What's Happening Today - Nov. 10

The wind picked up last night and by this morning it was gusting 25-30 knots. As we approached the end of sonar line #2 we realized that it might be dicey to launch ABE in this weather, especially if the wind and seas stayed rough until we were ready to recover it tomorrow morning. The weather, plus Al Bradley's decision to keep doing 'surgery on ABE's brain' led us to continue our sonar surveying today. We got Atlantis pointed in a southerly direction and turned the fish around so we could start south down survey line #3. So, we hope to do the ABE test lowering tomorrow evening - Sunday. Margo, Paul, Akel and Tomoko, the HMRG group, are working hard on processing the sonar data. We hope to see preliminary maps sometime tomorrow morning so we can start interpreting them and making sense of the seafloor here on the east flank of the East Pacific Rise.

In the next few postings I'll have some of the students give their thoughts on being at sea and the work we are doing. The following is from Brent Garry, a student at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Best Regards,

Dan Fornari

In my first week at sea, there are many sights and sounds that are different from land, most noticeably, the lack of trees. 360 degrees of liquid blue ocean is quite staggering and one can appreciate the power that the ocean holds and pray that it chooses not to use that power to the fullest extent. The rolling of the ocean can be very soothing at times (sickening at others) and will be something I'll probably wish I could bring back and enjoy every once in a while on land. Scientifically there is always something going on. Watching the bottom of the ocean floor appear in front of you on the computer screen as it is being surveyed is comparable to mapping planets millions of miles away, as you are the first to see what is there. The most fascinating sight so far has been the six dolphins that raced the front of the ship as we left port under the night sky of Manzanillo, Mexico. To dark to see the dolphins for real, their outlines were illuminated by the bioluminescent organisms that glowed as the dolphins agitated them, it was a very euphoric moment with nature.

Cheers,

Brent Garry

Patrick Hennesy, the Bosun, and Uriel Carpenter, an Ordinary Seaman, work at making a holder for the rock corer. We expect to use to use the rock corer to collect samples of the glassy seafloor lavas in areas where we see lava flows in the sonar maps.

Pete Collins (left) and Gavin Eppard, both members of the Deep Submergence Operations Group, on the port side of Atlantis's stern.

Mitzi Crane, the 1st Mate, on the bridge.

Pat Hickey, the Expedition Leader and Chief Pilot of Alvin putting a blanket over Alvin's hatch so that the air conditioning keeps the personnel sphere cool and dry.

A view off the port side of R/V Atlantis showing the ROV boom where the fiber optic cable is towed. The cable is attached to the DSL-120A sonar fish we have been towing over the seafloor the past few days. As you can see, today was sunny and the seas moderate with some whitecaps stirred up by the 25 knots of wind we had during the morning.

Rod Catanach, going to the 'store'. The ABE van contains all the supplies that the group will need for their operations on this leg.

Phil Treadwell, the 3rd Engineer, looking at ABE as it is being prepared on the starboard side of Atlantis.