Morgan: Montenegro with a side of AUV

 On 07/27/14 at 11:00 we arrived into the Port of Bar, Montenegro. We sailed over night from Vlore and everyone had a 1 hour long watch shift. 

Shot 1: The bow facing the port of Bar.

Morgan GoPro

Once we got into port, found our docking "slip" Emily and I helped out with lines.

Shot 2: Morgan tightening the aft spring line. 

Jack Seubert

Shot 3: Emily securing a bumper bouy.

Jack Seubert

Because we got in at the time we did, it was almost to late in the day to do operations, so we all got to into the town and explore! So we found the beach!

Shot 4: A picture of the strip parrellel to the pebble beach, with the beautiful mountains in the background.

Morgan Fujifilm 

Shot: 5. More umbrellas occupied with Montenegrian sunbathers. 

Morgan Fujifilm

Shot: 6. This is where we posted up! And those dang "pebbles" are hard to walk on! 

Morgan GoPro

We enjoyed our day off with our freind and chef Elliot, as it was is real day off! We walked around the city, found the carnival, and then had a nice dinner.

The following day, after our normal protocol, breakfast, meetings etc, Emily and I joined Cameron and Jack in the REC room for our first AUV mission lecture! Cameron showed us how to use Vector Map and then how to plan our own missions. We ran two AUV operations and the second mission was planned by Emily and I. 

Shot: 7. In ornder from left to right, Morgan, Cameron and Emily are focusing on the TV screen, while Cameron  displays how to use vector map

Jack Seubert

Then, Cameron guided us to the AUV and instructioned us to pick  it up and bring it out to the swim platform,  ready for deployment. 

Shot: 8. Cameron connecting to the AUV with his remote.

Moragn GoPro

Shot 9: Morgan and Emily gradually lifting this 1 ton missle up to readjust before carrying it down the stairs.

(it doesnt weight one ton, but sure felt like it)

Jack Seubert

Shot 10: Morgan and Emily are strategizing on how to get this darn thing down the stairs. 

Jack Seubert

Shot 11: And there we are guiding this AUV down the stairs.

Jack Seubert

Shot 12: Emily checking my GoPro making sure its blinking red.

Morgan GoPro

Shot 13: Emily and Morgan carefully lowering the AUV into the water.

Jack Seubert

Shot 14:(Please excuse the hair) Morgan and Emily holding on to the AUV while Cameron gets control to steer it away from the boat and off on its mission, towards its first waypoint.

Morgan GoPro

Shot 15: The AUV drives away. 

Jack Seubert

Once it foud its GPS location it dove down to its first leg of sonar to be collected. This mission was about 2 hours long and once it was finished, it popped up to its programed park spot ont he surface and we drove to its location, and picked it up!

Can you find the AUV?

Here the AUV is pictured floating ontop the water surface.

Shot 16: It slowly drives towards us.

Jack Seubert

Shot 17: (Please excuse the hair) The AUV driving towards the stern of  R/V Hercules.  

Morgan GoPro

Shot 18: Morgan and Emily lifting the AUV up onto the back deck. 

Morgan Gopro

Shot 19: Emily is strapping the forward AUV down to the rack.

Morgan GoPro

Shot

Shot 20: Emily and Morgan begin to wipe dry the AUV to proceed towards getting the data.

Jack Seubert

Shot 21: Morgan unscrews the valve to hook up our USB data port to the AUV USB.

Jack Seubert

Shot 22: Emily unscrews the USB valve to retrieve the data. 

Jack Seubert

Once our first mission was complete, and our data was downloaded we got to hook it up to the TV and reveiw our findings. 

Stay tuned for some new posts!

Emily: Island Adventures and Press Meetings

On the 25th we pulled into Vlore which is the third largest city in Albania and the largest coastal city.  We came in for a press meeting and to meet with Auron Tare, who is Albania's National Agency Coast head.  He is a long time friend to RPM and is very involved with the culture surrounding Albania's coast.  He and a group of local politicians and people involved in the new agency came aboard Friday evening for a demonstration of the AUV.  It was a great experience to interact with locals and learn more about the region.  It was also my first time getting to see the AUV in action.  

The AUV in action.  Emily Kovacs

AUV in its full glory.  Emily Kovacs

Socializing between Hercules crew and our guests.  Emily Kovacs

The following morning the crew and some of the guests from the previous night set out for Sazan.  Sazan is an island off of Vlore that is three miles long and about 1.7 miles wide.  It does have a few large mountains on it, the highest reaching 337 meters above sea level.  The island was originally used as a military base but has since been abandoned in the 1980's.  There are numerous buildings throughout the island and bunkers scattered everywhere.  

RV Hercules on Sazan.  Emily Kovacs

The afternoon started off with Jack and Derrick Smith (who is our resident biologist on board) talking with the guests about the biological impacts on the region and keeping the environment healthy. 

There was a group of us who decided to trek up the mountain.  We had quite the adventure picking black raspberries and seeing all the old buildings.  It took us several hours to make it all the way to the top, but it was well worth the view. 

