What are we up to

September 25, 2014

        For those of you following at home, it might be a bit confusing on which ship is doing what and where. I've made a little cartoon timeline that will hopefully illuminate our progress so far.
       There are two ships currently in the Atlantic: the OBS deploying R/V Endeavor and the seismic shooting R/V Langseth. The R/V Endeavor has been putting OBS down and picking them back up again on lines 2, 3, and 4 while the R/V Langseth has shot seismic along line 2 and 3, and is going to head over to shoot on line 4 soon.

See you later,

Kate Volk aboard the R/V Endeavor

Group photo time

September 24, 2014

Well we have finished deploying OBS on line four and are now transiting back to the beginning of line 3 to start picking OBS back up again. At this point, we've all fallen into our jobs and are working like a well oiled machine. Each shift was able to deploy around 9 or 10 OBS in 12 hours time, moving smoothly from one site to the next. To celebrate our progress so far, I've got some group photos to share.

The science party from left to right: Gary, Dylan, Afshin, Harm, Brandon, Pamela, Jenny, and Kate (Photo credit: Dave DuBois, edited by Gary Linkevich)

The WHOI and SIO OBS technicians from left to right: Ernie, Peter, Mark, and Dave (Photo credit: Gary Linkevich)

The whole science group (Photo credit: Ethan, edited by Gary Linkevich)

The science group in the WHOI van with the WHOI OBS (photo credit: Dave DuBois)

See you later,

Kate Volk aboard the R/V Endeavor

Dinner Time

September 23, 2014

Good eats! We couldn’t do this cruise without our great Chief steward Mike. Mike keeps the morale up on the ship by preparing three fabulous meals a day, plus providing ample snacks and baked goods. I’ve especially enjoyed the coffee cake, macaroni and cheese and tomato soup, oh and pretty much every dessert he’s made. Mike is especially awesome at accommodating everyone on the ship and providing tons of variety for us. He includes meat dishes as well as vegetarian, whole wheat, and vegan options, all of them yummy!

The galley, Mike is preparing for dinner (Photo credit: Kate Volk)

Mike making dinner (Photo credit: Kate Volk)

 

Mike in the Galley (Photo credit: Kate Volk)

Dessert (Photo credit: Kate Volk)

Kate, Gary, Kurt, and Dylan enjoying a meal (Photo credit: Kate Volk)

See you later, 

Kate Volk aboard the R/V Endeavor

UPDATE: September 23rd

September 23^rd, 2014

1641

The last few days have been a bit rough, with intermittent rain, winds at 15 – 30 kts, and 6 – 10 foot seas, but that didn’t delay our progress at all. When I woke up for watch late yesterday morning, the sun was shining, the seas were calm, we successfully completed recovery of the OBSs that we had deployed on Line 2, and we were in transit to the beginning of Line 4 to begin our redeployment. Now, over the past 26 hours, we have deployed OBSs along the entirety of Line 4 (22 instruments) and begun our transit to the south end of Line 3 to begin recovery of those instruments.

Until next time,

Dylan Meyer aboard the R/V Endeavor

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