We were all disappointed that the weather did not allow the recovery or the CTD to go ahead yesterday, but today the weather is definitely improving and the first CTD which will go to 4000m was put in the water just after 6am.
It will take some hours for it to be lowered into position and then the releases we will be using on moorings later will be tested and also the grey plastic ‘bottles’ will be fired at different depths as the CTD is lifted toward the surface. These 24 water samples in the 10 litre ‘bottles’, are all allocated to different uses by the scientists and will form part of the studies. The CTD also carries the highest quality sensors for temperature, salinity, fluorescence and Oxygen, and others, so we will get our first idea of how mixed the sea is, which may influence later planning.
After the CTD has been recovered, in about 5 hours, the recovery of the PAP1 mooring will start. That is going to be a huge challenge to the technicians and deck crew; recovering the 5 metre high buoy, the sensors and over 6 kilometres of thick mooring rope. I am looking forward to watching more of their handling skills in action.