What's Happening Today - Nov. 27

Collaborate. The dictionary has it defined as, 'to work with another or others'. That certainly applies to the past 3 weeks out here on R/V Atlantis. In my view, one of the pleasures of doing science is the ability to collaborate with a great number of people who all play an important role in the outcome of the research. The ship's officers and crew who provide the wherewithall to let us be out on the ocean with our tools, the highly trained technicians and engineers who are dedicated to providing vehicles and facilities to explore and study the ocean and seafloor, students who are keen to learn the craft and have the inquisitiveness that's needed to forumlate problems and solve them, and scientists that want to solve the puzzles that mother nature places before us and learn how the Earth works.

As you'll see from some of the images posted today, and those we'll post in the next few days, the cruise has been a spectacular success so far. We still have 3 days of surveying left. ABE has just been launched for Dive #60 in the 9° 28'N area. The Towed Camera THING has done double duty the past few nights- two tows back to back on the same day, and the last one also had a bonus sediment sample when Tomoko Kurokawa 'kissed' the seafloor. She did a great job helping me flying the camera the past few tows. The close-encounter with the bottom of the ocean is part of the learning curve when you're flying only 5 meters above the seafloor. I've done it many times.

The rock corer is about to be deployed for more sampling as ABE descends. We're packing as much quality surveying and sampling into the time we have. Which brings me back to collaboration. The only way we've been able to orchestrate all the work we've done is by working hard together, trying hard to overcome obstacles, and being patient - especially when lack of sleep or frustration puts a hard edge to a task.

Thanks to everyone out here for putting up with the pace of our operations plan. Our success is a measure of your professionalism. Our scientific discoveries are yours to share.

Best Regards,

Dan Fornari

This image shows the preliminary DSL-120A sidescan sonar imagery overlaid onto the multibeam bathymetry for the East Pacific Rise from about 9° 25'N to 9° 57'N. Paul Johnson created this image. Paul is a marine geologist and one of his many specialties is producing stunning perspectives of seafloor data that can be used to help us understand the spatial relationships of different volcanic and tectonic features on the ridge. North is towards the top of the image. The total swath of sidescan data we collected is 31.4 kilometers long (north to south) by 6.8 kilometers wide. The area covered amounts to just over 390 square kilometers. But even more important that these statistics is that the resolution of the data allow us to 'see' seafloor features that are as small as 2 meters across.

You can't be out at sea and up for days on end without some java. This is a photo of our white board in the Main Lab where we post notices. We've also started a contest for the most creative name for the expresso and coffee counter in the Main Lab. I personally like the last one on the board :0) .

The night crew posing with the THING. From left: Brooke Stembridge, Dave Sims, one of the SSSG techs., and Kate Buckman. The Towed Camera THING has also provided the elevator service to take styrofoam cups down to the seafloor to be squished.

Bruce Strickrott, one of the Alvin pilots, found this storm petrel huddled in a corner of the fantail this morning. He gave it a lift off the ship.

Deploying the THING this morning for Camera Tow#8. Christina Courcier, one of the SSSG techs., is directing the operations at right. Andy Billings is steadying it as it goes over the side. Ken Sims, right, is tending one of the tag lines.

Ken Sims helping deploy the THING. Dan Fornari is in the background tending the other line.

Tom Crook, one of the DSOG crew and navigator 'extrordinare' helped us navigate the towed camera around some tight turns early this morning.

Tomoko Kurokawa a the winch controls during one of the camera tows this morning.

Andy Billings creating more wondrous devices to hang off the THING for rock coring.

The THING getting dunked as it heads to the seafloor.

The Alvin crew, (from left) Tony Tarrantino, Gavin Eppard, Bruce Strickrott, and Pat Hickey, the Expedition Leader, building descent weight stacks for the next series of Alvin dives.

Gavin Eppard, one of the Alvin mechanical techs., servicing a penetrator. This is a specially made device that is very carefully machined so it fits exactly into Alvin's titanium sphere. The penetrator carries some of the dozens of electrical wires that must pass through Alvin's hull from the exterior into the interior to get power to the vehicle systems and control them.

A stack of squish cups that Margo Edwards made for the Iolani 1-Mauka class in Honolulu, Hawaii, where her son, Logan, attends school. His teachers are: Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Asato and Mrs. White.

Tim Logan, the COMET (communications and electrical tech.) lounging in the pool after a hard day's work.

A lava 'beauty shot' collected during Camera Tow #7 on the east side of the East Pacific Rise axis in our ABE survey area. This photo shows the distal end of a flow- the lava cylinder snaking through the middle of the photo- which overlies the sediment covered lobate flow which has a collapse feature (upper left). The collapse feature indicates that most of the area over which the lava cylinder is flowing is also water filled under the lobate crust. Check out more photos in the Preliminary Data section - link is just below.