Monday, May 24, 2010

Above is a map of where we are. The point with the orange circle around it in roughly the center of the screen is our location. In the left of the screen is the Wolf-Darwin Lineament.

Check out our interview with the cooks here, here, or here. It can be found at the bottom of the page.

Today, as all other days, began dark and early promptly at midnight when the 12-4 crew began their watch. Since then, the maps (both side-scan and multibeam) have been compiled, and are now being printed out in large scale. The maps are being used as a teaching tool for the senior staff on the trip to educate the undergraduate members who are being exposed to these maps, side-scan in particular, for the first time. Today, Dan Fornari taught a lesson that asked us to demonstrate the different types of features we were able to recognize from the side-scan data, and what allowed us to determine their identity.
Pictured left are Nick and Ali as they examine the maps. Below is Marques, as he works on his own interpretation of the maps.

Also, the watches were reorganized slightly. The new watch rosters (group leaders in Bold) are:

8-12
Eric Mittlestaedt
Krista Moser
Will Schlitzer
Cait Mello

12-4
Alison Kolezar
Cam McKee
Nick Pollock
Gretchen Swarr
Marques Miller

4-8
Dennis Geist
Mike Carbone
Ali Tinnin
Will Cushman
Miguel Calderon
Angela Kuhn

As far as the science of the cruise is concerned, there have been passes over the Galapagos Spreading Center in the last day, which have brought into view many different faults, mostly. There is also a small group of seamounts that were located today during the 8-12 shift that appear to have well-centered calderas. In the previous 4-8 watch, a large, low relief seamount was discovered. The magnetometer is still not functioning, however, those repairing it are confident that it will be finished soon. Also, once we start dredging after our stop in the Galapagos, all of the dredges will contain a burlap bag that will (hopefully) collect shards of volcanic glass as it travels across the floor. We have the task of sewing 16 bags (Ali is pictured right, doing this) together to ensure we have one bag for each of the 40 planned dredges

Cam, as usual, found reading a book, currently The Aeneid

Will Cushman watching the sunset

Carbone working diligently to plot on the map.

Sunday May 23 2010

Make sure to check out the update to the Crew Corner page for today's interview with Ricky!

View of Pinta from the ship

So, we had some technical issues today. The data quality from the magnetometer (which measures magnetic field) went way downhill this morning and we had to reel it in for inspection. The prognosis is that water got into the cable that feeds data from the instrument onto the ship. Repairs are underway now and we hope to have it back in the water soon.

Other than that, data collection has been going well. We corrected a map with our new data! A large seamount was plotted south of where we observed it in the bathymetry, so from now on the correct placement of that seamount can be attributed to us. Score one for science!

Our current working map of the Northern Galapagos showing our projected route and some significant geologic features we've been sketching in.

Now that we’ve got some coverage of the area with our sonar and bathymetric imaging, we’ve been able to do some preliminary interpretations of the features we’ve observed. On our watch (reppin' 8-12!) we saw a lot of faults that run parallel to the Galapagos Spreading Center (GSC) ridge and some small, fresh lava flows. The lava flow is interesting because it tells us that there is active volcanism despite the fact that at that point in the survey we were a good ways away from the GSC and the hotspot, the two points that generate magma. Also, we found what looks to be a fracture in the crust that was oblique to the other faults that we've seen. We're hoping this might be a stress fracture, which would be relevant to proving or disproving some of the hypotheses discussed in our proposal (which you can read here).

Miguel, Karen, and Dan enjoy the view of Pinta.

Tonight we’re looking forward to a surf and turf barbeque. The Chief Engineer is preparing steaks and swordfish (yum!) on the grill out on the deck.

Angela, Miguel and Dan out on the bow.

Will Schlitzer and Mike Carbone hanging out on deck with a view of Pinta in the background.

Saturday May 22nd, 2010

Today was a relatively calm day as we continued to collect gravity, magnetic, and bathymetric data in the southwest corner of the region. For most of today we were traveling in a northwest direction and consequently were going with the current. This meant that we had pretty smooth sailing!

