Posts Tagged ‘RCA’
Curious Stowaway!
The RCA team had a stowaway on Leg 3 of the OOI RCA O&M cruise! This bold adventurer even joined them in the main lab to inspect their operations. The curious bird ate some suet provided by the crew and then ventured on its way, hopefully to continue its migration.
Read MoreROPOS delivery
ROPOS launching with one of four experimental sonar tripods to be plugged into the OOI Regional Cabled Array. They were developed by UW researchers to accurately measure stresses that precede an eruption of Axial Seamount, a subsea volcano off the coast of Oregon.
Read MoreFogbow
The R/V Thompson encountered a “fogbow” this morning between ROV dives at the base of Axial Seamount. It was pretty bright, and hopefully a good omen for continued successful deployments on the OOI RCA O&M cruise. The team is now completing leg 3, with two more legs to go.
Read MoreSunrise prep
UW-APL engineer Paul Aguilar up at sunrise to prep the Axial Base Horizontal Electrometer Pressure-Inverted Echosounder (HPIES), a novel OOI instrument measuring horizontal electrical field, pressure & acoustic travel time from seafloor to sea surface.
Read MoreWater column sampling
ROPOS recently ran a series of dives to swap out the OOI deep profiler vehicles after a year in the water. A specialized ROV frame places the new vehicle on the cable and removes the old one to bring it back to UW for cleaning and refurbishment.
Read MoreHomes for marine life
The OOI Oregon Offshore deep profiler mooring, which hosts a vehicle that moves up and down the cable taking measurements, has a large float at the top for buoyancy. Apparently it is also an irresistible attachment point for a whole biofouling ecosystem.
Read MoreCamera capturing gas hydrate mound
An OOI PI-deployed camera captured the ROPOS ROV peeking over a gas hydrate mound. The striped pole was originally deployed in a cavern and is now buried in sediment, demonstrating the dynamic nature of this site.
Read MoreDumbo and done
The RCA 8 Team saw a Dumbo octopus at Southern Hydrate Ridge. They also have successfully deployed 100% of the equipment planned for Leg 2 of the OOI RCA O&M cruise. Double win, two ways. Dumbo and done. Two legs, missions accomplished.
Read MoreAnd a curious catshark
A curious Brown catshark has shown up repeatedly while the RCA team has been working at Southern Hydrate Ridge on the OOI RCA O&M cruise! Here it is again, as the team surveys the site and manage the seafloor cables (orange loops) that send real-time data back to shore.
Read MoreCrusty Camera
After a year deployed in 80 meters (~260 ft) of water (and being hit by a log!) our Oregon Shelf camera has a little bit of growth on it. That’s why ROPOS is holding a brush: to clean off the lens and lights, so it can keep taking photos for another year!
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