Previous Blog Posts

h2. _Tempo rubato_ for Tempo-Mini and BARS Perseverance paid off in the final hours of this NC Fall Cruise: 12 hours before having to transit home, the waves subsided just enough to attempt one last very important dive. On the ambitious agenda (14-page dive plan) for this [Main Endeavour vent Field|http://www.neptunecanada.ca/se...

h2. Cookin' up a Storm The days on the ship can get long and dreary when the weather is bad and the sea is too rough for ROPOS to dive. During this cruise, we even had days when the decks were “secured” -- i.e. it was too dangerous to go outside because of the swell height. Waves were crashing over the side of the ship, and the...

h2. ROCLS-ing and Rolling h3. Uncalm Weather The location and strength of the Aleutian low is the major controlling factor for weather in the Northeast Pacific. During the summer months it retreats poleward and weakens allowing a high to develop in the region. This tends to deflect passing storms northward, resulting in warm su...

h2. Weather, and Wind, and Waves\! Oh my\! h5. By Karen Douglas and Martin Scherwath While the study of storms is interesting to many, those of us on the [R/V Thompson|http://www.ocean.washington.edu/vessels/TGT/tgt.html] prefer to investigate our study areas when the wind is in the 0-20 knot range. Nasty weather is triply bad be...

h2. Free Wally Keeps on Ticking Wally the Crawler underwent the ultimate stress test on Sunday. After entering the water tethered beneath ROPOS, strong waves apparently sprung Wally loose. He took an 870m free dive from the sea surface to the seafloor at Barkley Hydrates. !wally_II_deployment_18sep2011_just_before_the_fall.pn...

While the study of storms is interesting to many, those of us on the R/V Thompson prefer to investigate our study area in the 0-20kt range. Currently, we are in Trevor Channel off the coast of Diana Island and Bamfield evading bad weather and taking the opportunity to pick up some spare parts. Everything is tied down including buc...

h2. Mooring Magic NEPTUNE Canada, its Highland Technology contractors, the IOS mooring team, and the fabulous [R/V Thompson|http://www.ocean.washington.edu/vessels/TGT/tgt.html] crew co-operated Tuesday in a complex deployment of the Northwest [Regional Circulation Mooring|http://www.neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/instrum...

h3. "Mob" Time When NEPTUNE Canada prepares to sail, quite a bit of preparations are necessary to get all necessary equipment out to sea. Mobilization (a.k.a. "mob") encompasses three tasks: # getting things to the ship # loading the ship # tying things down so that everything stays put in rough seas on a swaying ship For o...

h3. A Return to Sea NEPTUNE Canada scientists and engineers are sailing again, aboard the R/V Thompson for 3 weeks. The cruise’s dive plan is an ambitious one, with Endeavour being the focal point of repairs and new installations. !20110911_RVThompson_at_EGD_webres.jpg|align=center,width=600px! {center}R/V Thompson at Esqu...

h3. The Folger Experience h4. by Martin Scherwath, 19 July 2011 It almost felt like going home. Two weeks through our cruise we were heading for land, but only to take on two pilots for our work at [Folger Passage|http://www.neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/locations/folger-passage.dot] at the head of [Barkley Sound|http:...

h3. Barkley Sparkling h5. By Martin Scherwath Admittedly, the seafloor around [Barkley Canyon|http://www.neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/locations/barkley.dot] is perhaps not quite as versatile and exciting as the [Endeavour|http://www.neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/locations/endeavour.dot] site. Nevertheless, cons...

h3. Tales from the Mudman h6. By Rénald Belley My name is Rénald Belley and I’m a PhD student in marine biology at the [Memorial University|http://www.mun.ca/] of Newfoundland. I’m part of the [Canadian Healthy Oceans Network|http://www.marinebiodiversity.ca/CHONe] (CHONe), a partner of NEPTUNE Canada. This partnership gave m...

h3. Life on Board h6. By Kira Homola Do you enjoy large amounts of delicious food three times a day? Playing ping-pong when the floor is moving beneath you? Watching movies and playing games with your friends? Reading a relaxing novel while staring out over the beautiful ocean? Then life aboard a research vessel is for yo...

h3. Damage Sustained at Barkley Upper Slope On July 12, 2011, the [R/V Thompson|http://www.ocean.washington.edu/vessels/TGT/tgt.html] arrived at [Barkley Canyon|http://www.neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/locations/barkley.dot]. The much anticipated first dive was dedicated to inspecting and assessing the damage at Upper Sl...

