Juan de Fuca Ridge Cruise
July 20 - August 1, 2000
Over 650 km (~400 miles) off the Washington-Oregon Coast
Logbook
July 20, 2000: Day #1
Log Entry: The big day has arrived! Everybody was awake and moving by 8:00 am. At approximately 8:55 am we untied from the dock and began our voyage. At 10 am, the entire scientific party met in the Wet Lab to discuss our assignments and what people needed help with. Once we arrive at our site, which the captain has estimated to be 6 am Friday morning, this is going to be one busy, non-stop, action-filled ship. Some of the important details we covered in our meeting were exactly which system we were going to use for logging all of our data. For example, we decided the log book will read "Tiburon Dive #741 - TC1", meaning sample number one, which was a Tiburon Core (a wax core) from dive #741. We also assigned code names for rock coring sled cores, wax cores taken with the wax corer that is NOT attached to Tiburon, and grab samples that the ROV takes from the bottom. The more time we spend making sure everybody will log data the same way, the easier it will be to access the data when we need it, and the less likely we will be to make the mistake of mixing samples or not knowing where a sample was taken from.
We all received a quick lesson from Dr. Michael Perfit on how to load, unload, and reload his rock coring device, since he will need help handling the samples when they are brought on deck. The device will be released from the back of the ship, independent of the ROV Tiburon. The rock corer is a 270 kg (~600 pounds) device which travels to the seafloor down a cable at a speed of 50-100 meters/second. When it impacts on the seafloor, it takes a core of the bottom from which we can obtain small pieces of glass from the seafloor. Tomorrow's log will explain how the device is used to learn about the origin of seafloor lava flows.
Dr. Maurice Tivey explained his magnetometer, and what type of data we need to record when he is using it on Tiburon. We discussed our dive plan, which will include 7 or 8 geology dives on the cleft segment, then we will steam north to the Axial Seamount for 1 day, where Josh Plant and Thomas Chapin will deploy their osmoanalyzers and osmosamplers. Time permitting, we would love to get one last dive in at a site called "Monolith", which is a vent site that has not been visited in quite some time. We are curious to see if it is still an active site and how it has changed since it was last documented.
At 10:43 am the science crew was visited by Second Mate Darrell Palmer, who gave a very thorough safety talk, which included a discussion on the "Survival Suit" that is to be worn in case of the unlikely order to abandon ship. After lunch some people retired to their staterooms for a nap, others to the ROV control room to watch a movie. Everybody is getting rested up for the very busy week ahead! We had our ship's first fire drill today, which included a "volunteer" (innocent victim) to demonstrate the use of the Survival Suit! Of course, Greg Moretti, the summer intern, was the chosen crew member to don the suit. After dinner tonight, we are planning to load the Tiburon wax-corers with wax.
Today's Menu:
Breakfast
Omelet's to order
Pancakes
Hash Browns
Eggs any style
Bacon or sausage
Oatmeal
Chilled Fruit
Blueberry muffins
Lunch
Tossed salad w/ Balsamic vinaigrette
Fruit salad
Turkey-rice soup
Hamburgers
Garden burgers
Fries
Mushroom braised pork chops over egg noodles
Cut corn
Dinner
Salad bar
Turkey rice soup
Baked salmon
Mushroom braised pork chops
Pesto pasta
Fresh asparagus
Key lime cheesecake