Hello again from the R/V Langseth! This week has been very busy and productive as our responsibilities and tasks have increased since setting sail for Cape Verde 6 days ago! While the weather hasn’t been terrible the entire way, we have definitely hit a few rough patches here and there that have thrown me for a loop, but thankfully, I have started adjusting. Definitely bring some seasickness medication as a preventative!

We have certainly developed a greater understanding for the oceanographic equipment and seismic capability the Langseth is equipped with, as we have spent the majority of the week troubleshooting unique devices known as DigiBirds and monitoring the ship’s data streams. The Langseth is outfitted with 4-15km long streamers that deploy hydrophones into the water – these hydrophones are what makes the collection of seismic data and seafloor bathymetry possible! To adjust where in the water column the hydrophones “sit” and collect data, DigiBirds are placed along the hydrophone streamer ever 300 meters for a total of 52 DigiBirds when fully deployed! While these devices are highly versatile, allowing for the hydrophones to be adjusted within the water column from the comfort of the Langseth, they are just as susceptible to sensor drift and wear-and-tear as any other piece of oceanagraphic equipment.

Our primary responsibility this week was troubleshooting the various issues these DigiBirds had sustained over their last couple deployments, such as issues with their depth indicator, wings not adjusting properly, motor not functioning, or physical damage amongst a host of other miscellaneous problems. With each DigiBird, we would diagnose the issue and formulate the appropriate solution as to how we could return each bird to service. Some were easier than others, requiring a recalibration of their wings or depth indicator; however, some posed more complicated issues that we eventually learned to solve as our experience and confidence grew more and more. The birds that were beyond recovery (ie. physical damage) were labeled to be sent off back to Columbia. Over the course of the week, I believe we went through just about 60 of these devices! Not too shabby for our rookie debutes!

The other of our key responsibilites this week, and one that will continue until the conclusion of our time aboard the Langseth, was the monitoring of the Multibeam & Echosounder data collection, ensuring we were recieved an uninterupted stream of new, incoming data from our current cruise. These devices are responsible for the collection of 2D & 3D bathymetry mapping, allowing us to better understand the seafloor and add to a global database! In the above picture, you can see 2 sets of bathymetry data that are seperated by a black line. This is because the top portion of bathymetry data was from a previous cruise the Langseth took from Cape Verde while the bottom is the data we are currently taking and adding on to our database! The Chief Science Officer does his best to plot a route each cruise that allows the Langseth to maximize the amount of new bathymetry data it can collect.

We also had some fun today taking a photoshoot in full PPE “working” around the ship. The avid reader might notice I am working on the shelf that was fully constructed last week, anything for the LDEO LinkedIn! Some other minor tasks this week included inventorying our spare multibeam equipment, modifying the DigiBird storage in the A-Deck Lab to have dividers to increase organization, performing walkarounds to ensure all of our equipment is secure, and learning my bowline knot! Oh how I love my bowline knot. Thanks for reading, see you next week!

-Will