Probably the most important component of my day was the first “Phone Call to the Deep.” Thanks to the technology of AT&T, we were able to connect 11 different schools to the Atlantis at once (via satellite phone)! There were supposed to be 12 schools, but unfortunately, the school in West Virginia (Sandy River Middle School, Avondale, WV) was unable to participate due to the wintry conditions that have impacted their area. Perhaps we can get them tapped into one of the three calls left to do. (See details describing the format and dates of the calls.)

Dr. Craig Cary, Chief Scientist, was the mediator for the call during the Atlantis round, answering the questions from each school with the help of Pat Hickey, Alvin Expedition Leader. Pat then took over for the Alvin round so that he could control the connection down to the submarine. Today’s dive was especially interesting for the first phone call date, because it was also a training (“PIT" for Pilot-in-Training) dive. Gavin Eppard was the pilot-in-training, under the tutelage of Anthony Tarantino (see both of their interviews). They were accompanied by Dr. Tim Shank, who is lovingly called “The Deep Sea Explorer” aboard Atlantis. He earned this nickname because of his extensive experience with these environments, and it has become an ongoing joke on the ship. There are several people wearing small buttons with his face on them as a funny way to show their admiration. I’ll have to get one before the end of the cruise as a souvenir of my experience!

After the call was finally over at about 1:30 pm (1330) CST, it was off to the first science seminar of the cruise. As a way to share ideas and break up the work a bit, there will be a series of presentations (about every other day) from some of the scientists aboard regarding their research. Craig started the series with his seminar on "A Voyage to Life's Extremes." His discussion of the importance of microbiology in different extreme environments spurred some intriguing dialogue.

By the time the hour-long presentation was complete, we all stayed put for our daily science meeting. The purpose of these meetings is to give reports on the dive from the previous day, discuss the plan for the next dive, and address any issues or concerns that anyone might have. Fortunately, this one was brief because I think everyone was getting a bit fidgety after sitting in the library for so long.

The rest of my day was a bit fuzzy after that. There was lots of time sitting in front of the computer editing videos and pictures. The stand-out moment, though, was of course dinner! Meals have become a haven, I think for many of us, because it forces us to stop working and spend some relaxing social time with those around us. What makes it even more worthwhile is that we know the menu will be exceptional in one or more ways. Larry (Cook) prepared dinner tonight, while Carl (Steward) was helping recover the Alvin after the dive. Our choices included chicken marsala, spinach lasagna, paella, string beans, and cauliflower. All of it was delicious. Now I know you are wondering what was for dessert (because by now you know I have a sweet tooth) — cheesecake brownies! They were thick and moist just like any good brownie should be. I should really try to spend a day helping them in the galley so I can pick up some tips. We’ll see.

Well, I finished up all my work for the night, so it looks like I might be able to get a good, long night of sleep. I’m definitely looking forward to that. Before I go, though, did you all find the answers to yesterday’s trivia questions? If so, you learned a lot about squid, which I think are cool animals. The answers are as follows:

1) How do squid propel themselves through the water? Squid can move by crawling or swimming, but most often by jet propulsion. To do so, they draw water into their mantle cavity (one end) and expel it through their funnel (other end). The rapid ejection of this jet of water allows them to move quickly backward and forward.

2) Why do they produce ink?Their ink is used as both defense and escape mechanism (acts as a “screen” or “dummy”).

3) To what marine animals are they most closely related? Squids are cephalopods, so they are closely related to such animals as octopuses and cuttlefish.

4) How and why do they change colors? They have color pigment cells (chromatophores) and reflecting cells (iridocytes) in their skin, which allow them to display a wide range of colors and color patterns. They display different types for specific behaviors, like attack on prey, camouflage, rest, and alarm or defense.

So, how’d you do? Feel free to find out more about squid and their relatives.

Until tomorrow…

I woke up around 9 in the morning and took a shower. The washing machines and dryers are usually pretty busy, so I haven’t been able to do laundry since I have been on the ship. So that was the first task of the day. The laundry room is on the lowest level of the ship (the crew always says that if you can’t find the laundry room, just keep going down the stairs), so I went down and threw my clothes in the washer. I was really happy because I wasn’t seasick this morning for the first time! I ate breakfast, put my clothes in the dryer, and got to work.

The Instrumented Microcosm Experiment that was designed by my co-workers was retrieved by the submarine Alvin today, so I knew that I would have a lot to do. My job is being the group’s design engineer. This entails taking the ideas that the scientists have and, together with the scientists, figuring out what type of apparatus or gadget will work the best. This device is called the Instrumented Mineral Microcosm (IMC for short), which is a unit designed for retrieving very young, newly formed chimneys from the vent environment still intact. These very young chimneys are what we call friable (they basically fall apart with a very small amount of disturbance). We want to look at the microbiology and chemistry of newly formed chimneys. The IMC gives us a better chance for a successful collection.

The device has a sample chamber that allows the growth of a new chimney within it bounds. As this happens, a device called a thermocouple takes the temperature within the chamber and saves it to a device called a data logger attached to the unit. The data logger is a piece of electronic equipment, so it has to be put into a case that can withstand the pressures, temperatures, and corrosive nature of hydrothermal vent fluid. The unit was deployed two days ago, and by today had a good-sized chimney growing on it (they can grow very fast!). The unit (see picture in “Neat Stuff”) is to be placed on a beehive vent for two to three days.

After the submarine got on the surface and onto the deck of the ship, I got the unit out of the science basket and brought it back to the lab. Two scientists (Liz McCliment and Jay Wheeler) and I sampled the newly formed chimney within the sample chamber for analysis when we return home. There was a problem with the pressure case during the two days that it was on the bottom, and the case leaked! This let water in and damaged the data collection board. After all of the planning that went into the experiment, seeing the damaged data logger was very frustrating! All is not lost, though, because I can send the broken part to the company who made it where they can retrieve the temperature data for me at a later date when we return.

My next task was to ready another microcosm to be deployed on tomorrow's dive. I assembled the unit to make it ready, then put it into a bucket of solution to sterilize it and put it in the science basket made ready for tomorrow’s dive. This microcosm doesn’t have a data logger, so instead of the temperatures being constantly collected, the probes on the submarine take temperatures when the unit is deployed and retrieved. I just finished putting that together (with the help of Liz, Jay, and Ken Voglesonger), so now it is time for bed. It’s about midnight, and tomorrow we have another experiment coming up that was deployed three days ago, so I should have another exciting day tomorrow!