No vessel and no crew = no science!

by Cova

In the previous post we have been presenting part of our activities, some of the research teams, the fundamental work of the technical staff on board and we will continue doing so in coming posts during the next days, but on the top of all of this…we are working and living in a vessel.

The Sarmiento de Gamboa is like a tiny city. During these 36 days this boat is our home, but we are just for a couple of weeks here, the real inhabitants of the vessel are the crew. They spend many months per year on board and they make possible our work and live on board.

Our daily meeting take place in the bridge, in the middle of the image is María, the captain of SdG

From the bridge trought the deck until the engine, there are 20 people here taking care of us and our work and making our life easy and comfortable on board.

Thanks to the captain Maria, and the officers, Arnau and Juan Carlos we can reach our research targets, and from the bridge they drive the vessel and make possible to reach the exact positions where we would like to conduct our sampling and ROV transects. In the bridge, Fidel, Estefanía and Ilona as bridge students are also part of the team and actively participate in the tasks concerning the vessel navigation.

Alberto, Manuel and Antonio from the deck crew working during the manouvre of the Van Veen Grab (left), and CTD (right)

The deck crew: Juan, the bosun, together with Alberto, Oscar, Antonio and Manuel deploy with the support from the UTM all our sampling gears and take care of the common spaces on board keeping them tidy for us. On board you can see a sailor deploying a gear and 5 minutes later is cleaning the floor or fixing something in other part of the boat, they have a hard work which sometimes is not visible… just because everything looks perfect all the time.

Mario, the chief engineer (left) during the visit to the engine, and Edu (right) from the maschine at work

Beside the crew directly involved in our research activities, there are other professionals essential on board: the people working in the machine are the ones which make this city work, as without them we will not have power, water, etc etc. This part of the crew lives in the depths of the vessel and they are Mario, the chief engineer, and its crew: Pablo as first officer and Gabriel, Alejandro and Eduardo as oilers. Also in the engine Jose is a student learning the mysteries of the vessel heart.

Salva and José, our “kitchen team” on board

Another fundamental aspect on board is the food and we have on board two fantastic chefs: José and Salva offer us every day delicious and varied food which is something really important to encourage people keep working and highly contribute to the good mood on board.

Crews of research vessels are frequently not very visible in the scientific scene but…without the crew working 24 hours for us…no oceanography!

Many greetings from the Sarmiento de Gamboa!

Behind the night shift: The water column characterization team

by Javi, Ángel and Iris

When trying to characterize the water column, two disciplines enter in scene during MEDWAVES: physical and chemical oceanography. Two teams together try to disentangle the characteristics of the water masses and together with the biologist and ecologists they try to better understand the link between water features and occurrence and composition of the benthic communities living on the bottom of the Ocean. Deep-water benthic communities are composed among others by cold-water corals and sponges inhabiting structures like canyons, mud volcanos or seamounts. These habitats are surrounded by different water masses that we need to characterize and understand in order to better explain the dynamic relationship between water masses and living organisms.

Víctor, Rocío and Jesus collecting water samples from the Niskin bottles attached to the Rosette

The physical and chemical oceanography teams onboard R/V Sarmiento de Gamboa study the water masses in the area, with special emphasis on intermediate and deep waters such as the Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW), and to analyze its characteristics and dynamic conditions when it meets seamount structures.

Jose Luis, Pedro and Jesus in a “brain storm” moment wile interpreting a T-S diagramm

To do that, different instrument are used. One is the CTD-Rossete that is sent down throughout the water column and collects data of various oceanographic parameters, such as temperature, salinity, conductivity and dissolved oxygen. The Rossete is equipped with 24 bottles (12l Niskin bottles) that can collect water samples at different depths that are subsequently analyzed to provide data on pH, dissolved oxygen, total alkalinity, carbonate ion concentration, dissolved inorganic carbon and inorganic nutrients. The current speed and orientation is estimated with two instruments, the LADCP (Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler), that is coupled to the Rossete, and  records currents along the water column, and the ADCP integrated in the vessel equipment which records currents along the track of the vessel.

Vero and Rocío analysing water samples collected around the Formigas seamount

The work of the oceanographic team is directly linked to the questions regarding survival of benthic organisms. From a biological perspective, the information collected during their night shifts can allow us to calculate the saturation status of calcite and aragonite (two calcium carbonate isomorphs) in different water masses. These two minerals are the “bricks” with which many marine species, including cold-water corals, build their skeletons. Studying the proportion of these minerals is important because it affects the growth and the survival of corals and other marine organisms which form calcium skeletons (marine calcifiers).