h3. Testing at Main Endeavour Field One of the most exciting accomplishments of the Fall 2010 installation and maintenance [cruise|http://www.neptunecanada.ca/cruise/] on the [R/V Thompson|http://www.ocean.washington.edu/vessels/TGT/tgt.html] was the successful deployment of instruments at the [Main Endeavour Vent Field|http://w...

h3. Tubeworm Sampling h6. By Nathalie Forget One of the [objectives|http://www.neptunecanada.ca/cruise/] of the July 2011 NEPTUNE cruise was to get samples of the tubeworm Ridgeia piscesae from the [Main Endeavour Vent Field|http://www.neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/locations/endeavour.dot] on the Juan de Fuca Ridge. Th...

h3. BARS Recovery: A Great Success\! On July 9, 2011, we recovered the [Benthic and Resistivity Sensor|http://dmas.uvic.ca/DeviceListing?DeviceId=15002] (BARS), a cruise objective because of its failed hydrogen sensor and an isolation fault that disrupted its communication to the [Main Endeavour Vent Field|http://www.neptunecana...

h3. Piezometer Installation Scientists from Canada and France began deploying a cabled piezometer at 9:45 am (PDT) on Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at the [ODP 1027|http://www.ocean.washington.edu/vessels/TGT/tgt.html] node of the observatory. This is the first operation of the [NEPTUNE Canada|http://www.neptunecanada.ca/] July 2011 ...

h3. Why are we interested in Endeavour? The Main Endeavour Vent Field (MEF) was classified as a Marine Protected Area in 2003. It is the first marine protected area in Canada, and the first vent protected area in the world. Its designation as a marine protected area prevents commercial exploitation, but scientific research is stil...

h3. Installations at Main Endeavour Vent Field In total, six sites along this deep-sea rift valley will be instrumented and connected to [Endeavour Node|http://www.neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/locations/endeavour.dot]: * Main Endeavour Field (2010) * Regional Circulation Mooring North (2010) * Regional Circulation Mooring ...

h3. Why a mooring? The purpose of the Regional Circulation Mooring (RCM) is to measure currents within the axial rift valley of [Endeavour Ridge|http://www.neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/locations/endeavour.dot] at the regional scale, and to gauge the effect of hydrothermal venting on those regional currents. The energy rele...

h3. Harsh Realities The deep-sea is certainly not a friendly environment for complex metal structures hosting delicate scientific instruments. Large pressure differences during the descent, corrosion during long-term deployment and ground faults due to contact with seawater are all significant engineering challenges, but these con...

h3. Finding Safe Passage through an Undersea Mountain Range h4. Dives 1364 and 1365, 14-15 September 2010 Where on earth can you find a volcanically active valley full of unique life forms and smoking chimneys accessible only by crossing a treacherous mountain pass? !coral_on_edge_of_precipice_webres.jpg|align=center,wid...

h3. VPS Returns to Barkley Upper Slope On 14 September, 2010, we redeployed our Vertical Profiler System (VPS) after its summer holiday at the University of Victoria's Marine Technology Centre in Sidney, BC. During its port call, the VPS was visited by Japanese engineers who replaced its burnt-out winch motor and refurbished the e...

h3. Wally I Retrieval h4. Dive 1361 – September 13, 2010 One of the most unusual creatures you might encounter on the Barkley Canyon sea floor is Wally, a specially designed remote-control deepsea crawler that has been collecting samples and exploring undersea terrain since [deployment last October|blogs:/2009/09/27/Wally Crawl...

h3. Getting Wet Again After many weeks of busy preparations, our Fall 2010 installation & maintenance cruise is finally underway, aboard the [R/V Thomas G Thompson|http://www.ocean.washington.edu/vessels/TGT/tgt.html]. !rv_thompson.jpg|align=center,width=700px! Seven NEPTUNE Canada staff members, together with an 8-man ROPO...

After a long weather delay, we finally completed our last two dives of this cruise on 23 May 2010 at Barkley Canyon. h3. Temperature Probe Retrieval !ropos_w_tool_tray_at_dawn_700px.jpg|align=center! The first dive commenced at sunrise, with ROPOS carrying a newly-devised "tool tray" to the gas hydrates outcrops in Barkley ...

On Friday, 21 May 2010, we made two dives to retrieve instruments from the seafloor at both our ODP 889 and ODP 1027 locations. h3. Acronym Soup Our morning dive was something of a study in acronyms. ROPOS first placed a CTD on the ODP 889 BPR, then went to retrieve an mPFA. After returning to the IP, ROPOS proceeded to discon...

