On 5th of June, Poseidon deployed her last three OBH instruments. The crew then spent the next two days doing CTD ("conductivity, temperature, depth") measurements of the water column. They typically recovered good measurements of conductivity and temperature for depths down to 1000 m. These measurements can be used to monitor mixing of different water bodies (such as warmer Mediterranean waters with the cold Atlantic) and to calculate variations in velocity within the water column to compare with seismic reflections we observe within the water column. Rough seas for the last 1.5 days have made the CTD measurements challenging.
Today the Poseidon is recovering eight OBH to download the data they recorded and redeploy them elsewhere within the 3-D box. It will be exciting to see the first OBH data! We won't see the rest of the data until the remaining OBS and OBH are recovered in August and September.
Despite being in the same area, here on the Langseth the science party hasn't seen the Poseidon since our first day passing them on the way out to sea from Vigo. However, this may be because we are all busy below deck in the main lab (with no windows) processing data!
Marianne Karplus
8th June
