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Cruise Plan for ITOP Mooring Program (R/V Revelle: Mar 21- Apr 1, 2010)

Chief Scientist: Ren-Chieh Lien

Applied Physics Lab, University of Washington Feb 10, 2010

Objectives The primary purpose of this cruise is to service surface moorings in the western Pacific Ocean as a part of ITOP (Impact of Typhoon on the Western Pacific Ocean) DRI and to perform additional subsurface mooring operations. We service these surface moorings every ½ year. During this cruise, we will recover two surface moorings, and deploy three surface moorings and two subsurface moorings. At mooring sites, we will also make CTD profiles with water bottle samples to take observations of background hydrography and bio-chemical properties. We will also take underway meteorology, SST, SSS, and chlorophyll observations. Scientific Party (31 total) Shipboard Equipment Some major equipment is listed as follows.

• Internet Connection • Standard equipment for mooring deployment and recovery, e.g. TSE winch, tugger,

capstan, … • Multibeam and Knudsen for bathymetry survey • Shipboard ADCP (150kHz) • Revelle deep sonar HDSS (50 kHz and 140 kHz) • Met sensors • Intake sea surface temperature and conductivity • Shipboard CTD and water bottle samples • Marine radar repeater (with digital recording as discussed in the pre-cruise meeting) • GPS position and heading

Scientific Activity 1. ATLAS Surface Moorings Replenishment and Subsurface ADCP Moorings Deployment We will visit three deepwater mooring sites (~5,700m) in the western Pacific, A1, A2 and

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A3. The surface mooring at A2 has been recovered earlier this year. The A1 and A3 moorings are still at sea. In this cruise, we will (1) recover A1 and A3 ATLAS surface moorings, (2) deploy three ATLAS moorings at A1, A2 and A3, and (3) deploy two subsurface ADCP/TC moorings, SA1 and SA2, near A1 and A2. The surface and subsurface moorings should be separated by at least 7 nm. We expect 24 hour operations during the mooring works. The cruise route and mooring locations are shown in Fig. 1, the detail bathymetry of mooring sites in Fig. 2, the mooring types in Table 1, distance between waypoints in Table 2, and position chart in Table 3.

Figure 1. The overall cruise route (dashed-dotted lines), positions of deep-water surface moorings (A1, A2, and A3) and subsurface moorings (SA1 and SA2). No subsurface mooring will be deployed near A3. The color bar indicates depth in meters.

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Figure 2. Detail bathymetry of surface and subsurface mooring sites. The color bar indicates depth in meters.

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Table1. Mooring operation types

Operation Site Mooring type

Recovery Deployment A1 ATLAS surface mooring (T-sensors, Met, SIT*) A2 ATLAS surface mooring (T-sensors, Met, SIT*) A3 ATLAS surface mooring (T-sensors, Met, SIT*)

SA1 Subsurface mooring (ADCP, TC-sensors) SA2 Subsurface mooring (ADCP, TC-sensors)

*SIT: Self-contained Iridium Transmitter

Table 2. Distance between waypoints. waypoint Distance (nm)

Kaohsiung - A2 218.6 A1-A2 254.5 A1-A3 127.2 A2-A3 210.3

Kaohsiung -A3 417.1 A1-SA1 6.9 A2-SA2 6.9

Table 3. ITOP ATLAS and subsurface mooring locations and depths

Site Lon Lat Nominal Depth A1 127°39.7'E 20°19.2'N 5570m

SA1 127°33.0'E 20°22.2'N 5600m A2 123°12.6'E 21°07.5'N 5610m

SA2 123°16.8'E 21°13.2'N 5600m A3 126°02.7'E 18°54.1'N 5680m

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Figure 3. Schematic diagrams of ITOP ATLAS mooring and subsurface ADCP mooring. Each of the ATLAS surface mooring will be equipped with 14 temperature sensors, meteorological suite, meteorology data Iridium data transmitter, and Self-Contained Iridium Transmitter (SIT) for subsurface temperature data transmission (Fig. 3). Six technicians from Taiwan Ocean Research Institute (TORI) will participate in the cruise and work with Revelle's resident technicians for the mooring operation with help from other Taiwanese groups. Each of the subsurface mooring is equipped with Teledyne RDI 75kHz Long Ranger ADCP and 7 T/C sensors (Fig. 3). The buoyancy of the moorings is provided by two 45" syntactic-foam floats. The top syntactic-foam float is expected to be just 30-100 m below the

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surface at 5,600-m nominal water depth. A detailed bathymetry survey is needed before the surface and subsurface mooring deployment. During the deployment of subsurface mooring operation, we would like to have the ship to steam at ~ 1 knot for minimizing the tension on subsurface Kevlar line.

Surface Mooring Recovery (A1 and A3) Estimated operation time: 4 hr

Searching surface buoy with marine radar and marine light on buoy and visual. Steam closer to buoy and send release code to the acoustic release. Hook and lift the buoy up by A-frame, disconnect the mooring line from the bridle below

the buoy. Transfer load, run the jacketed wire (approx. 500m) through the winch, and stop and

detach temperature loggers from the mooring wire. Run the nylon rope through capstan and relay it into the foldable wire basket. Each basket

can hold three sections of 500-m nylon rope (approx. 1500m). Recover the glass floats and acoustic release.

