Greetings from the Gulf of Mexico, everyone!
It’s Norman from the R/V Roger Revelle with my first update. It’s been about a week since I first got on this ship, and I’ve already picked up a lot about life and work at sea. As a refresher, I’m working with the AUV Sentry team from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Both the AUV Sentry and ROV Jason teams from WHOI are here on the R/V Roger Revelle, and the two robots are working together to look at seafloor hydrothermal seeps in the Gulf of Mexico. The plan is to have Sentry survey the seafloor for seep locations within the area we’re interested in, then have Jason enter the fray and take a detailed look at the seeps we find.
A lot of my work so far has focused on getting Sentry prepared to take its underwater survey. So far, I’ve helped re-attach Sentry’s fins and propellers, attach various sensors and related components onto Sentry, and cleaned out some small O-rings to keep certain compartments watertight. I figured I would get to help maintain the robot at the start of the internship, but I was surprised by just how much work also goes into setting up the spaces needed to run Sentry. Alongside my work on the robot, I’ve helped run ethernet cables across the ship, secure tables and equipment down within lab spaces to keep the ship’s motion from tipping them over, and de-rusted, cleaned, and organized lots of the tools in Sentry’s work van.
All of the Sentry team’s work has paid off. I felt exhilarated as I watched the Sentry and Jason teams work alongside the Revelle’s crew to get Sentry over the ship’s starboard side and into the ocean. I saw firsthand how the Sentry team watches over the robot as it performs its deep-sea mission, and I even did a mini-watch stand in the morning right before it was time to recover Sentry! The recovery process was just as exhilarating to watch as Sentry’s deployment. After a bit of math, we moved the Revelle to its recovery position at the perfect time. I then climbed up to the bridge to help lookout for the surfacing robot, and I rushed down to the deck soon afterwards to help get Sentry out of the water and back into its cradle. I’m happy to say that Sentry is safely secured and ready for some post-dive maintenance!
I’ve been impressed by a lot of stuff on this cruise so far, but nothing marvels me more than thinking about how many hands have come together to make a cruise like this one possible. I see the mass of electronics, wires, nuts, and bolts within Sentry and Jason and wonder how many hours of human effort went into making these behemoths work. I’ve watched the Revelle’s crew working and appreciate how their efforts got us out to and into the sea. Finally, I’ve thought about the scientists whose research gave us reason to go out into the Gulf of Mexico and look at hydrothermal seeps in the first place. It’s a gargantuan, concerted effort which in my mind I dub “the human orchestra.”
As we enter the second half of the cruise, I’m excited to watch Jason in action and to see what’s lurking around the bottom of the ocean through Jason’s eyes. Here’s hoping everything goes smoothly.
Thanks for reading!
Norman
