Amy, the marine technician, on creating a new cruise data log and initializing the underway instrumentation, flow-thru systems, and echo sounders. I am finding it really beneficial to be able to get my hands on the control units, pumps, valves, and various software systems for the instruments. However, now that we are in Canadian waters, we are actually not allowed to record any data so I now have some experience in how to stop recording as well.

Another week at sea also means another safety drill. Instead of fire & emergency, the Chief Mate chose to have an informational session on hypothermia and on rescue procedures for pulling someone out of the water. Both the ship and work boat now have these scramble-nets to create a cradle and either roll someone up out of the water or have them scramble up to the deck. We watched a few videos and also demonstrated deploying the net on deck.

This week really flew by, and I am glad I got to spend a few days of it in Woods Hole. It is a really nice town, and I felt so at home there so quickly. It was great meeting people at WHOI, and I am excited to come back in October for the INMARTECH conference. My next update will be coming from Reykjavik!

– Emily

Week Two: A Return to the Day Shift

By Emily Shimada

On April 29, 2018

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

2330 local time

Hiya!

Another Sunday has arrived, bringing with it the end of this first cruise. Over the last two weeks I have lead over 85 CTD deployment and recoveries and the nutrient sample vials total out at 997! Some days it has been difficult to adjust to the 0000-1200 work schedule, but I was put on a great team and we powered through the early morning shifts and crazy water sampling transects together.

As far as science operations go, this one seemed incredibly busy and ambitious. We had 175 CTD casts and water sampling for gases, DIC, chlorophyll, nutrients, as well as grazing experiments, two incubation chambers, VPR and MOCNESS tows, and lots of at-sea analysis going 24/7. The lab spaces are always hotbeds of activity and it is strange now to see instruments and sampling stations being broken down. It is going to feel really empty in here tonight once everything is gone.

This past week has gone by pretty quickly, likely owed to it being rather eventful. In addition to normal science operations, there was a rupture in the FW cooling water line to a forward SW supply pump, which created a lot of water that had to be pumped through a garden hose running through the length of the ship to the aft OWS system. We also had an early morning rendezvous with the M/V Warren Jr. to pick up a replacement part for the towed VPR. The 2^nd Mate took the fast rescue boat over with the documentary cameraman on board. Since this happened shortly after sunrise, the watch team could observe the boat being lowered and recovered from out on the deck.

I also got to expand my deck experience to include operating the main 30,000 lb. hydraulically driven A-frame controls to retrieve the MOCNESS and deploy the VPR. Moving the directional lever outboard or inboard with over 3,000 psi of accumulator pressure provides an interesting resistive feeling I haven’t experienced before. Though the control is a simple out or in, you also need to watch your speed and pressure, as well as the potential entanglement of the winch blocks while simultaneously watching and listening to the Bosun for instruction and keeping an eye out for safety hazards.

I am curious to see what the next few days are going to be like at the R/V Armstrong as one cruise offloads and another moves on. When I arrived two weeks ago, the science vans and large equipment were already onboard, so I missed that particular operation. In addition to helping with the transition this week while the ship is pier-side, I am also looking forward to spending more time on marine technician projects. This should also be my focus during the two-week transit to Iceland. There will be fewer science missions so that should, potentially, free me up to spend more time on the various shipboard instrumentation and networks with Amy, my new mentor. I am lucky to have the chance to learn from her as she has a wealth of knowledge and experience.

Tonight, I am going to try to go to bed at a more usual hour and wake up for the day shift to try to readjust to a new schedule. My next update will be a couple of days in on our transit to Iceland.

More soon!

– Emily

Week One: Rough Seas

By Emily Shimada

On April 22, 2018

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

0330 Local Time

Hi there!

I’ve spent the last week on board the R/V Neil Armstrong on my first ever ocean-going research vessel. I am starry-eyed over the variety of instrumentation and technology that the ship is kitted out with. It’s so cool! This includes, of course, the 3 separate satellite ship-to-shore connections allowing me to be online and sharing my experiences with you.

