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Manganese Mania
Author: Nick MathewsHost Vessel: R/V Kilo Moana
My first few days on the R/V Kilo Moana (KM) involved doing whatever was needed at the dock. First, I started helping the R/V Ka’imikai-O-Kanaloa (KOK) which was going to head out to sea the same day as the KM, but for very different reasons. It had been sitting at the dock for over a year recovering from some major engine problems. Now it was getting ready to do some sea trials to see if it was capable of lengthy cruises again. It had been awhile since the ship’s winches and wires were used so some of the techs from the KM and I helped do a pull test on the wire to calibrate the load cell (which measures wire tension). Since we were at the dock, we got creative with it and hooked up the wire to a giant forklift on dock. It looked like we were trying to tow the forklift into the water, but we were just using the weight of the forklift to put tension on the wire. We hooked up an external load cell to the system and gave the forklift a big tug. After calibrating the wire for several incremented tensions, we called it a day. We were lucky that at the very last minute we thought of putting a foot on the brake of the forklift before we started pulling or else there would have been a very expensive splash.
After helping the guys on the KOK I went back to my ship, the KM, and helped the German scientists load their equipment for their Manganese Nodule surveying cruise. This is a six week cruise and they have a lot of equipment that I’ve never seen before like a giant box core, a huge multi-core, a large camera sled, a big basket dredge, and a humungous epi-benthic sled. I’ll explain it all later in greater detail.
Before I knew it, we were cruising southwest in the direction of Mexico! The study area is 4-8 days cruising from Honolulu so we had plenty of time to kill. I spent the time watching over the other tech’s shoulders as I got acquainted with new systems on the Kilo Moana and recalled systems that look similar to what I was used to on the Thompson. I also did my research on what makes the Kilo Moana unique: its Small Water Plane Twin Hull (SWATH) design, which makes for a really steady ride. Even in rougher sea states, it just feels like you’re on a subway with minor jerks and twists.
The transit went by really fast. We started off with a camera sled. This is absolutely new to me, so I stood back and watched for the first deployment and recovery. As we did it more and more I started helping out a little more, with handling lines and deck equipment. The main reason I didn’t jump right in is because this ship operates completely differently than the Thompson, so I made sure I understood the role of the marine tech very well. My mentors, Steve and Rob, explained to me that the Kilo Moana uses different hand signals for the crane, that you need explicit permission from the bridge before starting any operation, and most importantly that the marine tech is in charge of all deployments and recoveries of science equipment. This is different from the Thompson where the marine tech was only in charge of CTD deployments and recoveries. So, after a few days I was starting to ‘learning the ropes’ of the Kilo Moana deck operations, and once I started to feel comfortable enough to start being more involved, everything starts going downhill.
Not even a week into science operations on this six week cruise, one of our AB’s has a medical emergency and we have to go all the way back to Hawaii to drop him off. This is unfortunate for so many reasons, but the lesson learned is that there is no predicting what will happen out at sea. As a marine tech, scientist or crew member, we need to be prepared for absolutely everything.
The next day was my birthday, and the cooks made me a really nice birthday cheesecake and I opened a few birthday cards that my family had given me before I left in January. The crew was nice enough not to embarrass me by singing to me. I also got an extra hour of sleep, because we were heading west, towards Hawaii, and that was the best birthday present I’ve ever received. My first birthday at sea was a happy one and it improved morale a little bit, after learning that we were losing 8 days of science due to this medevac.
It took us four days to get back to the closest Hawaiian port, Hilo. One interesting thing about this port call was that we were one crew member short, so I was enlisted to fill the vacancy. This meant that I was helping with the docking procedure which included throwing the mooring lines to the guys on the dock, pulling it tight with a capstan and fastening the line to the bits on the deck. Then I helped with craning the gangway in place. It sounds simple enough, but when we’re dealing with tying down a 186’ long hunk of floating steel, it can be intense. The mooring lines are as thick as my arm and are pulled to very high tensions. There is no room for error as it can get dangerous very quickly.
After we tied down the ship and put the gangway across, we had another mission: refueling. Since we added a lot more cruising than we originally planned, we figured we might run out of fuel before we get back, so we had to get ready to take on fuel. My involvement in this was to help lay out the fuel boom around the ship to contain any spilt fuel and prevent an environmental disaster if a leak occurred during the refueling process. It was pretty straightforward; we had a small boat circle the ship while towing the boom.
A few short hours past, we performed the medevac, loaded some supplies from one of UH’s small supply ships, finished refueling, and started heading back out to the next study area which was eight days away! I got to help out again as we left the dock, but once we were underway, it was a waiting game.
Altogether, this medevac cost us eight days of science, and thanks to the great administration of UH, they were able to extend the cruise from six weeks to seven weeks for the scientists. So they will get to do most of the science they had planned.
We kept busy by maintaining the underway science systems. Steve showed me how to set up the meteorological data collection, start logging the multibeam bathymetry, and we put out a magnetometer to record the magnetic signature of the seafloor. These were all especially important, because we were going across an area where there is very sparse magnetics, bathymetric and meteorological data.
This transit did not go without its own problems, though. First, our multibeam bathymetry system underwent a routine hardware self-test and came back with a failure. Something was wrong with one of the boards in the giant rack of processing computers. We tried replacing it and it went dead! Nothing else we could do about that.
Second, our magnetometer stopped working, so we reeled it in and it came back with several deep shark bites. It bit through the Overhauser sensor and when we went to take the case off of the magnetometer it started spewing out methanol which was an indication that the sensor had been ruined. A little bit of methanol got in my mouth and, being a hypochondriac, I immediately emailed my mommy and went to the ship’s doctor. It turns out that I’ll be fine, but the magnetometer is down for the count.
Third, the Kilo Moana is brilliantly designed in a lot of different ways, except one. Every time you need to switch which type of wire is going through the block on the A-Frame, you need to cut the end off so it’ll fit and then reterminate the wire. This is time consuming, but it gives me a lot of opportunity to watch and practice the termination methods. So far I’ve gotten experience with feige fittings for trawl wire, normal serial feed conductors in .322 and .680 wires, and even learned how to terminate fiber cables for the .681 wire.
When it comes to winches and wires and cables, I’ve gotten a lot of experience troubleshooting and learning from user error in the past four months. Unfortunately, the best way to learn about something, in depth, is to have it break or be misused and have to fix it.
