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Successful Second Leg

August 29, 2023:  The R/V Thomas G. Thompson arrived back in Newport to end Leg 2 around 12:30 local time. The team went into high gear to offload and reload the back deck for Leg 3, which heads back out on the 31st.  The previous day was a busy one.  Jason completed a Benthic Experiment Package…

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Underwater Swaps

August 27, 2023: The team arrived at Southern Hydrate Ridge on schedule (~0600). During  dive J2-1536, Jason swapped out junction box MJ01B. A series of instrument swap dives occurred at the same location. The medium-powered junction box (MJ01B) the was turned successfully. Jason then went  back into the water for dive J2-1537 with a digital still…

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Robots to the Rescue

August 26, 2023: Just as the team was about to get underway to Southern Hydrate Ridge, a call came in from the R/V Rachel Carson. One of their AUVs was drifting neutral at ~40 m water depth following a mission and couldn’t be recovered. They had attempted to send a signal to the AUV to release…

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Ready to Go

Everything is loaded and the team is ready to go.  The Global Surface Mooring, the largest Irminger Mooring, is placed beneath the a-frame ready for deployment.  Chris Basque, John Jordan, Mackenzie Stuart prepare deck equipment and complete the final connections of all the riser components.  The riser connects the buoy to the anchor, but also…

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Buoy Assembly

It can be a tight fit.  Before loading, the Global Surface Buoy must be assembled, and instruments mounted and cabled.  Here Mackenzie Stuart prepares to place the buoy well and tower into the buoyancy foam.  Once that is done, James Kuo and Chris Basque get to work mounting the instruments and running the power and…

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Armstrong Arrives!

The R/V Neil Armstrong has arrived in Reykjavik! The team has started loading all the Irminger materials onto the vessel. Once onboard, the team will perform final assembly of the moorings and make ready for departure.

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Small Boat Operations

August 25th, 2023: The team is now at Axial Base. ROV Jason was launched on dive J2-1530 to cut the EM cable of the profiler pod (which had been stuck at 40 m below the surface). Using a hydraulic bandsaw on the front of the ROV, the cut was completed and the ROV returned to…

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Getting Gliders Ready

Once the mooring build is complete, the mobilization team can focus on the mobile assets.  Three gliders are planned for deployment at the Irminger Array and satellite and acoustic communications must be tested prior to mobilizing on the research vessel.  The vehicles are placed outside and in proximity to the subsurface moorings to verify sending…

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Build in Reykjavik

The Irminger cruise team continues to make progress building the moorings in Reykjavik, Iceland. The mooring systems are integrated and then “burned in.” This is a test period for the power, data, telemetry, and instrument systems to ensure everything is operational prior to loading the vessel. Above James Kuo and Irene Duran verify the operation…

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Demob and Mobilization

August 23-24, 2023: Demobilization of Leg 1 and mobilization for Leg 2 have been completed.  Some personnel have been swapped. Eight new  VISIONS students have arrived and are settling in onboard, ready to acquire their “sea legs.”  And the  Leg 1 infrastructure was offloaded to be replaced by lots of gear for Leg 2. The…

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