The current mission objective is to complete 12 cross-shelf section transects of the Middle Atlantic Bight, which is an area of diverse productivity well known to local fisheries. Our first few days were dominated by heavy seas, which made for some difficult and uncomfortable working conditions for a majority of the science team (ie. wide-scale, debilitating seasickness). I was placed on the 0000 – 1200 hydrology watch with some truly delightful people and am gaining some good insight into field sampling methodologies and the herculean effort required to complete a study of this magnitude. The amount of water we constantly collect and filter through is on a scale I was previously unfamiliar with. It has been a week, and for nutrients alone, I count 400 individual sample vials now frozen and waiting for analysis.

My role as a nutrient sample collector has also given me the time during watch to get familiar with the deployment and recovery procedures for the CTD carousel. For our safety, we communicate with both the bridge and the winch operator during casts. The combined weight of the CTD, Niskin rosette, Video Plankton Recorder (VPR), and the frame is significant and so following safety procedures is paramount!

An added bonus of being on the 0000 – 1200 team is watching the sun rise out at sea, which is always a beautiful and welcomed sight.

When I am not working with the science team or sleeping, I am shadowing the two Shipboard Scientific Services Group (SSSG) technicians – Cris and Joe – to get a foundational understanding of their job duties. So far, I’d say this has been an incredibly eventful week and I have already absorbed so much. I look forward to more and will be back next Sunday with another update.

– Emily

Arrival

By Emily Shimada

On April 14, 2018

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

0745 local time

Hello!

My name is Emily Shimada and I am a UNOLS/MATE long-term, marine technician intern. That smiling portrait above was taken off the coast of Maui on my senior training cruise this past July. I am graduating in fourteen days (but who’s counting?) from the California State University, Maritime Academy with a BS in Marine Engineering Technology and a minor in Marine Science.

Marine technician work is the dream job that I never knew existed before coming to Cal Maritime. It combines my love and passion for scientific research with my desire to be out at sea and getting my hands dirty. Later today I will board the R/V Neil Armstrong at Woods Hole and am really looking forward to meeting the crew and science teams. My trusty duffel is packed and ready to go.

This is an amazing opportunity, and I am very excited to get started. I have a lot to learn and will be posting my experiences here each week. More soon!

– Emily

USCGC Healy – Final Week

By Roy Gilboa

On November 19, 2017

In MATE Blog Archive, US Coast Guard, USCGC Healy

The last full week of my internship did not disappoint. While we were in Juneau, I got to go on a hike to Mendenhall Glacier with the STARC technicians and some crew members. It was a very clear day, and we saw several bald eagles while we were taking in the glacier. I’m glad I was able to spend some time enjoying the surroundings.

Since this is the Healy’s last cruise of the season, the CTD rosette is going to be idle until next year. To make use of this downtime, we have been removing the sensors and other electronics from the rosette and packaging them for shipment and recalibration. This will ensure that the sensors are ready for use next season, and any drift that they experienced this year will be recorded.

Another ongoing project is the installation of new a new GPS system aboard Healy. The locations of the antennas will affect the system’s ability to resolve changes in the ship’s attitude, so determining their placement is important. I delved into the shipbuilder’s drawings of the Healy to try and find accurate measurements of the proposed install location. This ship was built a while ago, so it was difficult to navigate through them. Very little of the needed information was documented, so we took further measurements, which I’m turning into a CAD model of this section of the ship.

When you clicked on this blog post, did you think you would find yourself reading about a wedding? That’s right, there was a wedding on board the Healy this week. While the ship was in port, many of the crew had their family members come on board for the final transit to Seattle. This is an annual tradition called the “Tiger Cruise”. One of the crew members decided to capitalize on this opportunity and arranged for his fiancée to join him. The ship diverted to a snow-covered fjord, two of the crew members played “Here Comes the Bride” on their guitars, and the captain officiated the ceremony in the helicopter hangar. I never thought I would see anything like this during my internship.

We will be docking in Seattle in just a few days, so this will be my last post of the cruise. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to be out here, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Thanks for coming along!