During the transit back to the study area, we were spooling on the .681 wire so we could spool out the trawl wire for the next operation. This involves passing it through the deck of the 02 level where the spool is, having it enter the winch room, run through the traction winch a couple of times, then out across the main deck and through three massive blocks in the A-Frame. There is no line of site to keep an eye on every part of the wire during this procedure, so good communication is necessary to do it safely and effectively and avoid having the wire bunch up in any one section.
So, as we were attempting to spool the trawl wire, we noticed that the controls weren’t moving the traction winch. We kept pushing the lever out more and more to see if it just needed some more juice, but no reply. Meanwhile, nobody was up on the 02 deck and we didn’t know what was going on up there. So it turns out that only the spool on the 02 deck was turning because we hadn’t had a switch in the right place. Once we realized that we were probably spooling out wire on the 02 deck we ran up to the trawl wire spool and realized we had bird-caged it. If you’ve ever gone fishing, you know this is one of the worst things that can happen to a spool of wire. It took us all afternoon in the blazing sun to correct this mishap.
Currently we are in the dark about another problem that seems to have fixed itself. We were going about our daily business and all of a sudden we went to start up the winch for an operation and it showed no ‘proof of tension’. What this means is that the traction winch (the middle man between the spool and the load hanging off the ship) is feeling the weight of the load, but not feeling the pull of the storage drum. In order for the traction winch to do its job, it needs to have tension on both sides, and the ‘proof of tension’ light is indicative of having the proper amount of tension to operate. Therefore, when the light doesn’t come on, it means that either the storage drum’s hydraulics is damaged or that there is an electrical issue.
As I said, this problem seems to have fixed itself, and what I mean by that is that it suddenly started working after poking the relay switches in a junction box. Lucky as we may be, we are still very cautious about having it happen again. The current orders are to leave it running at all times since restarting the hydraulics seems to have done something to have triggered the problem with the proof of tension. We suspect it was an electrical problem. However, in the scheme of things, science equipment failure isn’t the worst thing that can happen out here.
In this case we are thousands of miles from the closest civilization, and there is nothing out here except that what we took with us. We are further from civilization than the astronauts on the International Space Station. It is a very sobering fact to be at the mercy of the giant unforgiving ocean and it’s a fact that we all must come to live with. In the case of a nearby Chinese fishing vessel, they lost everything that they brought with them in a fire that ended up sinking their ship, stranding them on a life raft in the middle of this endless oceanic abyss. Since we were the closest vessel to them, and we happen to have a medical doctor on board, we were called by the coast guard to go attend to their burn victims and drop them off in Mexico. This would have been the end of our cruise all together as it would have taken weeks to do this. Somehow, we lucked out of this operation when the Air Force took over the rescue operation by flying a helicopter over 1000 miles to save them. That is an amazing feat for a helicopter and it was a risky operation, but they succeeded. We were only on this mission for a couple of hours before we got called off, but I am really glad we didn’t have to deal with another traumatic medical emergency. I am now even more aware of the reality of the danger of working at sea in the middle of nowhere.
The coup de grâce to all of the mess that has happened on this now seven week German cruise so far came in the form of sewage water flooding all of the heads on the lower two levels of the ship. Straight out of a nightmare; somebody came out of a bathroom screaming that there was sewage everywhere. Lo’ and behold, the engineers had flushed the sewage in reverse, which means that instead of flushing the sewage overboard, they flushed it, with the speed of a fire hose, up into the plumbing of the ship and out the toilets. The result: four inches deep of toxic sewage water in the heads of some of our staterooms and all of the public heads. It was sloshing around with the roll of the ship, spilt over into the carpets in the staterooms, got into the walls, trickled down the hallways, was tracked around by people walking through it, and dripped down the ladders.
Science stopped once again. The mission was cleaning up the ship and making it livable again. Since no science was happening, I pitched in, doing my duty as a member of the ship, I donned a full-body Tivex suit, latex gloves and booties and started cleaning an epic mess. We used shop vacs to suck out the sewage water from the heads and dumped it overboard. There was an actual bucket brigade of sewage water going through the ship. Talk about building camaraderie.
After a few hours of doing this, and spreading as much bleach as possible, I was recruited to go help the chief engineer down in the pump room with removing the old pump and replacing it with a new one. This pump was extremely heavy and there was also sewage sloshing around down in this room, so I was slipping and sliding all over the place. Eventually we got it replaced and I went outside to get out of my Tivex suit. I think I had lost about five pounds through sweating, but I think I earned a little more respect from the crew.
The lasting effects of this spill were that we had to rip up a lot of carpet and basically keep an eye out for more sewage that might be seeping out of the walls. Our staterooms were a biohazard site during the day, but after hours of bleaching and cleaning we felt somewhat comfortable sleeping in there. Thankfully, the rooms will be professionally cleaned and the walls will be taken out and cleaned once we get back to port, but unfortunately this incident occurred before the halfway point of our seven week cruise.
After all of these setbacks, I think I am starting to get a real understanding of the pros and cons of working on a ship. There are a lot of different perspectives that people can take about stories like the ones in this blog, but I’m observing that these extreme situations definitely can bring out the best in some people and if not, it definitely builds character. I’m still loving what I do, every day!
