TROPICAL ATMOSPHERE-OCEAN (TAO) PROGRAM

FINAL

CRUISE INSTRUCTIONS

FOR

KA-03-05 (GP5-03-KA)

August 21 – September  27, 2003

 

TAO Program Director

Dr. Michael J. McPhaden

PMEL, TAO Project Office

7600 Sand Point Way NE

Seattle, WA 98115

 

Area:   Equatorial Pacific

 

Itinerary:

KA-03-05       Honolulu, HI                dep.  21 August  2003

Honolulu, HI                arr.   27 September 2003

 

CRUISE DESCRIPTION

 

General guidelines are contained in the TAO Program Standard Operating Instructions for NOAA Ship KA’IMIMOANA dated June 28, 2002.

 

Cruise Objective and Plan:

 

The objective of this cruise is the maintenance of the TAO Array along the 125°W and 140°W meridians.  The scientific complement will embark in Honolulu, Hawaii and depart aboard KA’IMIMOANA on 21 August, 2003 to commence operations as listed in Appendix A.  A brief stop is scheduled in Nuku Hiva, Marquises during the period September 12 – 15.  The exact dates of this inport may change due to weather and operations schedules.   A test mooring is planned for deployment at the 5N 140W site.  This mooring will three different types of anemometers for comparison.  There are no subsurface sensors.   After completion of operations, KA’IMIMOANA will proceed to Honolulu, Hawaii arriving on or about  September 27, 2003.   All dates and times referred to in these cruise instructions are in Pacific Standard Time (PST).

 

PMC  Operations:                                         TAO  Operations  Manager:

Larry Mordock                                               LCDR Chris Beaverson, NOAA

NOAA/MOC-Pacific (MOC-P1x3)              PMEL, TAO, R/E/PM

1801 Fairview Ave. East                              7600 Sand Point Way NE

Seattle, WA  98102-3767                            Seattle, WA 98115-0070

(206) 553-4764                                             (206) 526-6403

Larry.Mordock@noaa.gov                           Chris.Beaverson@noaa.gov

 

1.0 PERSONNEL

 

1.1   CHIEF SCIENTIST AND PARTICIPATING SCIENTISTS:

 

Chief Scientist:          Patrick A’Hearn

 

The Chief Scientist is authorized to revise or alter the scientific portion of the cruise plan as work progresses provided that, after consultation with the Commanding Officer, it is ascertained that the proposed changes will not: (1) jeopardize the safety of personnel or the ship; (2) exceed the overall time allotted for the cruise; (3) result in undue additional expenses; (4) alter the general intent of these instructions.  A list of participating scientists follows.  All participating scientists will submit a medical history form and be medically approved before embarking.

 

Participating Scientists

Name                                                              Sex     Nationality      Affiliation

1.   Patrick A’Hearn                                      M         USA                NOAA/PMEL

2.   Brian Powers                                          M         USA                NOAA/PMEL

3.   James Patton                                          M         USA                Univ. South Florida (USF)

4.   Xuewu (Sherwood) Liu                           M         USF                USF

5.   Renate Bernstein                                    F          USA                USF

6.   Jon Pompa (Hono to Nuku Hiva)          M         USA                UCSD

7.   John Kermond                                         M         USA                NOAA/OGP

8.   Tetsuro Isono                                           M         Japan             JAMSTEC

9.   Teacher at Sea                                       ?          ?

10.  Tom Nolan (Nuku Hiva to Hono)          M         USA                NASA/JPL

11.  Charles Johnson-Gutter                        M         USA                Bloomsburg

 

2.0  OPERATIONS

 

Mooring Operations are scheduled to be conducted as shown in Appendix A.  Operations will be conducted from 8°N - 125°W to 8°S - 125°W and 5°S  - 140°W to 9°N  140°W .   A short stop in Nuku Hiva, Marquises is planned on or about September 12 – 15.  The exact dates may change depending on weather and the progress of the cruise.  A test mooring is planned for deployment at 5N 140W.  This mooring will have no subsurface sensors.  The following mooring operations are anticipated, though the work may be changed by direction of the Chief Scientist, in consultation with the Commanding Officer.

