HOT-123: Chief Scientist Report

Chief Scientist: D. HEBEL

HOT 123 Cruise Report
R/V Kaimikai O Kanaloa 
12-16 Feb., 2001


Personnel List

WOCE group:
Fernando Santiago-Mandujano* 	Research Associate			UH
Lal Ratnapala             	Graduate Assistant              	UH
Mark Valenciano			Electronic Technician			UH
Jeremiah Johnson*		Research Associate			UH
Noel Larson			Research Associate			UH
Adam Phillips, Cathrine		Graduate Student			UH
Peter Haagaas			Graduate Student			UH


JGOFS group:
Dale Hebel              	Chief Scientist (co-PI JGOFS) 	 	UH
Anne Gasc			Scientist 				UH
My Christensen			Research Associate			UH
Mathew Erickson			Research Associate			UH
Lance Fujieki			Computer Specialist			UH

Associated projects
Claudia  Benitz-Nelson		Scientist				UH
Chuck Stump			Scientist				UW
Matt Church			Graduate Student			UH
Colleen Allen			Research Associate 			UH



STAG
Steve Poulos               	Electronic Technician       		UH-UMC
Dave Gravatt             	Deck Technician              		UH-UMC

*Watch Leader


Event log (approximate HST):

Monday, 12 Feb.
0900	Departed Snug Harbor 
0940	Fire/abandon ship drill, science meeting    
1150	Arrived Kahe Pt. (Sta. 1)
1225	Weight cast (1000 m)
1250 	PRR/TSRB cast 
1330 	s1c1
1445 	Depart Kahe
1730 	Arrive sta. 6 Kaena
2350	Arrived Sta. ALOHA (sta. 2)	

Tuesday, 13 Feb.
0005	s2c1 (100 db)	
0030 	Net tow
0100 	Net tow
0140	Began sediment trap deployment
0215	Completed trap deployment (22o 45.2N, 15o 57.7W)
0305	s2c2 (WOCE deep, 4778 m)
0640	Notification of crew medical problem
0645	Underway Barbers Pt.
1625	Arrived Barbers Pt.
1640	Departed Barbers Pt.

Wednesday, 17 Feb.
0340  	Arrived Station ALOHA
0405	s2c3 JGOFS-2
0630	s2c4 PC/PN
0905	s2c5 Phycoerthrin (cable kinked, reterminated)
1125	PRR-600 cast (no TSRB due to sea state)
1220	Transit sediment traps
1340	Hooked trap array 
1420	Completed sed. trap recovery (22o 45.0N, 158o 00.0W)
1555	s2c6 P.PO4
1900	s2c7 WOCE shallow (cable kinked, reterminated)
2240	s2c8 HPLC

Thursday 15 Feb.
0205	s2c9 ATP & P. Si
0600	Transit sta. 6
1230	Arrived sta. 6
1235	PRR cast
1325	s6c1 (2500 m)
1525	Cast completed
1530	Transit Snug Harbor
2110	Standing off Honolulu harbor for traffic
2230	Inbound Honolulu
2255	Arrived Snug Harbor

Friday 16 Feb.
Commenced offloading 
 

Narrative:

HOT 123 was conducted aboard the R/V Kaimikai O Kanaloa (KOK), 12-16
Feb., 2001.  Captain Robert Hayes was the master of the vessel and Dale
Hebel chief scientist.  There was a total of 18 participants in the
scientific party composed of 7 WOCE, 7 JGOFS, 2 ancillary and 2 STAG.
We departed Snug on 12 February occupying stations at Kahe Pt. (sta.
1), Station ALOHA (sta. 2), and Kaena Pt. (sta. 6).  

This cruise was very unusual in the aspect that we experienced a
medical problem which required transport back to Oahu and the
combination of high winds and large swells.  These latter conditions
prevented our usual 36 burst CTD operations and deletion of TSRB, net
tows, primary productivity, in situ pumping and station 8 CTD
operations. from the cruise schedule.  In addition, the sediment trap
deployment was cut short due to the rising sea state and the captain's
concern that we may not be able to recover the traps at the scheduled
time.

After departure on Monday (Feb. 12), the ship's officers conducted the
usual fire/abandon ship drills followed by our regular science
meeting.  We arrived at Kahe Pt.  (sta. 1) on schedule and conducted
all scheduled operations and sample collection.  After completing sta.
1 we steamed directly to Sta. ALOHA and conducted a shallow cast for
incubation experiments, two net tows and the WOCE deep cast.  At this
time the weather and sea state were typical for this time of year.  It
was after the deep cast was completed that the bridge was notified that
the chief engineer was experiencing a medical problem involving low
blood pressure.  Apparently, the chief engineer was  under treatment
for colitis.  The captain discussed the problem with the chief
engineer's doctor whom recommended immediate shore-side treatment.
Therefore, we returned to Oahu berthing at Barber's Point Harbor to
transfer the chief engineer to a waiting ambulance.  Following the
transfer we began our return transit to Sta. ALOHA.  During this period
the weather deteriorated rapidly and on the return transit experience
winds in excess of 30 kts.

