August 20:
This morning, I woke up early for my watch to go and take photos using the ROPOS camera while it was diving. The purpose of this dive was to replace an old osmotic water sampler, FLOBNC, and a “mosquito” flow meter. During this dive, I had to step onto the deck because of nausea, but immediately spotted a pod of Dahl’s Dolphins, which was a silver lining.
In the afternoon, the student group toured the engine room, which was very interesting due to how unique the R/V Thompson’s engine set up is.
In the evening, I had another ROPOS watch which consisted of bringing a new CTD to Southern Hydrate Ridge and plugging it into the MJO1B – a medium power junction box.
August 19:
This morning my watch group and I woke up around 0330 and reported to the ROPOS room. We participated in logging events while watching the ROPOS crew replace an instrument at the Oregon Offshore Site.
During the dive, we observed lots of benthic marine life including Anemones, Halibut, and Lingcod. After this dive, we waited as the R/V Thompson transited to a new site.
I spent most of the day fighting seasickness but was able to shake it before logging another ROPOS dive. The ROPOS cameras imaged a lot of cool life on this dive including a Blue Shark, Oarfish, and a lot of deep-sea crabs.
While I was on watch for this dive, the ROPOS crew skillfully unplugged several of the cables from some old seismic monitoring equipment.
August 18
Yesterday, the group of students left from the University of Washington after a short delay due to missing car keys. After a long drive, we finally arrived at the NOAA dock in Newport, Oregon.
Once we were onboard, we were given a tour and told many details about our responsibilities for the voyage. Later, I was able to watch two Osmotic Water Samplers (OSMOIA101) being put together. Today, we went through safety instructions and took a tour of the ROPOS control room and ROPOS ROV. I am looking forward to the first ROV dive later tonight which will be around 80 meters deep on the Oregon continental shelf. Hopefully, the dive will provide insight into ideas for the student project.