Thursday 16 February 2012

All change!

Endeavour is back in the Kings Dock, Swansea, for a quick pit-stop.  When we arrived at lunchtime there were crates of samples and kit being craned off, while fuel was being taken on from a road tanker (the first of two).

Unloading gear with on-board crane
I'm pleased to say several new cameras have arrived, for both the sledge and the drop camera frame to replace those that failed during the last leg of the survey.  This means swapping between towed camera sledge and the drop camera frame will be much quicker - the sledge is great for softer, sandy sediment areas but doesn't like the rocks; the drop camera frame can be lowered to just over the seabed without making contact which makes it ideal for the rocky/boulder type areas.

Beth, Amy, Anita and Jenny have done sterling work (along with the Cefas staff who make up the rest of the team) and all being well, over the next couple of weeks we will finish off sampling at 'East of Celtic Deep' and 'South of Celtic Deep' before steaming to the large 'Western Channel' site, where 68 sampling stations await us.
Ana and Hayley practice multibeam line length calculations