TECHNOLOGY/TOOLS

SHIP:

NOAA Ship Ron Brown

Operated by the Office of NOAA Corps Operations, the Ron Brown was launched May 30, 1996. (Sister ships include the UW's Thomas Thompson, SIO's Roger Revelle and WHOI's Atlantis). The Brown can accommodate 35 scientists and 20 crew members for 60 days with a range of 11,300 nautical miles.

Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV):

ROPOS

ROVs are used when fine-scale mapping and sampling are required on the seafloor. Unlike manned submersibles which have very limited bottom time, ROVs can explore the seafloor for unlimited amounts of time before coming to the surface. NeMO will be using the Remotely Operated Platform for Ocean Science (ROPOS) on the 1998 Ron Brown Cruise. 23 days of the cruise are available for ROV dives.

Science Instruments:

Included on ROPOS

1) SIT camera
2) Color 3-chip camera
3) 5 and 7 function manipulators
4) Mesotech forward-looking sonar
5) Depth, heading, altitude measurements
6) Still camera (35 mm)
7) Standard sample tray

Project-Specific Instrumentation

1) PMEL fluid sampler
2) Ti Gas samplers
3) SUAVE scanner
4) BioBox
5) PacMan
6) Hi-Temperature probe
7) Niskin bottles
8) Suction sampler
9)Digital camera
10)Imagenex downward-looking scanning sonar

Deployed Instrumentation

1) Extensometers
2) HOBO Hi-temp probes (up to 4)
3) Low-temp probes (up to 10)
4)Osmosamplers (MBARI)
5) SUAVE
6)Time-lapse camera(s)
7) Markers
8) Bacteria traps (microbial colonization chambers)
9) Seafloor navigation beacons (transponders)