Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Cruise Planning Synopsis


AR35-05: OOI Irminger

Ship

RV Neil Armstrong

Cruise Party

John Trowbridge: Principal Investigator
Organization Name
+1 508 289 2296
jtrowbridge@whoi.edu

Sheri White: Chief Scientist
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution LOSOS 212, MS#57 Woods Hole, Ma. USA 02543
+1 508 289 3740
swhite@whoi.edu

Departure: Aug 2, 2019

Reykjavik, Iceland

Arrival: Aug 25, 2019

Woods Hole, MA

Operations Area

South East of the Tip of Greenland
Lat/Lon: 60° 0.0′ N / 39° 0.0′ W
Depth Range: 2500 / 3000
Will the vessel be operating within 200 NM of a foreign country? Greenland (Denmark)
Are visas or special travel documents required? no

Science Objectives

This is the sixth cruise to the Irminger Sea Global Array of the National Science Foundation’s Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). The Irminger Sea Global Array includes four moorings and a combination of Open Ocean and Global Profiling Gliders deployed off the southeast tip of Greenland, close to 39°W, 60°N.  The location is one characterized by the strong air-sea interaction and wintertime water mass formation that supports the global thermohaline (a.k.a. meridional overturning circulation – MOC), where in recent years a freshening of the water column has been observed. The data from the array contributes to an improved understanding of the impact of both natural and climate variability in the region, as well as how these signals effect changes in ocean physics, chemistry, and biology and vice-versa. 

The combination of the moored array and the gliders enables investigation into the role of processes at mesoscale and sub-mesoscale horizontal length scales through observations that sample the full water column, from the sea floor to the sea surface. The Surface Mooring provides unique time-history of observations of surface meteorology and air-sea fluxes.

 For further information, see http://www.oceanobservatories.org.

Science Activities

Thie Irminger Sea 6 deployment cruise has the following primary objectives: deployment of new Surface Mooring, Hybrid Profiler Mooring, and two Flanking Moorings, and deployment of new Irminger Sea gliders tasked to patrol around the moored array; recovery of the Surface Mooring, Profiler Mooring, and Flanking Moorings deployed in June 2018; CTD casts with temperature, salinity and oxygen water sampling both for instrument validation and to further characterize the region of the mooring sites; and surveys using shipboard sensors (ADCP, EK-80, thermosalinograph, multibeam) in the Irminger moored array region.

There is one ancillary, NSF-funded program sailing on Irminger 6 – the NSF Project entitled "The Annual Cycle of the Biological Carbon Pump in the Subpolar North Atlantic" (called the BCP Project).
There will also be a High School teacher from Wilton, NH joining the cruise.

Additional Info

Pre-cruise Planning Meeting: Visit WHOI

Stations:

  Station 1
  Distance: 550
  Days: 13
  Latitude:
  Longitude:

Supporting documentation:

»Irminger-6_Waypoint_List_2019-06-08.pdf
»3350-00001_Surface_Buoy_Recovery_Procedure_2014-10-24_Ver_1-01.pdf
»Irminger-6-HazMat_List_2019-06-11.pdf
»Battery_MSDS_Packet.pdf
»Chemical_MSDS_Packet.pdf
»Irminger_2019_Deck_Plan-1.pdf

Funding

Funding Agency: NSF
Grant or contract number: OOI

Scientific Instrumentation for R/V Armstrong

Other Science Vans:

Shipboard Equipment

12 kHz Pinger for Wire Use
A-Frame
ADCP 150 kHz
ADCP 300 kHz
Bathymetry System 12 kHz
Crane
Dynamic Positioning System
Deionized Water System
EK80 Sonar
EM710 MkII (40 to 100 kHz) Multibeam Echosounder
Fume Hood
Plotters
Science Underway Seawater System
ADCP 38 kHz
EM122 (12 kHz) Multibeam Echosounder
USBL Nav
Shipboard Equipment Notes: The ship (Amy Simoneau) will be conducting USBL testing and calibration.  We will deploy a small mooring with acoustic release for mooring the bottom beacon. The ship will provide the beacon and strongback. 

We will connect our deck box to the ship's 12 kHz transducer for acoustic release firing.

For the Seawater Underway System, we'd like it cleaned out prior to our cruise; and would like PCO2 data (is that system fully up and running now?).

