Posts Tagged ‘Pioneer Array’

Friday was a great day to be aboard the Armstrong. The weather cooperated and the team recovered the inshore profiler mooring. Shown here are some of its components in the order in which they were recovered:  Submersible surface buoy, subsurface flotation sphere, and wire-following profiler.  The latter is instrumented and moves up and down the…

Peter Duley is a marine mammal observer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  He joins many Pioneer expeditions to survey the waters for whales, dolphins,  and other marine mammals.  While he surveys the water with his “Big Eyes” binoculars, he also keeps track of birds and other creatures that may happen by.

When the Pioneer 19 team recovered the Offshore Surface Mooring, it came with fishing gear entangled in the buoy tower. This is not an uncommon occurrence, but it can be detrimental to the mooring system. The fishing line sometimes gets wrapped around the wind turbines, which charge the batteries that power the instrumentation.  When this…

The @R/V Neil Armstrong left the dock at Woods Hole, MA with an unusual empty deck.  Deck Lead Chris Basque joins Third Mate Mariah Kopec-Belliveau in the uncommonly spacious area. The Pioneer 19 Team will be recovering the Coastal Pioneer Array and will not be deploying new moorings.  The next time Pioneer will be deployed…

This expedition is not a typical one.  Rather than being loaded to the brim, the R/V Neil Armstrong will leave the dock with a fairly empty back deck. This open area will allow for the recovery of three surface moorings, five profiler moorings, four gliders, and an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle over the course of the…