What's Happening Today - Dec. 3

This morning the seas were glassy and the sunrise spectacular. The equipment boxes are mostly packed. ABE is sung-as-a-bug in its van with dozens of boxes and equipment packed around it. The DSL-120A sonar fish and 'batfish' are ready to be hoisted into a waiting container on the dock in Manzanillo. The HMRG team was still hard at it all night finishing up the final gridding of the sonar data and printing spectacular images of the volcanic and tectonic features of the East Pacific Rise crest we've been priviledged to see on this cruise.

Big News Today: Patrick Hennesy, the Bosun, won the championship ping-pong match today. He beat me soundly 3 games to 1. Congratulations Pat!

Hans, Maurice and I would like to personally thank Captain Silva, the Mates, and the wonderful crew of R/V Atlantis for having us on board during this cruise. You have made our research possible, and your spirit and dedication are exemplary within the UNOLS fleet. To the DSOG and HMRG teams for the DSL-120 sonar and Alvin, we thank you for a superb effort and exceptional data products that will keep us and a raft of students busy for years to come. These data will be the new benchmark for all future studies of the East Pacific Rise, and, in fact, all types of seafloor environments where detailed, quantitative investigations are required to solve the science problems. We owe a great debt of gratitude to Dana Yoerger, Al Bradley, Rod Catanach, Al Duester and Andy Billings - the ABE Team - for the myriad of tasks required to nurture ABE and have it perform so wonderfully on this cruise. The data it has produced have set new standards for seafloor investigations - we can't wait to be at sea with ABE and its support team again. To the shorebased group at WHOI who helped stage for this cruise, we thank you for your help in making this research program possible. To our program managers at the National Science Foundation, thank you for the opportunity to advance our ideas about how the ocean crust is formed at fast-spreading ridges. You will no doubt be hearing from us very soon about our exciting results and why we need to come back next year to get down to the seafloor with Alvin to complete our field research so that we may write our scientific papers.

We wish the crew of R/V Atlantis and DSOG Alvin team success in their upcoming cruises; fair weather and following seas.

Best Regards,

Dan Fornari

Sunrise this morning was spectacular and the seas were glassy.

ABE just before it was put to bed in the van.

Snug in its van, ABE will soon be headed back to Woods Hole, MA.

Patrick Hennesy, the Bosun, services the hydroboom sheave in preparation for CTD work on the next cruise.

The DSL-120A sonar and the 'batfish' ready for shipment.

R/V Atlantis steaming through glassy seas headed north towards Manzanillo.

The science party of R/V Atlantis Voyage 7 Leg 4. Thank you all for helping make this cruise such a great success.