Sunday, May 02, 2010

CREWs Deep BIC removal on April 23rd

On Friday April 23rd I went out and removed the Deep BIC as requested. Below are photos from the morning. The first is the sensor prior to removal.



In this photo the sensors cable had been removed from the spar by cutting the cable ties holding it in place. The deep CTD was wound up in the same orientation as the Deep BIC; this instruments cable was fixed back to its original position prior to the maintenance. Once the Deep BIC's cable was loose, the sensor was removed by unscrewing the two screws at the end of the mount.



Once at the surface, the sensor was gently laid on its side on a towel while I carefully removed the biofouling that had colonized the cable. Some mussels had managed to grow near the interface between the cable and the sensor possibly allowing a mode of entry for water to the sensor. After the biofouling was removed the cable was unplugged from the sensor and a female adapter plug was placed on the end of the sensors cable. This cable was wound up and placed on the spar as depicted in the photo below.