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Centre for Geobiology

Day 4

We have arrived over Loki’s Castle. The fog has melted away and the sea is of a beckoning Grecian blue. We are getting ready to deploy the first ROV.

Photo:
CGB

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Date: 4 August 2009
Weather conditions:  clear blues skies, few light clouds
Temperature (air / water):  9.6 / 6.8 °C
Wind speed:  5.4 m/s
Wave height:  relatively flat, steady swells
   
Location:  73°N, 8°E

Daily report:

We have had a day of smooth sailing northwest from Håkon Mosby to Loki's Castle (140 nautical miles). Many of us took advantage of the opportunity to catch up on some shut-eye before the intense sampling activity that will take place at the vents.

Marvin and Rolf are working with the ROV pilots to outfit the Bathysaurus with specialised sampling equipment. Marvin has developed a piece of equipment that can take water samples and hold them under pressure so that the gases they contain will not escape. The gas concentrations will tell us more about the structure of the crust under the vents.

The microbiologists will be filtering the water to find out what kinds of microorganisms live in the vent water. Around a hydrothermal vent there are many different kinds of micro-environments each with quite different conditions of temperature, oxygen, minerals etc. Some of these are similar to those believed to have existed when life first began on Earth.

The ROV's sampling drawer will be in action collecting interesting-looking rocks and larger vent fauna. The vacuum / slurp machine will also help collect smaller organisms.

It takes about 2 hours for the ROV to reach the bottom here - add 2-3 hours for travelling about on the seafloor and then another 2 hours to return to the surface: we are planning for a late night (or rather an early morning!).

Those of us not busy getting ready for the dive are scanning the horizon for whale blows. There are some seamounts in the area. The waters above seamounts tend to have more sea life than the blue water over the deep sea.

Click on a day below to access another report!

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Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8
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Day 9 Day 10 Day 11        

 

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