Student name: Raul Benjamin Mendoza
Position: Geophysics PhD student
Affiliation: University of British Columbia
Date of entry: July 6, 2024
Time format/zone: Military time/Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7)
Part 1, the CTD
0015 – I wake up from a four-hour-long sleep. The ship has stopped. I understand that this means we have reached our first destination and my heart begins to pound. As my bunkmate Yijie prepares for bed, I proceed to get ready for our first science operation of the day: casting-off and retrieving a rosette-sampler with a conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensor.
0025 – I head to the main science lab. I see that someone has brought out the table tennis gear, complete with shoes and everything. Ah yes, table tennis. The perfect game for a crowded workspace that never stops moving.
Our table tennis supply box comes with shoes! Photo Credit: Raul Mendoza
0030 – I meet with my teammates Maddie, Kimber, and Angikar, and our awesome science technician Ana, on the deck outside our main lab space. Angikar and I prepare the rosette for castoff by removing all of the necessary caps, making sure all of the sampling bottles are open, and securing ropes onto the sampler.
0100 – Ana and the winch operator lift the CTD off the deck and a crane extends it off the side of the vessel. Angikar and I make sure the frame stays vertical by adjusting the length of rope attached to either side. The CTD is then lowered below the surface of the water.
0130 – Back inside the computer laboratory, Maddie and Kimber are monitoring the real-time results from the CTD. Once the CTD is 100 meters (about 330 feet) deep, the on-deck winch operator transfers control of the winch to Ana in the lab. The CTD is lowered at a maximum speed of 60 meters per minute (about 200 feet per minute). At our position, the seafloor is 1,118 meters (about 12.23 football fields) below the vessel. The CTD travels down until it is 5 meters off the seafloor. Ana explains that the vessel stays exactly in the same position via a dynamic positioning system (DPS) that immediately adjusts the velocity of the R/V Atlantis to counteract the drift from the current and waves.
Monitoring the real-time data returned by the CTD. The data it gathers also gives us an idea of the salinity and the velocity of sound at different depths of the water column, which will be useful for our other operations. Photo Credit: Raul Mendoza
0230 – The CTD has arrived back at the surface. We wait patiently for Kimber to trigger the mechanism that will seal a couple of the rosette bottles that will store her water samples.
0235 – Ana comes back out onto the deck and the winch lifts the frame off the water. Angikar and I, under Ana’s watchful eye, hook ropes onto the frame to stabilize it as the crane brings it over and onto the deck. Ana secures the frame with a ratchet strap and we untie our ropes. We rinse the contraption with freshwater to reduce corrosion from the saltwater.
0300 – After letting the frame dry, we close all of the water bottles and return all of the caps. Mission 1 is a success.
0330 – I quickly gobble down a snack from the galley and head down to my room in the Science Berthing to go back to sleep.
Part 2, the ROV Jason
0655 – I wake up and hop off my bunk. I throw my hoodie on and grab the jacket I stowed by the door last night as I race back up to the main science lab. The Board of Lies had said we’d start our next operation at 0800, but you never know with the Board of Lies. And I do NOT want to miss the launching of the Jason. Jason is a submersible Remotely Operate Vehicle. In its current state it can go down to a depth of 5,500 m (that’s about 14.5 Empire State Buildings stacked on top of each other).
The Board of Lies. It shows the plan for the next day or two, but the listed schedule often changes, subject to the weather and the state of the R/V Atlantis. Photo Credit: Raul Mendoza
0700 – I arrive at the main lab to find Jesse and Meg, who calmly assure me that I haven’t missed anything exciting. Jason hadn’t been launched yet, although the elevator had been dropped already. The elevator is a weighted platform that carried the fetches. After participating in the CTD operation earlier today, I’m fine with missing the elevator drop if it means another hour or so of sleep.
A fetch. This is a Global Navigation Satellite System-Acoustic (GNSS-A) transponder that is left on the seafloor for extended periods of time before it is “fetched” back to the surface. Photo Credit: Raul Mendoza
0710 – I eagerly head for the galley to grab some breakfast. Shoutout to Sarah, Ben, and the rest of the cooking crew! The food has certainly kept my morale up.
0750 – Matt and John inform us that the Jason crew are ready. We walk to the Jason control van. That place looks like a proper control room. With dim lights and a wall full of monitors and panels, I look around to check for anyone saying “3…2…1…blastoff.” The operation for today involves bringing the new transponders to reoccupy three old concrete benchmarks that were left behind when the previous transponders were retrieved.
The ROV Jason control room. Photo Credit: Meghomita Das
0815 – Jason is launched into the water and begins descending towards the seafloor.
0900 – It’s now July 7 in my home country. Happy anniversary, Martha! I miss you!
0915 – Jason finds the elevator and picks up one of the fetches.
Jason retrieves the first fetch GNSS-A transponder (orange ball) from the elevator (platform). Photo Credit: Meghomita Das
0915-1800 – Jason proceeds to deliver the new GNSS-A transponders (fetches) to their corresponding benchmarks. Each benchmark has already been occupied by marine life, which Jason gently nudges away. Jason then uses a brush to clean the top of the benchmark. Jason then places the transponders into the benchmarks. The transponders are locked into stable positions by their three legs slotting into three grooves on a metal plate. Our task is to help log and record the events, so that the Jason crew can focus on navigating and operating Jason.
Crabs and other marine life have beaten us to the benchmarks. Photo Credit: Raul Mendoza
Jason brushes off rust and debris from the docking plate on top of the concrete benchmark. Photo Credit: Raul Mendoza
The new fetch being placed on top of the old concrete benchmark. Photo Credit: Noel Jackson
1850 – Jason returns to the elevator. The weights on the elevator are released and it is gently nudged out of the sand to begin its long ascent towards the surface, powered only by its newfound buoyancy.
2000 – Jason and the elevator have been retrieved and loaded back onto the deck. Mission 2 is another success!
Sunset in the Pacific at 2105. Photo Credit: Raul Mendoza
2200 – Did I tell myself I’d go for a run on the onboard treadmill before going to sleep tonight? Yes. Did I instead decide to write a blog post to document this awesome day? Also yes.
What teamwork! And science never sleeps does it?!
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