Category: R/V Sikuliaq Page 1 of 4

Hello readers,

It’s hard to believe that I have been on the Sikuliaq for 72 days. Going into this internship, I knew there was a possibility that I would not like the work or that I would be unsuccessful. Now, I can enthusiastically say that I was able to positively contribute to the tech team and that I have been hooked by this industry. The people aboard the Sikuliaq are amazing, passionate about what they do, and so kind. I feel lucky to have been able to work alongside them for this short period of time and to call some of them friends. 

In the last week, the calibration cruise came to an end with all the tasks completed. We had to come into Newport early due to weather but we were still able to get everything done. I did some smaller tasks such as install the 3D printed PAR mount onto the CTD, mount a new TV in the baltic room, complete my internship tasks, apply for jobs, start to learn Python, and build some networking skills by interfacing with a Raspberry Pi over the network. 

Spotting a seep with the echosounders. It’s almost 400m tall! 

Driving under the Newport bridge

CAD assembly of PAR mount. A cool technique that I learned during this internship was to combine hardware and 3D printed parts. Printing threads is tricky so instead one can incorporate nuts into the design to provide the means of threading in a bolt. In this design, the nuts were press-fit into the print and aligned with the bolts. Now, what would be the weakest point of the design, printed threads, is no longer an issue.

Mounted PAR sensor

Thank you for reading!

Sarah

Once we left Seattle, we headed out to perform calibrations on the new 304 sonar array and the 710 sonar array. We originally were going to do all our calibrations on the open ocean but we were able to get permits for Canadian waters last minute so our first few days were smooth sailing (thank goodness, I could’ve kissed the messenger). Calibrating the sonar arrays involves driving the ship over the same stretches of ocean repetitively, recording sonar data as you go. A software package then uses the data to correct for heading, pitch, and backscatter. Some days, data collection was tricky due to windy conditions. During conditions with lots of wind and the boat starts to crab, bubbles can be driven under the ship which interfere with the sonar readings. Bubbles cause disruptions to the data due to their difference in density from water and prevent the sonar beams from traveling through the water column to the seafloor. One of the exciting new things I’ve been able to learn is how to deploy a CTD. The process involves communicating with the winch operator which depth to bring the CTD to, cocking/firing Niskin bottles, guiding the CTD in/out of the baltic room, and sending the thermosalinity profile to the sonars. However, there is some downtime but I have kept busy by doing small 3D printing projects such as creating a new CTD mount for the PAR sensor and a table stand for our Black Box monitor. I also started to plan my next steps as I only have one more week on board:( Our SUNA sensor is also having problems so I got to help troubleshoot the problem.

CTD monitor

CTD ready to be picked up and boomed out

Thanks for reading,

Sarah

During this past week, I was able to became familiar with the website Coriolix, weight test winch booms, weight test CTD cable connections, design a MouseTrap, replace an ADCP, and explore Seattle.

Coriolix is a website that allows scientists on shore to monitor the sensors aboard multiple research vessels and also gather data from them. It was also a great tool for me to get an understanding of what sensors are aboard the Sikuliaq. 

I mentioned in an earlier post that the winch boom had it’s cable sheave replaced. Once that was complete, the boom needed to be weight tested. We used water bags for the weights and tested the boom at fully extended and partially extended. The fully extended boom was tested at 7,500lbs and the partially extended was 11,000lbs.

Water bag in yellow

A-Frame testing with full water bags

CTD cable splice. The cable was first electrically connected to a pigtail that would be plugged into the CTD and then mechanically connected.

ADCP dunk test. During the cruise over to Seattle, two of the ADCP’s beams broke and it needed to be taken out in order to be troubleshot. 

MouseTrap version 1, a 3d printed device for preventing the computer mice from flying off the desks.

Final installed version of the MouseTrap. 

Biking to the Fremont Troll

Thanks for reading,

Sarah 

After the ship was floated, we needed to get the ship ready for the voyage to Seattle on the 14th. This meant finishing closing up the eighteen! opened Roxblox and installing a temperature sensor. The temperature sensor is located in the bow thruster room on the inlet pipe of our seawater system. The intake pipe is located about six meters below the waterline on the hull of the ship to the bow of the ship. This location is important because the seawater taken in from this pipe feeds an array of scientific equipment called the wet wall and its important that the collected seawater isn’t contaminated by the ship. Having the temperature sensor at the beginning of the intake pipe is also important for getting accurate data because as soon as the water enters the ship, it gets warmed. Some things that the ship constantly monitors through the wet wall of sensors is pH, oxygen, and salinity. Another sensor that we installed was the Met4ay which measures barometric pressure, humidity, and temperature. This install was located on top of the foremast. 

