TECHNOLOGY/TOOLS
SHIP:
NOAA's
Ronald Brown
Operated by NOAA (Sister ships
include the R/V
Thomas Thompson , SIO's
Roger Revelle and WHOI's
Atlantis). The Brown can accommodate 34 scientists, 22 officers and
crew and 2 marine technicians for 33 days at 14 knots plus 29 days at
3 knots.
Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV):
ROPOS
ROVs are used when fine-scale mapping and sampling are
required on the seafloor. Unlike manned submersibles which have very limited
bottom time, ROVs can explore the seafloor for unlimited amounts of time
before coming to the surface.
Science Instruments:
Included on ROPOS
1) SIT camera
2) Color 3-chip camera
3) 5
and 7 function manipulators
4) Mesotech forward-looking sonar
5) Depth, heading, altitude measurements
6) Still camera (35 mm)
7) Standard sample tray
Project-Specific
Instrumentation
CTD
Conductivity, temperature and depth recorder
(CTD) will be used to help map out the plumes generated from the discharge
of the hydrothermal vents at Axial Volcano. The CTD instrument is cast
up & down or towed from the ship. Data is sent back in real-time to the
ship's laboratory where scientists can evaluate the location of the plumes.
Scientists can distinguish plumes from vents which are consistently discharging
fluids vs. those generated from a seismic event.
SUAVE
System Used to Assess Vented Emissions (SUAVE) provides
continous in-situ analysis of hydrothermal vent chemicals. SUAVE can be
used on CTD's, ROV's and ALVIN.
To be used on the ROVs:
1) PMEL fluid sampler
2) Ti Gas samplers
3) BioBox
4) PacMan
5) Hi-Temperature probe
6) Niskin bottles
7) Suction
sampler
8)Imagenex
downward-looking scanning sonar
Deployed Instrumentation
1) Extensometers
2) HOBO Hi-temp probes (up to 4)
3) Low-temp probes (up to 10)
4)Osmosamplers
(MBARI)
5)Time-lapse
camera(s)
6) Markers
7) Bacteria
traps (microbial colonization chambers)
8)
Seafloor navigation beacons (transponders)
|