A launch from the Ron Brown picking up supplies for a mooring. The Ron Brown up close and personal for a transfer of mooring supplies.

R/V Wecoma - CTD Cruise
Science News

Science Report - Sunday, July 22, 2001
Position - 45 52.889' N /129 55.578' W
Chief Scientist Ed Baker

Perhaps the most distinctive aspect of oceanography, compared to most other natural sciences, is the high premium placed on adaptability. At sea we are a laboratory isolated from shoreside resources and obliged to perform our experiments within a strictly predetermined amount of time (other scientists are waiting at the dock for their valuable time on the ship). We have been painfully reminded of those limitations today. Late yesterday one of our two CTD winches failed, unfortunately while the CTD package dangled at the end of the wire, a mile beneath the safety of the ship's deck. The ship's crew has spent a long night tirelessly tracking down the problem.

Despite their work, the winch remains unfixable. Our only solution is to wrap the wire around a capstan on the fantail, slowly pull it onboard, and figure-eight a mile of cable on the deck. This operation is dangerous and exacting, since half a ton of equipment at the wire's end resists our efforts. After retrieving the CTD, we will switch it to the ship's other winch and wire, make the necessary mechanical and electrical connections, and recommence the science operations.

This unwelcome interruption has cost us nearly a full day's time. Now we must decide how to adjust the remainder of our schedule to accommodate this loss. It's unlikely we can work much faster than planned, as we are constrained by the speed of the ship and wire, and the time needed to process our water samples. We always plan our schedules conservatively, to anticipate bad weather, equipment problems, and other slowdowns, so even with this delay we should accomplish essentially all of our major objectives.