Teachers

Alan Gelatt (Exp. 309)
Jon Rice (Exp. 301)

Expedition 301

Cruise Objectives
Scientific Prospectus

Journal

Week 8: Aug 12 - Aug 20
Week 7: Aug 05 - Aug 11
Week 6: July 29 - Aug 04
Week 5: July 22 - July 28
Week 4: July 15 - July 21
Week 3: July 07 - July 14
Week 2: July 02 - July 06
Week 1: June 25 - July 01

5 August 2004
HOLE 1026B ROV PLATFORM and VISITS AROUND SHIP
It was a great day to catch up on my journal and lab brief writing because early this morning we installed the remote operated vehicle (ROV) platform at Hole 1026B. This was the last thing to be done there. We moved back to Hole 1301B to work on the cement job that will hopefully fix the casing problem. One of the connections in the 10 3/4-inch casing string backed off (unscrewed) after it was in place. The casing below that point slipped down about 10 meters (33 feet). One of the reasons this needs to be fixed is so that water doesn’t enter at that point and cause problems for the CORK experiment.

Since we spent most of the day tripping pipe and putting cement in the hole, I spent a bit of time looking at the rest of the kitchen operation. I also visited with one of our computer technicians to arrange to have all of my photos placed on the ship network so everyone could bring some home. This was a huge request because I already have 4.1 gigabytes of photos!!! Later, I found Keir Becker in the deepest part of the science stack getting prepared for the next CORK deployment.

Here is a partial update for today given by Adam Klaus, Expedition Project Manager/IODP-USIO Staff Scientist (USA):
Lots of fishing yesterday! During the first fishing trip, we used a grappling hook attached to the camera/sonar frame. It failed to grab onto the old instrument in the cone and, when it touched the instrument, it fell right down into the hole. We were not sure if it fell to the bottom of the hole or was stuck at the top of the casing hanger ~1.3 m below the top of the hole. So we stuck the end of the 4 1/2-inch casing down into the hole and then pulled back. When we did this you could see the instrument come partly out of the hole (like a moray eel, Andy said) and then it fell back in again (ugh!). Now we knew it was in the hole and we had to be certain to get it out so that the new CORK would be able to seal properly. So, we retrieved the camera/sonar system and Bubba made up a new fishing tool onto the camera frame - this one had to be able to go down a couple of meters into the hole and it had some upward facing barbs. After a few iterations of lowering the fishing tool into the hole, we finally caught the fish. We got it out of the hole, offset the ship and it fell off on the seafloor. Then we retrieved the camera to take the fishing hook off and then ran back down to reenter the hole. Then at ~1830 last night while playing guitar, I saw another terrible image on the Lab TV.... there was still some piece of the instrument in the throat of the reentry cone (UGH!!). This time we lowered the 4 1/2-inch casing down into the hole and there was some resistance. We pulled back out and there was a large whitish object (part of the instrument) that had caught on one of the red centralizers. We offset the ship and after repeatedly passing the camera/sonar frame over it, it finally fell off onto the seafloor. Now, we thought the hole was finally clear of obstructions... (this time we were right!). We reentered Hole 1026B with the CORK at 1945 last night and, by the time I got up, it was landed, the OsmoSamplers and temperature string were installed, the packer inflated and the ROV platform deployed through the moon pool. The ROV platform just released. Once LuLa is back on board, we'll run the camera down to inspect the installation and watch the unlatching of the CORK running tool.

CORE-ON-DECK Alert: I *think* that we will be attempting to work on cementing the broken casing in Hole 1301B before coring. So, I *think* that APC core will not arrive for ~1-2 days more. If for some reason the engineers feel they can't be ready for the cementing, we could have COD very late tonight or early tomorrow morning.

HELICOPTER: The helicopter to transfer essential items for the Hole 1301B CORK may be occurring today. We'll let you know.

Countdown to Astoria: 15 days

6 Week Effect Alert Level: Orange (still potential for Red): be patient with others! (low- Green; medium- Yellow; high- Red)
HOLE 1026B ROV PLATFORM. The deployment of this platform is one of the last steps in the CORK deployment at Hole 1026B. This was lowered early this morning. Afterwards, the CORK “running tool” (the tool used to lower the CORK) was pulled back to the surface and we were ready to move on to Hole 1301B to do a cement job.
NEW AND IMPROVED TOOL. This is the tool that was used to lower the platform to the seafloor. It was damaged during the Hole 1301 CORK platform deployment. Since then the core technicians have worked hard to repair and improve this tool. It worked like a charm!!!
MOON POOL DEPLOYMENT. The moon pool is open and the ROV platform is being lowered. In took about 4 1/2 hours to lower this platform. Now that it is in place, ROVs will be able to visit the Hole 1026B CORK several times over the next couple of years to collect water and microorganism samples for research.
WHAT’S COOKIN’? I stopped by the kitchen today to check out the dinner menu and found the evening Catermar staff hard at work. Antonio Dos Santos Alves, Hotel Staff (Portugal), is seasoning chicken (it was delicious!!!) while Francisco Da Silva Salvado, Hotel Staff (Portugal), and Mário Fernandes Pova, Hotel Staff (Portugal), look on. Actually, Francisco and Mário were hard at work preparing sauces and slicing meat respectively. They came over and posed for my picture. This kitchen was buzzing with activity the whole time I was there.
HAPPY CUSTOMER! I turned around just in time to find Takeshi Tsuji, Logging Scientist (Japan), dropping off his dishes after another fine meal in the galley. Not only do the Catermar folks cook for all of us, but they have to wash all of our dishes—we are spoiled!
DISHES CAN’T WAIT. Bernardino Alegria de Almedia, Hotel Staff (Portugal), works hard to keep up with all the dishes. There are a lot of pots, pans, plates… when you are feeding 110 people for two months. Even though I mentioned this in an earlier entry, it is worth saying again: the staff cook us meals four times a day (0500-0700, 1100-1300, 1700-1900, and 2300-0100). If that weren’t enough, we also get 4 cookies breaks as well (midway between the meals).
COMPUTER EXPERT. Mike Hodge, Marine Computer Specialist (USA), takes a break to help me find a place to store over 4 gigabytes of photos on the computer so that the shipboard personnel can make copies to bring home. Mike and our other marine computer specialist, Erik Moortgat, have the daunting task of managing all of the computer databases onboard; all of the data and reports that are generated on the expedition have to be stored and transferred to IODP shore-based computer databanks.
MEASURING ROPE. I found Keir Becker, CORK Hydrologist (USA), below sea level in the lowest floor of the science stack (hold deck) measuring nylon rope that he will use to deploy osmotic samplers in the Hole 1301B CORK in a couple of days. It is important to correctly measure the length of the rope segments so that the samplers are at the ideal depth to collect water and microbial samples from the subseafloor basement basalts.