Inside passage and foremast. The Met4ay is hanging off the top left of the ledge.

Wet wall. These instruments are fed by the intake pipe.

The centerboard is a three thousand ton feature of the ship that runs vertically through the whole ship and is moved up and down by ropes. At the bottom of the centerboard is an array of sensors such as temperature and pH but also ADCPs. ADCP stands for Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler and it measures ocean currents. It does this by measuring the speed of tiny particles suspended in the water using sound and exploiting the Doppler Effect. Another thing that exists in the water column besides particles is bubbles. Bubbles “look” the same to the ADCP as particles but dont give accurate current data. The centerboard allows the ship to lower the ADCP instruments below the hull of the ship to avoid the bubbles that the ship creates as she moves through the water. The centerboard has a locking feature that allows the centerboard to be moved into the exact same position every time it’s deployed. This feature was broken and I was tasked with helping fixing it. This meant jumping into the centerboard well, climbing on the centerboard itself (it likes to move in the well), and shimmying into a tiny crack next to the three ton beast. Unfortunately, the task proved impossible and we were unsuccessful in fixing the locking mechanism:/

Exiting the centerboard well

The next two days were spend at the mercy of the Gulf of Alaska. It’s safe to say that I get seasick and that bacon does not taste as good coming up as going in haha. Luckily, there are some very good drugs out there and I was back in fighting shape the next day. 

Rockin, rollin, and hurlin

The other day, I was able to install my IRT design! Once it has been properly calibrated, this will allow us to measure the skin sea surface temperature. As I mentioned before, the ship takes in water at about six meters below the surface. In areas such as the Arctic, there could be high stratification in the water column so the ocean temperature at six meters down could be radically different than on the surface. Eventually, this will also allow the ship to validate satellite sea surface temperature data. Satellites experience barriers such as clouds and so their data could be compromised. By comparing data taken right above the sea surface to the satellite data, we can know how accurate the satellite data is. I’m really grateful to my mentor for giving me this project, and collaborating with me on it’s design and fabrication. During the fabrication process, I used SOLIDWORKS to CAD the design, a 3D printer to create the dial parts with a nylon/carbon fiber blend, and drill press. 

Desktop assembly

Installed! The sensor on the foreground is measuring the sky radiation and the other sensor is measuring the sea surface radiation.

🙂

Bonus content:

Ethan working on installing the CTD winch boom bearing

CTD and winch boom. The CTD, structure with the gray bottles, is lowered into the ocean using the winch. The bottles (in gray withitn the cage) allows scientists to take water samples at different depths. The depth at which samples are taken is controlled in the computer lab by marine technicians.

A nice day

Thanks for reading,

Sarah

The beginning of the week was spend buttoning up the transceiver room which included organizing the transducer cables we pulled onto cable trays, pulling up the hydrophone cables through the conduits, and closing the Roxblox above the conduits.

Before cable organization

Cables being sorted/organized before being woven into the cable trays

After cables were organized into the cable trays on the ceiling. Also, some excellent final touches with zip ties above and below the transceivers

Cables organized and Roxblox (seen in blue at the base of the cables) closed

Installing Roxblox

Ethan at the top of the mast helping the surveyers collect point data

The second half of the week was crunch time to close up everything on the hull in order to be able to put the ship in the water on the 9th. The recieve array required us to play a maddening game of tetris with eighty pound blocks and five ice windows because the windows were stepped in respect to one another. In addition, all of the spacers that accepted the bolts to secure the ice windows were cockeyed for reasons that could only be surmised but were certainly the work of the Seward gods testing us in our final hour. Nevertheless, we were up to the task and dodged the problem by reducing the number of bolts securing the ice windows. We caught a break with the Tx array and installed, dressed, and torqued the ice windows with no problems. With that, the work under the hull was completed. The next day, the shipyard broke the ice on the rails and moved the ship into position to be lowered. All went well, and the Sikuliaq once again was in the water with only minimal leakage around some pipes. Since there was very little ballast and fuel in her, the ship was pushed across the bay to the ferry by barges.

Tx array before ice windows installed. The blue color is due to a thin layer of anti-fouling paint added to the transducer faces. 