Many grettings from Formigas!

Cables, connectors, instruments, computers and “Mc Givers”

By Cova

Proud and dedicated scientists conduct research projects on board oceanographic vessels trying to find answers to many scientific questions and unravel the mysteries of the deep sea…poor scientists (or at least poor Cova…) if they cannot count on the help of the technical staff on board: the UTM and ACSM guys!

Pirri, Manu and Héctor are part of our UTM team on board

MEDWAVES is a challenging cruise, not only due to the remote deep seamounts we are exploring, but also because we are using many different devices. Some are mostly mechanic, as the Box corer and Multicorer, and thanks to Pirri and of course the crew of the SdG, these devices can be successfully and safely deployed. But we also have many devices which have complex electronics inside: the multibeam, the CTD with their associated sensors and, of course the ROV. This cruise would not be possible without the presence of a competent ad skilled team of technicians, they make our work possible. Computers are everywhere in the vessel and thanks to Alberto, things are working smoothly and problems  (almost) always had a solution, even in the middle of the ocean.

Our ROV team from ACSM: Carlos, Rubén and Alberto

 

 

On board we have many instruments to perform measurements and conduct analyses, especially in the chemical lab, and thanks to Dani all of them are calibrated, working perfectly, and if something goes wrong he is there to find solutions and help Rocío to continue with her marathon of analyses. Every night the CTD team starts their sampling activities and Toni is there to drive the CTD and survey that all sensors are working well. As mentioned in previous posts the weather has been merciless with us but we take profit of any time on board and when the waves prevent us from working with any other devices, the multibeam can still work. Héctor is in charge of helping us with this, assuring that data are properly received and we can obtain information on the seafloor down to 4,000 meters or more, which are the depths we crossed in the transit to Formigas. What about the ROV? As this is the most delicate device we have on board, almost the whole technical staff has something to do with the ROV during the cruise.

Among the scientist we also have some Mac Givers around…

There are always things to check, electronic and informatics problems to clarify and resolve, spare elements which need to be installed, a cable which needs to be changed. Héctor and Manu are there to help resolve these problems as they know every detail of the instruments and devices we have on board, and of course our ROV team: Carlos, Alberto and Rubén who are not only expert pilots but they know every single screw of the ROV and take care of Liropus as if it was their baby. Luckily we also have on board some skilled scientists able to work closely together with the technical team to resolve any single projects emerging almost every day. Science without the close cooperation of technicians and scientist is just not possible! Thanks to the UTM and ACSM team for their excellent work on board!

Greetings from our second day in the Formigas site!

My alphabet has four letters

by Sophie

The Sarmiento de Gamboa is now racing West, trying to escape the elements to reach the site of Formigas mounds, one week in advance compared to the planning. We owe this change of plan to an unexpected conjunction of humans and natural elements. It seems that diving at thousand meters depth looking for a needle in an haystack (precious ecosystems, scattered on the sea floor in uncertain locations associated to approximate GPS coordinates), while maintaining an hydraulic system cooperative enough to be manipulated ‘smoothly’, a team of scientists on the deck days and night to unravel all mysteries hidden in the water, sediments and specimens as well as images and measurement collected, and a set of brains able to recognize phantasmagoric creatures and chemical cues at a first glance was not enough of a challenge for a warrior cruise like Medwaves.

One of the fantastic seascapes we visited in Ormonde at around 1,500 meters depth!

 

First, an (without doubt) essential and very serious military exercise had to take place in an emergency just in the place we were hardly working to explore and informed the jokers (us, among others likely) they had 12 hours to leave and play their little games elsewhere. Dashed, after a year planning the cruise, for having to leave such a nice ecosystem as the one we had only approached for two days and three nights, and in order to avoid becoming a moving target, we bravely decided to pursue our program on the next site. Plan B. Ormonde seamount, we thus reached 48hours before the date planned, delivered us a leap of precious coral gardens… This also was before… before the sea would enter the party and remind us she’s definitely the king player of this game and no one comes uninvited… After one day of wonderful corals, and two days of magnificent waves, we are now valiantly heading toward the Azores one week in advance on our initial agenda. Dashed again… Plan C. Did once one said that in science, the best discoveries are due to last minutes mistakes or annoying changes in plan? Be prepared for what we will bring back from Formigas seamounts!

