The ships meet

September 18, 2014

The R/V Endeavor crossed paths with the R/V Langseth this afternoon around 16:45. The Langseth was shooting line 2 while the R/V Endeavor was heading back to the start of line 2 to begin recovery. Here's a picture of the Langseth aboard the Endeavor.

The R/V Langseth taken aboard the R/V Endeavor (Photo Credit: Gary Linkevich)

See you Later,

Kate Volk Aboard the R/V Endeavor

The Night Crew

September 18, 2014


No breaks from science! The Endeavor runs 24/7. When we are doing a line, we launch an OBS about every hour and a half from the ship. Here are some pictures on the night crew hard at work.

Pamela, Afshin, and Ernie assembling the Scripps OBS (Photo credit: Gary Linevich)

Pamela, Afshin, Ernie, and Jenny assembling the Scripps OBS (Photo credit: Gary Linevich)

Pamela and Jenny admiring their work (Photo credit: Gary Linkevich)

Ernie and Afshin hooking up the OBS (photo credit: Gary Linkevich)

Charlie operating the crane (Photo credit: Gary Linkevich)

Launching the OBS (Photo credit: Gary Linkevich)

See you Later, 

Kate Volk Aboard the R/V Endeavor

Ships crossing in broad daylight...

We passed the R/V Endeavor today as she steamed towards the southern end of this profile, where she will begin recovering OBS after the Langseth has passed over them, and the OBS have had a chance to record sound waves that turned deep below Earth's surface.  The Endeavor kept her distance to avoid disturbing all of the seismic gear that we are towing behind the Langseth!

Donna Shillington aboard the R/V Langseth

The R/V Endeavor on the horizon...

Seismic gear is deployed, and we are collecting data!

Yesterday, we deployed the seismic streamer and source of the R/V Langseth in record time - its no small feat to put 8 km (~5 miles) of streamer plus other equipment in the water behind a ship.  The streamer is filled with pressure sensors that will record sound waves that have traveled into the earth and bounced off geological features, like faults, sedimentary layers, and ancient lava flows.  It is unwound from a gigantic spool on the back of the vessel.  As it leaves the ship, we festoon it with a variety of important devices, like “birds” that control the depth of the streamer, “streamer recovery devices” that are air bags that deploy and float the streamer to the surface if it gets too deep, and acoustic navigation units that are used to help determine the position of the streamer beneath the ocean surface.  A tail buoy is located at the end of the streamer to help with positioning and alert others of the presence of the streamer, and a float is at the front to further control the depth of the streamer. We also check that everything is working while we’re putting it into the water. We deployed all 8 km in just 7 hours, and were rewarded with a rainbow and spectacular sunset as the last bits of equipment went off the stern.   We also deployed the seismic source, which consists of air guns suspended below four snake-like black floats.  Now that all the kit is in the water, we are happily collecting data. Its a very good moment when the seismic data begins to come in...

Donna Shillington aboard the R/V Langseth

The top of the streamer reels. We are unspooling seismic streamer from the reel on the right. (Photo: Jenna Hill)

Looking towards the stern across the streamer reel (Photo: Derek Sawyer)

Matt, Sasha and Carlos attach a bird to the streamer

The streamer entering the water behind the ship with a bird

Kara fetches a bird to place on the streamer

Matt and Robert monitor the deployment operation from the main lab.

A rainbow hovers over Jenna and Ben with the final bit of streamer (Photo: Derek Sawyer)

Transit update and food for thought

September 18^th, 2014

1625

I was awoken early this morning, after only a few hours of sleep, by some unknown portion of my subconscious and was struck by a thought concerning the unique nature of performing science at sea. The ocean, as a scientific laboratory, forms a constant connection with those who venture into it that is experienced by few, if any, terrestrial experimentalists. During my 12-hour watch, my mind is clearly engaged by the science that we are performing. When is the next instrument being deployed? What needs to be done to be ready for it? Will we survey this instrument once it rests on the seafloor? These are just a few examples of the many questions that cross not only my mind, but the minds of my peers as well. More interestingly, however, I also find that I am acutely aware of changes to my environment, which readily defy alterations in our scientific progress, even as I lay semi-conscious in my bunk. The temporal spacing between the response of the 12hz Echosounder pinging against the hull informs me of any relative change in depth from the last time I was awake. The direction and intensity of the ship’s sway can tell me about our heading and/or a change in weather conditions. A variation in the output frequency of the engine’s constant drone provides me with our current speed and suggests what kind of scientific activity the other watch might be performing one deck above my head. It the result of these types of observations that those aboard these floating beasts that operate 24-hours a day are constantly engaged in their environment, whether or not they desire to be. Anyways, perhaps this helps orient those who have never been to sea for an extended period or recalls reflection for those who have ventured out into the wild blue yonder previously, either way I felt it was an interesting thought worth sharing.

Currently, the R/V Endeavor is a little over halfway through its transit back to the end of Line 2. Along the way, we surveyed OBS Sites 210 and 211 to accurately locate each device on the seafloor which will assist with our recovery. Once we reach the eastern end of Line 2, before starting our recovery operations, we will perform a rosette test. However, the event that all the scientific party is looking forward to is passing by the R/V Langseth sometime early evening and waving ‘hello’ to our scientific comrades.

Till next time,

Dylan Meyer aboard the R/V Endeavor

One of the crew, Chris, noticed this awesome moth that landed on deck yesterday. A clear sign that we were close to shore (Photo Credit: Dylan Meyer)

After passing through a heavy squall, we were rewarded with a full rainbow! (Photo Credit: Dylan Meyer)