April Showers

We have been pretty busy here in the ORCA lab.  The month started out with a couple trips to the Hoodsport buoy.  Previously we had observed a damaged solar panel.  Water had made its way into the junction box where the electrical leads are attached.  When we discovered this we took many of the major components of the buoy home with us to avoid any damage while the buoy was down. 

Working in the rain.

After two very long days on the water we were able to get all components of the buoy installed and working.  Currently Hoodsport is profiling two times a day.  As the days get longer and the sun shines brighter we should be able to increase the profiling frequency. 

We are also collecting our weather stations from the buoys to send to the manufacturer for repair/re-calibration. 

Colin retrieving a weather station.

Despite the rainy day on the water the evening and sunset were very pleasant.

The next buoy we visited was the Carr Inlet buoy.  It was another rainy day.  On the upside the winds were very calm.  We were conducting a package swap, water sampling and some general maintenance. 

Old instrument package.

New instrument package.

The buoy was in good shape overall.  No surprises, which is a surprise in itself.  We completed our goals for the day and brought back the old instrument package for some much needed cleaning.

Finally this month Colin and his dive partner Dave were able to dive on the Twanoh and  Hoodsport buoys.  The goal was to inspect the anchor lines for evidence of weak spots.  Some signs of wear were spotted but nothing alarming.

Anchor chain.

Dave heading up the anchor chain.

 

Despite the rainy weather we were able to get some good work done this month.  On another note, after leaving the Carr Inlet buoy we found some litter in the water and did a good deed and picked it up.  I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, I assume this wasn't thrown in the water purposefully.  Here is what we found...

Birthday balloons!

 

Weather Window

We had a small weather window a little bit back and we able to get out to a buoy to address an intermittent CTD communication issue.

Seattle Sunrise

 The buoy computer was failing to send commands down the cable to the CTD.  The buoy computer and package of oceanographic instruments had been recently deployed so this left either the cable itself (called the hydro-wire) or the slip-ring on the winch.  The slip ring was inspected and appeared to be functioning properly so that remained on the winch.  The hydro-wire was taken off and a new one was put on. 

Since the nature of the problem was intermittent numerous test casts were conducted.  Each cast came back successfully, so we felt confident we had addressed the problem.  On one of the casts though the winch struggled a bit bringing the instruments up, we will have to wait and see how this plays out. 

Upon arriving at the buoy my hands were instantly covered in grease and the by-products of numerous Cormorants enjoying their time perched on the buoy.  So, I have no pictures from the buoy that day.  But, the sunset on the way home was pretty nice...