Last Shinkai Dive of the cruise

14-Sep-2010. Today our Chief Scientist Kojima-san returned to Snail site to recover our JAMSTEC collaborators’ demersal plankton pump on Dive 1228. Accompanying Kojima-san on the dive was our cruise mascot, “Gori-san” (shown in photo). We are hoping that Gori-san brought us good luck and that we will have a lot of biology work to do this evening, the last night at sea. I would like to again thank the Captain and everyone on board R/V Yokosuka who helped make this cruise such a great success. Arigatou gozaimasu (ah-ree-gah-tohh goh-zah-ee-mah-soo).

Sunset rays above Philippine Sea

Like a kid in a candy store

13-Sep-2010

As you can see, geophysicist Nobu Mochizuki was smiling and happy “like a kid in a candy store” this morning before his first dive ever in Shinkai. You can see the diversity of rock types collected on the cruise in the photo below (sulfides on left and basalts on right). Today I want to highlight something interesting that I learned during this cruise about how I use the English language. I learned that I often use expressions and idioms that are exclusive to native American English speakers. I learned over the past two weeks to use words with more of the correct meaning in a dictionary (or, in Japanese, “jisho,” pronounced gee-sho). I had planned on titling today’s blog “Icing on the cake” because we recovered the current meter mooring, and we now have data for the near-bottom flow during our larval collections. I talked with a couple of the scientists in the computer room, and we could not come up with a Japanese expression for “icing on the cake.” However, we did come up with an expression for Nobu being “tickled pink” – “hashagu” (ha-sha-goo) in Japanese.

Women working at sea

12-Sep-2010

There are more women on board Cruise YK10-11 than have ever sailed before at one time on R/V Yokosuka. The science party has nine women, including our collaborator Florence Pradillon from JAMSTEC (see photo inside Shinkai before Dive 1226). While Florence was down on the seafloor, Susan and I worked on deck to clean our mooring gear for the shipment home. We were kneeling a lot, as you can see in the photo below. In the lowermost photo during the Shinkai recovery, you can see Hitomi Ikeda, the first female Shinkai mechanic. Also on board is Minamoto Mai, working on the ship’s crew as third electronics officer.

Recovering our last pump mooring at night

11-Sep-2010

Our two plankton pumps are affectionately named “Paul” and “Ringo,” as if they are rock stars of the deep sea. Today Ringo responded as usual to our acoustic release and surfaced during daylight (photo right). However, Paul was down on center stage on the seafloor, situated near the top of a hydrothermal mound with a lot of topography all around. He did not want to leave the spotlight of our acoustic transducer. Finally, we were able to get a good angle to send the release command, and Paul lifted off the bottom. Most of the crew and science party went to the bow to wait and watch in the dark. Paul gave us such a light show with a strobe, green glow sticks, and reflective tape, that we saw him before he broke the surface. The photo upper left is Paul’s recovery on deck, and you can see his reflective “P.”

Dive to inner space

10-Sep-2010. Today, Susan went on Shinkai 6500, Dive 1225 to Pika Vent. Just like an astronaut dons a space suit, Susan wore a special flame-retardant suit required for divers in Shinkai (photo 1). One thing about diving to the deep sea that is very different than in space, however, is that satellite transmission does not penetrate through the water column. You can’t get a GPS position directly on the seafloor. The Shinkai group uses acoustic navigation to track the Shinkai during a dive. In photo 2 you can see the Navigation Lab, with Chief Scientist Kojima-san speaking with the navigators and our Expedition Leader Sakurai-san next to the plotter. The navigation enabled Shinkai to go directly to Pika Vent for biological sampling (photo 3). After the dive, the scientists eagerly collect samples off the Shinkai’s basket (photo 4).

Photo courtesy JAMSTEC

Last splice of the cruise

9-Sep-2010

 

Today, Shinkai Dive 1224 went back to Archaean Vent, where Sasaki-san (a taxonomic specialist in gastropods) was able to collect a diverse assemblage of species, including gastropods, for population genetic analyses. While the Shinkai was down on the seafloor, Susan and I were preparing for the last pair of pump mooring deployments. I had a moment to kick back in the hangar and make my last splice of the cruise. I also enjoyed working with students, including MiHye Seo (photo right), to teach them how to work with the lines and other mooring gear.

Somewhere under the rainbow

Today we recovered our second pair of plankton pump samples. Our “Wizard of Oz” is Captain Susami-san, whose excellent ship-handling skills have led to very smooth and well-coordinated recoveries of our pump moorings. A double rainbow spread over the horizon in front of the ship as we waited for the first of the moorings to surface. In the photo below, you can see our set-up for the deck unit and hydrophone used to communicate with the acoustic releases. Susan is holding the transducer over the port rail, and I am working with our excellent Res Tech Okada-san who is on the walkie-talkie with the bridge. Hiromi and students are waiting for me to press the release command.