 

Lunar seascape in a rocky location in Ormonde

This also leaves time to try to memorize the name of some of the deep beauties we crossed during the three dives we had the chance to make. The issue is… my alphabet has four letter, this makes it sometimes difficult for me to fully join all this excitement, in all three most common languages onboard (often simultaneously), when some new sleeping blurb shows up on the creen (we also look at regular TV and I recognize a Trump when I see one, but follow the line, here I am referring to the ROV videos). It is not that I don’t find it beautiful or magic (read again the last parenthesis and don’t get confused, please): to me they all are perfect, but I am not always fully convinced each one is THAT different from the last source of “WOW” in the room. Sure?… that purple is not … the same purple as the one… ten minutes ago? … … of course, sorry, the direction of the polyps, where did I put my head…

Stunned crowd in front of the ROV screen!

No, I don’t pretend, I confess, I need a sequence with my familiar four letters, my eyes simply don’t see what yours see, and this is not only because I was born with shortsightedness… Thanks to the patience of my taxonomists’ colleagues, I am nevertheless learning… slow… but learning. Thanks to them also for trusting my baby alphabet, and feeding me with barcode homework to add to their eyes scrutiny.

Whatever obstacles we met, we had the chance to follow the Mediterranean water chemically (thanks to the CTD team and its night shift and real time processing) and visually (thanks to the ROV team and their expertise): even during a shorter time than expected we were extremely lucky with the data, images and samples we had access to thus far, and …

…we all look forward our arrival in Formigas to pursue the venture, and hopefully get Medwave revanche!

 

From warm to cold and back again!

by Lea-Anne

The first CTD profile in Ormonde. The Mediterranean Outflow water is there!

Today MEDWAVES has been tracking the Mediterranean Outflow Water into the Atlantic all the way to the Ormonde Seamount. Ormonde is one of two peaks of the Gorringe Bank, a ridge about 250km long and 100 km wide rising from waters as deep as 5,000 m and stopping just short of the sea surface at 20 m depth. Before most of us woke up, the MEDWAVES oceanography team had conducted 4 CTD profiles that showed a clear Mediterranean signal in waters 700–1400 m deep. Underneath this Mediterranean Water lay cooler, fresher waters of Antarctic origin highly concentrated in oxygen – this is where our ROV, habitat mapping, benthic ecology and genetic teams began today’s work. The ROV arrived on a station on the eastern flank of Ormonde at 2,000 m and when we reached the bottom, we got the first glimpse ever of a very special ecosystem. We were instantly met with a view of a huge ethereal-looking stalked sponge that filled the camera frame, and when the ROV panned around, we realised we were surrounded by many more sponges, this time by Euplectella glass sponges, which are shaped like beautiful flower vases.

A beautiful stalked sponge at around 1,900 meters depth

As the ROV moved slowly on, we transitioned into never before seen coral gardens made up by bright yellow plexaurids (always shared by a tightly coiled ophiuroid), pink-orange Acanella bamboo corals, black corals like Bathypathes, Antipathes, and Stichopathes, and other gorgonians like Metallogorgia and the spiral Iridogorgia. Large brightly coloured Nematocarcinus shrimp sat on the corals, watching us and sometimes following the ROV as if to keep us moving on our way. After about 6 hours in this special spot, it was time to come up and leave the Antarctic waters as the seas got heavier, but not before we saw a single brightly coloured colony of Enallopsammia.

Rubén from the ROV team piloting the Liropus in Ormonde

Along the way the ROV skilfully collected precious samples for the benthic ecology and genetic teams. We will have to wait for the bad weather to pass before our ROV can explore Ormonde’s Mediterranean layer – but the Antarctic layer is no longer hidden and we will not forget this special place.

Salutations from the Sarmiento de Gamboa!

The Gazul mud volcano

by Maria, Iris, Javi, Meri & Ángel

A beautiful specimen of a gorgonia (Callogorgia sp.) in the ascend of the ROV to the  Gazul summit

Accents and dialects change within seconds, languages too. We are Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, French, Canadian or Croatians, yet our communication is unstoppable, as is our laughter. It is because at sea some differences get diffused, as the Mediterranean water flows out of the strait and spreads into the Atlantic.