On 18 May 2010 we paid a quick visit to Wally the Crawler's gas hydrate world in Barkley Canyon. Our tasks were to deploy one experiment, retrieve another, collect some clams and give Wally some TLC. h3. Scrub-a-dub Wally the Crawler has been busy over the past 8 months, and it was time for a little clean-up. His methane sen...

On 18 May 2010, we revisted [ODP 889|http://www.neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/locations/ODP-889.dot] to install an Imagenex multibeam sonar. With it, scientists hope to study plumes of methane gas that bubble from the seafloor in a portion of the Bullseye Vent called Bubbly Gulch. This methane percolates upward from gas pock...

h3. 16-17 May 2010 Over the course of a head-spinning 2-day, 5-dive frenzy we fetched 3 instrument platforms, re-deployed 4 instrument platforms and collected samples from 4 different locations. The action was so quick, it was sometimes hard to know whether we were coming or going\! Fortunately, our chief scientists Mairi Best a...

On 15 May 2010, we made two dives in Folger Passage, once to Folger Deep and a second dive to Folger Pinnacle. Our goals were to: # swap out the Folger Bottom Pressure Recorder (BPR) # find and mark the end of the cable extending from the node up to Folger Pinnacle # clean up our [little mess from last year|blogs:/2009/09/15/Exp...

Shortly after the NEPTUNE Canada [Vertical Profiler System|http://www.neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/instrument-platforms/instrument-platforms.dot?inode=23094] (VPS) was [deployed last fall|blogs:/2009/08/25/Vertical Profiler System Deployed], a significant problem developed: we could extend the instrument float upward, but w...

On 11 May 2010, deck preparations began for will will likely be our longest dive this cruise. Dive objectives are threefold: # Install a new seismometer auxiliary platform # Inspect the [ODP 1027 instrument platform|http://www.neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/instrument-platforms/instrument-platforms.dot?inode=23097] and near...

On 10 May 2010, we retrieved two instrument platforms from Barkley Canyon, benthic pods 3 and 4. These were [installed last fall|http://wiki.neptunecanada.ca/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=10944607] and have been in service for 8 months. !ropos_w_pod3_webres.jpg|align=center,height=300px! h4. The Good News Both platforms ar...

On 9 May 2010, ROPOS made three dives at [ODP 889|http://www.neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/locations/ODP-889.dot] in order to swap out the [instrument platform|http://www.neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/instrument-platforms/instrument-platforms.dot?inode=23096] there and install a new auxiliary instrument platform conne...

Our Spring 2010 installation & maintenance cruise has commenced\! For this cruise, we're sailing aboard the [CCGS John P. Tully|http://www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/eng/Fleet/Vessels?id=995], May 8-25 2010. ([Cruise info, video & links.|http://www.neptunecanada.ca/cruise/]) !tully_bow_webres.jpg|width=500! On the first day of the cruise,...

h2. Communications Central! _During our summer installation cruise aboard the R/V Thompson, communications from ship to shore played a vital role. This post, co-authored by Mairi Best, Natalie Bowes, Murray Leslie, Dwight Owens and Katleen Robert, takes you behind the scenes to understand how we handled our cruise communications...

h2. Wally the Crawler's Long Strange Trip Wally the Benthic Crawler captivates like no other instrument platform. He is the only one to have been named and the only to earn mascot-like status among the crew. Already, his epic travails are becoming the stuff of legend. On August 27, he was [deployed to Barkley Canyon|blogs:/2009...

h2. Two Toronto Touchdowns Much to the delight of all involved, two experiments, designed and developed by researchers at the University of Toronto, were deployed at [ODP 889|http://neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/locations/ODP-889.dot] during the waning hours of our installation cruise. They are the Sea Floor Compliance (SFC...

h2. Now there are three The third and final broadband seismometer installation of this summer's cruise was completed on 17 September. It joins the two we installed at [Barkley Slope|http://wiki.neptunecanada.ca/x/MQCn] and [ODP 1027|http://wiki.neptunecanada.ca/x/jwCn] to form a small networked array of seafloor seismometers. If...

h2. One step forward... On 16 September 2009, elation and a setback transformed the R/V Thompson fantail deck into a beehive of activity. After high winds and seas forced us to forego our planned cable lay at ODP 1027, we retreated to ODP 889, where relatively milder seas allowed a quick reconnaissance and troubleshooting dive. ...

On 11-12 September, we laid a new extension cable from Folger node up into very shallow water on Folger Pinnacle, where an instrument platform will be installed by divers later this year. Poor visibility and strong swell made this installation particularly challenging. The node is positioned in the main channel connecting Barkle...