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Blog Archives
December 2022
Week 8: Final Week aboard the Armstrong! - 12/16/2022Week 7: INSURV - 12/10/2022
Week 6: Inspections, 3D prints and CTD Terminations! - 12/03/2022
November 2022
Week 5: End of OOI and Happy Thanksgiving! - 11/27/2022Week 4: Finishing OOI Leg 1, Jumping straight into Leg 2! - 11/18/2022
Week 3: Leg 1 of the Final Coastal Pioneer Array OOI Cruise - 11/11/2022
Week 2: Terminations Terminations Terminations! - 11/04/2022
October 2022
Week 1: CTD lanyards, Linux, Mario Kart, Oh Yea! - 10/28/2022Pre- Internship stop in Iceland - 10/21/2022
Pre-Internship Introduction - 10/14/2022
September 2022
Walton Smith Week 16: Finishing running cable, closing the RoxBox, replacing sensors, and .322 terminations - 09/05/2022Week 15: Beginnings and Ends, Establishing a Network - 09/01/2022
August 2022
Walton Smith Week 15: Running cables, creating terminations, replacing sensors, and learning lots more! - 08/29/2022Week 14: In the Tween Deck, Wires, Terminations, Deconstructing and Reassembling CTD - 08/27/2022
Walton Smith Week 14: Final Engine install and dressing as well as side quests - 08/22/2022
Week 13: Getting the starboard engine onboard and mounted - 08/21/2022
Walton Smith Week 13: Cleaning bilges, mounting the port engine, and dressing it - 08/15/2022
Week 12: Bilges, Engine Mounts, and Rox Box Struggles - 08/12/2022
Week 7 - Syenna Graham - 08/11/2022
Walton Smith Week 12: Cleaning bilges and placing the engine onboard - 08/08/2022
Week 11: Forklifts, A-frames, Cranes, and a Big Ol' Engine - 08/06/2022
Week 6 - Syenna Graham - 08/04/2022
Walton Smith Week 11: Removal of the engine mounts and cleaning the bilge - 08/01/2022
July 2022
Week 10: Cleaning Bilges, Mounting Wifi, Running Cable - 07/29/2022Week 5 - Syenna Graham - 07/28/2022
Walton Smith Week 10: Removal of the engines - 07/25/2022
Week 9: Successfully Removing Both Engines - 07/24/2022
Week 4 - Syenna Graham - 07/21/2022
Walton Smith Week 9: Disassembling the engine - 07/18/2022
Week 8: Deconstructing the Port Side Engine - 07/14/2022
Week 3 - Syenna Graham - 07/14/2022
Walton Smith Week 8: Starting the engine project and improving our Wi-Fi - 07/11/2022
Week 7: POSMV, Wifi, and Welding - 07/07/2022
Walton Smith Week 7: Diving into individual jobs and ending the week on a good note - 07/04/2022
Last week with WHOI-JASON team! - 07/01/2022
Week 2 - Syenna Graham - 07/01/2022
June 2022
Week 6: Taking on projects making an A/C unit and step, while deconstructing the CTD - 06/30/2022Walton Smith Week 6: Lots of Good Memories and and Learning More - 06/27/2022
5th Week with JASON - 06/24/2022
Week 5: Removing Erroneous Electronic Components, Replacing A/C Units, and Fighting Ants - 06/23/2022
R/V Sharp week 4 - 06/23/2022
Week 1 - Syenna Graham - 06/21/2022
Walton Smith Week 5: Lots of poop (human and rodent, as well as grey water) but finished off on a good note - 06/20/2022
Last week on the Escanaba Cruise - 06/16/2022
Week 4: Making connections to the Network and Plumbing Projects - 06/16/2022
Week 4 R/V Sharp - 06/15/2022
Introduction - Syenna Graham - 06/14/2022
Walton Smith Week 4: Completing many jobs for the Marine Tech, Chief Engineer, and Bos'n - 06/13/2022
3rd Week with JASON - 06/11/2022
Week 3: Learning Network Infrastructure, Data Acquisition, and Working on Small Projects - 06/09/2022
Walton Smith Week 3: Learning about networking and completing jobs around the ship - 06/06/2022
Week 3 R/V Sharp - 06/05/2022
2nd week with WHOI - 06/04/2022
Week 2: Prepping for engine overhaul F.G. Walton Smith - 06/02/2022
May 2022
WEEK 3: R/V Sharp - 05/31/2022Week 2 R/V Sharp - 05/30/2022
Walton Smith Week 2: Finishing the second cruise - 05/30/2022
First week with the JASON team - 05/27/2022
Week 1: First Trip with the F.G. Walton Smith - 05/26/2022
WEEK 2: R/V Sharp - 05/24/2022
Walton Smith Week 1: Arrival and first cruises - 05/23/2022
Preparing to venture out! - 05/20/2022
Week 1 R/V Sharp - 05/19/2022
Week 1 R/V Sharp - 05/19/2022
Pre-Cruise Introduction - 05/16/2022
Introduction - 05/12/2022
Introduction - 05/10/2022
Pre-Cruise Introduction - 05/05/2022
April 2022
Leg 2 of OOI Pioneer 18 and Internship Conclusion - 04/30/2022Excitement from Leg 1 of OOI Pioneer 18 - 04/19/2022
Week 2: Time in Port and Beginning of OOI Pioneer 18 - 04/11/2022
Week 1: First Cruise - 04/04/2022
March 2022
Pre-internship: Introduction - 03/22/2022February 2022
Week 7: The End - 02/26/2022Working on the RV Sikuliaq - some pics - 02/17/2022
Week 6: Setting Sail - 02/15/2022
Week 5: Finally Floating - 02/09/2022
Week 4: Drydock part two: Electric Boogaloo - 02/02/2022
January 2022
Week 3: Drydock part one - 01/24/2022Week 2: Stormy Seas - 01/14/2022
First Week(kind of): Alaska - 01/05/2022
December 2021
Pre-Internship Intro Blog - 12/29/2021September 2021
Weeks 10 and 11 - 09/17/2021Week 9: Loading Alvin - 09/08/2021
Week 8 - 09/01/2021
August 2021
