Station update

We did see what looked to be some bleaching in the cervicornis patch (I will send or post some photos that Catherine took), and very little bleaching elsewhere (>5 partial millepora colonies and one partial agaricia) all the big montastreas and brains looked good. Will keep an eye on things...

The CTD to BIC distance is 112cm.

Cheers,

Kevin

Operational again

CMRC3 was brought back online Saturday, July 23, 1100 with all instruments operational and reporting.

The second monitoring PAM fluorometer was deployed, with a new PVC housing for the distributor box and new stainless steel tubes for the sensors. After removing the first monitoring PAM unit, divers noticed pitting in one of the stainless steel sensor heads. The field crew at LSI has been requested to keep a close eye on the new system.

The deep CTD has been left off the system intentionally. The web site now reports -9 for all deep CTD values.

Each new windbird has its own magnetic compass so the direction information should be accurate. We learned the correct way to calibrate these compasses. That information will be applied to the matching instruments at SRVI1.

A site survey is planned for later this year.

Field Update

Today we dealt with a bevy of issues- we have replaced all components in the station, however, the transmitter appears to be disconnected or malfunctioning- we will be heading out to the stick tomorrow morning to see if we can fix it.

Wish us luck.

Louis & Erik

Field Update

Erik and I had a busy and slightly frustrating day- fortunately lady luck is still with us (although I don't know for how long).

This morning's weather was calm.  Divers (Erik and Shaggy) in the water, retrieved both CTDs, and deployed the one we were carrying with us.  PAM would not work with the CREWS laptop, so PAM dive was cancelled.  We attempted to do a profiler cast, but the CREWS laptop would not respond to the profile.  Cancel profiler cast.  We then opened the box, retrieved the data logger, clipped the top of the deep CTD cable and removed it from the station.  We then managed to clip and remove the wind bird masts.  Note that one of the serial port connector wires was broken at the leads, this will require an onstick repair.

Break for Lunch. (turkey sandwich, fyi)

After lunch was frustrating.  Erik connected his laptop to the profiler, it worked.  We took the 'brain' and wind birds to the dive locker to work on them.  The mast heads were made very short and do not accomodate the electronic compass extension.  Erik and Shaggy improvised on the spot- he will detail that improvisation.  The
datalogger was rewired as needed for the electronic compases.  There was no way to test it, however, we grabbed one of the batteries that were stored in our box; sealed cartons, humid and moldy.  With that were were able to power the datalogger.  The RF400 cables were also damaged and broken loose- this was the cable I assembled for this 'brain'.  I was able to replace it with another serial cable.  Also added the gounding bolt as planned.  New program (with electronic compasses) uploaded.

Around 4PM we make it out to the stick, but the weather was turning foul.  We installed the wind birds and passed some wires through the conduit before calling it quits when the rain started.

Notes:

The top of the stick moves more when the current is moving, and the boat is yanking on it.

The eye nuts work wonderful as a first step- however, the all thread has paint on it, so we are unable to thread them all the way tight.

The lid is WAY too heavy to put on and off to cover for rain- figure something better soon, pretty please.

The paint job is beautiful, but it makes the stick very slippery when wet- recommend not waiting out passing rain as it makes it dangerous to leave the stick.

Cracks are forming on the windmast hole/square on the left side (when climbing the stick).  Will try to photo that.

The aluminium masts were not drilled through for the holding bolt to pin it from spinning- the right one was easily pivoted in its mount.

Those are the things of note for today.  Tomorrow we will try to carry out the rest of the assembly process.

Kind regards and running to dinner,
Louis & Erik

Field Update

Erik and I arrived without incident.

We managed to get a boat out before dinner, and we installed the pegs (they are too narrow!) and opened up the cap.  Good news is that the surface bic appears ok (120 sample counts in the last 2 hours) due to what appears to be a loose cable.  I will probably replace the cable anyhow with one that has screwdowns for the 9 pin serial connector.

The bad news is that there seems to be corrosion going on inside the tube- the salt air is attacking most of the weaker metals on the brain.

Aside from that, it was super windy and the current was whipping as usual- the top of the stick bounces around pretty heavy.

Tomorrow will be a busy day.

Kind regards,

Louis & Erik

CMRC2/3 CREWS Field Log

DATE: 7/6/05
TIME: 1500
STAFF: Buch, Evans
BOAT: Lucaya (1/2 day use; 0.5 engine hrs)
NOTES: routine service and close inspection of the PAM for visible problems (intermittent output). No obvious problems with the PAM or external grounding wires were observed. Also, there are really no large coral colonies suitable for PAM monitoring within the reach of the current PAM cables. I would suggest considering longer cables-I can give you measurements from the Stick to some of the closest larger corals, if this is something you would be interested in. Just let me know...
Kevin

Image of PAM head install

Here's a pic of what the PAM heads look like on Agaricia sp.

PAM deployed

The PAM fluorometer was redeployed on June 30, 2005. Heads were positioned, using the alignment guide, on the following coral colonies.

PAM1: Agaricia spp.
PAM2: Agaricia spp.
PAM3: Siderastrea siderea
PAM4: Siderastrea siderea

PAM 1 & 2 are on a new coral colony, different than the previous deployments. This change was required due to the fact that the new underwater cables are a few feet shorter than the old cables.
PAM 3 & 4 are on the same S.Siderea that they were on previously.

All 4 heads reported as designed until the evening of July 2. After that some intermittent behavior was observed, with more consistent reporting during the daylight hours. Support staff has been notified and underwater cables, connections, and housings will be inspected.