Once on-station the winds were sustained at ~ 30 kt with periodic
increases to 35 kts.  The seas had increased to 10-12' range with an
overall sea state of 5-6.  All over-the-side operations were aborted
with the exception of limited CTD operations to collect core JGOFS
samples.  The sea state and large swell caused the tension on the CTD
package to go negative periodically even at the relatively slow rate of
30 m/min.  On the final cast at Sta. ALOHA samples for both ATP and P.
Si were collected.  The ATP was processed before sampling the P. Si
water bottles.

On Wednesday (Feb. 17), we broke off the CTD work to get a visual on
the sediment traps (see Event log above) and assess the sea state.  The
captain was concerned that if the sea state increased we would not be
able to retrieve the traps at the scheduled time.  After locating the
traps the captain decided to retrieve them.  The traps and array was
recovered without incident although one trap was missing  and another
the contents lost (came up sideways due to broken collar) at 150 m.
All four traps at 165 m were o.k.

Following the final CTD cast at Sta. ALOHA (s2c9) we steamed to sta. 6
and conducted one final CTD cast to ~2500 m.  After completing sta. 6
we steamed to Honolulu Harbor arriving at ~2300 hrs after waiting for
~1.5 hrs for barge traffic.  We offloaded hand-carry items the
following morning since the large ship crane was still inoperable.  The
vans and other heavy equipment were offloaded.



All scheduled work was completed and all samples collected. CTD
operations were conducted at stations 1, 2, 6, 8-19.  One ~1000 m CTD
cast was conducted at stations 1 & 8-19.  At Station ALOHA 12 ~1000 m
and one ~4800 m CTD casts were completed while one ~2500m CTD cast was
done at Kaena Pt. (sta.6).  Other over-the-side operations at Station
ALOHA included 3 light casts (PRR only), 10 net tows, 2 in situ pumping
operations,  floating sediment traps and primary productivity
measurements.  All operations followed previous cruise routines with
the exception of no TSRB casts and a spacial survey (stations 9-19), of
an anomalous salinity/oxygen feature at about 400m.  The
underway/continuous thermosalinograph, ADCP, and fluorometer were
operable and functioned properly. WOCE met. obs and limited ship met.
data were collected as well as discrete aerosol measurements on 15,16
& 18 Feb.  Overall the weather was mostly sunny (although we did
experience periods of  light rain), with generally calm seas and light
Trade winds.  Daily activities are listed above under Cruise Events.


Weather

The weather started out mostly cloudy with light winds in the lee of
the island and typical winds at Sta. ALOHA.  Following our return to
Sta. ALOHA the weather deteriorated rapidly with high winds, swell and
sea state.  Below is listed the cruise bridge log descriptions and the
various values representing the range for that day.  Under wind, sea,
and swell there will be two designations, the first is the direction
(in degrees), the second for wind is in kts, sea in Beauford force, and
swell in feet, barometer in inches of Hg, temp oF (dry bulb) and clouds
in tenths.

Day Date      Wind     	     Sea     	  Swell    	Barometer    Temp   Clouds

Mon 12 Feb.   075-290,5-18   075-290,1-3  050-140,2-4	29.88-29.96  72-82  7-9
Tues 13 Feb.  060-330,8-27   060-330,2-5  00-,090,2-6	29.93-30.04  72-76  7-10	
Wed 14 Feb.   060-080,25-35  060-080,5-6  090,5-12	30.05-30.14  72-76  4-8
Thur 15 Feb.  050-080,18-33  060-080,3-6  090-150,2-12	30.03-30.11  72-76  3-9	


Equipment and methods:

All standard equipment functioned properly except for the underway
fluorometer which experienced numerous spikes due to rough sea
conditions.  Twice, due to the large swell, a kink formed in the CTD
cable requiring retermination.
			 

Sub component programs:

Investigator:               		Project:
-----------------              		----------
Bob Bidigare (UH)           		HPLC pigments/UH
Michael Landry (UH)     		zooplankton dynamics/UH

Ancillary programs:

Investigator:               		Project:
-----------------              		----------
Charles Keeling (SIO)       		CO2 dynamics and intercalibration/SIO
Paul Quay (UW)          		DIC and 13C/UW
John Porter				aerosols/UH (ck to see if this was done)
Abbott/Letelier				optical measurements/OSU
CBN					phosphorus isotopes,Th234/UH
Steve Emerson				O2/N2/Ar dynamics
			

Notable events:
1. Medical evacuation
2. High winds, large swell and sea state
3. Disruption of 36 hr burst CTD casts
4. Elimination, due to weather, of numerous routine operations
5. Shortened sediment trap deployment due to weather
6. Elimination of station 8 due to weather and equipment operational concerns