FerrOCious Gulf Blog

It’s beginning to set in that the end of our expedition is near. Today the last deployal of the two Landers as well as final GO-Flo’s and In-Situ Pumps were performed. The team is starting to take apart their equipment and pack up their gear and samples for the trips home. Scientists are on board […]

As you’ve probably gathered by now, out here in the Gulf of Mexico we are on a hunt. Not for food or large mammals to shoot pictures of; we are on the hunt for chemicals. Elements ranging on the periodic table from those as commonly known as oxygen and iron, to others rarely ever mentioned, […]

After our deployment of the CTD this morning, followed by GO-Flo and In-Situ Pump number 13, George Maltby, Endeavor’s Assistant Engineer, was kind enough to give me a tour of the water treatment facilities on board the Endeavor. A couple of things surprised and impressed me about the systems on board the Endeavor. If you’ve […]

Plankton live in the ocean, moving freely, Although most are too small for you and I to see. They drift back and forth and up and down, Migrating to and fro, looking for chow. Meroplankton will grow up eventually, While holoplankton stay drifters of the sea. Doctors will study them and find their benefit, We […]

First thing this morning was retrieving the Lander. It had been left at its most recent station for over 2 days where it had been collecting water samples at pre-set times. The whole science team was quiet as they waited patiently for the Lander to surface, hoping that something didn’t go wrong and keep the […]

Today our crew was on the hunt. We are currently at our southernmost point since we headed out into the Gulf of Mexico nearly a week and a half ago; finding a flat sea floor is harder than you might think out here. A flat ground is necessary to use the multi-corer. Without a flat […]

Day 9 aboard the R/V Endeavor brought some new experiences. The first thing was an exploration of our own. Cris and I were curious about the types and amount of plankton living in these waters so we dropped a plankton net into the water and did a couple of tows. A plankton tow is where […]

Work started early today for Cris and Jim deploying a CTD at 07:00.  After breakfast the crew joined together to deploy the Lander for its fourth stay in the water. After the Lander was successfully launched, Dr. Maiti and Dr. Severmann deployed their in-situ pumps and let them run for a couple of hours at […]

The day started early for many of our scientists and crew today. Even before dawn Dr. Jim McManus, Bill, Paul, and Cris were up deploying the CTD to try and determine the characteristics of the water they would be sampling. After finding sufficiently low oxygen levels Dr. Maiti deployed his In-Situ pumps. Three of them […]

This morning all were ready for the first water sample collection that would be taken and kept from the CTD. At promptly 8:30 am the CTD was launched into the water with all of its bottles open and ready to be closed with sample water. The CTD was deployed to 27 meters (30 meters being […]