Shipboard Communication

Basic Internet access via HiSeasNet
Is there a need to receive data from shore on a regular basis?
Shipboard Communication Notes: We need regular access data from shore for our Surface Mooring testing for both the deployed and to-be-deployed mooring.  We have a secondary FleetBroadBand system that we can use if needed.

CTD/Water Sampling

911+ Rosette 24-position, 10-liter bottle Rosette with dual T/C sensors
Biospherical underwater PAR (1000m depth limit) with reference Surface PAR
SBE43 oxygen sensor
Wet Labs C*Star transmissometer (660nm wavelength)
Wet Labs FLNTURTD Combination Flourometer and Turbidity Sensor

Critical CTD Sensors

Hydrographic Analysis Equipment

Salinometer
Salt Bottles (2 cases of 125 ml provided)
Dissolved Oxygen Titration System (Brinkmann Titrator)
Oxygen Sample Bottles (available in 150 ml sizes)

MET Sensors

Air temperature
Barometric Pressure
Precipitation
Relative Humidity
Short Wave Solar Radiation
Wind speed and direction
Long Wave Solar Radiation

Sample Storage

Freezer -70°C 3.2 cu. ft. ea.
Scientific Walk-in Refrigerator
Freezer -70°C 25 cu. ft.
Scientific Walk-in Freezer
Storage Notes: Freezer for chlorophyll and nutrient samples.
Refrigerator (@ 4°C) for post-recovery calibration of nutrient sensors.

Navigation

Will you be using Long Base Line (LBL) navigation? no
How many nets? null
How many tansponders? null
Will you be using Ultra-short baseline (USBL) navigation?no

Navigation

GPS
USBL
Navigation Notes: Serial GPS feed for Chief Sci laptop navigation application.

Winches

Other Portable Winch
UNOLS Winch Pool
Trawl Winch with 9/16th trawl wire
Winch Notes: Science party has reserved TSE split drum winch from winch pool. Science party will supply Lebus heavy-lift winch.

Wire use and application

Trawl Winch with 9/16th trawl wire
CTD Winch with .322" Electro-mechanical wire
Winch Notes: Trawl winch is used for mooring deployments, and for possible dragging operations.

Standard Oceanographic Cables

Slip ring required? no
Non-standard wire required? no
Traction winch required? no
Science Van 1
Type/size: Storage van, 20' Location: Port side, main deck
Water: no Power:no
Science Van 2
Type/size: Ragtop Ball Van, 20' Location: Port side, on Rigging van
Water: no Power:no
Science Van 3
Type/size: Rigging van, 20' Location: Port side, main deck
Water: no Power:yes

Specialized Deck Equipment

Mooring Deployment/Recovery Equipment Required: yes Type: winches, tuggers, cleats
Cruise Specific Science Winch Required: yes Type: TSE, Lantec
Nets Required: no Type: 

Over the Side Equipment

Will you be bringing any equipment (winches, blocks, etc.) that lowers instruments over the side? yes Details: TSE winch, for mooring deployment and recovery; Lebus Heavy Lift winch, for anchor deployment and recovery.

Special Requirements

Elecrical Power: yes Identify TSE, rigging van: 440V 3 ph, Lebus: 480V 100A
Equipment Handling: no Identify: 
Inter/intraship Communications: no Identify: 
Science Stowage: no Identify: 
Water: no Identify: 

Additional Cruise Items/Activities

Explosive Devices:no Portable Air Compressors:no Flammable Gases:no Small Boat Operations:yes SCUBA Diving Operations:no

Hazardous Material

Will hazardous material be utilized?yesDescribe deployment method and quantity:
HAZMAT info will be attached as supporting documents.  Lithium Batteries, Q size Nitrogen Gas cylinder and Water Sampling Chemicals.

Radioactive Material

Radioiosotopes:no

Additional Information

Is night time work anticipated on this cruise?yesSpecialized tech support (Seabeam, coring, other):
SSSG will be able to handle most activities. Occasional need for Bos'n and deck help (crane) for short periods, e.g. a glider deployment or recovery.  The USBL work will be done at night.Other required equipment and special needs:
While we have requested the PAR on the CTD rosette, most casts will be deeper than 1000 m.  Not sure if the PAR can be easily put on and removed for some shorter casts.

Checklist & Notes

Checklist

U.S. Customs Form: no
Diplomatic Clearance: no
Date Submitted:
Date Approved:
Agent Information:
Countries:
Notes:
Isotope Use Approval: no
Isotope Notes:
SCUBA Diving: no

Checklist

SSSG Tech: