First line of the MCS cruise
An airgun float trails behind the R/V Marcus Langseth, and the first portion of data acquisition has begun.
The initial streamer deployment was a success, but the turning motion of the ship to start the first “line” of MCS data acquisition caused the streamer and acoustic source to dive too deep. This rapid downward trajectory set off the Streamer Rescue Device (SRD), but fortunately the MCS team and ship crew were able to replace the problematic SRD and quickly re-deploy the equipment.
The first line of data is now being collected, and the whole team is looking forward to doing some preliminary analysis and gradually creating a more complete subsurface profile of the study region. Photos and updates from Harm
The gunners are at work, managing an integral component of the experimental setup. The acoustic source consists of four airgun strings, each with nine airguns. The yellow apparatus is a large float that suspends the airguns at a depth of 11 meters below the surface. Deployment of the guns is pretty labor intensive due to their weight, so this proved to be the most time-consuming part of both equipment deployments.
The team works in eight-hour shifts to maintain the cruise’s twenty-four hour operation schedule. In this photo, Anastasiia, Chiara, and Savas (wearing hard hats) wrap up their shift, and Chiara shows off her checklist to the next crew, Susie and Adriana, to tell them which parts of the streamer have already been deployed.
The orange piece of equipment on the deck is a “digi-bird,” which the team attaches in 300 meter intervals on the streamers prior to deployment. Thanks to its hydrodynamic design (with fish-like fins), the digi-bird moves through the water as the streamer acquires reflection data. The device carries a compass, which helps with streamer calibration relative to cruise trajectory and geographic positioning, as well as an SRD that will inflate to lift the streamer back to the surface in the event of an unplanned deep dive.
