Happy Independence Day

I'm typing this on the evening of July 4, although I suppose the heading will identify it as July 5.

I got to see some interesting science today. One package that was deployed overboard was a suite of optical instruments. It has some tools that shine light through a length of water, and then see what wavelengths pass through and which ones are absorbed or scattered. Other tools simply collect whatever light is bouncing around there (which isn't much except very near the surface.) It's like astronomy underwater, collecting color spectra.

I've also gotten to observe a very high tech titration. If you did these in chemistry class (or if you do them at work?), you might recall dripping one fluid into a sample until the sample changes color. Then you look at how much you've added, and conclude something about the composition and concentration of the sample. The set-up here is testing for dissolved oxygen, and it's fancy schmancy. Instead of controlling what's added by hand, a machine carefully adds tiny amounts. And instead of looking for a color change with your eyes, the machine also checks for a change in electric potential in the fluid, and stops the titration accordingly. The machine's operator estimates it's cost at 5K, including hardware and software.

The other big news was that the ships automatic position adjusting system failed. (That's not it's name, it has a better sounding name.) Anyway, when we are doing science, we usually want the ship to stay still (unless we're doing some type of net tow or something), but you can't drop an anchor in 5 km of water. (Even if you could, the ship would drift somewhat on the leash.) So, instead, this ship has a kind of autopilot that constantly adjusts the thrusters and engines and rudders to keep it in place. In calm seas, this system can keep the ship within 0.5 meters of a given location. Amazing, no? But today we'd just started deploying a suite of instruments when that system failed. The instruments had to come back up. For some time, the bridge adjusted our position manually, but later in the day the automatic system was fixed.

I got to help "tag" today, which means I was on the end of a rope steadying a package as it got deployed or came aboard. First I did a recovery, which involved snagging a loop on the package with a hook at the end of a long pole. I had difficulty reaching out for enough, and ultimately the technician on charge did the hard part for me. I give myself a D for that - I only passed because after it was hooked, I grabbed the right line and pulled in the right direction. Then I did a deployment, which involved feeding out line and was rather simple. I gave myself an A but it was an easy A. Then I did one last recovery. I was assertive and accurate and snagged that loop as if I'd known what I was doing. In my elation, though, I forgot what to do next and needed a reminder from the same technician guy (we'll call him Vic, since that's his name). So I call that a B.

We celebrated the 4th of July with BBQed steak eaten on the 02 deck (unusual to eat outside on here), and then sparklers once it got dark. The captain said "I'll be the dad" and helped us light them and insured that they got placed in a water bucket after use. Rather comical to see grown-ups so thrilled at sparklers, but it was a good time.

Bye for now,
Patricia