Day 38 - 08/19/2021Week 5 with Alvin - 08/11/2021
Week 5: Arrival - 08/11/2021
Week 6 - 08/11/2021
Day 28 - 08/09/2021
Week 4: To and Through the Panama Canal - 08/06/2021
Day 23 - 08/04/2021
Week 4 with the Alvin team - 08/03/2021
3rd Week at Sea (In Route to Panama) - 08/02/2021
Week 3: A Sweaty Set Up - 08/01/2021
July 2021
Weeks 2 and 3: Electrical Testing - 07/30/2021Day 18 - 07/30/2021
2nd Week at Sea (Anacortes, WA to SF, CA) - 07/26/2021
Week 2: Methane Seeps! - 07/25/2021
Day 12 - 07/24/2021
1st Week at Sea - 07/18/2021
Day 5 - 07/17/2021
Week 1 of My Internship - 07/14/2021
Week 1: Predeparture - 07/12/2021
Introduction - 07/11/2021
Getting Ready to Fly Out - 07/05/2021
Sailing off on a New Horizon - 07/01/2021
December 2020
Week 35 & 36: On The Walton Smith - 12/11/2020Week 45: Wrapping things up - 12/11/2020
Week 44: Soldering Penetrators - 12/04/2020
November 2020
Week 43: Cleaning and Holidays - 11/27/2020Week 42: Video Killed the Video Hub? - 11/20/2020
Week 41: Messy Work - 11/13/2020
Week 40: In the Ring - 11/06/2020
Week 34: On The Walton Smith - 11/02/2020
October 2020
Week 39: Some of the Pieces Come Together - 10/30/2020Week 38: Verification and Inventory - 10/23/2020
Week 37: More Moving and Wires - 10/16/2020
Week 33: On The Walton Smith - 10/12/2020
Week 36: Circuit Board Soldering - 10/09/2020
Week 32: On The Walton Smith - 10/05/2020
Week 35: Soldering work - 10/02/2020
September 2020
Week 31: On The Walton Smith - 09/28/2020Week 34: Headphones and Loud Noises - 09/25/2020
Week 30: On The Walton Smith - 09/21/2020
Week 33: Circuits! - 09/18/2020
Week 29: On The Walton Smith - 09/14/2020
Week 32: Running in Circles with Motor Controllers - 09/11/2020
Week 28: On The Walton Smith - 09/09/2020
Week 31: Simulating Alvin - 09/04/2020
Week 27: On The Walton Smith - 09/02/2020
August 2020
Week 30: Under Pressure - 08/28/2020Week 26: On The Walton Smith - 08/24/2020
Week 29: Soldering in Circles - 08/21/2020
Week 25: On The Walton Smith - 08/18/2020
Week 28: Smaller Disassembly - 08/14/2020
Week 27: Fail to Pass - 08/07/2020
Week 24: On The Walton Smith - 08/07/2020
Week 23: On The Walton Smith - 08/06/2020
Week 22: On The Walton Smith - 08/05/2020
July 2020
Week 26: Real Work with Real Problems - 07/31/2020Week 25: Start and Stop - 07/24/2020
Week 24: Fuses and Writing - 07/17/2020
Week 21: On The Walton Smith - 07/14/2020
Week 20: On the Walton Smith - 07/13/2020
Week 23:Keep on Working - 07/10/2020
Week 22: Starting Maintenance Projects - 07/03/2020
Week 18-19: On the Walton Smith - 07/03/2020
June 2020
Week 21: Preparing the Shop - 06/26/2020Week 20: Life without Alvin - 06/19/2020
Week 17: On the Walton Smith - 06/16/2020
Week 16: On the Walton Smith - 06/12/2020
Week 19: Alvin? What Alvin? - 06/12/2020
Week 18: Very Little Sub Left - 06/05/2020
Week 15: On the Walton Smith - 06/03/2020
May 2020
Week 17: Continued Alvin Deconstruction - 05/29/2020Week 14: On the Walton Smith - 05/27/2020
Week 16: Barely There Alvin - 05/22/2020
Week 13: On the Walton Smith - 05/20/2020
Week 15: Alvin Insides - 05/16/2020
Week 12: On the walton smith - 05/13/2020
Week 14: Return to Work - 05/09/2020
Week 11: On the walton smith - 05/06/2020
Week 13: Read On - 05/03/2020
April 2020
Week 10: On the walton smith - 04/29/2020Week 12: The Reading Continues - 04/26/2020
Week 9: On the walton smith - 04/22/2020
Week 11: More Reading - 04/19/2020
Week 8: On the walton smith - 04/14/2020
Week 10: Continued At Home Reading - 04/12/2020
Week 7: Saying Goodbye - 04/10/2020
Weeks 6 & 7: On The Walton Smith - 04/07/2020
Week 9: At Home Research - 04/05/2020
March 2020
Week 6: Heading Home - 03/30/2020Week 8: On Ship, Off Ship - 03/29/2020
Week 7: The Alvin Has Landed - 03/22/2020
Week 5: Changing out an Antenna - 03/22/2020
Week 5: Thinking Mud, Part II - 03/21/2020
Week 4: On the Walton smith - 03/16/2020
Week 6: Finishing Up At Sea - 03/15/2020
Week 2: Constant Change - 03/14/2020
Week 3: Preparing For Haul Out - 03/11/2020
Week 2: First time out - 03/10/2020
Weeks 3&4: Thinking Mud - 03/10/2020
Week 5: Smooth Seas Do Not Make Skillful Sailors - 03/08/2020
Week 1: Welcome to Bermuda - 03/07/2020
Week 4: Work, Work, Work - 03/01/2020
February 2020
Week 2: Barbados - 02/26/2020Week 1: Arrived at the Walton Smith - 02/24/2020
Week 3: Out and Back Again - 02/23/2020
Pre Cruise Introduction - 02/19/2020
Week 1: Aboard the Endeavor and off to Barbados - 02/17/2020
Week 2: Finally Underway - 02/16/2020
Pre-Cruise Introduction - 02/10/2020
Week 1: On board (kinda) - 02/09/2020
Pre-Cruise Introduction - 02/03/2020
Pre-Cruise Introduction - 02/01/2020
November 2019
Week 10: Homeward Bound - 11/02/2019October 2019
Week 8: Conte Cruise - 10/31/2019Week 9: Gulf of Alaska - 10/26/2019
Week 7: Second BATS Cruise - 10/24/2019
Week 8: Port Call - 10/19/2019
Week 6: Wilhelm Cruise - 10/17/2019
Week 7: Sea Gliders - 10/12/2019
Week 5: Return to Bermuda - 10/10/2019
