Tuesday, December 26, 2006

notes from maintenance trip (Dec 18 - 21, 2006)

Our trip lasted from Monday, December 18th through Thursday, December 21st. The team for this trip was Chris Langdon, Derek Manzello and Mike Jankulak (me). Alfonso (a student at UPR) stepped in at the last minute to pilot our boat on the 19th and 20th.

On Tuesday the 19th, we removed the electronics package (the "brain") and retrieved the SAMI pCO2 sensor. Both were brought back to the lab for work that afternoon and evening. Also, Chris reports that he cleaned the underwater light sensors.

Back at the lab, Chris downloaded the stored data from the SAMI, and it appears as though the instrument has been worked properly since its deployment in November. The "brain" had the following work done:


  • the RF400 was updated to the latest firmware and set to 38.4K baud (and radio communications were tested in the lab)
  • the barometer, whose molex plug was broken during removal, was rewired directly to the datalogger ports
  • the transmitter was replaced with a unit brought from Miami for this purpose
  • the datalogger program was updated to communicate with the SAMI at 19.2K baud (instead of 9600 baud)
  • all stored data was downloaded from the memory module


On Wednesday the 20th, we started by completely replacing the satellite antenna and its cable, then reinstalled the "brain" package. At the same time, Chris and Derek redeployed the SAMI and cleaned the CTDs.

In our first post-installation test the Deep BIC was offline due to its power (+12V) wire having come loose, so the station was re-opened to correct this problem. However, all other instruments (including the Groundtruth CT and the SAMI itself) were working okay. In subsequent tests, 100% of station instrumentation was found to be connected properly and reporting correctly.

Note: we observed a large bird "parked" on the surface light sensor for parts of Wednesday morning. We have one picture of this bird. There was also a lot of bird guano on the satellite antenna, which is the largest, highest and flattest part of the station.

Conclusions: the SAMI is now connected and its data is available on our web site. We conclude that there was never any cable or wiring problems with the SAMI and the reason it didn't report data after the November trip was the incorrect baud rate (the SAMI was set to 19.2K baud, the datalogger to 9600 baud). This problem was fixed by updating the datalogger baud rate to 19.2K for the SAMI since we didn't have the needed hardware to change the baud rate on the SAMI.

Also, initial performance of the replaced transmitter/cable/antenna was encouraging although since then we've seen evidence that the transmitter may still be dropping transmissions as before (see, e.g., records from the early hours of December 24th). Since the transmitter, cable and satellite antenna have all been replaced it seems possible that something external is interfering with transmissions. I'm going to ask CSI whether this could be caused by a bird perching on the antenna (!).

Also note that UPR will need us to send them more copper screens for the CTDs.

-- Mike J+

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Calibration

Ground-truth and cleaning.

[Entered for Francisco by Jim.]

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

more LPPR1 news from the field

I've spoken by phone with Chris Langdon, who is working at LPPR1 this week.

The SAMI is the same unit that I tested earlier this year in my office. It was set up to output a report once per hour, approximately on the hour. He is bringing me a sample of the instrument's output so I can check it against the programming.

The SAMI is connected but not reporting to the station. It seems unlikely that this is either a programming or instrument problem. That leaves cable failure or loose connections to the brain. The next trip will probably be designed around swapping the SAMI cable and verifying that the programming is correct and complete. In the meantime, the SAMI also logs all measurements to its own flash memory.

Other news: they've replaced the mounting arm of the Deep BIC with one fashioned by Manny. They've taken the old mount and used it to mount the Shallow BIC away from the station as well. Roy and Lew have both noticed that the Shallow BIC is shaded by the chains during the day, and it is hoped that this will correct that problem.

Chris also reports that they've cleaned the BICs.

-- Mike Jankulak

Monday, November 06, 2006

SAMI pCO2 installed


SAMI is installed since 10 am your time. New bottom BIC bracket also installed. Will talk to Roy about what to do about top BIC bracket. Let me know how how the pCO2 data look.

Chris Langdon
Research Assoc. Professor
RSMAS/MBF
Uni. of Miami
4600 Rickenbacker Cswy
Miami,FL 33149

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

The CREWS/ICON station received a complete cleaning and ground-truthing on Wednesday Oct. 18, 2006. No bleaching was observed. Basic cleaning was done on Oct 04, 2006. Next Basic cleaning planned for Nov. 01, 2006.

Friday, September 29, 2006

Bleaching assessment

Hi Jim:

I did not notice anything that could be considered “new” bleaching due to this summer’s conditions. Corals were pale to begin with before the 2006 summer warming began. But Ernesto has far more data and information than I do, so I’d like to read his opinion.

Alina
*******************************************************************
Dr. Alina M. Szmant
Coral Reef Research Group
UNCW-Center for Marine Science
5600 Marvin K. Moss Ln
Wilmington NC 28409

Thursday, September 28, 2006

No Bleaching

Even though it has been a pretty warm summer, according to the local students and other observations, there has been no widespread coral bleaching.