September 14-15 we installed and connected a second broadband seismometer to the NEPTUNE Canada network. The first was [installed at Barkley Canyon|blogs:/2009/09/08/Barkley Canyon Seismometer] on 8 September. The second was installed at [ODP 1027|http://www.neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/locations/ODP-1027.dot], not far from...

h2. Deployment of Barkley benthic pods 3 and 4 In rapid succession we deployed the remaining two benthic pods to Barkley Canyon, 10-11 September 2009. Now, the full quartet of Barkley benthic pods has been deployed, including [pod 1|blogs:/2009/08/26/Barkley Canyon Axis Deployment] in the axis of Barkley Canyon and [pod 2|blogs:...

On September 9-10, we returned to the hydrates field in Barkley Canyon to install a string of temperature probes and rescue Wally the Crawler. h2. Temperature Probes Four sets of temperature probes, linked by cable, were positioned around a hydrate mound and connected to the Barkley hydrates instrument platform. Changes in t...

On September 8-9, during the same dive when we installed the [Barkley Canyon seismometer|blogs:/2009/09/08/Barkley Canyon Seismometer], we also installed Barkley benthic pod 2 and its accompanying sediment trap to a seafloor location nearby our Vertical Profiler System and our Barkley Slope instrument platform. All of these are loc...

On 8 September we successfully installed and tested the first of three broadband seismometers to be deployed this summer. Seismologist Bob Meldrum was aboard to oversee the installation, which was accomplished using the ROPOS _zip pump_. Our activities were also closely monitored by local residents, including squid, curious halibut...

Before our port call in Esquimalt we made a quick trip to ODP 889, to lay an extension cable from the node to our study location and install an instrument platform and a bottom pressure recorder. This platform will service two very exciting experiments, the Controlled Source Electro-Magnetic (CSEM) experiment and the Sea Floor C...

h3. Laying Long Cables Cable laying is an important task at all of our locations -- after all, we're building a cabled seafloor observatory. But it was especially important and challenging at our ODP 1027 location, where we sought to install three 12.5km cables radiating out from the instrument platform to form an equilateral tr...

August 29 2009 we began a series of intensive dives to install instruments at our [Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) 1027|http://neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/locations/ODP-1027.dot] location. This site, in the centre of the [Juan de Fuca Plate|http://neptunecanada.ca/about-neptune-canada/science/tectonics/juan-de-fuca-plate.dot]...

On Friday August 28, the R/V Thompson and ROPOS crews deployed our instrument platform to Folger Deep. Instruments on the platform include: * conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) gauge (SeaBird SeaCAT SBE 16plus) * echosounder (Biosonics DT-Xu) * acoustic Doppler current profiler (RDI Workhorse Monitor 300KHz) * oxygen sensor (Aand...

Wally the crawler now sits among hydrate outcrops 867m below sea level. He's tethered to the Barkley Hydrates instrument platform by a 70m extension cable festooned with flotation blocks to keep it off the seafloor and away from Wally's tractor treads. Wally's equipment includes: * conductivity-temperature-pressure gauge * web...

With crews of R/V Thompson and ROPOS, we have deployed an instrument platform dubbed "Barkley Benthic Pod 1" to a spot in the depths of Barkley Canyon, 984m below the surface. This operation included laying a cable from the instrument platform up-slope to connect with our instrument platform in the Barkley Hydrates study location. ...

Our Vertical Profiler System (VPS) was lowered by crane to the seafloor early this morning. Exact geo-coordinates: -126.174095W; 48.427253; depth: 396m. ROPOS then dove down to plug the VPS in via an extension cable connected to our nearby instrument platform on Barkley Slope. In the afternoon and evening, the VPS was powere...

Our 5th node was successfully deployed this morning. It is sitting in 2323m of water at 47.57.5021 north latitude and 129.02.1263 west longitude. All four ports were tested from our shore station, and functioned properly. Three short-haul science ports were tested using a junction box strapped onto ROPOS. A fourth long-haul extensi...

R/V Thomas G. Thompson departed Esquimalt Graving Dock 8:00 Saturday morning, fully loaded with instrument platforms, extension cable spools, NEPTUNE Canada staff, students, contractors, and ROPOS equipment and crew. Once underway, all scientific crew were introduced to safety procedures, including how to properly don personal su...

The [R/V Atlantis|http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=8143] has returned to Victoria for demobilization. The ROPOS team will transfer to the [R/V Thomas G. Thompson|http://martech.ocean.washington.edu/tgt.html] to begin the next phase of installation work next week. Meanwhile, the [C/S Lodbrog|http://www1.alcatel-lucent.com/submarin...

