Lots of Work

This morning we rose early to eat breakfast. Remember, you don't show up, you don't eat.

Today, we had the opportunity to get a close up view of ALVIN.

ALVIN is owned by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachucetts along with it's host ship, the R/V Atlantis. Dr. Luther, through a research grant, was able to hire these vessels to do our oceanography work.

There is much to do during this phase of the cruise. All of the electronics on ALVIN have to communicate with all of the devices the scientists have brought to use. Getting one computer program to recognize the others is a time consuming process.

ALVIN rests in its hanger on the back of the ship. When it is ready to launch, it runs a small rail system to the rear where the research scientists load themselves in and it is put overboard with swimmers.

You can see the steps to the left where the scientists climb aboard ALVIN shortly before launch. The giant yellowish rope (the big thick one) is used for 100 launches and then for safety reasons a new one must be added. It is quite a process and we might have the opportunity to change the rope out during our research cruise.

For all the complexities of ALVIN, it comes up and goes down via a very simple process - buoyancy. The iron weights are added to sink and then released to make it come back to the surface after finishing a dive.

Here is the hatch opening that the pilot and scientists have to crawl down to get into the sphere. Nice and cozy. Is that Mr. Geppert?

One of the things that I am responsible for is the construction, use, and maintenance of "major samplers." These are used for taking super-heated water samples from hydrothermal vents. They are made from titanium. Unfortunately, they arrive in a large crate, unassembled with diagrams like this one.

There are instructions, but most of the information can be obtained by the engineering like the picture below:

Sorry its upside down, but you get the picture!

There are six sets of "double major samplers" that go down with ALVIN and are triggered by the robotic arm. The sampler slowly draws water into the chamber and can hold approximately 1 Liter of very valuable hydrothermal vent water. When put together, they look like this:

The colors represent the pairs of majors. Double bands of colored electrical tape mean right side and single bands mean left. When the samples are collected, they are brought into the lab on board ship where scientists analyze the water samples for iron, manganese, and sulfate ions.

Many of the animals that live in or near the vents have concentrations of these elements in their bodies. Chemosynthetic bacteria use these element concentrations to begin the process of chemosynthesis - the center of the food web in the deep.

There are scientists on board who will take the water samples, filter them, measure the amount of ions in solution, and use this data for their papers that they will be working on and publishing. Much of the research done is the first of its kind, and anything discovered can lead to different research opportunities as well as a better understanding of how our planet works.

As for the majors, once the water is extracted, they have to be taken apart, cleaned completely in an acid bath or deionized water, and then put back together quickly to be used again. It is quite a process and requires a lot of time and effort.

Today is also the last day for water taxi deliveries of fresh fruits and vegetables, many picked fresh from local growers. Yum!

Not sure about the spiked melons on the left. Anybody know what they are called? I am sure we will be having them to lunch or dinner soon!

We will be departing for sea early tomorrow morning. Be sure to follow our progress on the UD blog as well:

www.ceoe.udel.edu/our-people/profiles/luther/east-pacific-rise