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JULY
22:
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The JOHNSON-SEA-LINK on it's way to investigate the deep scattering layer at 1,700 feet.
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Harbor Branch's ROV with its unique tether management system is launched from the ship.
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Alan Fuller flies the ROV from a room on board ship. It's like a high-stakes video game.
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My cabin aboard the R/V EDWIN LINK also served as my office and my equipment storage depot.
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The science team, all smiles at the end of a successful research cruise.
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Learn more about the EDWIN LINK, which has served as our home, lab, submersible launch pad, and restaurant for the last two weeks.
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Find out more about Dr. Edie Widder's primary focus of research-- learning how and why deep sea animals make their own light.
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Accomplished videographer Brian Cousin is doing double duty on the Gulf of Maine cruise. He's gathering footage for a video about bioluminescence, and he's bringing the Gulf of Maine to your desktop as our @Sea correspondent. Click below to learn more about Brian...
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Is there a question you'd like to ask our intrepid correspondent? Send us an email at
AskAtSea@hboi.edu.
Selected questions will be forwarded to Brian, and we'll post the answers online.
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DISPATCH 14: Heading Home, Looking Back
@Sea correspondent/photographer, Brian Cousin
The Research Vessel EDWIN LINK (RVEL) ready for the transit back to Woods Hole.
July 22 --
Two weeks at sea have melted into one last day. The JOHNSON-SEA-LINK (JSL) submersible is in the water for its last science dive of the cruise. Dr. Edie Widder is up front in the sphere with pilot Ken O'Brien. Dr. Tammy Frank is directing the sub's movements from the bridge, where she is tracking the scattering layer of migrating species on the fathometer display.
"It's different again tonight," she says, pointing to the screen. A broad band of color, primarily reds and yellows, extends across the display between the hash marks indicating 900 feet and 1700 feet. Red indicates areas where the concentration of animals is more dense; yellow where it is less dense. Last night the scattering layer was narrower, with more red. "The seawater profile has changed back to more the way it was when we first characterized it." Tammy leafs back through several days worth of notes and confirms that the scattering layer was positioned between 900 and 1500 feet at this time ten days ago.
Through changes in seawater profiles, and dramatic swings in weather and sea states, scientists on board have conducted intensive research day and night for two weeks in this small slice of the Atlantic. All of our submersible operations, trawls, and blue-water scuba dives have been located in an area defined by 40° 15.2' North and 068° 05.5' West, to 40° 20.1' North and 068° 09.5 ' West. A span of about five nautical miles in the Gulf of Maine, over the feature called Oceanographer Canyon .
It's been an excellent cruise for the science party. Tammy and Edie have new data for their research on vertical migration. Edie also has added many spectacular images of deep sea animals into the impressive portfolio on her computer. Sonke Johnsen (WHOI) has found evidence of ultraviolet blocking pigments in organisms living in the surface layer of the open ocean. Uli Siebeck (University of Queensland, Australia) has investigated the eyes of several fish to determine their ability to see UV light wavelengths. Soon she will be conducting her research on reef fish in the Florida Keys, living for ten days in the underwater habitat "Aquarius". All of the scientists are leaving with prized samples and data that will keep them busy in their labs for a long time to come.
As an exercise, the rescue ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) was boomed out and lowered to a depth of over 2,000 feet. Any time submersible operations are carried out on Harbor Branch ships, these little robot subs come along to provide an extra margin of safety. The ROV was lowered via cable while latched to its tether management system (TMS). At the desired depth, the ROV was then launched from the TMS, which can spool out up to 400 feet of tether. ROV pilot Alan Fuller sat in a control room aboard the EDWIN LINK and "flew" the ROV, guiding it by camera images and sonar, using joystick controls that sent signals down the cable and out the tether to the robotic craft.
A large pod of dolphins crossed our bow a hundred yards away, feeding and thrashing the water as they went. A few swam toward the ship, probably hoping we'd fire up the engines and give them a bow wave to ride in. With an ROV down at the end of 2,000 feet of cable, we were in no position to tell the dolphins, "surf's up."
The science crew is beginning to pack gear and instruments for the 14 hour steam back to Woods Hole. The Tucker trawl is stowed and the blue-water divers have packed their scuba gear. Tammy will continue conducting photo-stimulation experiments on the electrophysiological prep, and Edie will no doubt be at her high-powered camera one last time capturing images of the incredible creatures brought to the surface by the JSL.
Tomorrow, the last order of business planned before setting course to Woods Hole is a submersible training dive/video shoot. The sub will be launched once more, for the benefit of sub-technician Frank Lombardo's training experience and for the benefit of my underwater video camera. Then it's a straight shot into port. We should arrive around 7:30am on Saturday, the 24th. Scarcely three hours later the EDWIN LINK will head for home--Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution in Fort Pierce, Florida. The whole gang will be back here again in September, though, when Tammy and Edie will be shadowed by a film crew from National Geographic for a television series they are creating.
Look for the crew of the EDWIN LINK and the science team from Harbor Branch's Division of Biomedical Marine Research on the next @Sea cruise in the Florida Keys, starting August 10.
Some parting thoughts -- There are careers in oceanography for all kinds of people, no only Ph.D's. There are engineers, technicians, ship's crews, even videographers and web masters out there sharing the adventure of scientific exploration and discovery. Over 75% of our planet is covered by water, and over 99% of the area in which life can exist is in the rivers, lakes and oceans. There's a lot of water to cover for those who are interested.
I'm grateful to everyone aboard the R/V EDWIN LINK for helping to make reporting @Sea such a great experience.
Ship's crew: Captain George Gunther, Chief Mate (and head whale/dolphin spotter) Tony Monocondilos, Second Mate Matt Skelly, Chief Engineer Steve Hyde (without who some of the coolest shots I got would not have been possible), Assistant Engineer Terrence (Bill) Reilly, Second Assistant Engineer Kurt Hoyer, Cook Dave Kervin, Seamen Chris Malven, Joe Hart and Dave Foote, and Steward's Assistant Jamie Sizemore. From the University of Miami, Noah Pearlman and James Gordon (who made transmissions of @Sea from ship to shore possible)
Sub Crew: Sub Operations Coordinators and Pilots Phil Santos and Ken O'Brien, Pilot Tim Askew, Jr., Electronics Tech (E.T. guru) Jim Sullivan, and Sub Techs. Ben Chiong, Al Fuller and Frank Lombardo.
Science Crew: Chief Scientist Tammy Frank and her graduate student, Trevor Myslinski; Senior Scientist Edie Widder and her graduate student Kathy Daumer (HBOI), Steve Haddock (scientist and diver in charge of blue-water scuba ops. - MBARI), Will Jaeckle (Illinois Wesleyan), Brad Seibel (University of Miami), Uli Siebeck (University of Queensland), Angie Allen, and Kathleen Tang.
@Sea crew: Mary Clark, Jim Masterson, and Sean Kelley who spin my raw material into the web pages you're looking at. I can't wait to see them myself!
Thanks to everyone who reviewed my dispatches before I hit the "send email" button, and especially thanks to Dr. Tammy Frank and Dr. Edie Widder for their input and patience, and for having me along on the cruise. It's an experience I'll never forget.
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