Dispatches from Sea >>
click on a date in the calendar below
| March 2007 |  Laura Preston, educator, UNH/Salem High School, Salem, NH. |
||||||
| April 2007 | |||||||
March 29
Just when everything was settling into a nice routine… there is always something to keep you on your toes. This time, at about 6:00 pm, DSL-120a communication developed a hiccup so we had to retrieve the sonar fish for a little maintenance. But not to worry! There is always plenty to do on an exploration expedition like this one. While the DSL gets tweaked on deck, we’ll do some ‘wax coring’ to collect samples of rock from the ocean floor. The set up is actually quite simple in design (always a good plan!). Small cylinders filled with surfer wax are attached to the bottom of a heavy weight, and then the weight is dropped over a target location. As the weight hits bottom, the wax-covered cylinders break the seafloor rock embedding pieces of rock in the wax. The weight is then winched back up to the ship where a deck crew quickly unloads the wax cores and reloads the weight with fresh wax cylinders. Once reloaded, the weight is dropped again, this time over a new target, and we do it all over again. Stay tuned tomorrow to hear what we find! – contributed by Liz Goehring
 Emily Klein and Sarah Carmichael plan where to collect samples. |
 The rock gang fills the cores with wax. |
|
 “You want what….?” |
 Dorsey Wanless gets the weight ready. |
 The weight is ready to go. |
 Dave Sims is ready to help. |
 It’s off! |
 Laura Preston and Ian Ridley watch the weight drop. |
|
 Others watch as well. |
 They’re back! |
 Pieces of glass straight from the sea floor. |
A closeup of a filled core.<< previous dispatch next dispatch >>