 

Location                     Mooring Type                                    Operation

 

8°N 125°W                ATLAS II - Taut                      Repair, wind swap

 

5°N 125°W                ATLAS II - Taut                      Recover/Deploy

 

2°N 125°W                ATLAS II - Taut                      Recover/Deploy, Insert, fairings

 

0°N 125°W                ATLAS II - Taut                      Recovery/Deploy, Insert, fairings, CO2 mods

 

2°S 125°W                ATLAS II - Taut                      Visit.

 

5°S 125°W                ATLAS II - Taut                      Visit.

 

Stop in Nuku Hiva

 

5°S 140°W                ATLAS II - Taut                      Recovery/Deploy

 

2°S  140°W               ATLAS II - Taut                      Visit.


 

0°  140°W                  ATLAS II - Taut                      Recovery/Deploy.  Insert, fairings, sontek,  CO2 mods.

0°  140°W                  Subsurface ADCP                Recovery/Deploy

 

2°N  140°W               ATLAS II - Taut                      Recover/Deploy,  Insert, fairings

 

5°N  140°W               ATLAS II - Taut                      Repair, dump RAM, check rain

                                    Test Mooring                         Deploy wind test mooring

(no subsurface)

 

9°N  140°W               ATLAS II - Taut                      Visit

 

2.01 CTD

 

At a minimum, 1000 meter CTD casts shall be conducted at each mooring site between 12° N and 8° S for sensor inter‑comparison purposes.  As time permits, additional or deeper CTD's should be conducted whenever addition of the CTD’s will not impact scheduled mooring work.  For example, if the ship would arrive at the next mooring site in the middle of the night, it is preferable to do CTD’s on the way, rather than remain hove to waiting for daylight.  Another example would be when mooring operations are significantly ahead of schedule.  Beyond those at mooring sites, CTD's should be conducted in the following order of priority:

 

- 1000m CTD’s at one degree latitude intervals between 12° N and 8° S, along the ship's trackline.

- Extend 1000m CTD’s at mooring sites to a minimum of 3000m or a maximum depth of 200m from bottom.  4 to 6 deep casts are optimal, occurring at the beginning and end of the cruise as well as at both equatorial sites.

- 1000m CTD’s every one‑half degree of latitude between 3°N and 3°S

- Additional calibration CTD’s to be determined by Chief Scientist.

 

USF and UCSD personnel will be available to assist the survey technician with CTD casts and running salinities.

 

2.02  Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) Chlorophyll and Nutrients

 

Phytoplankton biomass work consisting of chlorophyll extractions and nutrient samples will collected from CTD rosette at 0, 10, 25, 40, 60, 100, 150 and 200m. The total volume used from each bottle, including rinses is approximately one liter; except for the surface bottle, which will require approximately three liters.  This requires use of the sink/bench area of the wet lab for filtration purposes.  Chlorophyll samples will be measured on-board using a bench-top fluorometer which will require use of the salinometer room.  Nutrient samples (sea water) will be stored in the science hold and off-loaded upon return.   The barnacle observer will conduct this work.

 

2.03  Bloomsburg University Barnacle Census

 

Barnacles will be collected in accordance with TAO Standard Operating Instructions.   Sea spiders may also be collected in a similar manner by the barnacle observer on behalf of Lanna Cheng of Scripps.  The sea spiders will be preserved in 70% ethanol.  A pre and post cruise inventory of Hazardous Materials (Hazmat) brought aboard and offloaded from the ship will be given to the Chief Scientist and Commanding Officer.  All Hazardous Materials will be properly labeled as to content, Hazmat classification and cruise number.

 

2.04  Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) Surface Drifters

 

The Global Drifter Center at NOAA/AOML requests drifter deployments on an ancillary basis.  The drifters are small, easily deployed devices which are tracked by Argos and provide Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and mixed layer current information.  The global array of drifters provides SST ground truth for NOAA's polar orbiting satellite AVHRR SST maps.  They also provide data for use in operational meteorological and ocean models. 14  AOML drifters are scheduled at the following positions: 

                        125 W:   deploy at 5N, 3N, 2N, equ, 2S, 3S, 5S

140 W:   deploy at 5S, 3S, 2S, equ, 2N, 3N, 5N

The deployments should have little or no impact upon primary ship operations.  Questions should be directed to:

 

