Archive of September 12th, 2007

Red star indicates current location of R/V Kilo Moana

Click on the Image for larger version

Teacher at Sea Log for Wednesday September 12, 2007

We continue to map the ocean floor off of Ka'ula Island. We had a nice rectangular track we were taking but then the Barking Sands Pacific Missile range wanted to do an exercise and so we changed our path. Today we have been going around close to Ka'ula. It is very barren and has tall cliffs.

Highlights of what we have seen on the bottom are lots of flat top volcanoes.

Chuck Blay a geologist from Kauai is also aboard. He is a sedimentologist and the author of Kauai's Geologic History A Simplified Guide.

Yesterday I was given a nice tour of the Jason 2 submarine. I stood and listened as the scientists described the work they were going to do and how they were going to get the samples they needed. It is really good how careful they are about all the things that could go wrong and have them get bad information. For instance one researcher is measuring the chemicals in the rocks. She wants to measure levels of the various isotopes of lead and so she asked about the composition of the baskets and dividers where the rocks will be carried back to the ship. They described the various tools and sensors. Any sensor they can live without they will take off the Jason 2 and allow them to carry home more rocks. For example on this cruise no one is paying attention to the water temperature at the bottom of the ocean and so that sensor was removed today.

We learned that there is a borrowed cable for the Jason 2 on it's way in addition to a repair technician from the manufacturer. So we hope to be in Oahu on Friday and back on our way by Friday night.

Science Update by Garrett Apuzen-Ito

September 12, Wednesday

Our bathymetry and side-scan sonar surveys yesterday and today covered areas around Ni'ihau and Ka'ula. We are discovering many, many young flat topped volcanoes and young lava flows around Ni'ihau and Ka'ula. This area could be the largest mapped submarine volcano field around the islands yet. Tonight, we will start our journey back to Honolulu so that tomorrow we can test the repaired JASON2 cable and hopefully bring JASON2 out to see what is really down here! Stay tuned for images of these features!

Presented by the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawaii, with financial support from the National Science Foundation.