April 17, 2023

Since we got back to shore we’re back to an 8-5 schedule. 

Today we didn’t have too many things to do. Oban and I were tasked with replacing one of the VHF antennas on the bridge which sounds easy, but was much more time consuming than we thought it would be. We only had to remove the old antenna and wire, and install the new one, but this took all day. Things just kept going wrong (of course). Taking down and installing the antenna was the easy part, it was the removing and reinstalling the new wire that was difficult and we’re still not done. This was mostly because it required feeding the wire through tight spaces and tubes and running it through ceiling panels which was cramped, and stuffy and took a lot of patience. We even had to drill a new hole in the ceiling so we could remove the old wire. The pictures below show the antenna we removed and the little “upside-down” U shaped wire tunnel we had to feed it through. 

April 18, 2023

Today was an important day where we tested all of the winches to make sure they can handle the weights that will be used for the next cruise, and just to make sure all is working well. Doing these weight tests also works as a calibration for the readout of the tension load on the winches. This works by using a transducer to relate voltage or current running through the wire to the force that is being ‘applied’. Essentially, the winch lifts a known weight of both small and large loads to create a linear relationship with the voltage, which is updated to the winch operating system for calibration. Below you can see some of the weights we used- which were 2,500 lb TRAIN WHEELS! So cool! We then loaded them on board the ship with the crane. 

There are a lot of winches on board the ship, and they take quite a bit of time getting used to all the names, their operation procedure (more how to handle what the winches will be used on), capacities, and maintenance. I’m still getting a hang of all the names but this is what I have come to learn so far:

DUSH 5: This is the winch that we use most often because it is used to deploy the CTD. It has an approximate load capacity/ application force of around 20,000 pounds (I think) but we have a safety margin of 5,000 pounds, which I believe is because of the capacity of the wire. The CTD weighs between 1,100 pounds and 1,600 pounds when it’s full with water. The low test for the winch was around 420 pounds and the higher test was around 4,600 pounds. The winch could handle this load just fine (which *spoiler* won’t be the case for the DUSH 4 even though it’s supposed to), however the A frame seems to be significantly strained- that’s a problem for another time. 

DUSH 4: The DUSH 4 is a hydraulic winch on the port side of the first deck. This had been strength tested to 4,600 lbs less than 6 months ago, however this time it could only lift approximately 3,400 lbs- this is not up to criteria. Lydia suggested they close some valves, and after that was done it lifted 4,100 lbs- which was better but still not what she expected.

COM7: We tested this first and began with the 460 lb weight, and then maxed it out at 2,500 lbs. This was the easiest and also the most successful.

Big Squid: This was tested with the full weights of 460 lbs and the full 4,600 lbs. 

Once all the testing was done it was about 1500- break time! After that Oban and I went to finish up the VHS stuff that we had done yesterday- this included plugging the wires that we had just run into their corresponding radios. All that was left was to attach the GPS to the radio, which is necessary for a distress signal, it will send a signal to all those within the field of view that can receive a distress signal along with the coordinates. 

April 19, 2023

Today I worked mostly on UPS testing. This was a bit more complicated than I had initially anticipated, yet the directions seem simple: 

Locate the UPS

Identify any electronics that are plugged into the UPS (each of these need to be shut down and unplugged prior to testing the UPS.

Determine the Power output limit (in Watts)

Consider known electronics with power inputs good for the test and plug in.

Unplug the UPS

Time how long the battery lasts.

The first UPS that I worked on had quite a few difficulties. There were 4 things plugged into this UPS. Interestingly the first one was a desk light, which I suppose is important in emergencies so it makes sense. The other things are, 2 navigation monitors, and a “Man Overboard” alarm system. This seems simple enough except one of the wires was not labeled and so I had to trace it back to where it was, which required going up through the ceiling panels and finding where it originated. 

