I arrived to the Sikuliaq in the midst of her overhaul. On my first day, my boss Ethan gave me a tour of the ship and told me about the equipment stored in each room. The ship has a lot of diverse machinery in order to support life on the ship, do world-class science, and operate in the icy Arctic. For example, the propellers face the bow of the ship and “pull” the ship through the water in order for the ice-hardened props to chop through ice.
My first intern task was to map the terminals of some network patch cables from the main switch kept in the computer lab. This main switch is connected to all the edge switches located around the ship so during my mapping I was able to go exploring and visit many of the main rooms the techs work in. During the overhaul, a major project is to redesign the computer lab which acts as a hub for all the equipment the techs operate to do science and also help the ship navigate. This includes operating the winches for CTDs, monitoring the MCGs (motion sensor and gyro compass) for navigation, as well as data collection points. Mapping the patch cable locations will help the techs get things up and running again once the computer lab has been configured. That kept me busy and getting lost for the rest of the day. After work I watched Fight Club with some of the crew. Not allowed to talk about it buuuut it was weird. Worth a watch.
My next main project was running serial and ethernet cable from the 03 lab to the computer lab on the 01 level. These cables will allow techs to have a direct feed from the MGCs and get heading data. This involved removing panels in the stairwell to run the cables inside the walls and then running the cables overhead in cable trains in the hallways. This also involved Roxtec wedges and blocks. Imagine trying to play Jenga but all the Jenga pieces are slippery, have cables running through them, you’re cramped into a tiny space with the Jenga stack above you, and you are wishing you had the upper body strength of Rhea Ripley but your musculature is more in tune with the cables you are trying to wrestle into place. This is installing Roxtec. It is important to install though because it allows for cables to run through the walls while keeping the walls watertight and fire tight. After work I went to trivia with some of the crew and found out that there are other people who hate Wes Anderson movies too! It was great.
The next task was to button up any things that needed to be completed before we got underway as the ship was heading to the JAG Seward Shipyard to be lifted out of the water. This included lowering the centerboard to be flush with the hull of the ship. The couple-ton centerboard is usually in maintenance position so that the techs can get access to the instruments in the bottom of it but since we are letting out a lot of ballast water in order to get ready to be lifted out of the water, we want to make sure that the ship isn’t too top heavy. My boss, Ethan, also introduced me to a project that I will be working on in the coming weeks which is to design a stand that will hold two infrared radiation thermometers that will be used to collect data to study the thermal skin effect of the surface ocean. Standby for progress on that.
Yesterday we got under way to the JAG shipyard which was really cool to see as this is the first ship I’ve been on. I got to go up to the bridge and see the captain and mates steer and bring us to the dock.
Today I helped my bosses, Julian and Carmen, with the redesign of the computer lab as the boat lift has been delayed until tomorrow, hopefully! Fingers crossed. Next week I’ll remember to take pictures! See you then.
Sarah