First dive day

Today is April 1 - April Fools Day. So of course, when we woke up this morning there was a note on our internet server that the ship had rescued a wounded green turtle and it was in the back pool. Since my wife, Molli, absolutely loves sea turtles I figured this would be an awesome photo opportunity. I sprint out of breakfast with my camera in hand and all the way out to the back of the ship to the makeshift pool and.................. nothing. nada. April's Fools. Oh well. At least I wasn't the only one who fell for it. Sorry Molli, I will have to get other turtle pictures.

This of course, is the first ALVIN dive, so the ship has been a beehive of activity getting ready.

First, the ALVIN is moved along a train track out of its hangar into position in the A-Frame.

The pilot and 2 observers are loaded into it and it is carefully lowered into the water.

A small assist boat is put into the water to pick up the two swimmers who are loaded into the boat after the ALVIN begins her descent.

It takes about 2 hours to reach the bottom here, about 2500 meters from the surface. The submarine then spends about 4 to 5 hours on the bottom doing all that the dive plan orders and then returns to the surface as the battery power begins to run out. Less time is required for it to reach the surface (about 1 hour) since it drops its iron weights. The ALVIN spends about 8 total hours under water.

As it comes to the surface, everyone is on the lookout for the telltale "sail," its orange colored top. This picture was taken from the bridge.

Hey, there it is!

After the ALVIN has resurfaced the assist boat returns to it and stays with the submersible until the Atlantis comes up on its side and it is reloaded back on the ship.

Only when it is safely loaded back into its hanger can we take all of its precious scientific finds off. Today, we collected 2 riftia tubeworms, a bunch of mussels, water samples from a hydrothermal vent, and of course electrochemical measurements. This dive was more of an orientation dive, so we could verify whether vents were active or not. It had been a few years since anyone had been to the site.

You can see the white tubes of the tubeworm called riftia in the collection basket. Note the red color of the worm peeking out the top. The red color plume is from a form of blood hemoglobin much like our own!

The mussels in the basket are also very interesting and large!

After they are carefully dissected and analyzed, they will make good bait for our shrimp trap that we will take down on tomorrow's dive.

Pieces of each organism are taken so that DNA can be extracted and studied in a science called population genetics.

Similarities are examined between all of the organisms of this environment and compared to other living things.

The tubes from the worms have a strange texture and feel. They are comprised of polysaccharides and become very brittle once they dry out. Other species of worm tubes become very hard when dried. Incredible biodiversity in an almost alien environment to our own.

Once in the lab, the worms are separated from their tubes.

Of interest to our scientists are the worms trophosomes. These are the areas where bacteria live inside the worm and through a process of symbiosis actually produce food for the worm. We call it the "cotton candy" machine of the worm because of its stringing consistency - like the machine at the state fair. It produces sugars too!

Here one of the researchers has the trophosome in her hand. The trophosome is analyzed in pure nitrogen gas to ensure that no reaction with oxygen occurs. Note the blood in the dissection pan - very similar to our own.

The top part of the worm, just under the plume, is collected for genetics studies as it is 100% worm and does not have the microbial interaction that the trophosome has.

Lastly, the blood of the worm is collected and stored for later analysis back in the laboratory on land.

Interesting stuff! We still have much more to see and do!

For my students: Don't forget our cups! They will be going down soon.