This cruise was particularly exciting because the science team was large (15), and they were all brand new to BIOS. Their research involves viruses and microbes, primarily in the mixed layer. This means that the CTD casts were shallow – usually 500 to 1000 meters, and most niskin bottle samples were fired at the surface. This means the cruise was fast paced compared to a BATS cruise.

The first thing we did after arriving at the origin point, was deploy the drifter. This was a fun operation because it requires that everyone work together, and it was very hands on. A picture of the operation is below:

 

The recovery was also exciting because it was even more hands on! The drifter was basically pulled in by hand except for the highflyer buoy which was lifted aboard using the large a-frame:

The main event of the cruise were the CTD casts every 4 hours. This means I got a lot of practice deploying and recovering the package. One issue we had with the CTD was the secondary oxygen reading, which was coming in much lower than the primary reading. During troubleshooting, Jillon and I discovered that the small o-ring inside the pump head was dried up. Luckily I had just tested all of the spare pumps several weeks earlier, and was able to know which would be a good replacement.

On this cruise, there was a bit of concern about the MilliQ machines because there was excessive water in the room, indicating a possible leak. Throughout the cruise I monitored the room for spills/leaks and helped to inspect the inside of one of the machines with a potential leak.

Another project I worked on during this cruise was to connect the underway Thermosalinograph (TSG) instrument to a computer and run diagnostics. This was a bit challenging because we did not have the proper testing cable on board. To work around this, I wired a female DB9 connector directly to the TSG and plugged in a cable to the DB9 head. It took several tries to get the serial connection transmitting properly, but I eventually made the connection work, and have a better understanding of testing cables.

After this cruise, we have a quick 2 day turn around before heading out for a routine BATS mission for the next week.

Until next time!