Week 6: Marginal Ice Zone - 10/05/2019
Week 4: BATSVAL Cruise and Puerto Rico - 10/03/2019
September 2019
Week 5: Back to Beaufort Sea - 09/28/2019Week 3: Port Days - 09/26/2019
Week 4: Ice Station - 09/20/2019
Week 2: Humberto - 09/19/2019
Week 3: Sea Ice - 09/13/2019
Week 1: First Cruise - 09/12/2019
Week 2: Bering Sea - 09/07/2019
Week 16 - 09/05/2019
Test Blog - Preparation and Arrival - 09/04/2019
End of Internship - 09/04/2019
Last Cruise aboard the RV Atlantic Explorer - 09/01/2019
August 2019
Week 1: Dutch Harbor - 08/31/2019So Long Reykjanes Ridge - 08/30/2019
FINAL WEEK on Healy- no longer an Iceworm - 08/26/2019
Last Multiple Day Cruise - 08/25/2019
Week 14 - 08/24/2019
Week 4 on Healy - Near the end of HLY1901 - 08/19/2019
Week 4 On the Healy - 08/19/2019
Second to Last Cruise - 08/18/2019
Week 11 - 08/13/2019
Week 3 on Healy - HLY1901 - 08/12/2019
Roughest weather since I've been in Bermuda - 08/11/2019
Week 3 on the Healy-First week of science - 08/11/2019
Week 2 on Healy - Kodiak to Nome and Science - 08/06/2019
Holiday in Bermuda - 08/04/2019
Week 2 on Healy - 08/04/2019
July 2019
Week 10 - 07/31/2019First Blog Post - 07/30/2019
Week 1 on Healy - Seattle to Kodiak - 07/29/2019
Week 1 Healy - 07/29/2019
NSF Inspection - 07/28/2019
Modern life at sea - 07/24/2019
Sweet somber sailing - 07/22/2019
Bermuda Atlantic Time Series Study - 07/21/2019
Learning From Different Perspectives - 07/21/2019
Introduction - 07/20/2019
Birthday on Board - 07/16/2019
Pre-Internship Introduction - 07/16/2019
XBT gonna give it to ya - 07/15/2019
Week 9 - 07/15/2019
Always Saying Yes to Learning Experiences - 07/14/2019
First Week in Bermuda - 07/14/2019
The speed of sound - 07/11/2019
Week 2, What to Do - 07/08/2019
Week 2 - Ping it on - 07/08/2019
Reality on a research vessel - 07/04/2019
The Midnight Sun Has Set on Week 1 - 07/02/2019
Week 1 in the N. Atlantic - 07/01/2019
June 2019
Orienting ourselves on an ocean mapping cruise - 06/24/2019Week Six: The Final Week on the R/V Hugh R. Sharp - 06/24/2019
Pre-Cruise: Preparing for a Month Under the Icelandic Midnight Sun - 06/23/2019
Don't mind if I do... - 06/21/2019
Week 7 - 06/19/2019
Week Five: The Last Week of the Scallop Survey - 06/15/2019
Week 5 - This is how the survey ends - 06/15/2019
Week Four: Lost in the Abyss - 06/08/2019
Week 5 - 06/05/2019
Week Three: Eat. Sleep. Dredge. Repeat - 06/01/2019
May 2019
Week 4 - 05/29/2019Week 2 - Scallop Survey Shuffle - 05/28/2019
Week Two: Endless HABCAM - 05/25/2019
Week 3 - 05/22/2019
Week One- The Beginning - 05/18/2019
Happy HABCAM'ing - 05/18/2019
Week 2 - 05/15/2019
Pre-Intern - 05/11/2019
Pre-cruise test - 05/10/2019
Week 1 - 05/08/2019
November 2018
Week 5: All Good Things Must Come to an End - 11/23/2018Week 4: As the Sun Sets, Winter Awakes. - 11/16/2018
Week 3: Pancakes, Polynyas, and Polar Bears - 11/09/2018
Week 2: Shoot for the STARcS - 11/02/2018
7. Time to Say Goodbye - 11/01/2018
October 2018
Week 1: Up up up and Underway - 10/26/20186. CLIO is on Board - 10/25/2018
Week Five: Inport Dutch Harbor - 10/20/2018
Week Four: Finishing Science Ops and Steaming Towards Dutch - 10/13/2018
Final Week: Full-Circle Reflection - 10/13/2018
5. Back in Bermuda - 10/12/2018
Preparing for an High Arctic Expedition - 10/11/2018
Week Three:80 degrees north - 10/06/2018
4. Arrival in Puerto Rico - 10/05/2018
September 2018
Week Two: The Start of the SODA Moorings. - 09/29/20183. En Route to Puerto Rico - 09/28/2018
Week Twenty-Two: Part of Something Big - 09/23/2018
Week One: Underway from Dutch Harbor and into the realm of the Arctic Circle - 09/22/2018
2. Arrival, but no boat - 09/22/2018
Week Twenty-One: Hello, Old Friend - 09/17/2018
1. Time for an Adventure - 09/14/2018
Pre-Internship Healy 1802 - 09/12/2018
5: The turn of the tide - 09/09/2018
Week Twenty: Last Days In Alaska - 09/09/2018
4 My Final Week with the Alvin Group Aboard the Atlantis - 09/05/2018
Week Nineteen: Aleutian Appreciation - 09/02/2018
August 2018
3 First Week at Sea with the Alvin Group - 08/29/2018Week 3: Ahhh-tlantis - 08/27/2018
4: Into the abyss - 08/26/2018
Week Eighteen: To-Do List - 08/26/2018
Week Seventeen: Staying Cool Under Pressure - 08/20/2018
3: Across the horizon - 08/20/2018
2 Preparation for the Atlantis/Alvin Cruise - 08/20/2018
Week 2: Leaving Land - 08/18/2018
Week 1- On board R/V Atlantis - 08/13/2018
1 Aboard the R/V Atlantis with the Alvin Group - 08/13/2018
2: New beginnings - 08/13/2018
Week Sixteen: Arctic Chill - 08/12/2018
Week Fifteen: Iceworm no Longer - 08/05/2018
1: From one boat to another - 08/05/2018
Anticipating Alvin - 08/03/2018
July 2018
Week Fourteen: Cruising to Kodiak - 07/30/2018Week Thirteen: 47deg N at 85deg F - 07/23/2018
0 Pre-Internship Post: R/V Atlantis - 07/23/2018
Challenging Myself - 07/17/2018
Week 2-aka Last Week at BIOS - 07/15/2018
Week 1-Into the Bermuda Triangle - 07/08/2018
Week Twelve: Troubleshooting - 07/08/2018
Week 1-Into the Bermuda Triangle! - 07/08/2018
Week Eleven: Spruce and Sea Spray - 07/02/2018
June 2018
Pre-Internship Blog Post - 06/29/2018There and Back Again - 06/25/2018
Week Ten: The Quick Turnaround - 06/24/2018
R/V Atlantic Explorer Week 2 - 06/22/2018
Stateside - 06/21/2018
Week Nine: Science and Salvage - 06/17/2018
All Hands On Deck - 06/14/2018
The HABCAM Returns - 06/12/2018
Week Eight: Night Fishing - 06/11/2018
Smooth Seas and Proper Preparation - 06/04/2018
Week Seven: Dirt Don't Hurt - 06/03/2018
May 2018
Higher Latitudes, Lower Temperatures - 05/30/2018Ready to Depart! - 05/29/2018
Week Six: At the Dock - 05/28/2018
Wait it's only been a week? - 05/22/2018
Week Five: Hit Ground and Run - 05/20/2018
Week Four: Countdown to Reykjavik - 05/14/2018
Ready to Depart - 05/13/2018
Week Three: Transit to Iceland - 05/06/2018
April 2018
Week Two: A Return to the Day Shift - 04/29/2018Week One: Rough Seas - 04/22/2018
Arrival - 04/14/2018
November 2017
USCGC Healy - Final Week - 11/19/2017USCGC Healy - Slide into Seward - 11/12/2017
USCGC Healy - Happy Healy-ween! - 11/05/2017
October 2017
USCGC Healy - Science and Seinfeld - 10/29/2017USCGC Healy - Getting Started - 10/22/2017
Saying Goodbye - 10/13/2017
I'm going to name my dog, Niskin! - 10/10/2017
USCGC Healy - Internship Starting Next Week! - 10/08/2017
Don't tell the bears, I'm stuck! - 10/02/2017
Leaving for Puerto Rico- Did I mention Hurricane Maria JUST passed? - 10/01/2017
September 2017
Nature's Discotech - 09/25/2017Cruisin' to the Big City - 09/24/2017
Everyone's grows up sometimes: Holding my own shift - 09/17/2017
Preparing to go meet USCGC Healy - 09/16/2017
Week 3 Aboard the USCGC Healy - 09/12/2017
Storms, Cruise Prep and my First Milli-Q Installation - 09/10/2017
Week 2 Aboard the USCGC Healy - 09/05/2017
Week 5.286 Aboard the Armstrong - 09/04/2017
I've been suspended from a crane! - 09/03/2017
Week 4: Adieu Atlantis - 09/02/2017
Week 5 Aboard the Armstrong - 09/01/2017
August 2017
Week 1 Aboard the USCGC Healy - 08/29/2017Surprise Mooring Cruise - 08/27/2017
Pictures Galore! - 08/25/2017
Week 4 Aboard the Armstrong - 08/25/2017
BATS: Round Two! - 08/20/2017
Week 3 Aboard the Armstrong - 08/18/2017
Pre-Internship USCGC Healy - 08/17/2017
A Welcome Return from Canada - 08/13/2017
Week 3 Aboard the Walton Smith: Everglades, waterways, and CTDs - 08/12/2017
Week 2 Aboard the Armstrong - 08/11/2017
From Bermuda to Halifax, Canada - 08/06/2017
Week 1 Aboard the Armstrong - 08/04/2017
July 2017
Week 2 Aboard the Walton Smith: Tucker Trawls, Shrimp, and Bioluminescence - 07/30/2017On shore in Bermuda - 07/28/2017
Week 1 Aboard the Walton Smith: Knots, Navigation, and CTDs - 07/23/2017
A Welcoming Arrival and First Cruise in Bermuda - 07/21/2017
Before I Set Sail - 07/18/2017
Week 4 on the F. G. Walton Smith - 07/17/2017
Before the internship aboard the F.G Walton Smith - 07/16/2017
Home and an Awaiting Adventure in Bermuda - 07/14/2017
Week 3 on the F. G. Walton Smith - 07/09/2017
Week 2 on the F. G. Walton Smith - 07/03/2017
June 2017
Reflections and my Final Trip on the Pelican - 06/30/2017Week 1 on the F. G. Walton Smith - 06/25/2017
Final Two Weeks: Hurricane Season - 06/22/2017
Week Five: We're on the move - 06/20/2017
Week Five on the R/V Sharp - 06/17/2017
A New Vessel in Mississippi - 06/15/2017
Week 4 -the beginning of the engineering cruse- - 06/14/2017
Florida on the R/V F. G. Walton Smith - 06/11/2017
Week Four on the R/V Sharp - 06/09/2017
Pictures from Scallop Leg 2 - 06/06/2017
Week three is a Little late - 06/06/2017
Beautiful Deep Sea Discoveries- Photos Galor, A MUST Read! - 06/06/2017
Week Three on R/V Sharp - 06/02/2017
May 2017
Deep Water Horizon, Shipwrecks and ROVS - 05/29/2017Its week two on board the Atlantis - 05/28/2017
Week 2 on R/V Sharp - 05/27/2017
Pictures from Scallop Leg 1 - 05/25/2017
First week with the R/V Atlantis - 05/23/2017
Big Wigs and Boat Celebrations in Baton Rouge - 05/22/2017
Week 1 on R/V Sharp - 05/19/2017
Preparation for Internship aboard R/V Atlantis - 05/15/2017
Docks and Landers in the Gulf - 05/15/2017
Getting Ready for my Internship on R/V Hugh R. Sharp - 05/10/2017
First Month Down - 05/08/2017
Mexico, Storms and Drones - 05/01/2017
April 2017
Week Two: The Sound of Pelicans and the Smell of New Orleans! - 04/22/2017Week 1: The Gulf of Mexico and Dolphins! - 04/13/2017
Almost on my Way! - 04/01/2017
October 2016
Conclusions on the R/V Sikuliaq - 10/12/2016September 2016
Sheets and Ice Sheets: Taking the Plunge - 09/16/2016Blog 6: Day 28 - The End in Sight - 09/11/2016
WEEK 9- Breakdown, Bottles and Bees - 09/10/2016
Blog 5: Day 26 - Pictures! - 09/09/2016
CTDs, Sea Ice and Polar Bears - 09/08/2016
Blog 4: Day 22 - White September - 09/05/2016
WEEK 8- Cable Termination, Nearing the End - 09/03/2016
August 2016
Transiting on the R/V Sikuliaq! - 08/30/2016Blog 3: Day 14 - Waiting out the ice - 08/28/2016
WEEK 7- An Unexpected Visit Home - 08/27/2016
Blog 2: Day 7 - I think I see Russia - 08/21/2016
