Post 3-The First Day Under Way

Day one of the cruise was mostly for transit to the first Alvin dive site. Though we were not conducting any research, we were still quite busy. The first day of most research cruises is filled with a mix of preparation and safety briefings. On this cruise we were asked to try on our survival suits to make sure that they fit. The suits are commonly referred to as Gumby suits because after you get them on you resemble a life size red Gumby (check out the photos of us in the Gumby suits!)!

Each group has different types of experiments that we plan to deploy on the seafloor and recover a year from now. Our experiments required a lot of work back at ISU planning and building small metal cubes that we completed on board the ship. Every one helped and had input into the design and building of these experimental cubes. 

The cubes are built!!!! We will add sediment and creatures are welcome to visit throughout the year on the seafloor. The coated steal cubes have been covered with a metal heavily coated (in plastic) mesh on all sides. The cubes are also covered in reflective tape on the top to allow for better visibility as well as a stripe on each support. This stripe not only will serve to aid in visibility, but it also will function as the marker for how deep the cubes will be submerged in sediment. We added flags and will deploy them with a floating marker so that they are easy to find when we return in about a year.

One of our foram cages. These will be placed on the sea floor by Alvin.