Before I was finished locating the other wire, the scientists came on board today to begin “mobbing” (mobilizing) all their supplies and equipment. I helped them install a Transducer to send out a signal to communicate with an acoustic release- this is what releases the mooring during recovery. Installing it involved just a few bolts and some more wire feeding and management (hurray) but it was in a part of the ship I had not seen yet! It’s on the first deck behind a door that looks like it is sealed shut and hadn’t been opened in many years. This opens to a small cavity about 2ft x 2ft square that extends down to the hull of the ship. This cavity is generally called a “moon pool” but on this ship is called the straza tower. Here you can see a picture of the transducer that we installed. 

After we were done with that, I went back to the UPS’s and managed to finish 3 of them. You can see the chaos required to figure out sources for each of the UPS. Luckily most of these wires were labeled which made it relatively easy.  

April 20, 2023

This morning, Oban and I worked on assembling the wire after it had been unplugged from the CTD for the winch tests. Managing wires is especially important on the CTD because of the conditions it is sent to. Normal wire management is to keep everything neat and organized, but managing wires on the CTD is to minimize drag and force being applied onto the wire. The way to do this is by zip-tying the wire throughout the CTD and along the metal frame. 

Unfortunately later it was determined that we needed to terminate the wire so all we had done was immediately undone. However it was really cool to see a wire termination as there are a LOT of steps to make sure everything goes properly. We took off about 30 ft of wire. Wire termination consists of attaching the winch wire to a port that connects to the CTD and also keeping everything structurally sound. Since the wire is directly attached to the CTD, it is imperative that the load is taken off the bottom part of wire where it attaches in order to keep a good connection. Once we terminated the wire we did a quick weight test and connection test to make sure we can still communicate with the CTD and that the wire can hold it too.

During these tests, the A-frame was noted to have been a bit strained and warped by the previous weight testing and so the hydraulics will need to be checked the next time there’s heavy maintenance on the ship. 

Later I went and updated many of the computers aboard the ship. This entailed doing a windows update, a chrome update, and an antivirus update. Simple enough it was just time consuming. 

April 21, 2023

Deployment day! Today we are deploying on the “conte” cruise. This cruise we will be recovering and re-deploying a 4,500 METER LONG MOORING!! :O 

We had a meeting discussing the recovery and deployment of the mooring and apparently what we do is grab the bottom end first, and then pull in all the way to the top. Now this sounds easier than it apparently is- with the process generally taking approximately 4-5 hours with a possibility of another 6 hours if anything goes wrong. (Fingers crossed that it goes smoothly.) 

Today consisted mostly of transportation and a few tests of the conte machinery. 

First we tested their acoustic releases by sending them down to 1,500 meters and seeing if the transducer would communicate with them properly. Everything worked well! It was really cool to hear these machines communicating with each other. Essentially there are a series of patterns and codes that are sent at specific frequencies to the acoustic releases and once these patterns are recieved you can listen for the response- in this case it was 4 high pitched quickly repeated “chirps.” In order to do this test we obviously needed to turn off our acoustic echo sounder- which runs at 12 MHz, similar to the communicator. After the test was concluded, we prepared for a short pump deployment.

These are going to be very similar to the pump deployments of the bats cruises where they pump water through and collect the material in a filter. 

We will be doing a few pump deployments this evening and then first thing in the morning (even before breakfast) we will begin the recovery. 

Unfortunately the cruise was postponed so we’re heading back to port for the time being.

April 22, 2023

Today we made it back to the dock and since we got back towards the afternoon we got the rest of the day off as it was the weekend. Rory mentioned that the cruises might be postponed for a week or so, and if I can get my return flight postponed as well I might be able to join them still. Working out the semantics- fingers crossed!

April 23, 2023

Today was a very quiet day, it was Sunday so we had the day off and I took the opportunity to catch up on emails and rest.

We had a nice little barbeque for dinner. It was very fun and much needed. Towards dusk I pulled out the guitar and we all sang and played songs.

April 24, 2023

Today we’re working on demobilizing and each of the techs are working on a cyber-security certification. 

I hope they let me extend my stay so I can get on at least one more cruise.