WEEK 6- Alongside - 08/20/2016
Blog 1: Day 0 - Pre-internship post - 08/14/2016
Better late than never - 08/14/2016
WEEK 5- Canceled Cruises, Funeral For Our Fallen Brother - 08/13/2016
Return and Reflect - 08/10/2016
Week 4- Downtime and Tragedy - 08/08/2016
Week 3- South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Cruise - 08/03/2016
Moorings and Transit - 08/03/2016
July 2016
Creatures of the Pockmarks - 07/26/2016Pre-Internship on the R/V Sikuliaq! - 07/25/2016
Week 2-Bioluminescent Sea Creatures - 07/24/2016
Station to Station - 07/20/2016
Week 1 - 07/17/2016
Another successful cruise - 07/17/2016
Backing and Ramming - 07/11/2016
Pre-Internship Blog - 07/07/2016
R/V Sikuliaq Cruise Report - 07/07/2016
Holiday at Sea- Week 1 - 07/04/2016
Quiet times - 07/02/2016
Blog 3, Final - 07/01/2016
June 2016
Introduction and Anticipation - 06/27/2016Pre-Internship Blog Test - 06/26/2016
USCG Healy Internship - Post 2 - 06/24/2016
Week 5 Aboard the R/V Sharp - 06/20/2016
Pre-internship blog - 06/19/2016
BATS Cruise - 06/16/2016
Week 4 Aboard the R/V sharp - 06/14/2016
Back at it - 06/14/2016
Pre-Internship - Post 1 - 06/13/2016
Week 3 Aboard the R/V Sharp - 06/09/2016
Hydrostation Time! - 06/09/2016
The End or the Beginning? - 06/09/2016
A Quick Update - 06/04/2016
Week Three - Back at the Dock - 06/02/2016
Week 2 Aboard the R/V Sharp - 06/02/2016
A Slight Change of Plans - 06/01/2016
May 2016
Week 01 - 05/28/2016Week Two- Change of Plans - 05/26/2016
Week 1 - 05/22/2016
Pre-Internship - 05/22/2016
Land! - 05/20/2016
Week One in the Bermuda Triangle - 05/19/2016
Moving into sediment - 05/14/2016
Pre-Internship - 05/10/2016
Pre-Intern - 05/10/2016
Mapping Complete - 05/06/2016
Seafloor mapping out in the Pacific - 05/03/2016
April 2016
Transit - 04/17/2016Back at sea - 04/09/2016
Picture test - 04/09/2016
Stuck - 04/07/2016
March 2016
Busy busy busy - 03/26/2016Week 1 - 03/13/2016
Pre-internship - 03/02/2016
September 2015
The last few days on R/V Langseth - 09/12/2015Looking for freshwater - 09/06/2015
Week One: The Langseth is hard at work - 09/06/2015
August 2015
Week 4- The journey back - 08/28/2015Getting ready for the Langseth! - 08/25/2015
Week 3- Home stretch - 08/21/2015
The End - 08/19/2015
Week 2- Equipment - 08/15/2015
Multibeam/Coring Cruise - 08/13/2015
Week One- Getting acquainted - 08/07/2015
July 2015
Let The Science Begin - 07/31/2015I didn't blow up the ship! - 07/30/2015
My third and longest trip - 07/27/2015
New England Mud Patch - 07/23/2015
First 12 days on the Point Sur - 07/17/2015
Week 2 - From Port to the Deep Blue - 07/15/2015
Back to Corvallis - 07/14/2015
Searching for Deep Sea Prey - 07/09/2015
RV Langseth: Last blog post - 07/08/2015
Dreams do come true - 07/05/2015
First day aboard the RV Falkor - 07/05/2015
RV Langseth: Wrapping up Coverage - 07/03/2015
First Week at Sea - 07/02/2015
June 2015
End of a Chapter - 06/25/2015RV Langseth: Fishing gear - 06/24/2015
R/V Pelican- The End - 06/21/2015
After the Healy - 06/20/2015
Days of Dredging - 06/18/2015
RV Langseth: Mowin' the grass - 06/17/2015
R/V Pelican: Waiting on the Weather - 06/13/2015
Dredging, Whales, and the Last Leg - 06/11/2015
RV Langseth: Data Rolling in - 06/10/2015
RV Langseth: First week out at sea - 06/04/2015
Fun with Dredging - 06/04/2015
R/V Pelican- Almost there! - 06/04/2015
Quick update - 06/01/2015
May 2015
Transitions - 05/28/2015RV Langseth: First few days on the boat - 05/27/2015
Pre-Internship Hello - 05/22/2015
Week #1: Settling In - 05/21/2015
From parts to product - 05/20/2015
RV Langseth: Getting ready to go - 05/19/2015
Adios San Diego, Hola Portland! What we do while in transit … - 05/15/2015
Pre-Internship Excitement - 05/13/2015
Reflections - 05/08/2015
Best laid plans … - 05/01/2015
April 2015
Understanding Wire and Rope (Part 1) - Wire - 04/28/2015Oregon Coast Marine Life - 04/20/2015
Maintenance, Sampling and Catching (because anyone can fish) - 04/17/2015
Haze Gray (white) and Underway - 04/07/2015
Ocean Observatories Initiative Cruise - 04/03/2015
March 2015
3..2..1..Start - 03/24/2015La felia padrig (Happy St. Patty's Day) - 03/17/2015
October 2014
The End…for now - 10/13/2014September 2014
Cape Crusaders - 09/30/2014Our love/hate relationship with electronics - 09/25/2014
Looking Westward - 09/23/2014
Our favorite patch of ocean - 09/16/2014
Last Day - 09/12/2014
On my own - 09/11/2014
In all her glory - 09/09/2014
Irminger to Iceland - 09/02/2014
Let's do this! - 09/02/2014
August 2014
Apocalypse Now - 08/27/2014A picture is worth a thousand words - 08/27/2014
The R/V Oceanus marine tech team - 08/26/2014
Week Six- The End - 08/26/2014
Steaming west in the Labrador Sea - 08/25/2014
Hole in the hull - 08/21/2014
Week Five - 08/20/2014
R/V Knorr is in the Labrador Sea - 08/18/2014
Week Four - 08/15/2014
Castles in the sand - 08/15/2014
Last OBS cruise - 08/13/2014
2 down and another to go... - 08/11/2014
