From: Pat Wheeler
Subject: Revelle Report for Jan 20-24

Jan 20 - We finished our first complete vertical profile transect from CH-1 to CH-6.5 with Moum's profiler and Hale's pump both in the water and all systems working.

Jan 21 - After completing a pump station at CH-6.5 We headed to CH-4 and completed a pump station there. All chemistry and optics were on-line for both pump stations. At the very end of the station when the sled was inches above the deck a brake part on Burke's winch failed.

At daylight we proceeded across the crab pot region, reached CH-1 at 8:30 local time and started a turbulence only profiling transect from CH-1 to CH-6.5. Unfortunately, a large internal solitary wave pushed the ship over the Chameleon which was then pulled into the screws. A line dangled from underneath the ship and Jim's group hoped that the Chameleon was still attached. Bob Wilson donned his diving gear, but visual inspection indicated no attached Chameleon.

We spent the next few hours discussing the options for becoming operational again. Arrangements were made for a trip into Newport to pick up a replacement part for Burke's winch (delivered by over-night UPS) and miscellaneous other spare parts and care packages.

After recovering from the mental and emotional agony over the loss of their current "favorite" Chameleon (with a real nifty flurometer), Moum's group put in a back-up Chameleon and continued with a turbulence only profiling transect from CH-1 to CH-6.5.

After finishing the pofiling transect, we ran a star shape pattern to collect calibration data for Pinkel's high resultion ADCP system.

Jan 22 - Transit to Newport. The coast guard brought the pilot out but it was tricky maneuvering to get him on board. Weather was bad enough that the jetty and bar were closed to small boats. We arrived at the OSU dock at 10:30. Burke's parts were there and repair of his winch was completed within an hour. Moum's group picked up some hardware and Rogue's Brewery had a crowd for lunch. The pilot stayed on stand-by and we departed at the next good tide (2:30 pm). The pilot got off the ship before the breakers and the ship was on its own getting over the bar. We made it but did get pushed uncomfortably close to the jetty.

With Burke's pump system operating again we started work again with a pump station at CH-3 and planned a second station at CH 6.5 but it was too rough to work that night. The ship rides deceptively well in the 20-30 kt winds.

Jan 23 - At this point we started to have ADCP problems. The power supply on Pinkel's system failed and neither Pinkel not Moum wanted to try swapping it out with the spare. Jody spent many hours checking out the ship's broad band and narrow band systems to determine which would be usable. Meanwhile we did a partial chemictry profile from CH-4 to CH-1 with Burke's system and also completed a pump station at CH-1 and CH-3.

We attempted a pump station at CH-6 late that night. Winds were 25-30 kt. Paul and Amanda got sled in the water but the CTD alarm went off we recovered the sled and aborted the pump station. Burke got up to repair the shorted cable but we waited until the daylight hours to resume work.

Jan 24 - 08:00 All systems are working again!!!! including the ship's narrow beam ADCP. We completed our second complete profiling transect from CH-6.5 to CH-1 with turbulence, chemistry and optics all on-line. With the northward current we shifted to a eastward transect to keep Burke's gear downstream from the ship.

Our planned routine under these weather conditions will be an eastward profiling transect from 08:00 - 17:00; pump stations at CH-1, CH-3 and CH-6.5; and then an eastward and westward ADCP runs ending at CH-6.5 near daylight.

We are excited about the excellent conditions so far for the downwelling cruise and down loaded the WECOMA sea soar plots this morning and Kosro met mooring data. We hope to post the two completed profiling transect plots today and a third should follow shortly.

We have some tired folks on board from shifts disrupted by required repairs, but are glad to have all systems working now and hope to return to "routine" work schedules.

Pat Wheeler
Chief Scientist
RV Revelle
January 24