Craig Engler, Global Drifter Center, NOAA/AOML

305‑361‑4439 (office) or 305‑361‑4392 (fax)

Craig.Engler@noaa.gov or http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/

 

 

2.05    Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) SOLO Deep Ocean Drifters

 

9 SOLO drifters are scheduled for deployment on this cruise. The drifters are being shipped to Honolulu directly from Scripps. The 9 planned float deployment locations are given below. Deployment positions can be shifted in either direction along the ship track to avoid mooring or station locations, meal times etc. If any drifter should fail its initialization, then omit the final location(s). The drifters may be deployed in any order except for S/N 2227 which should be deployed first. (16.5 N, 146.25 W).

Deployments are scheduled along the ship’s trackline at approximately:

16.5 N, 146.25 W

10 N, 130.5 W

0, 125 W

5.5 S, 125 W

8 S, 130 W

4 S, 140 W

1 S, 140 W

1 N, 140 W

4 N, 140 W

Questions should be directed to:

Dean Roemmich

Scripps Institution of Oceanography ‑ University of California, San Diego

(858) 534-2307    droemmich@ucsd.edu

Backup contact: Glenn Pezzoli, (858) 534-1139, gpezzoli@ucsd.edu

 

2.06  Dissolved inorganic carbon analysis (DIC)

 

A  0.5 liter sea water sample from surface CTD casts will be taken and stored for later dissolved inorganic carbon analysis.  Sample jars and mercury chloride solution will be provided by Scripps institute of  Oceanography.  Samples for GP3 and GP4 will be stored on board until the ship returns to Honolulu.  Cathy Cosca from PMEL will ship the samples to Scripps when she comes to work on the underway Co2 system in August.  It is anticipated that the survey technician, together with USF personnel will take the samples.  A small bench-top drill press will be shipped to the ship to assist with the bottle capping process. 


The contacts for this project are:

 

Dr. Andrew Dickson                                                 Dr. Richard Feely

Scripps Institution of Oceanography                       NOAA/PMEL

University of California, San Diego             7600 Sand Point Way NE

Room 203 -- Vaughan Hall                                      Seattle, Washington   98115

8675 Discovery Way

La Jolla, CA 92037                                                   Tel (206) 526-6214

Tel:   (858) 534-2582

Email: adickson@ucsd.edu                         Richard.A.Feely@noaa.gov

 

2.07 Underway CO2 and pH analysis (University of South Florida)

 

The purpose of the USF work is development of precise, accurate, simple, robust and inexpensive CO2-system measurement procedures for use in global CO2-system investigations on NOAA vessels. Our collaborative work with NOAA is designed to assess the accuracy, precision and overall performance of USF systems relative to the systems used by NOAA personnel over the past fifteen years.

 

 

Two SEAS systems for in situ pH measurements: SEAS will be lowered in the water column to about 300 meters at a rate of 6 meters per minute to collect pH profile continuously.

Associated components:

1.      Two SEAS,

2.      Two Battery Packs.

3.      Two CTDs,

4.      Fluorometer,

5.      Two cables.

6.      Deployment frame,

7.      Tools.

 

CO2 Analysis System for automatic shipboard measurements of pCO2, pH and DIC. The system will use the same seawater line that is used by NOAA personnel for shipboard pCO2 measurements.

Associated components:

8.      Constant temperature water baths (two Lauda E100)

9.      Liquid delivery system (five peristaltic pumps)

10. Equilibrators (LCW cells)

11. Main instrument(s) (Electronic Controllers, Relay boards, USB hub, 3 spectrophotometers, light sources), Computer. (one instrument system plus a backup system)

12. CTD for measurement of seawater salinity and temperature in the flowing seawater line.

 

Chemicals: Standard solutions with fixed alkalinity made of Na2CO3 and NaHCO3 and indicator dyes (BCP and Phenol Red) 2N phosphoric acid for acidification.

 

Lab space requirements are as follows: Space for (a) a water circulator and space for a 20 x 20 x15 (width/width/height) frame to hold the pH/DIC/pCO2 instrument on floor. A table providing workspace for (a) two computers and (b) SEAS (during preparation for deployment) (c) preparation

 

Winch time is requested for pH sensor deployments. Most deployments will be to depths of 200 to 250 meters. Deployments will take about one and one-half hours. Deployment frequency will depend on availability of wire time and the success of the deployments.   Deployments will be made on a time available basis, not to interfere with buoy operations or the PMEL CTD program.

