Skip to content
Home   »   Data   »   Completed Missions   »   ITP 052   »   ITP 052 Deployment

ITP52 Deployment Operations

The second ITP deployed during the JOIS 2011 expedition was the first prototype ITP with biosuite sensor package deployed in the Arctic Ocean (another biosuite prototype, ITP 48, was deployed a month later during the ARK-XXVI/3 expedition on the Polarstern).  In addition to the Sea-Bird Electronics CTD head with dissolved O2 measurement capability, the biosuite included a Satlantic Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) sensor and a Wetlabs Triplet sensor for measuring turbidity, chlorophyll A, and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM).  This ITP would be deployed as part of an Ice-based Observatory (IBO) including an O-Buoy and IMB.

The ice conditions in the region were favorable and the weather reasonable, so only a 20 minute helicopter reconnaissance was necessary before a good sized floe with lighter blue melt ponds (indicating thicker ice) was located.  Ice thicknesses measured between 1.8 and 3.2 m, and freeboards were between 25 and 45 cm, so the floe was selected for the deployment site. An hour and thirty minutes later, the deployment operations began after the CCGS Louis St. Laurent had maneuvered to the site.

Simultaneously, installations of an O-Buoy, IMB, and an Arctic Ocean Flux Buoy (AOFB) were conducted by different teams while other scientists surveyed the icefloe.  The AOFB sensor was damaged, so that installation was aborted and that instrument was returned to the ship.  Then ITP deployment was conducted.  Five hours after the first deployment operations began, the ITP was installed and successfully tested.  Shortly thereafter all scientists and gear were back onboard the icebreaker.

More information and photos on the deployment operations conducted during the IBO deployment are also available at: https://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=74276.

Wes Halfacre and Carlton Rauschenberg assemble solar panels on O-buoy in the foreground while Mike Dempsey and Steve Lambert install IMB and third deployment team begins ITP installation in the background. (Mary-Louise Timmermans)
Jeff Pietro and Gary Morgan auger the hole for the ITP deployment while John Kemp shovels snow away. (Mary-Louise Timmermans)
With the biosuite ITP suspend on the tether, Rick Krishfield connects a laptop to the surface package to test the inductive modem communications before the profiler is lowered into the seawater. (Mary-Louise Timmermans)
With all but a few drum wraps of the wire spooled out, a Yale grip is attached to the tether to the wire by Kemp, Morgan, and Jeff Pietro to take the mooring load without damaging the wire before the top section of tether is removed from the drum. (Mary-Louise Timmermans)
The grounding plate and slip bale are attached just below the urethane encased top section of tether by Morgan and Pietro. (Mary-Louise Timmermans)
Kemp slips the Yale grip until the mooring tension is transferred to the slip bale secured to the tripod.
Kemp slips the Yale grip until the mooring tension is transferred to the slip bale secured to the tripod.
Despite the light fog, the CCGS Louis St. Laurent looms large behind ITP 52 shortly after deployment. (Rick Krishfield)
View from the last helicopter flight of the first IBO deployed during the JOIS 2011 expedition showing distribution of the buoys on the floe, ice thickness and freeboard measurements at the buoy sites. (Rick Krishfield)
Scroll To Top