Day 1: 27th May 2006

Day 1: 27th May 2006

Before describing the first days science we should first explain how the trip will be run! So that we can work for 24 hours a day the science party will be divided into 2 watches:

• Malcolm Clark (Principal Scientist, Watch leader/Biodiversity)
• Wilbert Knoll (Acoustics)
• Peter Hill (Video camera)
• Rob Stewart (Photography)
• Kerstin Kroger (Biodiversity)
• Mireille Consalvey (Biodiversity/Education and Outreach)

• Owen Anderson (Shift leader/Biodiversity)
• Aden Abdi (Acoustics/Video camera)
• Alan Hart (CTD/IT)
• Chazz Marriott (Photography)
• Kate Neill (Biodiversity)
• Michelle Carter (Biodiversity/Education and Outreach)

Malcolm’s watch will work from 12:00 (mid-day) to 24:00 (midnight) and Owen’s watch will do the next 12 hours and so on for the rest of the trip.

So, Day 1. After a 24hour steam to the Graveyard, with a short stop to test the camera system (pictured) we arrived on site at 19:30 and the shift work commenced. The camera system was immediately deployed and is being tested at the time of logging this report. This system will enable us to collect video footage as well as still imagery, and with a CTD (a piece of equipment that measures the conductivity/temperature/depth of the water) attached to the camera frame we will be able to record information about the water column to give is a greater picture of what lives on seamounts, and what its like to live there.

Day 1 Voyage statistics

• Wind speed = 32 knots
• Sea temperature = 15.1 degrees
• Air temperature = 16.3 degrees