SUNDAY, 03.08.09

1242: Days 21 & 22 (Yesterday, March 7 & 8)
Ginger was recovered from her survey of box 8b at just after midnight last night, March 6th. The day before, she had come up with bad port side sonar data and had that cable and transducer replaced. She finished her mission after the fix with no issues, was safely recovered and her data was good in both channels. She was turned around in just over two and a half hours, and was put back in the water at 0344 to survey box 9b. While her data was all present, no screaming hot contacts were found in the record. The sonar records in these boxes, which are in close proximity to the islands, are filled with a lot of bottom geology. It has been noted the last few missions have not shown us a lot of relief. In other words, although it is clear the vehicles are flying over vast lava fields and seeing the occasional pinnacle, they do not have to do a lot of obstacle avoidance to run over large seamounts.

I’m sure some day a geologist will be salivating over the information we are gathering; huge lava fields, areas that look like Swiss cheese with pits and holes apparent on the sea floor, ridge lines, underwater bluffs and escarpments. Some of the data is breathtaking, just about every kind of topography imaginable. This is making the job of the analysts a bit more difficult, and they take many rides through the data. I generally follow up a few times over each record, asking rookie questions, tagging the occasional target myself. While we have marked somewhere around thirty contacts, nothing has jumped out as a hot target worthy of re-imaging.

Mary Ann, on a mission to look at box 8a again after having her port transducer replaced, finished her mission (which she had run backwards, as had Ginger before her), and she was recovered without issue at 0545 this morning. Unhappily, she was again missing her port channel data. Investigation into the log showed the channel stopped logging at 2300 meters on her descent and started back up again during ascent at 2800 meters. This is almost certainly a depth-related issue, probably a cable. The trouble now is we have traded out our spare cables over the last three weeks during various fixes. We do have two traded cables on the surface that have not been definitively diagnosed as failed, and they have been swapped out en mass with other parts so as to minimize our downtime. Thus, we are not certain of their status. We no longer have the luxury of just switching out parts.

To determine whether it’s the cable or transducer on Ginger that is succumbing to the depth, we are switching her connections with the current equipment in place. If she comes up with no data in her starboard channel, we’ll know the cable is bad as we moved it from her port (and failed) channel from the last mission. If the data is missing from the starboard channel, we’ll know it was her port transducer that failed on the last run. Rather than lose time from an entire mission when we are relatively certain we will be missing data, we’re going to send her down to do one lane, turn around and come back down that same lane and return to the surface. Total time: five to six hours.

Even if we have only one side of the vehicle working, we will scratch at least one lane off the list and hopefully isolate the failed part without losing the time of a complete mission. When she comes back up, we will almost certainly have to repeat the performance on the next lane with the replacement part. Since we have two of each of the parts with question marks on them, we want to make sure they work before sending them out on entire missions. One other note: Ginger did bring back starboard data, running her mission backward. So, if we received reliable info, the upcoming test will take place in box 9a.

In other news, I met with the crew today and discussed mindfulness and attention to detail, stressing that while we certainly want to minimize surface time, we need to take the time to double check our work and make sure we have no more programming errors. We put a protocol in place for the secondary shift person to check over the primary’s programming of the vehicle. It costs us a half hour or so, but is well worth it. Greg Packard is working 20 hours a day at times, and we need to watch his back.

We are still in daily contact with Hydroid and EdgeTech, and they are asking us to send data — along with parts that have been replaced — back to them when we can. They are also working on more spare cables and transducers (very likely warranty replacements). I am already checking into the various pipelines to get those parts in WID hands sooner than the previously anticipated hand carry on the 29th. I know Ted is planning on a run in this direction in the next week, so we will try to send some parts out with him.

That’s enough good news for today. Talk to ya all later. Oh yeah, one last thing. I know these probably aren’t the most thrilling reports to read, and I’m not elated to write them, but we are doing well. Spirits come and go, but we’re aware that as long as data is coming on board, we might find what we came for at any time. To those of you who have sent positive vibes, thanks for the support; while I think we’re doing okay on morale, we appreciate the thoughts.

0217: From Ted Waitt, RE: Days 21 & 22
Keep in mind we’re less than 20% into the search and regardless, we are collecting good data. Nutter’s theory is just a theory, and a good one. But I think it’s just as likely she’s anywhere within that box. Key thing at this point is to maybe come up with some games and rewards. Might sound a bit childish, but everyone was so pumped about the pool (by the way, I think I still owe money?). Maybe something for every 50-mile day? And, we need a lot of them given our average. Anyway, any ideas I’m happy to help with. Whatever.

My plan is to be out there around March 19th. I’m gonna fly into Pago Pago on the 15th and stop in Gardner for half a day to explore so I can tell the world I was there and Amelia isn’t. Leaving on the 20th for Tarawa. FYI, there is a great atoll off Tarawa. Would be neat to offer something like, do five consecutive 50-mile days and give everyone a snorkeling break, but Howland is off limits for Seward Johnson. Baker too I assume?

2227: Day 22 Cont’d.
Greetings. We have determined it is one of Mary Ann’s sonar transducers that’s failing at depth. The transducer in question failed at 1169 meters on descent and worked sporadically on its return to the surface. A fair amount of data was gathered and will go to EdgeTech and Hydroid in an effort to see why the transducers are failing. We have two units in our spares catalogue, one is known to have failed and the other has a question mark on it. We will place the questionable part onboard and send Mary Ann down for another single lane diagnostic run. If all is well, we will start her back into regular service. If there is still a problem, we will put a set of the high frequency, short-range transducers aboard and continue the survey. That eventuality would halve our capability when it comes to range.

We are glad to have an answer, but the result is not what we hoped for. While we may be less capable in the short term to replace cables, transducers are a long lead time item and not one we can fix in the field. Cables give us more options for a cobbled-together solution and are easier to replace. The team is discussing all the options and we will have more information tomorrow about replacements. So it’s a mixed bag; we have an answer, but it’s not a good one. Bottom line, we keep working it.

Ginger continues to work away on box 9b.

On a somewhat lighter note, I have included a video Joe Lepore shot of me the other night, performing a little science experiment. As you can imagine, spirits have been up and down over the last week, so a couple days ago, I decided to lighten the mood with a little typical Dessner. Enjoy and remember: this cannot leave our circle. Consider it copyrighted by myself. I call it Electric Hotdog.