What's Happening Today - May 15

R/V Atlantis was a beehive of activity today as various groups prepared equipment. The Alvin Group made final adjustments to the basket where all the samples will be stored once they are collected from the seafloor. The ETs were busy hooking up the many cables that make the sub work and the science equipment function. This includes two deep sea digital cameras that they have been extremely helpful with. The cameras are made by DeepSea Power and Light in San Diego, CA. The same type of camera will be used on the Towed Camera System we hope to test on this cruise.

While the Alvin Group was busy preparing for tomorrow's dive, the ABE Group worked through system tests and other projects that need finishing before ABE can dive. We plan to do a buoyancy test for ABE tomorrow during the day and then deploy it for it's first dive this leg tomorrow evening after the Alvin Dive #3784.

Work has continued too on the WHOI Deep Sea Digital Camera & Multi-Rock Corer System (I know it's a mouthful - if anyone has a suggestion for a nifty acronym please tell me!). Andy Billings and Steve Liberatore have been working on completing the mounting of all the instruments for the Camera System and putting the finishing touches on the winch motors. More about this project another day!

Hans Schouten and Maurice Tivey will make their first Alvin dive together tomorrow. They have been colleagues since Maurice started at Woods Hole nearly 14 years ago. Among other projects, they have worked together primarily on research involving the interpretation of magnetic data from young ocean crust. They plan to look at an important seafloor contact that we mapped when we were here last November with ABE and the DSL-120 sonar. If you want to see the results of the work last Fall you can look at the website http://www.whoi.edu/atlantis74.

Meanwhile the ship's crew has been working hard keeping the ship running well and fast!- we've made about 12 knots of speed since we left Manzanillo on Tuesday. And the Steward's department have been keeping us well-fed. Pat even put up the pool today as it's been very hot and humid. This morning's rain storm was typical of the weather in this area.

More tomorrow on the results of our first Alvin dive.

Best Regards,

Dan

Pat Hickey, the Alvin Expedition Leader making adjustments on his brilliant device to mount the digital camera strobes. He made hydraulic booms that extend outwards when the camera is being used and retract when the sub stops for sampling. Tomorrow's dive will be the first time the DSPL DigiSeaCam is tried on Alvin in this mode. There is a second DSPL digital camera on the front of the sub pointing forward. The lights for those images will be provided by Alvin's metal halide lights.

Bruce Strickrott, one of the Alvin Pilots, putting the finishing touches on some fiberglass repairs to one of Alvin's skins.

Pat discussing the basket layout with Anthony Berry (background) and Brian Leach. Anthony and Brian have just recently joined the Alvin seagoing Group.

Pat, Maurice (left) and Jeff Blasius working on the basket. Brian Leach (right photo).

The basket layout for Dive 3784. The white box on the left is a biology sample storage box. The tubes in the front of the basket are for sampling sediment (leftmost three tubes) and the others are small wax corers for sampling basaltic glass. The red and yellow containers are slurp pumps for suctioning biological material. The magnetometer is protected by plastic tubing and runs across the front of the basket. All of the materials on the basket are non-magnetic so as to not interfere with the recording of magnetic data near the seafloor.

If you followed our last cruise- this was a familiar scene in the main lab. Maurice (left) and Hans (right) working at their computers.

Rod Catanach working on ABE's frame. Phil Treadwell working on the A-frame.

Rachel Haymon, a professor at UC - Santa Barbara (left) and her student Sara Benjamin in the main lab. Sara is making markers that will be deployed on the seafloor during an upcoming dive.

Sharon Franks posing with the wig-head that she decorated. It will be squished when Alvin goes to the seafloor tomorrow.

It rained cats & dogs this morning. This is a view down the starboard side of the ship showing the towed camera system and ABE in the background under the tarp.

Al Bradley cringing in fear of the "Killer White Rabbit" of Monty Python fame. We're unsure how it stowed away on the ship.