Daily Update: Dive 3528
February 3, 2000
By Dr. Dan Fornari and Sam Dean
Like clockwork, the Towed Camera Sled was brought
back on board this morning at 0600 hours after another successful
run during which over 1800 digital photographs were taken of
the seafloor near 9° 37N Latitude on the East Pacific
Rise crest. Jenny, Greg, Del and Margo looked tired but happy
that they had collected more data. So far they have collected
nearly 10,000 photographs to analyze!
Alvin was ready to dive before 0800 hours. By 0805, the
A-frame was lifting it over the fantail to continue the geophysical
surveying near 9° 37N. So far Jim, Dana, Hans and
Dan have collected data on nearly 20 kilometers of survey lines.
At 1020 this morning the bells and whistles rang
on RV Atlantis - abandon ship! Your schools aren't the
ONLY places that practice safety drills - RV Atlantis does,
too! Although it was only a drill, safety is a primary concern
on board any ship. There isn't a fire station just around the
corner to help us out! Once a week, Mitzi Crane, the First Mate,
runs training drills designed to help keep the crew and scientists
ready in case of emergencies on board. Everyone streamed out
of the ships interiors, Gumby suits and life jackets in
tow, to their designated starboard (right) and port (left) locations.
Mitzi reviewed the procedures and the communications equipment
wed have at our disposal in the event we would have to
abandon ship. After the drill the scientists were excused to
go back to their work while the crew moved forward to the bow
of the ship to practice using the fire hoses to fight fires.
Make sure to check out the slide show and catch the crew in action!
Up in the library after lunch, Dana Yoerger talked about the history
that lead to the development of the Autonomous Benthic Explorer
(ABE) which is an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) [learn
more about ABE] and one of Woods Hole Oceanographics
newest underwater vehicles. Dana, who is one of the leaders of
the team responsible for creating and testing this fully robotic
submersible, also discussed its many unique capabilities and features
that make it perfect for many underwater jobs, like surveying and
monitoring work on the seafloor. The audience listened intently
while Dana related tales about the triumphs (and tribulations!)
that ABE experienced in its early stages. ABE has been so successful
over the past few years at taking magnetic measurements, detailed,
centimeter resolution bathymetry, and high-resolution video images
of the ocean floor that another AUV, ABE II, is already being designed!
When Alvin returned from the ocean floor,
Capt. Tim McGee received the ritual dousing of water accorded
any observer that makes a first dive in Alvin. Pranksters
Margo Edwards and Greg Kurras also had another surprise cooked
up for Tim - they had frozen his shoes in a block of ice as a
welcome-back present!
Dive Summary
On Bottom: 0933 hours
Off Bottom: 1500 hours
Maximum Depth: 2563 meters
During today's dive Bob Waters, the pilot, Dan Fornari and Tim McGee traversed
about 7.5 kilometers of seafloor while doing 5 East-West lines in Alvin. The
gravimeter, magnetometer and the down looking video all worked perfectly. As
they were traversing the seafloor they saw some old, extinct hydrothermal chimneys
in the western axial trough. They also saw some fresh-looking sheet and curtain-folded
lava near the western rim of the eastern axial trough. Dan is looking forward
to being able to analyze all the video data so that he can correlate the surface
geology of the volcanic flows to Jim's analysis of the gravity data and Hans's
analysis of the magnetics data.
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