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Logbook
July 6, 1999

Contents:

• News from Thompson
• Participant Perspective
• Logbook from Teacher at Sea
• Question/Answer from shore to sea

Science Report - Tuesday, July 6
Ships Location: 45 55.9/129 59.0

From top to bottom: Rumbleometer stuck in lava flow; then ROPOS attaching lines for recovery attempt; Rumbleometer's anchor remains in lava flow; Instrument floating free for recovery!

Todays ROPOS dive (496) was devoted to an attempt to recover the Rumbleometer instrument that was caught in the 1998 lava flow. This instrument package is full of sensors to monitor volcanic events, and since it was located at ground zero for the 1998 eruption, it likely has some fascinating data on board. Consequently, we were anxious to try and rescue it again this summer. Over the winter, the engineers at NOAA/PMEL in Seattle who built the instrument devised a plan with the ROPOS group to attempt to extract it from the lava flow. The plan involved pulling upward with the ROPOS cage from the edge of the instrument, instead of from the center to give more leverage, and to rig the cage so we could pull with more force than we could last summer (10,000 pounds, instead of 2,000 pounds last year). The process of rigging the pulling lines from the Rumbleometer to the cage was quite involved and had to be done extremely carefully, and every step completed was followed by cheers from on-lookers in the ROPOS control room. Once everything was in place, the ROPOS cage began to pull upward, the tension on the line increased, and then went slack. Something had given way. Was it the instrument breaking free of the lava, or one the lines breaking? No one knew until ROPOS descended back down to the bottom and approached the site where the Rumbleometer had been. All that was left was the Rumbleometers anchor - the instrument had been pulled out of the lava! Last summer we had attached a separate line and anchor to the Rumbleometer so that if we did manage to release it from the lava, that it would not immediately float up and crash into the ROPOS cage. The Rumbleometer is now floating 50 m above the bottom on this anchor line, ready to be cut free by ROPOS tomorrow morning at first light. Once we get the instrument on board, this will stand as one of the most remarkable rescues of an oceanographic instrument, ever!

Listing of all Science News postings

Christina and Cheryl Ells
R/V Thompson
Sisters at Sea

Christina and Cheryl Ells have been going to Sea (on and off) over a period of thirteen years before the ROPOS Cruise, Cheryl convinced her Sister to return to Sea after a Seven Year hiatus to give them the chance to sail together.

Christina:
Christina is a Licensed Massage Therapist with her own practice in Seattle and thought a trip out to Sea would offer a nice little break. Christina's position on the ship is "Galley Slave." She did bring her massage table so as not to get out of touch!

Cheryl:
Cheryl, is an Able Bodied Seaman, who recently returned from a cruise around the world with NOAA, to return once again to the Thompson. She is saving money to return to school in the study of Naturopathy, Yoga and Meditation.

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Thompson Teacher at Sea Log

Teachers Log #16 7/6/99

As soon as ROPOS was settled and secured to the deck last night the excitement began. For many it was a long night in the lab sample recording, analyzing, and data processing. This morning ROPOS was ready to begin its new mission, recovery of the Rumbleometer.

In October of 1997, two instrument packages called Rumbleometers were deployed to provide a continuous daily recording of the activity within the Axial Caldera and along the South Rift Zone. Each Rumbleometer was comprised of five sensing and recording instruments, each specifically designed to detect and record changes in this active region. Pressure gauges would pick up any changes in the depth of the sea floor by recording either increases or decreases in pressure. Seismic sensors were tuned for sensing the harmonic tremors that accompany volcanic eruptions. Current meters used for measuring the movement of the water around the instrument and, temperature recorders were also included. A tiltmeter would hopefully provide information about any faulting or shifting that took place. These Volcano System Monitors (VSM, official name of Rumbleometer instrument) were put to task soon after they were deployed. The January 1998 eruption took place near the Rumbleometers. This eruption, and associated seismic activity, lasted for 11 days and migrated southward.

Data from 1998 recovered VSM showing the 3 meters of downdrop associated with the eruption.

The rumbleometer recovered last year from the caldera showed that the floor of the caldera dropped by 3 meters during the eruption. (See Highlights for more information.) This decrease is believed to be due to the outflow of lava during the eruption. A July/August 1998 cruise of the NOAA ship Ron Brown, sent the release command to the instrument, but it did not come to the surface. When ROPOS finally discovered its position last summer, they saw that it was stuck up to its frame in a new lava flow. Two attempts last year were made to release it, but both were unsuccessful. The wait for next years cruise began.

ROPOS's cage used to pull at the Rumbleometer, setting it free after 20 months on the seafloor.

Next year is here, and today is the day. In an operation that requires a surface recovery, daylight and calm seas are important. With weather again cooperating, ROPOS went about hooking the Rumbleometer in a different manner than was tried in the previous year. This year a 10,000 lb. weak link is being used (a 2000 lb link was used last year) and instead of hooking to the top of the unit, the one exposed leg is the target. After some trick maneuvering by the ROV and the two manipulator arms, ROPOS finally connected the Rumbleometer to the cage. Pulling at an angle this year instead of up from the middle of the body proved to do the trick. The newly freed instrument floated upward until it reached the end of its anchor tether, demonstrating that it was still positively buoyant and unhindered by any other lava flows . Tomorrow morning, if the weather continues to cooperate, it will be cut from the anchoring tether, and recovered at the surface. Tomorrow we update you on how the final recovery went and what ROPOS is up to now that this mission is over.

Bye for now.

Logbook of all Teacher At Sea postings

Q: Do you know if the fissure went together?
Kelly Chadwick, age 6
(Kelly's father, Bill, is aboard the Thompson).

A: Hi Kelly! The fissure that opened up and erupted the lava flow last year (photo right) has solidified lava in it now, so it cannot close back up. In fact, this is what seafloor spreading is all about - the two tectonic plates are being slowly pulled apart, periodically a crack opens along the plate boundary, magma fills the crack (forming a dike), and the plates are then a little further apart than they were to start with. Judging from what we saw on the seafloor, the Pacific and Juan de Fuca tectonic plates spread apart by about 1.5 meters during the 1998 eruption. On the other hand, the fissure we saw on the seafloor does come together at either end - that is, it is open in the middle and pinches shut at either end.
Thanks for the question!

Questions from the HMSC Public Wing audience:

Q:When was Axial Volcano discovered and how did it get its name?
A:Axial was first discovered in the last 1970s during the first intensive investigation by the University of Washington. The first detailed map of the summit caldera (the site of the NeMO program) was made by the NOAA ship Surveyor in 1981 using the then new Sea Beam mapping system which, for the first time,. provided oceanographers with the capability to map the seafloor in continuous swaths. Axial Volcano was named for its position on the axis of the Juan de Fuca ridge.

Q:What biotechnology applications are foreseen for Hydrothermal vent bacterium?
A:Several examples of present products derived from these unique microbes in the biotechnology industry include: (1) proteases (used in things like laundry detergents), (2) high temperature enzymes (such as taq-polymerase, an enzyme used in PCR - a laboratory technique that makes copies of DNA), and (3) one of the most important - the use of secondary metabolites for drug discovery (for example antibiotics).

Q:If bacteria are so hard to culture, why dont they die as they are brought up from the vent to the surface?
A: High temperature bacteria are simply very tough and resilient bugs. Traveling up from the bottom does not seem to phase them. Getting them to grow in a laboratory setting, however is the tricky part and requires the right combination of temperature and nutrient base.

All Questions/Answers from sea
Send Your Question to NeMO
(oar.pmel.vents.webmaster@noaa.gov)

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