On our way to our first case study, we are under preparation: equipment is being organized, boxes and instruments are being tightly tied to the bankers, briefings and meetings are scheduled, protocols and to-do-lists are changing hands. Our backgrounds and objectives are multiple: interests in chemical and physical oceanography, benthic and sediment communities, connectivity between seamounts are blended together.

The CTD being deployed in the night of the Gulf of Cádiz

Our adventure begins at the mud volcano Gazul, on the South of the golf of Cadiz. Mud volcanoes are seafloor formations created when fluids saturated in gases, such as methane, are released from the seafloor more or less continuously at very high pressures and temperatures. Such gases are excellent news for bacteria, the activity of which lead to the formation of seafloor structures such as chimneys and slabs which can be colonized by various benthic species.

Meri wondering about the fantastic deep sea creatures from Gazul!

The environments created in mud volcanoes are very heterogeneous and can support great numbers of biodiversity, and Gazul is no exception: it is known for its extraordinary conservation status due to a very low fishing activity, probably linked to the very active hydrodynamics existing in the area and the presence of hard substrates. Encountered at 400 m of depth, it is inhabited by an extraordinary fauna which we had the luck to observe, by sending our ROV Liropus to perform two dives, covering various depths around the volcano. During our dives, we flew above coral gardens formed by the gorgonian Acanthogorgia sp., aggregations of sponges that would resemble pots, cabbages or tree leaves and reefs made by the scleractinian corals Madrepora oculata and Lophelia pertusa. Camouflaged octopuses, colourful fish, crabs and sea urchins were usual inhabitants of such diverse habitats while sharks also passed in front of our cameras.

Héctor preparing the Multi corer for the next station in the mud volcano

But our day does not finish with the end of the dives. Our oceanography group stays up all night, to make sure we have enough measurements of the water conditions to be able to explain the existence of such diverse habitats. One glimpse at the salinity and temperature measurements is enough to spot the water flowing out of the Mediterranean, and to confirm that we are going with its flow.

Blue Greetings from the volcano!

 

 

First MEDWAVES working day

The ROV Liropus in its way to the Mud volcano Gazul

Yesterday nigth we arrived to the first targeted site of MEDWAVES, the oceanograpy team worked the whole night with the CTD, lot of work and samples! today morning we had the first ROV dive which was great! large sponge-gorgonian fields with some big specimens, and to finish the day, also some box coring to characterise the sediment and the tiny fauna which live in the sediments. Right now the oceanography team is conducting the second line of stations. Tomorrow the MEDWAVES participants will start to fill this blog with theis impressions and visions of the cruise!

Many greetings from the Gulf of Cádiz!

MEDWAVES!

 

 

Learning about living on board Sarmiento de Gamboa

The scientific party from MEDWAVES, dressed with luxury red suits, learning the security rules on board

Today, before some hours before the MEDWAVES journey will start, we have been discovering a bit better the vessel and some important things for the coming 36 days. Our main aim during MEDWAVES is to find answers to our scientific questions through the sampling we will conduct, but beside this we will share our time and space with scientists and crew and there are some rules which is important to follow to guarantee a good “living together”. This is that we learn today thanks to the guide of Arnau, the second officer from SdG. After a morning with a formal introduction to our home for the coming days, we all were busy finishing the last preparatives to start with the work…today night!

At 21:30 we will leave the Cádiz Harbour and we expect to start to work in a couple of hours. The submarine mud volcano of Gazul is waiting for us!

Many greetings from the SdG!

We will keep you posted about our findings!

Cova

Just waiting for the scientific party!

Greetings from Cádiz! The RV Sarmiento de Gamboa is already here as well as all the equipment we will deploy during MEDWAVES. In the picture above you can see the Liropus ROV from IEO which will be one of the “stars” of the cruise. We are looking forward to seeing the images from the deep sites we will explore!

The technical staff from the UTM (CSIC) area already on board and they are busy, as well as the crew who will be in charge of the vessel during MEDWAVES.

Today in the afternoon the first scientists will arrive and tomorrow everyone will be on board and ready to start this exciting scientific cruise.

We will keep you posted!

All the best from Cádiz,

Cova

 

MEDWAVES almost ready to go!

….just  a couple of days for the beginning of MEDWAVES!

Wellcome to the MEDWAVES blog! during the 36 days cruise we will keep you posted about our work and life on board and our discoveries!

The Research Vessel Sarmiento de Gamboa waiting for MEDWAVES!