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Another team takes the lead

By science reporter Sonya Senkowsky.

Location:  Above Adak Canyon

Early this morning, the leadership of the cruise was handed over to the other science team sharing Jason II. Now in charge for the next three days is Gene Yogodzinski, a geologist with the University of South Carolina, who’s studying deep submarine canyons. We’re now driving north and south above Adak Canyon so that his team may gain multibeam mapping information. Our next dive site will be south of Kanaga Island.

We had a bit of a delay in science work last night, when Jason II went out of order due to a sheared-off linch pin in the cable's winch assembly. The problem sent a large metal disk shooting across the engine room, which made a thud you could hear throughout the ship. No one was in harm's way.

The problem kinked Jason's fiber optic cable (its "lifeline"), so video-related operations had to stop until the vehicle was working again. It's the first time this particular problem has come up, said Capt. Dave Murline, who had originally predicted a delay of up to 24 hours. The scientists were unruffled; as Fish & Game scientist Doug Woodby said, delays are so common on research cruises as to be routine. In fact, the crew had Jason II back in working order in just a few hours.

Our next dive site will be south of Kanaga Island.