Jim Hendee

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Ground-Truth

Jim:

I got the volunteers rounded up and they did the ground-truthing today.

Francisco

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Ground-truth

I revised the logs for the cleaning and found the following:

Quick cleaning of the station was done twice in June and Twice in July. The last ground-truth logged was on May 31 (I do not remember if Mike ground-truth during his visit). The next ground-truth event will be Sept. 6 while training the new batch of volunteers.

Hope this helps;

Francisco

Friday, June 02, 2006

Maintenance Update

On Thursday morning a team of six divers work for over 2 hours cleaning the station and taking most of the living growth out.

We took some pictures and I will [upload them soon]. I am planning on going out next week and also connect the small CTD.

Francisco

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Science Support for La Parguera Station

Report on the ICON/CREWS Science Meeting

During the week of April 24 - 27, 2006, over twenty scientists, students and colleagues met in La Parguera, Puerto Rico for a Science Meeting (aka Think Tank #4) of Integrated Coral Observing Network (ICON) colleagues to help start a Climate Change/Ocean Acidification program at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), Department of Marine Science's Magueyes Island Marine Laboratory, site of the new NOAA/UPR collaborative Caribbean Coral Reef Institute (CCRI). Drs. Chris Langdon (RSMAS/UM), Joanie Kleypas (NCAR), Dwight Gledhill (NESDIS) and Matthew Huber (Purdue) gave presentations on climate change and explained how the ocean's carbonate chemistry has changed over the millenia, and how it will likely change in the future. New efforts and collaborations (Drs. Julio Morrell and Jorge Corredor--UPR) began with the Caribbean Regional Association of the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), as well as a discussion of ongoing collaborative research efforts in oceanography (Dr. Francisco Pagan--UPR), ocean optics (Drs. Roy Armstrong and Yasmin Detres--UPR), coral bleaching and disease (Drs. Ernesto Weil [UPR], Alina Szmant [UNCW], and Ruben van Hooidonk [Purdue]), hydroacoustics (Drs. Rich Appeldoorn [UPR/CCRI], Jose Rivera [NMFS] and Doran Mason [OAR: AOML & GLERL]) and other projects.

Plans were instituted to utilize existing data from, and add new instrumentation to, the Coral Reef Early Warning System (CREWS) station at nearby Media Luna Reef. Data from the underwater ultraviolet light sensors, as well as other instruments at the Magueyes Island Laboratory, will be utilized to calculate a Saharan Dust Index in near real-time, beginning just ahead of the June influx of Saharan Dust at La Parguera. These data are expected to give new insight into the effects the dust has on coral and other marine diseases. A pCO2 sensor and water sampler will be installed during May and June to begin studies in ocean acidification; other proposals are in for purchasing another model of pCO2 sensor, and for total alkalinity and oxygen sensors. An anticipated new source of radar data from Purdue's Rosen Center for Advanced Computing will help provide new Level Two 3D representation of precipitation and wind vectors for the area, and will thus provide ICON and IOOS efforts a new data source for rain influence on runoff and bloom studies in the local embayment, as well as effects in local oceanographic processes. Plans have also been discussed for the implementation of a passive hydroacoustic sensor at the CREWS station for sensing local fish, marine mammal and diel plankton movements in the area; proposals are also in for the purchase of an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler and acoustic modems to provide circulation data for the La Parguera Marine Preserve.

Finally, award-winning book author Alanna Mitchell (Dancing at the Dead Sea: Tracking the World's Environmental Hotspots) attended the meeting and interviewed the scientists for her new book, The Deeps: The Secret Ecological Crisis of the Global Ocean
.

Cheers,
Jim

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

shallow BIC replaced - deep BIC moved

Station was shut down at 12:15 pm - "brain" removed on 4/25/2006 by field team (Louis Florit, Lew Gramer, Jeff Absten) in order to replace the non-reporting shallow BIC sensor. The corresponding cable was also replaced. The deep BIC sensor was cleaned and moved to a new bracket holding the sensor approx. 1m out from the pylon.

While the station was shut down, a cable for the SAMI pCO2 sensor was installed, and the mounting bracket for the unit was bolted onto the pylon by divers (Jim Hendee, Jeff Absten).

"Brain" reinstalled and station turned back on 4/27/2006 at 9:20 am. All instruments reporting except for deep BIC. 10:00 am transmission interupted due to radio modem interferance. 11:00 am first confirmed transmission.

Groundtruth CTD deployed : no cleaning done to CTDs at this time.

Pylon was wiped clean. Chains and legs were not cleaned, some bivalves found growing on chain should be removed.

10-20 small squid hanging around 1m. About 5-10 Small 8" parrot fish observed around base of station. 1 small 8" grouper at baseplate.

