Time for another blog from the Black Sea. Today was an exciting day for everyone on board, even for the experienced crew. The plan for today was to dredge for sediment traps from the bottom of the Black Sea, not an easy task if you take into account that the sea is more than 2000 deep at the point where the sediment traps were supposed to lie. Normally these sediment traps are hanging at different depths in the water column to collect sediments throughout the year. During a cruise last year, today’s target traps, where supposed to be collected. Due to some misfortune the sediment traps, including valuable measuring devices, sank to the bottom of the deepest part of the Black Sea.
After calculating where the sediment traps should have landed it was time to start dredging. Hours and hours of slowly sailing followed… and then, in the late afternoon, news was spreading over the ship: “there is something on the hook.” Everybody rushed to the back of the ship to see what the catch would be. First, disappointment, a piece of wood and some plastic. But then the magic moment followed when the first sediment trap was approaching the surface after its journey from the endless depth of the Black Sea. The final result of the dredging was complete recovery of all sediment traps (three) and accompanying measuring devices. Not bad if you realize that the total value of all this equipment is the equivalent of a very nice Italian sports car. And if the recovery of all this equipment was not enough, it also delivered some very nice samples. Happy crew, happy technicians and happy scientists!
After calculating where the sediment traps should have landed it was time to start dredging. Hours and hours of slowly sailing followed… and then, in the late afternoon, news was spreading over the ship: “there is something on the hook.” Everybody rushed to the back of the ship to see what the catch would be. First, disappointment, a piece of wood and some plastic. But then the magic moment followed when the first sediment trap was approaching the surface after its journey from the endless depth of the Black Sea. The final result of the dredging was complete recovery of all sediment traps (three) and accompanying measuring devices. Not bad if you realize that the total value of all this equipment is the equivalent of a very nice Italian sports car. And if the recovery of all this equipment was not enough, it also delivered some very nice samples. Happy crew, happy technicians and happy scientists!
Photo 1: Lasso throwing like true cowboys…what will the catch be?
Photo 2: A larger hook for a larger catch.
Photo 3: Waiting to see what the catch will be.
Photo 4: Result!
Photo 5: Not a daily catch, what a nice result!
Photo 6: Samples = Happy scientists
Photo 7: The cherry on the cake, a beautiful sundowner.