1330 Local time
Hi there!
We are currently hauling over to Dutch Harbor having sat at anchor in Nome for two days to transfer scientists and pick up one Washington Post photographer. There has been a notable pace adjustment and I still catch myself needlessly looking over to our map display from time to time to see when the ETA to the next station is.
In just over two weeks of 24-hour science operations, we did 144 CTD casts, 143 van Veen grabs, 56 Bongo net tows, 46 mooring recoveries and deployments, 18 XCTD launches, 12 HAPS cores, 7 Methot net tows, and about 75 miscellaneous drifter deployments as well as small boat launches for saildrone configuration and ice floe samples. Quite a feat, no?
The last couple of days involved a lot of deep cleaning and helping the science party move and secure their various instrumentation for offloading or for storage. The CTD had, unfortunately, come up through several schools of jellyfish and so the bottles, lanyards, and framing needed scrubbing to remove the various remains. We even managed to suck in a few jellies while the pumps were running.
In preparation for the upcoming cruises, we have created a list of maintenance tasks for ourselves to complete during the transit and our upcoming port calls in Dutch Harbor and Seward. This includes stopping during our transit to do a test cast to 100-200 meters for the original CTD that Mike and I had to pull off the rosette due to faulty pressure/depth readings. We are also planning on launching several XBT probes en route to ensure that we are getting good data from each of our 3 deck units as well as our primary and backup launcher/cable assembly. In Dutch Harbor, we will also open both of our saltwater manifolds to clean and exercise the PVC valves and do a thorough cleaning of the various chambers and sensors.
Holding all of these actions and preparations together is documentation. There is a lot of documentation associated with an operation of this magnitude. This not only includes official weekly reports, but also various SOP updates, coordination emails, running event logs, web-based task tickets, and handover notes. Much like merchant vessel logs, you want to make sure that any operational changes or events are recorded and passed along to the next people coming up on shift. This can be incredibly time consuming but is essential for communication and efficiency.
Amidst all these tasks, I was able to take the afternoon off yesterday and wonder around downtown Nome. It was nice to be on solid ground after 25 days out at sea, and I look forward to stretching the legs again tomorrow night in Dutch Harbor.
More soon!
– Emily