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Teacher
Logbook:
Thursday, July 13, 2000
1900 hrs.
Phase two of the camera
setup is now complete. The large buoy used for receiving picture tiles
and temperature data from the camera mooring is in place. A crowd gathered
on the fantail to watch the deployment. A crane lifted and placed the
buoy smoothly over the side of the ship, as well as the 1520 meter tether
and anchor to attach it to the seafloor. The rope was slowly let out as
the ship drove away from the buoy. As it drifted away it gave me a chance
to see just how far the seafloor is below us. Reaching its maximum distance,
some 1500 meters away, the large buoy seemed like an ant. The anchor,
consisting of seven rusty railroad car wheels, was attached to the end
of the tether. The crane lowered them into the water without any problems
and then released a cable. The 7,000 pounds fell quickly toward the abyss
below dragging the buoy toward us from the position from which it drifted.
After a few minutes the buoy slowed and then stopped in its final resting-place.
Engineer Chris Meinig has already received two "trial tiles" from the
camera so everything looks good for NeMONet so far.
The NeMONet camera was
positioned last night by ROPOS to photograph a large tube worm bush at
Bag City. I've been hearing these weird vent names for a while, so I investigated
the origin of some of the more interesting sounding ones.Here's
a few:
- Bag
City: Named for the "Bag Creatures" that were found around the
vent upon discovery. These "creatures" are small spherical blobs and
cover much of the area. No one knew if they were some type of vent fauna
or not. They turned out to be polysacharides from some type a microbial
byproduct.
- Joystick:
Named for the ROPOS joystick in the control room. It broke down last
year when this vent was discovered. The ROPOS team spent a couple of
hours fixing the insides of the control panel while the ROV was still
on the bottom.
- Coquille: A French name
that means, "shell." This area is covered in clam shells.
- Castle: The vent spires
here resemble a castle.
- Nascent: This was the
first area that new worms were found on the 1998 eruption lava.
- Dying: This vent is
loosing its steam.
- Tombstone: Not sure.
Maybe someone had a pizza craving.
- Magnesia, All three
named after the milky consistency of the water that made it difficult
to see.
- Milky & Ouzo is a Greek
drink that, when put in ice, tuns milky. Ouzo Sampling continues at
midnight tonight with a long dive at ASHES on the west side of the caldera.
We're still on schedule
but starting to feel the crunch. Priorities are discussed at the daily
science meetings where chief scientist Bob Embley decides what must be
finished on this cruise and what will have to wait for next year. The
next few days will be a scramble to get as much accomplished as possible.
That means little rest and many cups of watered-down coffee.
Jeff
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NeMO Net camera's field
of view looking out at Bag City tube worms.
NeMO Net's tripod temperature
probes within a tube worm "bush".
Discussing priorities at the daily science meeting as the time remaining
at sea becomes scarce.
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