Dispatches from Sea >>

click on a date in the calendar below

March 2007							Laura Preston, educator, UNH/Salem High School, Salem, NH.
					23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30	31
April 2007
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26

March 26
The Initial Launch of DSL/MAPR’s

As all good scientists know…..the waiting is the hardest part.

Once the R/V Atlantis made it to the EPR study site, it was time to deploy the first set of instruments to record data for both mapping the seafloor and reading the water column data. Sometimes that is easier said than done. All groups were ready to begin their respective jobs. A communication issue with the DSL prevented deployment at 10am. This was corrected and the launch was once again underway. By night’s end, a magnetic survey was completed and the DSL was on the ocean floor.

Teams of “watchstanders” monitored throughout the night observing as a new map of the seafloor, about a mile below, unfolded before their eyes. As Dan Fornari, a marine geologist from Woods Hole Oceanographic explains, “this sonar gives us the same view as flying in an airplane at 20,000 feet. We can see the texture of the terrain that tells us a great deal about how the terrain formed. For a marine geologist, this sonar system helps us realize a fantasy – pulling the plug on the ocean and draining the water out so we can see the seafloor features. The sidescan sonar allows us to see features about the size of a dining room table, so we can accurately interpret the relationships between lava flows, faults, and new and old volcanic terrain along the ridge axis.” Dan was clearly excited that the sonar images were confirming many of their suspicions about the 2005-2006 eruptions that had previously been mapped using a deep sea camera system – the TowCam.

Folks working diligently at their computer stations in the main lab.	A shot of the clump weight, part of the DSL system, getting lowered into the water.
Getting ready to launch the DSL this morning.	The DSL being deployed.
There it goes!	Adam Soule explains the final product of the DSL data.
People can connect to the Internet on one of four computers out here, staying connected to the world in a way. Here’s Todd Ericksen looking for March Madness news.	Tim Logan is the CommET, short for communications technician. He describes his job as the ‘go to fix it guy’. He’s called when anything breaks (electronics-wise).
Ian Ridley, in the computer lab.	Adam Soule in the “van” where scientists monitor the data collection.
The DSL crew piloting and monitoring the DSL movement.