Almost perfect
In just 22.5 hours, Andrew and I turned around the lander and were ready to send it back down to the abyssal seafloor. We only get 6 deployments throughout the cruise, and with 3 benthic chambers on the lander, that means 18 chances to collect good data. We need every single one of them. Science is all about replication, so we need as many data points as possible.
Unfortunately, it appears that nature has a different opinion - better said, nature has different priorities. She doesn't want us to collect our data, to uncover her mysteries, to steal her secrets. As of the second lander recovery today, the score stands:
Team Sweetman: 2
Forces of nature, failed electronics, and other random crap: 4
That's right, friends. None of the three benthic chambers on the most recent deployment worked. The sediment on the seafloor was much softer than we expected, so the lander sank in too far and the benthic chambers were full of mud. Granted, there's supposed to be some mud in them, but there's also supposed to be some water on top of the mud. When the lander got back on deck this afternoon, Andrew could tell right away: all mud. No samples.
The most frustrating thing is that the lander deployment was almost perfect! All the electronics functioned how they should; the lander fell and rose through the water column exactly as we hoped; the darn seafloor was just too soft.
For future deployments, we'll try to get information from other groups on board about the sediment composition before we send the lander down. There's another piece of equipment, a so-called megacore, that also gets driven into the mud, and how far it penetrates should tell us how soft the sediment is. As with most things, the solution here is more information and better communication.
We still have 4 lander deployments left, and as in most things, I choose the course of unrelenting optimism. We've gotten the bugs out now - literally and figuratively - so it should work. It will work. There is no other option.
Unfortunately, it appears that nature has a different opinion - better said, nature has different priorities. She doesn't want us to collect our data, to uncover her mysteries, to steal her secrets. As of the second lander recovery today, the score stands:
Team Sweetman: 2
Forces of nature, failed electronics, and other random crap: 4
That's right, friends. None of the three benthic chambers on the most recent deployment worked. The sediment on the seafloor was much softer than we expected, so the lander sank in too far and the benthic chambers were full of mud. Granted, there's supposed to be some mud in them, but there's also supposed to be some water on top of the mud. When the lander got back on deck this afternoon, Andrew could tell right away: all mud. No samples.
The most frustrating thing is that the lander deployment was almost perfect! All the electronics functioned how they should; the lander fell and rose through the water column exactly as we hoped; the darn seafloor was just too soft.
For future deployments, we'll try to get information from other groups on board about the sediment composition before we send the lander down. There's another piece of equipment, a so-called megacore, that also gets driven into the mud, and how far it penetrates should tell us how soft the sediment is. As with most things, the solution here is more information and better communication.
We still have 4 lander deployments left, and as in most things, I choose the course of unrelenting optimism. We've gotten the bugs out now - literally and figuratively - so it should work. It will work. There is no other option.
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