 Three techs contemplating the Rx array. The white square in the hull (top left) is the Topas, a sub-bottom profiler which sends down low-frequency pulses that can penetrate into the seafloor. This allows scientist to see the different layers of sediment and rock in order to find features like ancient lakes. The trade off for sending out low-frequency pulses is that the resolution of the image you generate is lower. The round yellow ADCP in the hull (top middle) sends out higher frequency pulses which is less penetrating but the resolution is much finer. With enough resolution, scientist can detect plankton in the water column!

Raising ice windows on the Tx array. Ice windows are put into place for, as their name suggests, protecting the transducer faces from ice. The Sikuliaq often works in the Arctic and this buffer is a very important safety mechanism.

Sikuliaq riding high out of the water, being barged into place

Shipyard survivors 🙂

Thanks for reading,

Sarah

The third week was all about getting the transducer conduits and transceiver room ready for the new transducer cable runs.

Transceiver room pre-transducer cables

Where the cables come out from the bottom of the ship

That meant opening Roxtex wedges, removing foam from the Rx (reciever transducer array) and Tx(transmit ducer array) wells, Roxtex blocking the existing cables in the transceiver room, chasing every thread in the Tx and Rx to make sure they are clear of crud, and working on my IRT project. The fourth week was main event. The Rx frame was carried in by the techs but the Tx frame was brought in by a telescopic forklift by lifting one side of the frame and attaching the other side to the forklift with straps so it made a triangle. 

Tx frame on telescoping forkliftTx frame rolling in on casters

Moving in the Rx frame

Tx frame ready to be lifted

Lookin like a million bucks 😛

Raising the transducers into the Tx frame, they are super fragile so every surface they rest on needed to have foam on it

The transducers slide between the pegs, then a plate is screwed into the pegs to lock the transducer in place

After the transducers were lifted into the frame, their cables needed to be pulled through the conduits into the tranceiver room. This involved techs tugging on the cables from the transceiver room, a gallon of lube, and no end to the jokes. Once all the cables were pulled into the transceiver room, all that was left was to dress (apply Locktite) and torque the bolts. All 150ish of them.

 Transceiver room after pulling the transducer cables

We finished that today so the next couple of days should be inside! I love working outside but I also like hands that dont cramp when putting my socks on so it’ll be nice to give the muscles a break.

Thanks for reading,

Sarah 

Last week I ended with the Sikuliaq scheduled to be lifted the next day. Well, due to high winds, the boat lift ended up being delayed two more days. There was some work to be done on land at the UAF warehouse, such as running salts samples and working on my IRT (Infrared Radiation Thermometer) project, but I mostly spent those days getting to know members of the crew better and seeing Seward. I visited the Alaska Sealife Center, got some work pants at Ukanuzit, petted a really cute corgi puppy at Gypsea Treasure Trunk, got burritos at the Lone Chicharron, and skipped rocks at the Lowell Point Beach. It was nice to have a break but by the time the ship was able to be lifted out of the water, I was ready to get back to work.

Lowell Beach

Sunset at UAF warehouse

And oh did the work begin. The big project that we did was removing the transducers from the hull of the ship. Snow gear was put on, hard hats donned, wrenches and allen keys grabbed, and we went to the bow of the ship. Our workspace consisted of a steel metal sheet about 3 feet under the belly of the ship. You are on your back with the enormity of the ship looming above and only some wooden blocks preventing you from becoming jelly. But, you get used to it. We quickly discovered that rolling on your side is the best mode of transportation and any time I moved between tasks, the Mission Impossible theme song blared in my head. The first step was to remove the sea glass panels which followed the centerline of the ship and a line from starboard to port. These panels are invisible to transducer pulses and are made of titanium spacers and polyurathene. The next steps were removing any obstacle from the transducers, including side panels and old wires. With every bolt undone, a crumbling of ocean sediment would fall on your face so I learned quickly to wear eye protection and a face mask. We then removed the transducers from the frame (seen in the image below as blue squares) and lowered the frame from the ship. This will make room for the new transducers being installed later.

Pre-work fit

Working to remove the transducers

Empty frame

The next project was to pull all of the transducer cables running through what smelled like the large intestine of the ship haha. This was somewhat difficult as the wires had fused to the inside of the pipes so we used a come along to help pull. But in a day, we were able to pull about 18 cables from the ship in order for people to come in and clean it the next day.

Small break

Pipes holding the transducer cables

Hired muscle

Pile of pulled cables

Thanks for tuning in for this episode of Dirty Jobs! I’m your host, Sarah:)