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Daily Updates: June 2004 |
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TODAY'S WEATHER
Partly Cloudy
58°F (14.4°C)
Latitude: 47° 55'N
Longitude: 129° 06'W
Wind Direction: W
Wind Speed: 10 Knots
Sea State: 2
Swell(s) Height: 8 Foot
Sea Temperature: 55°F (12.8°C)
Barometric Pressure: 1019.0 MB
Visibility: 15+ Nautical Miles
BREAKFAST
Scrambled eggs
French toast
Oatmeal
Sausage patty
Hash browns
Fresh fruit
LUNCH
Boca burgers
Beef barley soup
Ham sandwiches
French fries
Rice and peas
Salad bar
Ice cream bars
DINNER
Roasted breast of turkey and gravy
Blackened tuna steaks with fresh tomato salsa
Mashed spuds
Polenta
Snow peas and mushrooms
White rolls
Apple pie with vanilla ice cream
Clean Up at “Easter Island”
June 2, 2004
By Amy Nevala
The growing crowd of defunct scientific equipment,
old markers, and discolored lines left behind by researchers on the seafloor
worried Chief Scientist Deb Kelley of the University of Washington, who
wants to see an undersea research site she has worked at for more than
20 years kept clean.
During our expedition, she decided to do something about
the items accumulated at the Main Endeavour hydrothermal vent field,
particularly in the last four years as interest in the site has escalated
among oceanographers worldwide. Using Alvin, she dedicated three dives,
funded by the National Science Foundation, to placing navigational markers
and tidying up research areas.
“None of it is intentionally left behind,” Deb said of the
assortment of rope and twisted metal, plastic, wood markers, and other
objects collected
Monday on the first clean up dive at a vent site called Easter Island. “Sometimes
scientists have so much to do, so many objectives, that things get left
behind. Or they intend to go back and pick something up, but weather
comes in, or something breaks, and they can’t do it.”
In the main lab of Atlantis, an orange bucket held many of the recovered
items, most of them tangled in yellow polypropylene lines streaked with
black sulfide deposits. Some appeared to be remnants of old or broken
science experiments. A blackened red flag had a 3 written on it. Another
marker, a rectangular box about the size of a deck of cards, was marked “N” and “Habla
Español.”
FINDING LOST DATA
Divers in Alvin also recovered an instrument called a current meter,
containing a year of data that Deb said had been lost last year. The
instrument holds information relating to transport of larvae, needed
as part of a collaborative project between the University of Washington
and the University of Victoria.
As one of the most active hydrothermal vent regions, with a variety of
microorganisms and macro fauna, including tubeworms, crabs, and fish,
the Endeavour Segment draws scientists from around the globe. Deb estimates
that this year about four scientific expeditions from the US, Canada
and other countries will visit this undersea volcano, part of a Marine
Protected Area in Canada.
The clean up provided a challenge for Alvin Pilot Pat Hickey. He had
to fly between huge undersea structures, some 150 feet (45 meters) across,
then manipulate Alvin’s mechanical arms among bowling ball-sized
rocks to pluck items from the bottom and place them in the collection
basket on the front of the sub.
Subsequent dives will include recovery of five navigational transponders
placed from 1997 to 2000, as well as assorted scientific debris from
a site called Smoke and Mirrors.
“This feels good,” Deb said after the first clean up dive. “It
feels like the right thing to do.”
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