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There's always something to be done on a ship this size. Special
K does a little priming. |
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SSSG techs Dave Simms (right) and Robbie Laird prepare the CTD
for Bekki and Kurt's evening deployment. CTD stands for conductivity,
temperature, and depth. This large array measures those three
parameters continuously as it's lowered to the bottom of the ocean.
The large Niskin Bottles take water samples at specific depths.
Each bottle can be fired from the ship. When all the bottles are
full, or the cast is done, the array is brought up onto the ship
(regardless of weather). |
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I really thought we'd have a lot of sun while in the tropics.
It's the end of the rainy season, so I expected some rain, but
the crew tell me that this is the rainiest they've seen it in
a long time. The up side is that the sky is a constant source
of beauty; it's constantly changing and giving us something new
to look at. It is sunny one minute and not five minutes later,
the sky looked like this.
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Dr. Andy Berglund hangs out on the bow while waiting for the sub
to come up. He says he loves being here, but he misses his two girls. |
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Alvin suddenly resurfaces. It looks so small in the vastness
of the ocean. |
|
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Jen and Lisa wait for Dave Shin's arrival in the sub. They can't
wait to see his welcome.
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| Andy
Berglund (right) coordinates Dave's welcoming ceremony. Okay, first
- three buckets of ice water, second — well, read on. . .
. |
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Swimmers Gavin Eppard and Dave Barker attach the main lift line.
It was a rock-and-roll recovery. |
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Gavin
takes the plunge after the sub is lifted up on the A-frame. |
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Chief Engineer Kevin Fisk supervises the recovery from the doghouse.
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SSSG Robbie Laird comes out of the computer room long enough to
grab a bird's eye view of the recovery.
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Eileen Dunn puts on her shoes after getting out of Alvin.
(She really wants to get out of the way of Dave's welcoming ceremony.) |
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Until
he put on his shoes and found that they had been frozen solid.
Andy placed them inside the freezer (not just ANY freezer) but
the –70°F freezer. They were stiff. |
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First-time diver Dave Shin got a special welcome. |
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The obligatory ice water followed the optional tomato soup. As
the cruise goes on, the crew and scientists look for more and
more new and intersting ways to greet the newly initiated. |
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Andy
also left a little present in Dave shoe. This was a mussel collected
Wednesday at East Wall. So it smelled bad. But Dave couldn't smell
anything but tomato soup, so he opted to "mussel-model."
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|
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Although Andy orchetrated Dave's arrival, Dave made sure that he
left his mark. Nothing like a little tomato soup. |
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The
fun of the greeting is a way to pass time until the moment of
truth. Dr. Kevin Fielman waits to see what's in the basket.
|
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Julie
Robidart and Steve Garrey examine the worm tubes with Dr. Cary. |
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A
really large Alvinella pompejana was collected in the biobox. |
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A
stowaway in the biobox. |
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Noel
Masias gets right to work after recovery of the sub. |
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The
worm catch of the day. The Alvinella on the top is approximately
10 cm in length. |
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Dr.
Stefan Sievert and Dr. Cary examine the "Mosquito." It was deployed
on Wednesday, Oct. 30, and recovered on November 2. The "Mosquito"
takes continuous temperature readings inside a tubeworm. |
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Starboard
view of the sunset. I thought I'd see some colorful sunsets in
the tropics; they have yet to materialize. However, the late evenings
right now are spectacular in their own way.
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