Updates
Students aboard
August 10, 2022
Leg 1 VISIONS students on the 2022 OOI RCA O&M cruise pose on the bow as the R/V Thomas G. Thompson steams out of Newport. Students work with UW researchers, engineers, and the ship’s crew to learn all aspects of marine research, ship ops, and life aboard a research vessel.
Mobilization underway
August 8, 2022
Mobilization and loading of the ROPOS ROV on the R/V Thomas G. Thompson for Leg 1 of the OOI Regional Cabled Array operations & maintenance expedition began on August 8th. View live video here.
VISIONS’22 blog
August 3, 2022
You can keep up with daily activities during RCA VISIONS’22 by watching a live stream video and reading daily blogs written by both the science party and student participants. Be sure to bookmark this site and check back often! This 45-day expedition beginning August 5 promises to be exciting. This highly complex operation will be conducted over five Legs. Activities are many and varied and include the installation of instrumented…
Headed to sea soon
August 1, 2022
The Regional Cabled Array team soon goes to sea on their 43-day cruise on the R/V Thompson using the ROV ROPOS, which will make at least 40 dives in coastal waters, at methane seeps, and on the largest underwater volcano off the Pacific coast – Axial Seamount.
Transport underway
July 28, 2022
It promises to be a full house! The first shipment of infrastructure and equipment to support the 2022 RCA operations and maintenance expedition shipped from Seattle, WA to Newport, OR on 25 July. Trucks will leave daily from Seattle through next week in preparation for mobilization on the R/V Thompson on 5 August.
Las Actividades de Diverción
July 25, 2022
Las tardes requieren que tengas algo para entretenerte. Algunas personas trajeron sus Nintendo Switch y compartieron con todos. Depues de cenar, jugábamos Super Smash Bros Ultimate y Mario Kart en el salón. Otros trajeron juegos como Settlers of Catan, Exploding Kittens y cartas. Si quires relajarte solo, puedes ir a tú recamara y leer un libro que tú trajiste o uno de la biblioteca del barco. Cada mañana alguien imprimía…
Into Reykjavik, Iceland
July 22, 2022
After a successful cruise and 27 days at sea, the Irminger 9 expedition pulled into Reykjavik, Iceland. Although it was a great cruise, the team was happy to be headed home. Our gear was off-loaded and the ship was prepared for the next cruise – another OSNAP expedition in the Irminger Sea area. The pilot boat approaches the R/V Neil Armstrong outside of the Reykjavik harbor. A local pilot is…
Whale sightings
July 14, 2022
NOAA Research Wildlife Biologist Peter Duley joined us again for the Irminger-9 cruise, along with the “Big Eyes” binoculars. You can read about Pete’s previous OOI adventures here and here. Pete has joined the Irminger 9 cruise specifically to look for North Atlantic right whales in the Irminger Sea. While watching for right whales, he also notes weather, fog, and sea state conditions and documents other marine mammals and birds…
CTD casts
July 12, 2022
CTD casts are performed alongside many other scientific operations in order to validate incoming data and to calibrate instruments, they can also be performed in sea and weather conditions when other science operations like mooring deployments and recoveries cannot. Regardless of the sea state, performing these casts require teamwork and communication between the science party, the CTD winch operator and the mate(s) on the bridge. The mate on the bridge…
Food for a month
July 12, 2022
Feeding a ship’s worth of people three meals per day (plus snacks), planning meals, cleaning, and organizing stores, is constant work. Running the kitchen, or “galley” on the R/V Neil Armstrong takes approximately 35 total person-hours per day, which is typically divided between three people. On the Irminger 9 cruise the galley was staffed by steward Harry Burnett, cook Brian Keenan and mess attendant Derek Greenidge. Contents of food stores are planned and…