May 18,
1998
(Right) Mark, Ian and Will conference before stepping aboard the sub.
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Position as of 21:03:27
18 May, 1998 Local time --
27° 48' N
91° 13' W
Click on the small photos for a closer look! |
An early start
Climbing back on board |
Goodbye,sunlight
Today was the big day as scientists Dr. Ian MacDonald and
Dr. Will Sager and Raytheon Laser Line Scanner operator Mark Wright stepped
off the Chouest to explore the land of darkness on the seafloor with the
NR-1 crew.
Here on the Chouest, we started early transferring crew
and ended late deploying the transponder array for mosaicking site GC234.
For the NR-1 workers there is no starting and stopping. They will be on
a continual cycle of 6 hours on, 6 hours off.
Transfer to the NR-1 went smoothly for the explorers, but
little did they know that they would soon face another obstacle. After boarding
the NR-1, they checked out their systems. They noticed first that the shutter
on the Laser Line Scanner was closed and some of the cables on the X-Star
were loose. They quickly planned for an open ocean dive to fix the shutter
and cables. The repairs went as planned and they were soon back on track.
Later on the Chouest, CTD profiles were taken so we could
calculate the velocity of sound in water. This is needed for navigation
of the sub. CTD stands for conductivity, temperature, depth, which is exactly
what this device measures. Conductivity gives you salinity and depth gives
you pressure. The velocity of sound in water is dependent upon the temperature,
pressure, and salinity of the water. |
Lowering and recovering the CTD |
