Afshin's Birthday

September 22, 2014

Happy birthday Afshin! A member of the science team, Afshin from Oklahoma State University, celebrated a birthday on the ship. Our wonderful cook Mike baked a cake especially for him. Yum! 

Afshin (Photo credit: Kate Volk)

Mike's cake for Afshin (Photo credit: Kate Volk)

Afshin and Mike (Photo credit: Kate Volk)

Afshin with the birthday hat (photo credit: Dave DuBois)

sargassum seaweed

September 20, 2014


It’s been a long time since I’ve seen sargassum seaweed.  The brilliant blue Atlantic Ocean has such a different feel, smell, and color than that of the Pacific.  Sailing over the dark blue long-period waves and working among humpbacks, kelp patties, and Japanese tsunami debris is my typical science cruise.  It’s good to be back east and to be reminded of the profound, yet subtle differences of these two great oceans. -Ernie Aaron

Sargassum seaweed (Photo credit: Ernie Aaron)

OBS Recovery

September 19, 2014

At about 01:42 the night shift had successfully started a burn on a WHOI OBS located at the start of line 2. A burn means that the science crew was able to communicate with the device and send a signal telling it to burn through the wire holding the buoyant OBS to a metal weight attach to its bottom. The water depth in this area is around 5200 m, and it took about an hour and half for the OBS to rise to the surface once detached from the weight. The team located the OBS using a radio signal and visual contact (light and flag). With the OBS spotted, the Chief mate Shanna was able to maneuver the boat alongside the OBS, so that the science crew could snag it out of the water and bring it aboard. Since then we have recovered six OBS from both the WHOI and Scripps science crew. The seas have picked up a bit, but we are continuing to move westward along line 2 collecting the devices. From here we will prepare the OBS for redeployment along line 4.

See you later,

Kate Volk aboard the R/V Endeavor

The last OBS of line 2

September 19, 2014

On September 18, we finished deploying the last OBS of line 2. To honor the last deployment, we did some decorating of the side float of the Scripps OBS.

Mark putting the data logger into the Scripps OBS (Photo credit: Ernie Aaron)

Dylan and Kate attaching the strobe light and flag to the Scripps OBS (Photo credit: Ernie Aaron)

See you later,

Kate Volk aboard the R/V Endeavor

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...