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Today, right after breakfast, we started setting transponders at the bottom of the ocean so that we can navigate the DSL-120 sonar fish in our survey area near 3° 20’N on the East Pacific Rise crest . Randy Dickau is kneeling by the transponder; the yellow ball in the right side of the photo. Notice that he is wearing a working life-vest (or work vest) that will help keep him afloat if he falls in the water. Everyone putting instruments over the side of the ship must wear one. The thin wire is the tether line that attaches the transponder to the steel plates on the left side of the photo. The steel plates are the anchor that keeps the transponder at the bottom of the ocean. When we want to get the transponder back, we send a sound signal down to it, and it releases from the anchor and floats back up to the surface. Check out the information on transponders in the “Navigation” section of “Oceanographic Tools” located in the “About the Cruise” part of the web site.

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