Hepsi Zsoldos, Shipboard Education Coordinator

Latitude: 9°N

Longitude: 104°W

"The true voyage of discovery is not so much in
seeking new lands as in having new eyes." — Marcel Proust

My students know that this is one of my favorite sayings, and it was never truer than yesterday. One of the best things about working with scientists is that they are always inquisitive. They want to know how things happen and why. We all know that the Styrofoam cups that get sent to the bottom come back as shriveled shadows of their original selves, but we’ve never really taken a look at what depth this happens at. How much pressure DOES it really take to squeeze the cups? How fast does it happen? Why do some cups come back proportionally shrunk and others get somewhat mangled? The cups are usually tethered in a mesh bag under Alvin’s skin and are not in view during the dive. Chrissy von Hilst had sent a Styrofoam wig head down the day before on the mesh bag, and it came back looking like an alien. The problem was, no one knew how fast it crushed or at what depth. Expedition Leader Pat Hickey gave me a great idea for an experiment on the basket. I snagged a wig head from Chrissy von Hilst to decorate and attach to the basket.

Pat suggested that we attach the head to the basket where the cameras could film it as the sub descended. I was stoked! And to my surprise, the rest of the science party and crew were into it as well. Pat Hickey is great. He took the head (which I call Ed) and rigged it up so that it could be seen and filmed and then removed from the front without losing it. The head couldn’t be just strapped to the basket; it needed to be secured in a way to prevent it from floating away after it shrunk. So, Pat gave Ed a frontal lobotomy. He ran a steel rod up through the base and out the top, drilled a couple of holes to secure it with cotter pins, and weighted it down in such a way that that it could be easily placed on the basket and filmed. I then took the head around to the crew and had them all sign it. Ed’s head was mounted for delivery to the deep.

This morning was also a GREAT launch. You remember I said that sometimes people lose interest in the launch as it’s early and they’re tired. Today was Jen’s day to dive, and I wanted to get a really good view of it. Captain Chiljean gave me permission to film the launch from the Avon with Catfish when he went to pick up the swimmers. How cool! Jen and I sat on the stern waiting to go. I had to get into a hard hat and a lifejacket and climb over the rail and down the ladder to the Avon. Jen just took off her shoes and climbed in.

It was an awesome experience to watch the sub launched from the water. It’s an entirely different perspective on how the swimmers work and do their job. There’s a safety line on the main deck of the stern that we’re not allowed to cross, so I haven’t been able to get a really close-up view of the launch, but not today! Catfish was a great driver (he didn’t have his driver’s license with him, but it was ok…) and gave me all the best angles he could. Mark Spear loaded his camera into a waterproof housing for me to use so mine wouldn’t get wet. It was wonderful to be off the boat for a few minutes and get a new and close-up view. I discovered again what a smooth yet intricate process it is to launch Alvin. It’s impressive to watch from the deck, but the real view is from the water. The sub is suspended in mid-air for a few moments and then cradled into the water. Today’s weather posed no problems, as it was nearly a perfect day — calm and sunny.

Take a look at the pictures from the launch today and see how it looks from the deck and the water at the same time. Special thanks to Bekki for taking such great deck photos.

As for the shrinking head? Tune in later to find out the results (you’ll like it…so watch for the video this weekend!).

Peggy A. O'Day, Associate Professor, Arizona State University

Latitude: 9°N

Longitude: 104°W

Journal Entry for November 6, 2002

I had a fun science day today! It was my turn to dive in Alvin, for only the second time in my life, and I was lucky enough to be in the sub for the collection of two of our experiments from the Arizona State University group, the mineral microcosm "frying pans." Bruce Strickrott was the pilot and Jen Costanza was on the starboard side of the sub. The "Head", the styrofoam mannequin head that everyone signed, was tied on to the front of the bio-box, and we watched it shrink very rapidly as we began to descend. It was a little eerie throughout the dive when the video camera panned left and caught a glimpse of this small shrunken head floating above the bio-box as we collected samples.

Our first task was to pick-up our two frying pans, which have been sitting on hydrothermal vents for five days at Q-vent. Bruce was the pilot who set them out, so he knew exactly where they were and how to collect them. We've been calling these things "frying pans", but the devices are actually "mineral microcosms" and we have four of them for this cruise. We are interested in understanding how natural environments change from completely abiotic — where no life exists at all — to environments where life, in the form of microorganisms, can live, even under extreme conditions such as hydrothermal vents. We know that young hydrothermal chimneys are very hot when they first form, too hot to support any kind of life. As they grow and the outer surfaces in contact with seawater become cooler, at some point microorganisms move in and colonize the mineral surfaces. But because sulfide chimneys are so fragile when they first form, they are very difficult to collect intact and simply fall apart when grabbed. So we know nothing about the types of microorganisms that are the first to arrive and how they live, or how differences in the local chemistry of the minerals and fluids might influence the composition of these "pioneering" groups of microorganisms.

Our mineral microcosms are designed to be artificial chimneys that we hope will provide attractive habitats for microorganisms. The devices are flat plates with a hole in the bottom for the vent fluid to flow through and into the chamber above. In some of the experiments, the chambers are filled with mixtures of minerals that mimic the minerals found in young hydrothermal sulfide chimneys, such as pyrite, chalcopyrite, and anhydrite. In another experiment, we simply made a wire mesh over the frying pan hole as a frame for new minerals to precipitate. Everything is made of titanium in order to resist the heat and corrosive vent fluid. We place the microcosms on hot fluid vents for several days and let new minerals grow on them. Hopefully, the environment is enough like a real chimney for microorganisms to colonize.

One of the tricky parts of the experiment is measuring the temperature and taking a sample of the fluid with the Sipper while the microcosm is still on the vent, and then carefully picking it up without dropping it or losing all of the new sulfide growth. It's a very delicate task, but the Alvin pilots are the experts. Bruce quickly located the first one at Q-vent. We took video footage and made temperature measurements around it. There was a good flow of hydrothermal fluid going through and around the microcosm. Bruce carefully approached it with the Sipper sampling tip, and made two measurements of the fluid. So far so good. Now the pickup. Bruce delicately moved the manipulator arm in position, and with the hook at the end, tried to snag the loop of yellow rope tied to the end of the handle on the microcosm. As he began to pull, we could see that the rope had melted through in the hot water and was not a loop any more — it fell through the claws. He would have to grab it by the metal handle, which was folded down and much more difficult to reach. He moved the arm in again and approached the handle. I realized that I was holding my breath. The microcosm was balanced on a small ledge, and it could easily fall off and be lost. He moved closer and clamped the manipulator claws around the handle — got it! It was off the vent and safely in the bio-box in a few seconds. I took a deep breath. It was a beautiful recovery and our experiment was safely on its way back to the lab. Bruce moved the sub to the other side of the vent and executed the pick-up of the second microcosm flawlessly. We had both devices safely in the bio-box — it was a great start to the dive, and it was exciting to be there for the retrievals.

The rest of dive went well. We collected Alvinella at Q-vent and then moved to Tica, where we saw some beautiful Riftia colonies. It was also a day for a phone call to the schools, and it was fun to talk to students from the bottom of the ocean. Bruce did a wonderful of job piloting the sub, and Jen diligently took careful notes of what we did all day. It was a very successful day in the sub and a great experience. But now, we have to wait until we can analyze the samples back in the lab to find out if our microcosm experiment really worked — will there be microorganisms living there??