Our trawl-resistant frame (TRF) and science node for the [ODP 889|http://neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/locations/ODP-889.dot] site were deployed successfully yesterday. The TRF is sitting in 1250m of water at 48° 40.4686'N, 126° 51.1525'W. This site on the mid-continental slope is rich in shallowly buried gas hydrates. He...

We've just received these photos from the Lodbrog, taken during deployment of the Trawl-Resistant Frame and science node to our [ODP 1027|http://neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/locations/ODP-1027.dot] location. {gallery:title=Deployment of the ODP 1027 node}{gallery}

We've received a batch of pictures taken during installation of our two instrument platforms at [Barkley Slope.|http://neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/locations/barkley.dot] Selected shots are shown below. The Barkley Slope platform (located at the shelf-slope break where the Vertical Profiler System will also be positioned) h...

Three cheers for our instrument reps Paul Macoun and Jonathan Lee, the crews of the [R/V Atlantis,|http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/technology/vessels/atlantis/atlantis.html] [ROPOS|http://ropos.com/] and the guys working at our [Port Alberni Shore Station|http://neptunecanada.ca/infrastructure/shore-station/]\! Two important instr...

h3. Endeavour Survey In spite of bad weather R/V Atlantis and ROV ROPOS completed this survey phase of possible Endeavour node sites. At a depth of approximately 2200 meters, Endeavour is the second deepest node that will be deployed. h3. About the Location Originally planned for a site that turned out to have too many obstacles...

The weather at 889 site is still awful, with 4m waves, so CS Lodbrog has buoyed off its cable recovery line and is heading back into Victoria to make use of the downtime with engine maintenance. The Atlantis , at Endeavour site, saw a gap in the weather this afternoon and was able to launch ROPOS. Ropos is doing a seabed survey...

h4.ODP 1027 Survey Completion. Atlantis has completed the ODP 1027 Site visual inspection and transitted to Endeavour, arriving about 13:00 UTC (06:00 PDT) ROPOS is currently doing visual inspection of Endeavour cable from KP 4.200, heading WSW towards TRF/Node site. The site survey will continue until {html}

Lodbrog and Atlantis have finished their node and cable installation work at [Barkley Canyon,|http://neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/locations/barkley.dot] and are now preparing for the node deployment to [ODP 1027.|http://neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/locations/ODP-1027.dot] The southern cable lay was completed at a...

Lodbrog and Atlantis crews finished laying the northern extension and are now completing the cable lay for the southern extension from the [Barkley Canyon|http://neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/locations/barkley.dot] node down into the canyon. The northern extension end is sitting at a water depth between 397 and 398 metre...

The [Lodbrog|http://www1.alcatel-lucent.com/submarine/vessels/lodbrog.htm] is laying the first of two 10km extension cable that will carry power and communications from the [Barkley Canyon|http://neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/locations/barkley.dot] node to our instruments. The one to the north that is now being installed wil...

The Barkely Canyon {html}TRF{html} and node are installed and operational. It's sitting at a depth of about 646m at 48° 20.7536' N, 126° 09.4752' W. Tomorrow, the Lodbrog will likely begin laying the extension cable leading from the node up to the site where our [Vertical Profiler...

Deployment of our [Barkley Canyon|http://neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/locations/barkley.dot] node is underway. In the past 48 hours, the {html}C/S{html} [Lodbrog|http://www1.alcatel-lucent.com/submarine/vessels/lodbrog.htm]: - departed Esquimalt Graving Dock and transited to Barkley C...

The [Barkley Canyon|http://neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/locations/barkley.dot] {html}TRF{html} and science node have been loaded onto the Lodbrog as crews ready for several major installation tasks. While our first TRF deployed (in Middle Valley) was empty, due to lack of fun...

h3. Middle Valley TRF Installed Middle valley {html}TRF{html} installation is now completed, as both the [Lodbrog|http://www1.alcatel-lucent.com/submarine/vessels/lodbrog.htm] and the [Atlantis|http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/technology/vessels/atlantis/atlantis.html] steam toward Victoria to retrieve the next node and {html}TRF{h...

During survey operations at [Barkley Canyon|http://neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/locations/barkley.dot], water made its way into the [ROPOS|http://neptunecanada.ca/about-neptune-canada/connections/details.dot?inode=3955"] lighting pod. Resulting repair work delayed the start of the site survey and may affect the {html}

Working in our future Middle Valley site [see our overview map|http://neptunecanada.ca/sensors-instruments/locations/], the {html}C/S Lodbrog{html} has successfully grapnelled the spur cable and has it leading up from th...