Day 17 GUMBY IN RED

Conical Seamount is as far north as we will go, about 70 miles east of the Mariana island of Asuncion. We arrived and set the transponders. By 0930 we had started a piston core. The wind has increased steadily over the past two days and the seas are now a bit rough. It’s now harder to walk around the ship and a couple of the science team are a bit seasick. It’s a greater challenge to do science under these conditions as well. It’s more difficult to work in the lab and harder for the ship to stay on station. However, with some work and maneuvering, the piston core went down right where we had hoped and came back with a magnificent sample of blue serpentine mud.

While the scientists played in the mud, Tom and I got a lesson on the use of exposure suits. Captain Phil and Third Officer Logan helped us into the suits in the library. They also answered a zillion (as usual) questions.

The crew call the suits, “exposure suits,” but the official name is, “immersion suits”. They were originally referred to as survival suits, but that implies survival and there are no guarantees. They come in 4 sizes and are packaged by color: small in a red bag, medium in orange, large in green and a child’s size in yellow. Each state room is equipped with as many suits are there are bunks.

Putting an immersion suit on is a bit of a trick. It’s best to practice in a non-emergency situation. It’s recommended to sit on the deck for added stability. It’s hard to get dressed on a rocking or listing ship. Hard shoes or boots need to be removed. The legs go in first. The excess air is squeezed from the feet and a Velcro strap is secured around the ankle. Then put in one arm and shoulder. The free arm is used to pull on the hood and make sure there is a tight seal around the face. Finally put in the second arm and zip up. It helps to have a friend assist with the zipping but it can be done alone.

Captain Phil told us that when you go into the water in the suit, you will float on your back. At first, it feels like your feet are going to go so far above the surface that your head is going to sink. The directions say, in the boldest of red print, RELAX! There is additional floatation around the chest of the suits that is inflated by mouth through a tube much like those the flight attendant always demonstrates on an airplane.

The suits are made of neoprene--the same material of diver’s and surfer’s wet suits. They cost about $200 each and are good for about 10 years, after which they are taken out of service. The immersion suits on the R/V Thomas. G. Thompson are inspected 4 times per year. During this time the zippers are waxed to keep them working smoothly.

Logan cautioned us, “Once in your suit, stay in your suit.” It may get warm if you’re in a life raft and you can loosen the hood and upper portion. If you need to urinate or defecate, just do it in the suit. This may sound yucky but when your life is at risk, yucky is OK.

People in immersion suits have survived in near freezing waters in northern seas for 48 hours. In water that cold, without the suit, you would probably be hypothermic within 10 or 15 minutes.

Tonight we will launch Jason 2. Working with Jason will be the most exciting part of the trip.

Science Summary - Day 17, April 8th

Science Objectives, Day 17:

The seventeenth day of the cruise, Apr. 8, will place us at Pacman Seamount’s southeastern arm at Cerulean Springs, the site of fluid venting observed in a 1997 Jason lowering. We will do a Jason2/Medea lowering to observe and sample the springs site and attempt to recover equipment left there in 1997. The lowering is planned to take all day. (This is also the half-way point in the cruise for those of the crew who started the cruise on Mar. 17.)

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