 

2.08  Wirewalker Experiment  (UCSD)

 

The Wirewalker is a profiling instrument platform suspended from a 15” surface float by a 30 meter length of 3/16” steel wire with a weight at the lower end. The wire moves vertically with the surface wave motion, allowing the mechanically ratcheting instrument platform to profile. The instruments on the wirewalker are internally recording and do not require cables to the ship. However, the system is tethered to the ship or a buoy to keep it from drifting away.

 

The whole assembly weighs less than 100lbs so it can be launched easily by two people. An outboard boom or overhead block would be helpful for line handling but is not absolutely necessary. Deployment is completed several steps. The instrument platform is first clipped to the weight end of the wire. It is swung overboard and the wire is run out to its full length. The float is attached to the top of the wire and sent overboard. Finally, a tether from the float is attached to a mooring. 

 

The plan is to deploy the Wirewalker opportunistically from the ship during non-transit periods. It can be tethered to the ship if  not under way, or it can be tethered to a buoy. Ideally, longer deployments are desirable because they will provide longer continuous data sets. This is secondary, however, to the main goal of gaining knowledge of how these devices could be deployed in proximity to deep-sea moorings to provide near-surface data. We hope to deploy in high currents to test its ability to deal with shear and also to observe its behavior while tethered to a mooring.

 

This work is planned for the first leg of the trip (21 August to ~11 September) Honolulu to Nuku Hiva) with the understanding that the Nuku Hiva port call is weather dependent.

Between Wirewalker deployments, the accompanying student can help with other scientific activities as needed.

 

Time requirements

Deployments of the Wirewalker will be made during the non-transit time when operations will not interfere with TAO maintenance activities. Launches and recoveries will take 10-20 minutes if from the ship and longer if there is a small boat ride to tether off of a TAO mooring.

 

Manpower

The launch and recovery of a wirewalker usually requires two people. A “volunteer” will be requested to assist.

 

Space Requirements

An area to set up a laptop for data download and processing.

A small workbench for working on the wirewalkers and associated instruments (potentially the same place as the computer desk),

A space to store 3 (3’ x 2’ x 2’) packing crates.

 

Hazardous materials

Lithium Batteries: Approx. 30 standard 9v.

 

Equipment

Item

Dimensions

Weight

2 Wirewalkers

42” x 20” x 20”

25 lb. ea.

2 Wirewalker cables

16” x12” x 12”

30 lb. ea.

Laptop computer

 

5 lb.

Toolbox of tools and assorted hardware

24” x 12” x12”

50 lb.

2 temperature/depth recorders

16” x 3” dia.

2 lb.ea.

Lithium batteries for the instruments

 

5 lb. total

Spool of line

6” x 10” dia

4 lb.

Approximate total with packing crates

 

300 lb.

 

 

3.0  Hazardous Materials

 

The Chief Scientist is responsible for the proper and safe storage of scientific hazardous material and complying with NC Instruction 6280B, Hazardous Materials and Hazardous Waste Policy, Guidance, and Training, dated May 8, 1991. This includes the requirement for the Chief Scientist to remove all scientific team hazardous materials and waste at the end of the cruise.

 

3.1 Ancillary Projects Hazardous Materials

 

1. Acetone                                                                             12 Liters         MBARI

2. Hydrochloric Acid (HCL)                                                  6 Liters           MBARI

3. Formalin (50% stored in Wx deck Hazmat locker)       32 Liters         Bloomsburg

    (diluted to 5% working solution for wet lab use)

4.  Ethanol (70%)                                                                  2 Liters           Bloomsburg

5.  Mercuric Chloride solution (saturated with 30 grams)  400 ML          Scripps/PMEL

6.  Mercuric Chloride powder                                              30 g                Scripps/PMEL

7.  Phosphoric acid                                                               500 ML           USF

8.  Lithium batteries                                                              30 x 9v            UCSD

 

Appendices:

A.  Operations  Spreadsheet

B.  Trackline

C.  Mooring  Equipment  Weight  List