P06 leg 1 Week 1
by Sabine Mecking and Isa Rosso
(chief and co-chief scientists of P06 Leg1)
RVIB N. B. Palmer, NBP17-06/P06 Leg 1: Weekly Scientific Report 01
32.08°S, 160.00°E
11pm, Monday, 10 July 2017 (local time and day)
air: 18.4°C, water: 20.7°C, winds: 7 kt from the southwest
on station 029
Last Monday, July 3 2017, at about 10:00am the NBP departed from Sydney where it
was docked in White Bay, berth 4. Loading of the ship prior to that went pretty smooth.
Most items, including all floats, the DIC van, the NASA HyperSAS and other palettes and
boxes, were loaded onto the ship on Wednesday, June 28, with only the ODF van and
some missing sample bottle boxes left for loading on Thursday, June 29. Don Hill from
DAMCO and Eric Hutt (MPC) made sure that all science equipment was delivered to the
dock on time. Measurement groups started setting up in the labs, running tests, and
trouble shooting as soon as their items were on board. Access to the port in Sydney was
easy. Except for one overnight visit from a cruise ship, the NBP was the only ship at the
White Bay west side dock. By the end of the port call the guard house people knew us
quite well.
Members from the science party arrived in Sydney throughout the week. A
replacement for one of the scientists in the pH/alkalinity group had to be found on short
notice. We are glad that Derek Smith could make it to Sydney by July 2, 2017, just in
time for our departure the next day. The steam out of the port in Sydney was very
scenic. Since we have hit the open ocean, we have had fair weather with sun shine and
wave heights of 6-8 feet at maximum. The prediction for the next couple of days,
however, is for somewhat rougher seas and winds up to 20 knots.
We started the cruise with a test station at ~31.5°S, 153.5°E on the morning of
July 4, followed by our first “real” station that same evening (no fireworks for us) in just
84m of water off the Australian coast, at 30.09°S, 153.48°E. Our station spacing since
then has been extremely close, ranging from 2–26nm, which sets a very fast pace on
each CTD cast. Short station spacing, which will continue for the next two weeks of the
cruise, is necessary due to the varied topography of the western South Pacific, between
the coast and the Kermadec Trench (just past the dateline).
All measurement groups have been working extremely hard to keep up with
sampling and analysis. Most systems are running well, although we have had a few
hiccups to deal with pretty much as soon as we reached deeper waters. At station 7
(2900m), the communication between the LADCP and its computer console became
intermittent, until it completely stopped at station 10 (4599m). Most cables had been
exchanged by then, but trouble shooting continued. The removal of the magnetometer
from the rosette, after station 13, finally fixed the problem, and the LADCP has been
working again since then.
First problems with Niskin bottles not closing occurred at station 6 (1985m). By
station 12 (4707m), 7(!) bottles stayed open, with most bottles being repeat offenders,
despite all efforts of adjusting lanyards and bottle positions. A quick inspection of the
pylon’s solenoids did not reveal any obvious signs of leaking or deterioration (the
carousel had just returned from maintenance at Seabird). Nevertheless, we decided to
exchange the carousel against SIO’s new 36-place pylon (that was meant for the new
rosette we are using, but that did not arrive in time for assembly). We are happy to
report that all bottles have been closing since then.
(chief and co-chief scientists of P06 Leg1)
RVIB N. B. Palmer, NBP17-06/P06 Leg 1: Weekly Scientific Report 01
32.08°S, 160.00°E
11pm, Monday, 10 July 2017 (local time and day)
air: 18.4°C, water: 20.7°C, winds: 7 kt from the southwest
on station 029
Last Monday, July 3 2017, at about 10:00am the NBP departed from Sydney where it
was docked in White Bay, berth 4. Loading of the ship prior to that went pretty smooth.
Most items, including all floats, the DIC van, the NASA HyperSAS and other palettes and
boxes, were loaded onto the ship on Wednesday, June 28, with only the ODF van and
some missing sample bottle boxes left for loading on Thursday, June 29. Don Hill from
DAMCO and Eric Hutt (MPC) made sure that all science equipment was delivered to the
dock on time. Measurement groups started setting up in the labs, running tests, and
trouble shooting as soon as their items were on board. Access to the port in Sydney was
easy. Except for one overnight visit from a cruise ship, the NBP was the only ship at the
White Bay west side dock. By the end of the port call the guard house people knew us
quite well.
Members from the science party arrived in Sydney throughout the week. A
replacement for one of the scientists in the pH/alkalinity group had to be found on short
notice. We are glad that Derek Smith could make it to Sydney by July 2, 2017, just in
time for our departure the next day. The steam out of the port in Sydney was very
scenic. Since we have hit the open ocean, we have had fair weather with sun shine and
wave heights of 6-8 feet at maximum. The prediction for the next couple of days,
however, is for somewhat rougher seas and winds up to 20 knots.
We started the cruise with a test station at ~31.5°S, 153.5°E on the morning of
July 4, followed by our first “real” station that same evening (no fireworks for us) in just
84m of water off the Australian coast, at 30.09°S, 153.48°E. Our station spacing since
then has been extremely close, ranging from 2–26nm, which sets a very fast pace on
each CTD cast. Short station spacing, which will continue for the next two weeks of the
cruise, is necessary due to the varied topography of the western South Pacific, between
the coast and the Kermadec Trench (just past the dateline).
All measurement groups have been working extremely hard to keep up with
sampling and analysis. Most systems are running well, although we have had a few
hiccups to deal with pretty much as soon as we reached deeper waters. At station 7
(2900m), the communication between the LADCP and its computer console became
intermittent, until it completely stopped at station 10 (4599m). Most cables had been
exchanged by then, but trouble shooting continued. The removal of the magnetometer
from the rosette, after station 13, finally fixed the problem, and the LADCP has been
working again since then.
First problems with Niskin bottles not closing occurred at station 6 (1985m). By
station 12 (4707m), 7(!) bottles stayed open, with most bottles being repeat offenders,
despite all efforts of adjusting lanyards and bottle positions. A quick inspection of the
pylon’s solenoids did not reveal any obvious signs of leaking or deterioration (the
carousel had just returned from maintenance at Seabird). Nevertheless, we decided to
exchange the carousel against SIO’s new 36-place pylon (that was meant for the new
rosette we are using, but that did not arrive in time for assembly). We are happy to
report that all bottles have been closing since then.
 | |
| Departure from Sydney |
 |
| Exchange of 36-place carousel |
 |
| ADCP velocities on day 4 showing eddy variability or meandering of the East Australia Current |
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