COCOS (Feb 19-21): Bluewater dives & gremlins

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Inspecting Topside ROV Control Box
(Photo credit: P. Auster/NURTEC/UConn)

The ship made steady progress towards the island and we expected to arrive at Cocos by midnight and then the seamounts about four hours later.  The day was spent discussing multiple ways to integrate ROV, submersible and scuba diving operations in the most efficient manner.  The ROV team spent the day preparing Hela to dive.  This involved maintaining and securing multiple underwater housings, connectors and cables to the vehicle, securing cables on the deck and in the ROV control room and myriad other tasks.  On top of this they were chasing down “gremlins” in the ROV system.  The inevitable consequence of moving sophisticated electronic equipment that purposely is exposed to seawater, there were problems with communications between topside and vehicle systems.  One was solved and another emerged.

Bluewater diving atop the seamount
(Photo credit: P. Auster/NURTEC/UConn)

Meanwhile, the science party conducted blue-water dives using SCUBA gear and submarine dives using the the DeepSee submersible.  The scuba work will entail day and night blue-water dives over the seamount (the shallowest seamount peak is about 170 m depth) to collect gelatinous plankton (Madin), census fish (Auster), and photograph the diversity of animals that migrate to surface waters at night (Skerry).  The Undersea Hunter Group’s DeepSee submersible is rated to 1500 ft (457 m) and will allow 1 pilot and 2 scientists to visit the upper reaches of the seamounts.  However, everyone is eagerly awaiting the addition of the ROV to the operations mix.

DeepSee submersible descent to the Cocos Seamounts (Photo credit: P. Auster/NURTEC/UConn)

This National Geographic expedition is supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DRL-1114251. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

COCOS (Feb 18): Underway from Puntarenas

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Leaving port aboard the MV Argo
(Photo credit: P. Auster/NURTEC/UConn

After a sleepless night of unpacking, the ROV crew awoke early to fully assemble and test Hela.  By 11 am all of the major systems had been loosely assembled on both the vehicle and in the topside control room and were ready for a test.  Kevin flipped the main power switch and the screens came to life and glowed with video, sonar and vehicle information just as they should!  This is what we were looking for as the lines were cast off from the dock at noon and the MV Argo turned into the channel and headed out to sea, past the docks and fishing boats, past the mangrove forests, past the mountains and out to the open Pacific Ocean.  The air was warm, sky was clear and the seas were calm as we began the 36 hour passage to Isla del Coco (Cocos Island) and the Gemelas Seamounts.

Styrofoam cups await transit to the deep sea
(Photo credit: K. Joy/NURTEC/UConn)

Cups from a classroom...a side story

When oceanographers prepare for a deepwater dive (using ROVs or occupied submersibles) they often follow the long-running tradition of decorating Styrofoam cups, placing them in a mesh bag affixed to the vehicle, and exposing them to the extreme pressures of the abyssal realm.   The pressure thousands of feet below the surface can reduce an 8oz cup to the size of a thimble, resulting in a nifty souvenir from the seafloor.  Kevin Joy visited his son Sawyer's class before leaving on the expedition and had the students draw on Styrofoam cups – these will be attached to the Hela ROV or submersible during a deep dive, which will turn the coffee cups into shot glass size miniatures from Las Gemelas Seamounts.

This National Geographic expedition is supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DRL-1114251. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

COCOS (Feb 17): Best laid plans....

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DeepSee submersible onload
(Photo credit: P. Auster/NURTEC/UConn

The NURTEC team of Technical Director and Hela ROV pilot/technician, Kevin Joy and ROV pilot/technician Lance Horn from the University of North Carolina-Wilmington arrived in Puntarenas on February 14 with the hope of seeing our shipment at the dock after it cleared through customs.  The schedule allowed 3 days to assemble and test the ROV, checking that all the bumps and knocks during shipping did not damage our equipment.  Unfortunately, it took days to get our equipment from customs.  They checked on status morning, noon and night!  At least they had time to think hard about the layout of gear and how operations would commence on the MV Argo, our floating home for the expedition.  Needless to say they were frustrated during those days as the buzz of activities around them were all focused on preparing the ship, dive gear and submersible vehicle.


Meanwhile, the Undersea Hunter Group on-loaded the DeepSee submersible (top right) onto the support ship Argo.  After a busy day of onload, the ROV gear cleared customs late in the day and arrived at the port of Puntarenas around 2100 hrs.  The cloud of dust and glare of headlights coming down the dirt road to the dock was a welcome sight.  Everyone pitched in and all of the equipment was loaded onto the ship in two and a half hours.  That was the easy part - then began the task of unpacking crates, organizing equipment and making Hela ROV operational.  Work continued to the early hours of the morning.


This National Geographic expedition is supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DRL-1114251. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Cocos Seamount Expedition

On Monday, February 6th, NURTEC’s remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Hela, capable of diving to 1000 feet, departed UConn Avery Point to be air freighted to Costa Rica to support a National Geographic Society (NGS) expedition to explore a deep-water seamount in the Pacific Ocean.  The “Las Gemelas” (the twins) seamount lies about 40 nautical miles offshore from Cocos Island, which itself lies over 375 miles from the coast of Costa Rica.  The expedition is being led by NGS photographer, Brian Skerry (www.brianskerry.com) and Dr. Peter Auster, UConn Department of Marine Sciences is serving as an expedition scientist.


More news on this expedition to come.  Stay tuned.

This National Geographic expedition is supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DRL-1114251. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.