ITP 16 Deployment Operations

ITP 16 was the first ITP deployed for DAMOCLES in IPY, and took place in early September 2007 from the Polarstern. Scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Germany, Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russia and Japan Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Japan all contributed to the deployment efforts of all of the ice based instruments during the expedition. Despite the relative thinness of the ice, the drilling became difficult at the end due to seawater that was encountered near the bottom in the porous rotten ice at end of the melt season. Some problems were encountered while lowering the wire using the winch, as the wire sometimes chafed against the spool and several times the plastic coating had to be repaired (to ensure the integrity of the inductive modem circuit). This particular ITP system was deployed in the evening between 8 PM and midnight (UTC) and the underwater profiler responded to post-deployment interrogation successfully on the second attempt.

More information on the buoy deployments and expedition is provided in the ARK-XXII/2 cruise report.

Valery Rusakov and Bert Rudels manipulate the ITP wire on the spool during lowering. (Photo by Takashi Kikuchi.)

At the end of the molded section of cable, the handling bale used to slip the top of the ITP into the hole is attached by Sergey Pisarev and Ben Rabe, while others look on. (Photo by Takashi Kikuchi.)

Takashi Kikuchi holds the slip line, and Pisarev holds the profiler while it is being attached to the cable. (Photo by Ben Rabe.)

Posing with successfully installed ITP 16 buoy are: Kikuchi, Rabe, Sebastian Mechler, Pisarev, Rusakov, Rudels, and Ursula Schauer. (Photo by Florian Breier.)