Will Cushman analyzing sonar data

One of the computer screens we monitor 24/7 includes sonar data from the MR1 we are towing behind the ship. The MR1 sends a sound wave to the sea floor, and depending on how hard the surface is, the sound waves are received back at different times. Highly reflective hard surfaces show up black whereas more sedimented areas (less reflective) show up lighter in color. We will use these data to determine where the best places to dredge will be. An example of these images is included below. The black areas are hard fresh edges of lava flows, whereas the lighter areas indicate flat sedimented features.

Sonar Data

The map below shows the course we have been following. As we "mow the lawn" and travel back and forth along these lines we collect bathymetric and sonar data of the sea floor, creating much more detailed maps than have ever been made for this area. We have been finding many new and interesting features along the way. The especially interesting ones we mark on a plastic overlay.

Course map

In the science meeting we finally decided on a name for the cruise. After listening to over a dozen ideas, the team settled on the name FLAMINGO which stands for Formation of Lineaments and Anomalous Magmatism In the Northern Galapagos Ocean.

The science meeting

After the meeting, Angela gave a talk on the research she is doing with the Charles Darwin Research Station in the Galapagos. She introduced us to how the El Nino and La Nina weather patterns are having a substantial effect on the biodiversity of the region.

Angela giving her talk

In our off hours...

In our free time, some of the undergrads enjoyed our first dip in the ship's hot tub. Using water that helps to keep the engines cool, the hot tub provides a comfortable spot to catch some sun and enjoy the fresh air. We also enjoy playing cards on deck, playing ring toss, and catching some sun.

Some scientists and crew enjoying the hot tub

Scientists and crew playing Uno

Hanging out

Some crew members playing ring toss

aerial view of the game

Features of the day include the TowCam and hot tub.

May 21 2010

Today is day two of having the MR1 sonar in the water and our watches have become much more interesting. We are getting a lot of data in from the MR1 and from the multi-beam bathymetry and are even beginning to mark out good spots for dredging. There have been a few minor bumps but nothing too unexpected.

The MR1 being lowered into the water

We did our first turn last night, which went well, we turned at a 6 degree angle for 15 minutes, then steamed a bit, then did another 90 degree turn, in order to make a full 180 degree turn. When it is time to turn, someone from the watch calls up to the bridge and tells the officer on watch or the captain when to turn and then when the turn is complete they call back and tell them when to straighten out again. It turns out our satellite that connects to the internet is blocked by the ship’s mast when we are heading northwest so we will not have internet about every other day. We have been standing watch for 5 days now so it seems like people are beginning to get used to their strange sleep schedules.

The screens where all the sonar data comes up

We have been able to see Darwin and Wolf islands for the past two days, which was nice after not seeing land for three whole days! Today we were really close to Wolf Island and were able to see sea caves, birds, and someone even saw a couple hammerhead sharks! It was really cool! We will not pass by another island until Pinta, which is a larger island than both Wolf and Darwin, but we will not pass that way for a couple days. It is strange looking out and not seeing land in any direction, but also makes you appreciate the beauty of the open sea.

The captain and some crew members have been calling us polliwogs lately, we found out that people who have not sailed across the equator are called polliwogs and those that have are called shellbacks. Apparently there is a big ceremony when we do cross the equator but it is top secret. The only thing we know is that it is supposed to be fun and a little embarrassing. We are all excited and anxious to see what happens!

We are also excited to finally be collecting and interpreting data.

The A-Frame at sunset


Mike enjoying the sunset

For the next installment of the "Crew Corner" we interviewed the Captain. You can find that here: http://galapagos-expedition.blogspot.com/p/crew-corner.html

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Hi, sorry this is a day late coming up! It appears that every time we travel NW (which will be about half the time we're out here) we won't be getting much in the way of internet. Now that we know that, we'll try to make sure we get posts up for the day before we lose our connection.