Monday, April 17, 2006

LPPR1 CTD update

Some good news: Jules and Hector have removed the plastic capillary tubes from the CTDs at La Parguera. It's too soon to draw any definite conclusions but it looks like the depth numbers are once again behaving properly. See for example at:

ftp://ftp.aoml.noaa.gov/pub/ocd/jankulak/lppr1-2006.xls

Shoe reports that the capillary tubes (which he is sending back to Falmouth) are clogged with growth. Falmouth is either going to send us some wider tubes, or perhaps tell us to deploy the instruments without the tubes from now on, I'm not sure which.

This doesn't explain 100% of the problems we've had but it's a promising sign.

regards,
Mike J+

Near-Bottom


At left is a picture of the near-bottom part of "the stick" during cleaning, week of April 10, 2006. Note positioning of deep CTD and BIC light sensor. Photo by Jules Craynock.

Shallow BIC Light Sensor



Above is a picture of the shallow (i.e., near-surface) Biospherical Light Sensor during cleaning, week of April 10, 2006. Photo by Jules Craynock.

Deep BIC Light Sensor


At left is a picture of the deep (i.e., near-bottom) Biospherical Light Sensor during cleaning, week of April 10, 2006. Photo by Jules Craynock.

Grounding Plate


At left is a picture of the grounding plate during cleaning, week of April 10, 2006. Photo by Jules Craynock.

Shallow CTD


At left is a picture of the shallow (i.e., near-surface, ~1m) CTD during cleaning, week of April 10, 2006. Photo by Jules Craynock.

Deep CTD


At left is a picture of the deep (i.e., near-bottom) CTD during cleaning, week of April 10, 2006. Photo by Jules Craynock.

LPPR1 ICON/CREWS Field Log: Puerto Rico CREWS Site

LPPR1 ICON/CREWS Field Log: Puerto Rico CREWS Site
J. Craynock & H. Casanova - 2 dives April 11,2006
- Adjusted tension on leg 3, reduced lean.
- Some concrete erosion noted on NW side of base, additional
concrete added and NE and SE sides cconcrete completed.
-Noticeable barnacle and hardshell growth on underside of all
spectra legs observed, some removed but should be cleaned
so that braid can be visible. Lashings need cleaning also.
Much thanks to Winston Rovira for his help driving the boat
and preparing concrete!

April 12, 2006
- Reduced tension on leg 2, pylon now straight.
Lashings retied. 2 SE side base lashings snug, might
have to be loosened next visit.

April 15, 2006
- H. Casanova removed both capillary tubes from the
CT's. Sent to manufacturer on Monday, April 17.
H. was snorkeling.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Maintenance Update

The LPPR1 CREWS station was cleaned and validated on March 8-2006 without problems between 9:45 am and 2:00 pm. Also, Basic cleaning was completed (but not blog until now) on Febraury 22-2006. The screens for the CTD protection are scheduled to be change on March 15-2006 (and photos will probably be taken), while the next Basic cleaning is schedule for March 22-2006.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

CT Groundtruth Data from February 13th

Data has been received from the "groundtruth" CT that is connected to the station during maintenance trips. As a reminder, the idea is that the CT should be connected to the station for a full hour before cleaning begins, followed by one hour of cleaning, followed by one more hour after cleaning ends. Each "hour" begins and ends at six minutes before the clock hour (i.e., at 9:54am, 10:54am, etc.).

The CT was connected to LPPR1 at about 10:30am on Monday, February 13th (local time). It was removed at about 2:30pm that afternoon. It may be surmised that the "before" hour ran from 10:54am to 11:54am, the "during" hour from 11:54am to 12:54pm, and the "after" hour from 12:54pm to 1:54pm. Data for these three hours is as follows:


Shallow CTD Deep CTD Groundtruth CT
----------------- ----------------- -----------------
Cond SeaT Sal Cond SeaT Sal Cond SeaT Sal
55.44 26.49 35.59 55.23 26.31 35.57 55.27 26.50 35.46
55.64 26.62 35.63 55.42 26.40 35.64 55.56 26.63 35.57
55.69 26.65 35.64 55.48 26.42 35.67 55.65 26.68 35.59

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Validation and Complete Station Cleaning
The first validation run, couple with a complete cleaning of the sensors and structure was realized yesterday (Tuesday Febraury 13, 2006). The process started at 10:45 am (GMT-4) and completed by 2:20 pm. No problems were found. Three (3) adults Manatees were observed swiming in the surrounding area.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Basic Maintenance

Basic Maintenance at the CREWS station between 11:05 and 11:15 today (January 25, 2006).

Sunday, January 15, 2006

The Media Luna Reef CREWS Station



Station began transmitting on January 15, 2006.

Station Transmitting!


From January 10 - 15, 2006, Jeff Absten, Mike Jankulak, Jules Craynock, Hector Casanova and Jim Hendee worked at the site for the final installation of the station instrumentation.

The station began transmitting data at 2200 hrs GMT, January 14, 2006.