Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) engineers and Dr. David Butterfield (center, wearing the hard hat) take a moment to enjoy their hard work, before they launch the RAS interactive water sampler. PMEL engineers (left to right) John Bumgardner, Scott Stalin, Chris Meinig, and John Shanley.

ROPOS comes up for a breather!

Yesterday afternoon, A/B Seaman Frank Spetla called over the ship's speakers that he had spotted marine life off the port bow. The crew here have been great about announcing marine life so that we can all enjoy it. It wasn't long before the scientists and crew were on deck with binoculars and cameras handy. I quickly climbed up three decks for a better view and wasn't disappointed. Frank even helped me identify these sleek, black and gray creatures, which I had never seen before. Cruising past us was a mixed species pod with at least 100 Pacific White Sided Dolphins and Northern Right Whale Dolphins. These two curious and playful species are often found swimming together around the bows of ships. How lucky we were that they chose this spot for their playground! This morning, our dolphin friends were nowhere to be seen, but we had other sights to keep us busy. After over 39 hours on the bottom, it was time for ROPOS to come up for a breather. During that time, it made repeated pressure measurements at four stations inside the caldera and one outside the caldera. These measurements are repeated each year to try to see if the seafloor inside the caldera is uplifting (inflating) due to magma intrusion. Along the way, we were able to recover some instruments and samplers for various scientists on the ship. Finally, it was time to bring ROPOS to the surface. This meant that for some scientists and crew it was finally time to go to sleep and for others, it was time to really get busy working on samples.

The people who make sure the cruise is safe and successful: (left to right) Chief engineer Charles Ormiston, Captain Glenn Gomes and Scientific party chief Bob Embley.

Once ROPOS was secured to the ship, we steamed to a vent field called "ASHES". And that was before breakfast! The starboard and aft decks were really busy this morning and every job had to be perfectly orchestrated so that each one could be completed in the most efficient fashion. Here's what our day's science activity plan looked like:

*12:00-5:00 AM ROPOS Dive R661
*5:00 AM ROPOS recovered on deck
*7:00 AM Deploy high temperature remote access sampler (RAS) to be positioned at a vent during the next ROPOS dive
*7:34 AM - 8:59 AM Take CTD casts to capture water samples at various depths
*10:06 AM Deploy ROPOS's elevator filled with scientist's equipment to be used later during the next ROPOS dive
*12:12 PM Recover Bottom Pressure Recorder that has been in place for two years *12:53 PM Deploy new Bottom Pressure Recorder that will be in place for the next year
*3:05 PM Deploy low temperature remote access sampler (RAS) to be positioned by ROPOS
*5:00 PM Deploy ROPOS for its next dive to perform at least 17 tasks on the bottom in the Ashes vent field
*5:00 - 11:59 PM ROPOS Dive R662
*11:59 PM - 12:00 AM Sleep!

You might be thinking, "Wow! They only have 11 items on their To Do List." But remember, each of these items require many preparations by both scientists and crew. In addition to preparing their own experiments for deployment, each scientist on the ship must fulfill their duty requirements so that everyone's work can be accomplished and we can all fully enjoy our one minute of sleep.

K. D., Age 13, Rocky Point, New York, asks: Who is the boss on the ship?

The Captain of the ship has the final word on all matters. (See image above) Among the researchers, however, the Chief Scientist is the person who coordinates the
science activities that occur on the ship. Typically, the Captain and the
Chief Scientist will work closely to establish a daily plan of how the ship'
s personnel will work together with the scientific party to accomplish the
research goals of the cruise. Another important person on the ship is the
chief engineer, who keeps the ship running smoothly.