Dispatches from Sea >>
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| March 2007 |  Laura Preston, educator, UNH/Salem High School, Salem, NH. |
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| April 2007 | |||||||
April 3, 2007
Survey Complete!
As we wrap up the sonar survey, you may be interested to know that as we made our way up and down the same part of the East Pacific Rise, at times we were steaming sideways and backwards for the length of the line we were mapping. This was no challenge for our mates! You may ask why this was. Well, it has to do with the wind, the water current, the speed we need to maintain, and the cable that we were using to tow the DSL-120A sonar. You see, we don’t want the cable to come in contact with the hull of the ship. The wind was mostly blowing from the E-NE during our survey. Therefore, to keep the cable away from the ship, our heading needed to be SW, even though our course over the ground was northward.
The R/V Atlantis also has a highly sophisticated “Dynamic Positioning System”. This system will be paramount over the next week because we are going to be launching the Jason II ROV to explore the seafloor. During the Jason II operations it will be important for the ship to be in the same place for extended periods of time. The R/V Atlantis has 2 stern thrusters and one bow thruster allowing the ship to rotate 3600 and to remain over a fixed point on the Earth’s surface. The system has inputs from the ship’s GPS and sensors that measure, currents, winds, and heading.
 At the helm, Peter Leonard, First Mate |
 Raul Martinez, Able Bodied Seaman |
 The gyroscopes on the bridge. |
 A compass to help find the way! |
By day’s end the sonar survey was complete, but have no fear…..we have plenty to do to get ready for the Jason launch tomorrow.
 Jerry Graham, Able Bodied Seaman, hard at work on the deck. |
Speaking of the Jason launch, many of us learned how to disassemble, thoroughly clean, reassemble and make ready for deployment vent fluid sample bottles. These complex devices are made of Titanium and the collected water samples are analyzed for about 30 different chemical compounds. In addition to sampling vent fluids, temperature sensors are attached and record variances in the fluid temperature.
 Karen Von Damm shows us how to disassemble the sample bottles. |
 The sample bottles up close. |
 Are you cleaning more bottles Sarah?! |
 Lynne Butler concentrates on her job. |
 The final sparkly product. |
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 Liz Goehring and Karen Von Damm getting bottles ready for deployment. |
 John O’Brien gives a smile as he works. |
And finally, here are a few pictures of the Jason II on deck “practicing” with its robotic arm. It is locating a thermometer, grasping it, and pulling it out of the cylinder, and putting it back. Coincidently, there is an entire workshop onboard with every single part that comprises Jason II. I guess there’s no Home Depot at sea!
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Cheers from the Pacific for now…
 The Jason II logo. |
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