Posts Tagged ‘Irminger Sea Array’
Mission Accomplished, Homeward Bound
Homeward bound! The Irminger 10 team has completed all cruise objectives (in spite of high winds/heavy seas) and is heading home. All moorings have been deployed and recovered; gliders deployed; CTD casts for instrument cross-calibration, meteorological surveys, and ancillary CTD casts to support the OSNAP program were completed, and many marine mammal sightings were recorded.…
Read MoreBack at it!
After a brief detour caused by heavy winds and high seas, the R/V Neil Armstrong and the OOI team are back at the array, deploying moorings during brief weather windows. They are getting the job done, even though conditions have been less-than-ideal.
Read MoreTaking Shelter from Severe Storm
Conditions forced the R/V Neil Armstrong to take shelter in Prince Christian Sound. Quite a storm is going on at the array. Peak wave heights have subsided from 15.5 m to about 11.45 m. The surface buoy is still showing wind speeds 23 m/s (44.7 knots). These conditions make it impossible to deploy the moorings…
Read MoreGliders Begin Operations
The R/V Neil Armstrong and OOI science team start operations at the Irminger Array by deploying the gliders. This allows the gliders to be monitored by the pilots onshore and ensure all systems are operational while the vessel is still onsite performing mooring operations. Chris Basque and Jess Kozik prepare glider 575 for deployment. Three…
Read MoreLas Actividades de Diverción
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…
Read MoreWhale sightings
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…
Read MoreCTD casts
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,…
Read MoreFood for a month
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…
Read MoreGlider missions
The OOI Irminger Sea Array consists of three mooring sites in a triangular with sides ~30 km long. The Surface Mooring at one corner of the array communicates to shore via satellite. But the other three moorings (two moorings share one of the sites) do not have a surface expression, so they need another way…
Read MoreBelow the surface
Three of the moorings the Irminger 9 team is deploying in the Irminger Sea are Subsurface Moorings, which means that the moorings are entirely underwater – there is no buoy on the surface. There are, however, multiple components that are buoyant to keep the mooring upright in the water column. There is a top sphere…
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