Logbook
September 18, 1998

Elizabeth Guenther
Moss Landing Marine Laboratory and

Stacey Maenner

Hello everyone, it is September 18, 1998. We are reaching the end of our vents cruise now. We only have 2 days left and only 1 of those will be used for diving with the submersible ROPOS. It has been a very productive cruise for all those involved. I myself (Elizabeth Guenther, Moss Landing Marine Laboratory) am almost done with my work. Today I will be receiving my last set of samples from the Fluid Sampler. I look at the chemistry of the water samples, specifically the salinity, nitrate and sulfide concentrations at the various vent sites. My work is different from that of the other scientists on board in that I am working on a new method for measuring those three things. Right now it is still a work in progress, but I can tell you that it will make things much easier in the future of vent chemistry analyses if it works as well as I hope.

That isn't all I have been doing on this cruise though. I have been helping with the video taping of the dives. My watch is from 4am to 8am every day. Of course the ROPOS isn't always in the water at that time so I get a break once in a while. When I am not busy doing work I find time to relax by watching a movie in the TV room. There is a wide selection of movies available and they play 2 movies every night for anyone who wants to relax a little and get away from the work that keeps them so busy the rest of the time.
Elizabeth Guenther

Hello, my name is Stacy Maenner and I am a NOAA Corps Officer currently assigned to the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. While Elizabeth is helping with the video tapes of the dives, I am trying to log all the comments that are being made in the ROPOS room by all the scientists. It can be quite a challenge at times when everyone gets really excited over new discoveries and starts talking at once. I need to log everything from new findings to pictures of Mr. Potato Head to aggressive sulfide worms that make the WWF look wimpy! My main responsibility on the cruise, however, is assisting Gary Massoth with SUAVE (see August 30). SUAVE provides a lot of interesting and exciting real time data that many scientists use to understand more about the life at hydrothermal vents. I also analyze water samples collected from the CTDT/Rosette for trace levels of iron and manganese. If we are fortunate, then the samples were taken from a hydrothermal plume. For more information on CTDT and hydrothermal plumes, see Betsy McLaughlin-West (29 August). I have really enjoyed my time on this cruise. I still find it fascinating that we are able to guide a remotely operated vehicle more then a mile deep in the ocean and at the same time make observations such as hot fluid venting from the seafloor, life surviving in extreme environments and new lava formations.

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September 18 - 0900

The last working day is here. The wind is still blowing, ROPOS sits on the aft deck, and we are officially at the point of wondering if, and hoping that we can get one more dive in later today. The scientists have had such a productive cruise, it would be great if they could complete the last couple of objectives. That all depends on what the weather holds over the next twelve hours.

While I wait to see if we can deploy ROPOS, I thought it might be a good idea to take a quick look back over this cruise and try to express once more the admiration I have for the women and men who have spent the last 27 days unlocking the secrets of Axial Seamount and the environment that surrounds the vents. I have often reported on the almost "science fiction" nature of the technology that was used. It's not just ROPOS, although that instrument is a wonder in and of itself. It is the various instruments that ROPOS carries to the bottom that actually gather the data, and there is not a single device, from water sampling bottles to the highly sophisticated SUAVE apparatus that can be purchased at your local electronics store or home shoppers club. These instruments are the result of years of testing, tweaking, and re-testing. I arrived on board just as the wave was cresting. I have seen ocean research when it is the best it can be. The weather cooperates, and everything works. It's been a great show. Bob Embley, chief scientist, and the whole scientific contingent can take a deep bow.

Bob Embley and Bill Chadwick (photo right) have worked long hours on improving the Imagenex maps of Axial Seamount and mapping the new lava flows by documenting the contact between new and old lava wherever it has been found.. The attempts to free the rumbleometer and the continuing efforts to deploy the extensometers also fall to these two scientists.

Air Force special delivery notwithstanding, when you come to sea you bring supplies and tools and ingenuity, and you hope you can make it work. When something doesn't work, you try to think of a way to make it work. The electronics for the fluid sampler came in by special delivery, but when the pump subsequently gave up, Dave Butterfield and his crew figured out a way to use a pump from another device to save the day. When you really look inside SUAVE, or any of the other fabulous "toys" that we have on board, you see that none of this could happen without the brilliant and dedicated minds of the scientists who build the machines. Gary Massoth and all the others who have spent the better part of a decade getting SUAVE to its present state deserve the admiration of us all. There simply is no substitute for the well-schooled human mind.

If, as a student, you are ever tempted to think that you can ease back because technology will take up the slack, you are sadly mistaken. I know, because I've been there, done that. A little college in Oregon is currently running one of the best advertisements I have ever seen. The thrust of the message is, "Beware of those who give you a an 'A', because they are telling you that you have arrived, that you can go home and relax. Beware of the 'A'. You have to think about it, but that is a very powerful message My students seldom understood why I was very disappointed if anyone got a 100% on one of my science tests. I simply wanted every student to understand that he/she had not achieved everything that could be achieved. There aren't any 100% marks in life. Never have been, never will be.

Given the direction most American public schools have gone the past decade, fewer and fewer students are getting this message. Everyone has to be a success. Every parent needs a bumper sticker proclaiming progeny who have been named "student of the month." And to accommodate that need we have 10 students of the month every month, and no repeats allowed. That watered down approach to education will not replace the scientists aboard this ship. The kid with a burning passion to learn, who may never be "student of the month" because she elected not to try out for cheerleader, or elected to pursue a specific goal to the detriment of the overall grade average, is the one who will be the next generation of ocean scientist. Believe it. Tomorrow I will try to hit the highlights of what has been learned in this past month. It is difficult to see how all that has happened can be distilled into a single commentary, but that's why they are paying me the big bucks. (Hmmm. Maybe for the benefit of any NSF readers out there I should speak the truth. My work out here has been as a volunteer. The truth is, I'd have paid for the opportunity.)

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