05/20 (sunrise)

Today has been fairly eventful. After nearly two days of transit we finally reached our destination in the Northern Galapagos. Early this morning, the crew on watch helped the Hawaii mapping group deploy the MR1 sidescan (for more info on the sidescan and the Hawaii Mapping Research Group, follow this link: http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/HMRG/index.php), and later redeployed "Maggie" - the magnetometer - and we started "mowing the lawn" - sweeping back and forth across the region. Watches are now busy as we collect Multibeam bathymetry, MR1, and Mag data, make initial interpretations of the sea-floor we are mapping in preparation for the dredging we will do later on in the cruise.

MR1 being deployed (below)

Today was also exciting as we saw land for the first time in a couple days! Late this afternoon we cruised by the tiny Darwin and Wolf islands - both remnants of the volcanic processes that we're researching. Tomorrow morning we'll pass by them again even more closely. It will be the last time we see land for a couple weeks.

Darwin Island: Home to LOTS of birds (above)

Wolf Island (above)

As might have been mentioned before, we also have science meetings every day at 3pm. During the meetings we discuss what we've been up to on all of our watches as a way to stay connected to the group as a whole. We've also had a couple really interesting presentations already. Yesterday Dorsey - a member of the Hawaii group - told us about her participation in the search for the wreckage of Flight 447, the AirFrance flight that went down last year in the Atlantic on its way from Rio to Paris. Today Daniel - an Ecuadorian biologist - gave a presentation on his PhD disseration on Black Coral.

We're also starting a blog feature today that will be continuing on a periodic basis over the next month. Head over to the Crew Corner page to check out our first crew interview, with one of the crew members who we interact with the most, Drew. http://galapagos-expedition.blogspot.com/p/crew-corner.html

05/20 Sunset (below)

Mat 19. 2010

Today was another transit day, as we steadily approach our study area in the northern Galapagos. The weather has been very cloudy, which makes for more pleasant work on deck. During the science meeting today, we had to postpone a talk by our biologist, Daniel, due to blasting noises from the outside as rust was removed. To the rescue was Steve, one of the members of HMRG (Hawaii Mapping Research Group), showing us the side-scan sonar (pictured left) that will be deployed tomorrow morning. The side-scan sonar produces a black and white image that represents how much sound was reflected from a given area. High-reflectivity can indicate exposed, hard rock surfaces, while low reflectivity can show an area covered in sediment. The side-scan sonar is torpedo shaped, at 12 feet long, and 3800 pounds. Once it is deployed, we can better determine where to dredge later in the cruise, as we will want hard, volcanic rocks on seamounts.

Cam in exposure suit, after setting a new Colgate record for time taken to put on: 33.5 sec.

We were also briefed on exposure suits today (pictured above). They are neoprene suits that prevent hypothermia in case one is forced to go overboard. While hypothermia is not a huge risk in the Galapagos, it is still a necessary safety precaution to learn about.

We have also posted an update about the Galley, so check it out: http://galapagos-expedition.blogspot.com/p/ship-rooms.html

UPDATE: 18 May 2010

Hello all,

It’s our third day at sea, but we’ve still got a day and a half until we reach our study area. Once we get there we can start taking data that we can actually use. Almost there…

The past couple of days have basically been a test run to let people get used to their weird sleep schedules (looking at you, 12 – 4 watch!) and work out any bugs in the equipment.Turns out, it's pretty good we've had this buffer time because we've needed it to get some technical kinks worked out. We've also been learning how to do some things around the ship and today some of the science crew helped bring in the magnetometer. Pretty cool.

Today we traveled about 470 kilometers (300 miles) despite having to deviate off course a little bit to avoid a fishing vessel. That puts us about 700 kilometers (440 miles) from the coast and any nearest land. It's kind of crazy looking around and seeing nothing but water. So far we haven’t seen too many exciting features as we’ve been testing out the equipment for mapping the ocean floor, but we’ve been really excited for the four or five seamounts that we’ve encountered.

So, to let you guys get an idea of what we're up to and what being on the ship is like, we're going to start running some features. We'll start out pretty straight-forward, but I'm sure they'll get a little more out there as cabin fever starts to set in.

So...first up, we'll introduce you to some spaces on the ship. Today we've got...[drum roll]

The Main Science Lab: http://galapagos-expedition.blogspot.com/p/ship-rooms.html