Updates
Why It Matters
After witnessing how hard the Pioneer 17 team and the crew of the R/V Neil Armstrong have worked over the past seven days, under sometimes quite arduous conditions, I found myself wondering why? Why should these folks work so hard, put in such long days, with intermittent sleepless nights (not to mention upset stomachs), to…
Read MorePunting When the Sea Dictates
Today was our last work day on the first leg of Pioneer 17. The recovery of the Inshore Surface Mooring was first on the agenda. Recovery starts when an acoustic command is sent from the ship causing the anchor to be released from the multi-function node (MFN), which houses it. Sometimes even though the release…
Read MoreA Temporarily Clear Deck
At 8:30 this morning, the team began deploying the last of the three coastal surface moorings. Like the other deployments, this one was like a choreographed ballet, with each participant ready in the wings to execute the perfect next move. By mid-day the deck was temporarily clear of all mooring-related equipment, ready for the recovery…
Read MoreRosette Recovered
The team was on deck as the sun came up to prepare a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) for a rescue mission. During an expedition earlier this summer aboard the R/V Neil Armstrong, a CTD rosette (pictured below) was lost. The Pioneer 17 cruise with its ROV onboard provided the perfect opportunity to recover the CTD.…
Read MoreAnother Mooring Dispatched
Today was a gift for early risers. The sun was bright, the weather comfortable. This was fortuitous, for the team was on the stern deck of the R/V Neil Armstrong as the sun rose at 6 am. They diligently worked to finish attaching the various parts that ultimately comprise the Inshore Surface Mooring (ISSM). Deployment…
Read MoreCross-Shelf CTD Survey and Halloween
The waves and winds are still too intense to safely deploy a mooring today, so we are conducting a cross-shelf CTD survey from Pioneers’ Upstream Offshore (450 meters depth) site to the Upstream Inshore (95 meters depth) site. This is one of OOI’s objectives and provides a general scientific assessment of the shelf break area. …
Read MoreGlider Day at Pioneer 17
Inclement weather has made us slightly adjust our schedule of what to put into the water each day. Today started off with a glider deployment. Gliders are an integral part of the OOI and are operated at both the Coastal and Global Arrays. Gliders at the Coastal Arrays (Pioneer and Endurance) sample the water space…
Read MoreFinally at Sea
The 14 members of the Pioneer 17 science party were all onboard the R/V Neil Armstrong at 9 am sharp on Friday 29 October. All were eager to head out to the array, which is about 75 nautical miles south of Martha’s Vineyard after a three-day weather delay caused by a roaring nor’easter. The storm…
Read MoreCruise Update
The Pioneer 17 team of scientists and engineers departed aboard the R/V Neil Armstrong from Woods Hole, MA for the Pioneer Array, 75 nautical miles south of Martha’s Vineyard on 29 October. Our departure was originally scheduled for three days earlier, but the weather kicked up and presented challenges to conduct the recovery and deployment…
Read MoreBefore Departure
Once recovered, the moorings are refurbished for the next recovery and deployment mission. This work is done at the Quissett campus of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which is about two miles from the Woods Hole dock. Prior to Pioneer 17, three coastal surface moorings had to be uploaded on a flatbed truck and transported to…
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