Our First Days in Pictures

During the four days of transit, we got to know our colleagues (from about 13 organisations! ) better and also familiarized ourselves with the vessel, the instruments and sampling protocols. Surveying the deep sea at 4000m is totally different from what we have done in Singapore waters, which is deepest at 200m.

Updates from other media platforms:

http://www.3682m.tumblr.com

http://www.twitter.com/hashtag/ab02

http://www.facebook.com/stjohnsislandmarinelab

Here is a photographic tour of our first few days exploring the ship, equipment, and personnel:

Photographs and writting by: Chee Kong

The Science Team!

"This is only a drill."

Donning our immersion suits. An entertaining part of
every cruise!

The autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) REMUS will be
used to map the seafloor and obtain images of megafauna.

The AUV launcher

The box core will be used to collect a relatively large block of
the seafloor, which will be useful for sampling macrofauna.

The multiple corer (megacorer) will be used to sample intact
tubes of sediment including the meiofauna and microbes
that live within it.

The Brenke epibenthic sled will be used to collect meiofauna
and small crustaceans such as amphipods.

The CTD and niskin rosette will determine water column
properties including salinity, temperature and depth in
addition to collecting water samples at various depths.

The respirometer will be used to conduct in situ experiments
to measure metabolic activity on the seafloor.

The baited trap will be used to attract and capture
scavengers such as fish and crustaceans.

The science team holds daily meetings to introduce sampling
instruments and protocols as well as share findings between shifts.