Working on the Irminger Sea - 08/10/2014
Reflections after the internship - 08/08/2014
Week Three- Not so many Thunderstorms - 08/06/2014
On the R/V Knorr - 08/05/2014
CTDs - 08/04/2014
Deploying OBSs - 08/03/2014
July 2014
Sea sickness under control - 07/31/2014Week Two- Good Bye Scallops, Hello Thunderstorms - 07/30/2014
The Final Post - 07/29/2014
Arrived to Dutch Harbor - 07/28/2014
Hi Seas Net: a frustrating mystery - 07/26/2014
5 days until Iceland - 07/26/2014
Observations and Ideas - 07/24/2014
Filtering Phytoplankton! - 07/23/2014
Internship begins - 07/22/2014
Week One-Scalloping - 07/21/2014
Adjusting - 07/18/2014
RVHRS Scallop Survey - Last Leg - 07/17/2014
On to the Healy and a Rescue in the Ice! - 07/15/2014
RVHRS Scallop Survey - Second Leg - 07/14/2014
First week onboard R/V Oceanus - 07/13/2014
Just finished preparing, ready to begin - 07/07/2014
Ready to Go - 07/07/2014
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end - 07/03/2014
June 2014
Third week on the Sharp - 06/30/2014RVHRS Scallop Survey - First Leg - 06/30/2014
Preparation for the Journey through Ice and Snow - 06/29/2014
IT WORKS!! - 06/27/2014
Second week on the Sharp - 06/16/2014
Preparations - 06/11/2014
Ocean Bottom Electromagnetic Receivers - 06/10/2014
First week aboard Sharp - 06/07/2014
Applying, packing, and travel - 06/06/2014
May 2014
Departing for My Internship! - 05/29/2014On Board the R/V Oceanus - 05/05/2014
April 2014
Manganese Mania - 04/30/2014End of my Thompson Hitch - 04/16/2014
No More MoorSPICE - 04/02/2014
March 2014
Solomon Seas with MoorSPICE - 03/19/2014Transit to New Caledonia - 03/05/2014
February 2014
End of the Wave Chasers Cruise - 02/19/2014Tow-Yo Troubles on the Thompson - 02/06/2014
January 2014
Gray Skies and Blue Marlin - 01/28/2014Let the Wave Chasing Commence! - 01/19/2014
Gearing up for 40 days with the WaveChasers - 01/13/2014
Samoa-Bound - 01/01/2014
November 2013
Special Thanks - 11/11/2013Some Science - 11/04/2013
1PPS and Dry Wells - 11/03/2013
October 2013
E/V Nautilus - 10/31/2013The Simple Things - 10/24/2013
Pictorial of the most epic rebuild - 10/14/2013
Team CTD - 10/13/2013
Back in the saddle again - 10/06/2013
Just the Beginning - 10/06/2013
September 2013
Time To Find Some Warm Socks - 09/28/2013It's the Final Countdown! - 09/11/2013
Icelandic Culinary Delights - 09/04/2013
Signing off E/V Nautilus: Michael Smith - 09/02/2013
Fun, Games, & a little bit of Science - 09/01/2013
Possibly more than you wanted to know about what we do - 09/01/2013
August 2013
From the Boston Tea Party to Tacos - 08/27/2013Getting More Dives Under My Belt - 08/26/2013
The Deep Blue - 08/20/2013
Settling in New New York - 08/19/2013
Multi-core-apalooza - 08/19/2013
My First Week at Sea - 08/16/2013
Signing off from the R/V Hugh R. Sharp - 08/16/2013
First Night Aboard RV Langseth - 08/14/2013
Welcome to Iceland - 08/12/2013
6 Months In - 08/11/2013
Incoming ROV Intern- Michael Smith - 08/08/2013
Checking in from the R/V Hugh R. Sharp - 08/02/2013
From Satellites to C-Nav - 08/01/2013
July 2013
Counting Down the Days - 07/22/2013R/V H.R. Sharp Fishing for Rocks - 07/17/2013
Trial by fire - 07/14/2013
R/V Marcus G. Langseth: Leaving the Boat - 07/10/2013
Watching Bubbles and dodging waves - 07/07/2013
R/V H.R. Sharp Georges Bank - 07/06/2013
R/V Marcus G. Langseth: Working in Port - 07/01/2013
June 2013
Hanging out in Davy Jones' livingroom - 06/28/2013R/V Marcus G. Langseth: BREAKing News - 06/25/2013
R/V H. Sharp: Scallop Photo Shoot and Shucking Party - 06/23/2013
Astoria Oregon... - 06/20/2013
R/V Marcus G. Langseth: A Daily Routine on the Boat - 06/19/2013
R/V BLUE HERON-Duluth Minn./ Lake Superior - 06/17/2013
R/V Marcus G. Langseth: Working out the Kinks - 06/13/2013
The Panama Canal and so much more - 06/12/2013
R/V H. SHARP1: From the West to East - 06/10/2013
R/V Marcus G. Langseth: Collecting the Data - 06/08/2013
Oh what amazing sights we see - 06/05/2013
R/V Marcus G. Langseth: Letting out the Streamers - 06/04/2013
May 2013
R/V Marcus G. Langseth: An Explanation of How Stuff Works - 05/31/2013Bouncing around THE BAR - 05/31/2013
Staring into the Depths - 05/29/2013
Hard Days of Work - 05/27/2013
Leaving Town with Lasers - 05/24/2013
Whirlwind of Travel - 05/23/2013
Tyler Poppenwimer: R/V Marcus G. Langseth - 05/23/2013
Ship and Shop Maintenance - 05/17/2013
Wires, wires everywhere! - 05/14/2013
R/V Barnes Day trips and More - 05/10/2013
New Langseth Adventures! - 05/09/2013
The Sounds of Silence - 05/05/2013
The Journey Continues - 05/01/2013
In port - 05/01/2013
April 2013
Internal Waves and Whales - 04/24/2013Langseth Part II: The Mid-Atlantic - 04/21/2013
Northwest Bound - 04/17/2013
Exciting news from the Langseth! - 04/15/2013
Things never go as planned - 04/10/2013
R/V Marcus Langseth: The 2013 MATE Adventures - 04/05/2013
March 2013
Unexpected knowledge comes in handy - 03/25/2013Don't bight off more than you can chew. - 03/24/2013