Surface Mooring Deployment (A1, A2 and A3)

Estimated operation time: 4 hr Transfer the new wire to the winch and attach to the buoy. Lift the buoy by A-frame and deploy it. Ship steams slowly (1-2 knots or so) against the ship drift. Stop the wire (winch) and mount temperature loggers. Run the nylon rope through capstan from the wire basket. Ropes are deployed in a

reversed order as they were recovered. Stop at glass floats, attach glass floats and acoustic release, and deploy them slowly. Hold the mooring line, determine the let-go site, and confirm depth (Multibeam and

Knudsen in computer lab), ship speed (Bridge), and readiness (deck) before dropping the railroad wheel anchor by a tipping plate. In last cruise, railroad wheel got caught on the tipping plate while deployed. We should be cautious that it won’t happen again. All the surface moorings, either to be recovered or deployed, are in a configuration similar to that in Fig. 3.

Subsurface Mooring Deployment (SA1 and SA2)

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Estimated operation time: 4 hr Transfer the jacketed wire to the winch and attach to the buoy. Lift the upper 45” syntactic-foam float by A-frame and deploy it into the water. Ship steams slowly (1knot or so) against the ship drift. Stop the jacketed wire (winch) and mount Seabird TC sensors. Stop at the lower 45” syntactic-foam float (housing 75-kHz ADCP), lift the float by

A-frame and deploy it. Run the Kevlar line through capstan from the spooler. Stop at the glass floats, attach glass floats and double acoustic releases, and deploy them

slowly. Hold the mooring line, determine the let-go site, and confirm depth (Multibeam and

Knudsen in computer lab), ship speed (Bridge), and readiness (deck). Lift anchor and drop at the sea surface. We need to avoid impact to Kevlar line. It has

breaking tension of 5500 lb. All the subsurface moorings are in a configuration similar to that shown in Fig. 3.

2. Biology, Nutrient and Chemistry Study CTD and water bottle sampling will be performed before and after each of mooring operations. Water samples taken during the CTD casts will be used to study pico-planktons’ distribution patterns of abundance, pigment content and their enzymatic activity (alkaline phosphatase). Water samples taken from different depths in the upper 200 m will be incubated on deck for alkaline phosphatase activity. Parts of the water samples taken from the above procedure will be stored and bring back to land for the measurements of species composition (Flow Cytometery) and pigment analysis (HPLC). Running seawater is needed for 60 minutes for on-deck incubation and filtration on each station (Figure 4).

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Figure 4. Configuration of on-deck incubation system

Primary production measurement using NaH14CO3 Seawater samples (200 ml) in 250 ml polycarbonate (PC) bottles will be spiked with 0.1 ml

of diluted 14C solution (NaH14CO3) with a final radioactive activity of ~100 mCi/ml. The 250 ml PC bottles covered with different neutral density filters (the LEE filter) will be

sealed by cap, and then incubated inside a self-designed tank with an artificial light source and flowing surface seawater.

After 3 hours incubation, the water samples will be filtered through the GF/F filters under low pressure (<100 mmHg) pumping.

The GF/F filters then will be sealed inside 20 ml scintillation vials, and then stored inside a plastic box.

The waste (i.e. 14C filtrates in natural seawater) will be collected and stored inside a self-prepared waste container (20 liter carboy). The total volume of waste produced during the cruise is estimated to be 80 liter at most.

Plastic boxes (for filter samples) and carboys (for waste) will stay inside the radiation van through the whole investigation period.

After cruise and before leaving the radiation van, plastic boxes and carboys will be sealed inside an aluminum box. The aluminum box will be carried to get off the research vessel.

Bacterial production measurement using 3H-thymidine Triplicates or duplicates 2 ml aliquots of water samples were incubated with

3H-[methyl]-thymidine (S. A., 6.7 Ci/mmol; final conc., 20 nM) in 2.7 ml polyethylene vials with an air-tighten cover lid at in situ conditions for 2-3 hours.

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After incubation, one drop of formaldehyde will be added into the vials to stop reaction. The vials with an air-tighten cover lid will be stored inside a plastic box.

No radioactive waste will be produced. After cruise and before leaving the radiation van, plastic boxes will be sealed inside an

aluminum box. The aluminum box will be carried to get off the research vessel.

**Request for the use of the Beckman LS6500 LS Counter We need to use of the Beckman LS6500 Liquid Scintillation Counter just for the wipe-test before and after using the radiation van installed on the R/V Roger Revelle. The purpose of the wipe-test is to make sure that there is no contamination before and after we use the radiation van. For each test, we will run at least 7 samples using the LS counter.

Detailed Schedule (assume cruising speed 12 kts):

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Date Time Operation 3/19,20 Loading in Kaohsiung, Taiwan 3/21 1200 Set sail from Kaohsiung 3/22 A2 deployment 3/23 SA2 deployment 3/24 Transit to A1 mooring site 3/25,26 A1 recovery/ deployment 3/26,27 SA1 deployment 3/27 Transit to A3 3/28,29 A3 recovery / deployment 3/30 Hydrographic survey 3/31 Transit to Kaohsiung, Taiwan 4/1 0800 Arrive Kaohsiung, Taiwan 4/1-4/2 Off-load

Alternative Activity (Due to Typhoon) If typhoon occurs before or during the cruise, we will dodge from typhoon. The first priority of this cruise is to service ITOP moorings. This is a crude estimate of schedule for mooring service and CTD casts. The actual schedule will vary depending on the time for mooring deployment. Weather and sea state will be the major factors.