February 5, 2004
Pat Hickey (left) attaches Alvin's lift line. Maurice and Ken are looking forward to their dive tomorrow.
The Alvin Group has worked tirelessly to find the source of the electrical problems, and everyone's hopes were buoyed this afternoon when Pat Hickey, the Expedition Leader, said they were going to take Alvin for a 'tethered swim'. In order to determine if the repairs solved the problems, Pat wants to test the sub's systems in seawater. The prognosis is good, and we are slated to dive tomorrow - Maurice Tivey and Ken Sims will explore the crestal plateau of the EPR about 2 km east of the axis to map and sample the lava flow fronts.
Today we carried out two TowCam surveys to help determine where we should go with Alvin in the next few days. One is on a large lava flow that extends east of the EPR axis near 9° 43.5'N. We plan to dive with Alvin to the flow in the next few days. Look for more TowCam photos and a side scan sonar image of the flow in tomorrow's posting.
Javier Escartin handles one of the lift lines as the TowCam comes aboard after Tow#3
The menu board in the Galley. One of the great meals on R/V Atlantis.
Adam Soule discusses his research on lava channels with some of the science party. This afternoon, we discussed where we will dive based on our high resolution side scan sonar data and microbathymetry.
Examples of the fissures and faults that the TowCam has to contend with during its traverse of the seafloor. The photo at right is the top of a 15 m tall fault scarp. The photos below show fissures, large and small. The one at left is about 2-3 m wide. The photo at right, below, is a small fissure about 30 cm wide.
Dan sends his son Sasha his love and Birthday Greetings for his 25th
Etchings by Alp, an artist friend of Dan's from San Francisco who made these after looking at deep sea photographs taken from Alvin.