Removing water bottles and other sampling gear
from Alvin's basket after a dive.
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Follow
UNH professor and researcher, Karen Von Damm, and her crew on leg
6 of voyage 7 on the R/V Atlantis, a Woods Hole Research Vessel.
The following log is Karen Von Damm's e-mail from the R/V Atlantis
. . . Click
on the images for a full view.
Research Log
East
Pacific Rise; 9-10°N latitude
Monday,
February 4, 2002
Today is the last dive. Its back to the 9 50'N area to finish off
a last few objectives. During this last dive, samples are collected
in
an area we call "Bio9"within the area known as "Hole-to-Hell."
The samples we collected this cruise, suggest this area is heating
up. There are many more black smokers in this area than we have
seen in the past - at least 5. We have also observed short term
temperature variability here and we want to deploy a recording temperature
probe, so we'll know what goes on here after we leave. These objectives
are accomplished. We also want to establish a new time series sampling
site, slightly north of this area, because many of the places we
have been sampling low temperature fluids now have decreased fluid
flow and temperatures. There is an area of tubeworms, close to where
we had sampled a smoker in 1991 that went inactive shortly after
that. We decided to establish a new sampling site at Tica, and we
measure fluid temperatures up to 40 C - quite high for what we call
"diffuse fluids". Once Alvin is brought back on board
late in the afternoon, Atlantis begins steaming towards San Diego.
This transit should take us 5-6 days.
Tuesday, February
5, 2002
Today the Alvin group starts to disassemble parts of the sub, and
take care of maintenance. Scientists work to finish their analyses.
Atlantis continues to steam north.
Wednesday,
February 6, 2002
Today the work continues, and people begin to pack. We are also
trying to finalize some of our data files to share with our colleagues
before we disperse to our home institutions. The day is capped by
a bar-be-que on the fantail, while we continue to steam.
Thursday,
February 7, 2002
There are a lot of data to assemble, and tapes and files to copy.
Things are becoming a little more relaxed, and people find some
time to sit out on deck in the afternoon. We continue to head north.
Over the last couple of days we've seen a few ships, as we move
closer to the shipping lanes. Today we also have some porpoise visit
for awhile, playing in our bow wake.
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The scientists talk on deck about todays dive,
while waiting for the sub to be brought into
the hangar so todays samples can be retrieved
and brought into the ships labs.
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