Hi everyone,
Here are details from the first week of my internship! When I arrived in Woods Hole the shuttle from the airport dropped me off right at the Smith Building close to the WHOI dock. My SSSG (marine technician) mentors, Emily and Croy, were there to greet me. We quickly walked through the ship operations yard and as we rounded the corner, there was the R/V Armstrong in all its glory. I was over the moon to see the ship in person for the first time! The sharp white letters Neil Armstrong on the majestic blue of the vessel’s hull made me feel like this was all a dream. On the other hand, Emily and Croy, who are both experienced technicians on the Armstrong, nonchalantly led me onto the ship and showed me where my stateroom was located. I excitedly carried my stuff onto the ship even though I was very tired from traveling most of the day from the west coast to the east coast. As I began unpacking my bag, I took a breather – overwhelmed by the realization that I was here in Woods Hole and on board the R/V Armstrong! Emily gave me a quick tour before introducing me to the captain and some of the crew who were hanging out in the wet lab. Emily, Croy, and I got dinner together and walked through Water Street right next to the WHOI dock. Even though many of the businesses were closed due to it still being the offseason, the walk gave me a feel for the Cape Cod charm I have heard so much about. Between all the WHOI activity and the picturesque location, it was instantly clear to me why this is the spot to be for anyone who is interested in caring for and studying the ocean.
The next morning, Emily gave me a more thorough tour of the Armstrong. This ship is amazing! Everything is well taken care of and organized. The ship makes effective use of every space. I was even more impressed than when I first arrived at the outside of the ship. Soon after my tour, Croy put me to work on my first project as an intern- pCO2 plumbing. The pCO2 instrument which is mounted to the wall in the wet lab had a drain that was composed of mostly tubing which Croy thought looked disorganized. Furthermore, the tubing was not up to code. While the drain was not a super crucial part of the setup, as it simply drained the sea water that was filtered through the instrument, it was important that the drain be remade out of more permanent PVC. The change from tubing to PVC would ensure that it will pass inspections when the Navy and NSF visit the Armstrong. After spending most of the day cutting and fitting PVC pipes, it was configured the best way possible. It had to be tucked back so that it did not interfere with the opening of the nearby fire extinguisher holder. By the end of the day, the pipe was dry fit and ready to be glued which I completed the next morning.
Working on the pCO2 drain plumbing project (photo credit Croy)
On Friday at 15:00, we got underway from the WHOI dock. It was sunny and warm, with very calm waters. Unfortunately, that was about to change… and in a hurry. As soon as we passed by Martha’s Vineyard, it got extremely choppy as the Armstrong was going head on into the waves. Things went from manageable to unmanageable for me very quickly. I was out getting fresh air when I could feel it getting worse. I tried to make it up to my room as fast as I could. I succeeded and climbed up to my bed to lay down. It felt like things only got worse for me as evening turned into night. I had to face it- much to my disappointment, I was seasick. Luckily, my bunk mate, Chris, was very understanding and brought me crackers and water. I am very grateful for his kindness. I made it through the night, but barely got out of bed until the next evening. The bed was my savior through the challenging times. The boat changed to moving side to side instead of back and forth. At around 17:00 the next day (Saturday), I went down to check in with Croy and get more crackers. My sea legs had not been found, and I had to really concentrate to grab my crackers and leave the galley without running into anyone. Luckily, I heard some good news- at least related to my seasickness. There was a large storm coming so the crew decided to retreat back to behind Martha’s Vineyard to hide from the storm. This was unfortunate for the science of the cruise, but I welcomed some time to recuperate from my bout with seasickness. Soon after hearing the good news and grabbing more crackers, I hit the sack and went back to my safety blanket- my bed. Luckily when I got up, things were much better. I practiced walking in my room a bit to try and gain some balance. By the time I went down to the deck things were calm and I felt better. By Sunday afternoon, the ship had parked near Martha’s Vineyard which shielded us from the large waves we encountered the night prior. I was able to observe and lend a helping hand to Emily and Croy while they did some maintenance on the CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth instrument). The CTD was having trouble taking data below 1000 m. Croy surmised it was a short occurring in the CTD cable. Amazingly, the steel cable that holds the entire CTD rosette also encases electrical wires that power the CTD instruments and transmits the data. Croy used a megger to test the insulation resistance on the working end of the wire that attached to the CTD and got a lower than normal reading. Then the part of the wire at the other end attached to the winch was meggered and much higher, more normal readings were recorded. We ended up cutting pieces of the working end bit by bit until better readings were taken. By the end, approximately 30 m of wire was cut from the working end.
Helping with the megger testing of the CTD cable (photo credit Croy)
The next morning, we had to take sensors off the CTD because it was below freezing at around 28 degrees F. Some of the fragile sensors could be damaged if the moisture inside them froze so Croy and Emily wisely brought them inside to keep warm. Next, on my personal intern project list, was taking pictures of the scientist party for the custom website Croy and Emily update for each cruise. One of the science party members for the cruise was Nikiforos, an engineering assistant at WHOI who I had met the day before while eating in the galley. He had not realized I was a MATE intern until that moment when I was taking the pictures. Nikiforos shared with me that he had also been a MATE intern and had a great experience. It was neat knowing that three former MATE interns (Emily, Croy, and Nikiforos) were on board with me!
Once I had taken pictures of the science party, Emily showed me how the website works and helped me with the Linux code used to upload the pictures so that they could be displayed in the proper location on the website. Later that afternoon, I practiced soldering with some of the wire that had been removed from the CTD cable the day before. I plan to practice more soldering in the days to come. Emily said that later I could learn how to solder with fiber optic cables.
Adjusting Sensors on the CTD (photo credit Croy)
Tuesday morning at 6:00 AM, we resumed our transit southeast to the New England Seamounts. The crew and science party were hoping there would be a break in the weather to deploy at least one of the several moorings they were planning on setting up. We arrived late in the evening to the first waypoints. In the meantime, Emily and I took one of the unused computers from the computer lab so that I could work on redoing the hard drive. In the middle of the day, Croy had me cut and crimp the plastic lanyards for the Niskin bottles that are used on the CTD to keep the bottles open until they are triggered to close. Then we replaced the old lanyards on the bottles with the new ones. It was a bit tricky, but I slowly got the hang of it. In the afternoon, I went back to working on the computer project. With Emily’s help, I successfully changed the computer from running Windows to running Linux. Then I helped reprogram it so that it can be a backup for Tentacles- a computer that is able to display a live feed of data from all the instruments onboard. In a few hours, we reached the first waypoint for science at the New England Seamount Chain. The seamounts are in the Gulf Stream pathway which was seen in the ship’s underway data- with the following seas we had, the ship was traveling at almost 15 knots which is about 5 knots faster than the usual cruising speed! Once we reached the seamounts, mooring operations began. Although my mentors and I were not involved with the mooring deployments, it was interesting to watch them on deck. Unfortunately, the mooring deployments were not entirely successful, and the operation will require a future cruise to complete. After a brief window of good weather for science at the seamounts, we transited back to Woods Hole to try and avoid the next storm. There were very rough seas on the way back which meant I hunkered down in my room. The transit took about three days because of head on waves and thankfully we arrived safe at the WHOI dock this afternoon. There will be a few days in port before going back out for the OOI maintenance cruise- I am hoping it will be filled with more science and less seasickness! Thanks for reading and for your support.
More details and updates to come soon!
Tyler
Late night CTD troubleshooting (photo credit Croy)