Pioneer MAB Test Deployment

Wrapping up a successful cruise. The iconic Ravenel Bridge welcomes the R/V Neil Armstrong back to Charlestown to mark the end of a successful Pioneer Mid-Atlantic Bight cruise.  

Beautiful skies to mark the end of a successful cruise!  The OOI-CGSN team and the RV Neil Armstrong completed their transit into Charleston, SC and commenced offloading all the deployment equipment.  The boat following the Armstrong was for the harbor pilot, required for large ships entering Charleston Harbor. The boat came alongside as the Armstrong…

It takes a team to do oceanography.  Here James Kuo prepares an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler for deployment, along with other team members from OOI-CGSN, WHOI Mooring Operations & Engineering, and the RV Neil Armstrong crew.

The Coastal Profiler Mooring was successfully deployed in 600m water depth at MAB.  The test deployment will verify the mooring and buoy design, as well as the operation of the profiling vehicle, in the MAB environment.

ROV dive operations are controlled and monitored from a station in the ship’s lab. A darkened room provides better contrast for the monitors, which allow the pilot to view ROV operating information and seafloor conditions.

CGSN Team Members Irene Duran (foreground) and James Kuo (background) prepare the OOI ROV for operations on the back deck of the Armstrong. The ROV camera and sonar are used to assess conditions on the sea floor prior to mooring deployments.

The OOI-CGSN team on the RV Neil Armstrong is in transit to the test mooring deployment sites.  The Multi-Function Node is deployed with the Coastal Surface Mooring and provides a platform for seabed measurements like turbidity, dissolved oxygen, pH, salinity, temperature, pressure, currents.