Posts Tagged ‘RCA’
Small Boat Operations
August 25th, 2023: The team is now at Axial Base. ROV Jason was launched on dive J2-1530 to cut the EM cable of the profiler pod (which had been stuck at 40 m below the surface). Using a hydraulic bandsaw on the front of the ROV, the cut was completed and the ROV returned to…
Read MoreDemob and Mobilization
August 23-24, 2023: Demobilization of Leg 1 and mobilization for Leg 2 have been completed. Some personnel have been swapped. Eight new VISIONS students have arrived and are settling in onboard, ready to acquire their “sea legs.” And the Leg 1 infrastructure was offloaded to be replaced by lots of gear for Leg 2. The…
Read MoreEnd of Leg One
August 22, 2023: Leg 1 came to an end under calm seas and blue skies, as compared to four days of weather during the leg, with winds up to 35 knots (40 mph). Despite the weather, the RCA team had multiple successes. They turned two science platforms on each of the Shallow Profiler Moorings at…
Read MoreWeather Not Cooperating
August 19-20, 2023: High winds and seas have prevented field operations from happening over the last two days. The waves have been so choppy and winds blustery that Queens College Assistant Professor Dax Soule reports that “students have been modeling a range of hues not commonly seen on dry land.” Nonetheless, he also reports on…
Read MoreWork Continues in Spite of Weather
August 18th, 2023: The attempt to dodge the weather fronts continues for the science team aboard the R/V Thomas G. Thompson. With a break in the weather, Jason went into the water at 0936 for a naked dive (Dive J2-1524) to clean the digital still camera. There was a short loss of power. The team…
Read MorePink Sea Urchin Visits
August 17, 2023: A beautiful colony of light orange anemones grows on the shallow profiler Science Pod base, along with a pink sea urchin, and feather stars, branching hydroids to the far right hosting nudibranch eggs.
Read MoreBusy Day of Dives
August 16th, 2023: Throughout the night and into the early morning, Jason completed a series of dives here at the Oregon Offshore site. Jason successfully completed an exchange of the Shallow Profiler Science Pods at 01:47 and 05:18 respectively, in the morning. After a short transit to the ROV was back in the water at 06:50 for Dive J2-1518,…
Read MoreStudents and Guests Ready to Roll
August 15, 2023: As the R/V Thomas G. Thompson cleared the channel and headed into the Pacific, VISIONS’ students and guests posed for a picture to memorialize the occasion. Watch as events aboard unfold live here.
Read MoreSafety First
August 13, 2023: With 40 knot winds offshore, the Thompson was kept inshore for an extra day and plans made to switch operations to the nearest site, the Oregon Shelf – only an hour offshore. During the stay in port, the Thompson crew conducted a Safety meeting, including a requirement for all team members to don their…
Read MoreSlight Weather Delay
After a one-day weather delay, the RCA team will be departing aboard the R/V Thompson today, August 14th at ~1315 to head out to the Oregon Shelf site at 80 m water depth. It is a short steam of ~ 1 hr. The first Jason dive (J2-1512) will be to test the Jason winch and to clean and…
Read More