Old overgrown buildings.  Emily Kovacs

View of the harbor and Hercules from 1/4 the way up.  Emily Kovacs

Top of the mountain is our captain and Lauren! Emily Kovacs

One of the natives thinking about joining us on board. Emily Kovacs 

As I write this, we are still positioned on Sazan.  Morgan and I were going to have AUV lessons today while the rest of the crew went to sector scan a WW I ship called the Regina Margarita, but the wind and seas were too rough to use the equipment.  So we came back to Sazan's harbor for the afternoon.  The FKCC trio did get some review time in before Morgan and I took our second quiz regarding the equipment.  Tonight we will depart for Barr, Montenegro where we will work with the AUV and sector scanner on several sights.

Studying for the quiz.  Courtesy of Jack Seubert

Not a bad place for school!  Courtesy of Jack Seubert

Emily: Day 2 of Surveying

The surveying continues!

We set off this morning to continue doing surveys and practicing using the Sector Scanner off the coast of Albania.  The team has gotten pretty sufficient in deploying and raising the scanner multiple times within an hour.

Panoramic view of the bow, looking at Albania.  Emily Kovacs

Our team was smaller today, which made switching posts throughout the survey tricky at times.  We also put together a new system for recording our data from the sector scanner surveys.   It was hot and sunny out today on the deck.  The temperature was about 26 degrees Celsius or 80 degrees Fahrenheit for you guys back in the States!  But I personally can't complain since the humidity is almost nonexistent here.

Our trusty sector scanner.  Emily Kovacs

The reason we had a smaller team today was because we finally got the AUV in last night.  Several of the crew, including Jack, spent much of the night preparing the AUV.  They then set off in the morning on RPM's other boat the Contender to begin working with the AUV.

The AUV finally arrives!  Emily Kovacs

The AUV stands for Autonomous Underwater Vehicle.  The AUV emits pulses and pings which then are echoed back once they hit an object underwater.  The pulse then is transmitted by electrical energy through cables back to the computer lab.  Here we have some of the crew reviewing the data as it is displayed as a sonar image.

Kelsei, Lauren and Will review sonar data from the sector scanner.
Emily Kovacs

This morning, the AUV crew did three test runs south of Sarande.  They were testing the range of the equipment and doing practice missions across the seafloor.  I hope to get some photos of the team in action with the AUV.  Morgan and I will be learning how to use it within the next few days.

Tomorrow we will leave Sarande for Vlore, Albania.  So most of our day will be spent traveling up the Albania coast.

Morgan and I will continue to keep you all updated!

Heading back to port.  Emily Kovacs

Morgan: Sector scan sonar Day 1

07/22/2014

Tuesday the crew of RPM, Jack, Emily and I went out on our first mission with the underwater sector scan sonar equipment. Once we arrived on our site, our captain held us above our wreck using a a dynamic positioning system (DP),  which keeps the ship in the same position, kind of hoovering above our site; the captain inputs our latitude and longitude and a bearing into the computer and then the computer will calculate and then adjust the thrusters and shafts to work in-sync to keep us in the same position.  Then, Cameron, our instructor went over how to build the sector scan sonar  tripod. Once our sonar was put together and all of the attachments were in place we learned how to run the cable out and connect it to the transducer. After that, we helped with out first deployment. Gerry, one of the engineer's operated the crane which  lifted up the sector scan, and submerged it into the water, very slowly. Every 10 meters the guys would strap a ziptie to  keep the steel cable and the computer cable together. Once the tripod landed firmly onto the seafloor (at roughly 76 meters) the lab crew would call out to the deployment crew to stop the decent. The lab crew  had a computer monitor with the sonar readings, which would determine the bottom return. The lab crew would take several surveys of the sea floor, and then move a few meters at time to create a mosaic of the sea floor. See below for pictures.

but first, let me take a selfie! ;)

Shot 1. Morgan Bode pictured, with sector scanner in the background.

Morgan Bode. GoPro

 

Shot 2. Cameron shows us where to get the parts to build our sector scanner.

photo credit: Jack Seubert

 

 Shot 3. Emily and Morgan are clipping the support legs together, forming the structure of the tripod, that holds the transducer in the middle.

photo credit: Jack Seubert.

 

Shot 4. Us in our cute life jackets! :) Cameron is handing out the clips to secure everything together.

photo credit: Jack Seubert

 

Shot 5. Morgan assists Emily while she clips the weighted shotput under the transducer, to help it sink faster. 

photo credit: Jack Seubert

Shot 6. Emily connecting a cord to the transducer box.

photo credit: Jack Seubert

 

Shot 7. Gerry, operating the crane, and Richard directing the sector scan over the gunnel. 

photo credit: Jack Seubert

Shot 8. The sector scan beginning its decent into the sea.

photo credit: Jack  Seubert

Shot 9. Morgan is demonstrating how to unravel the cable for deployment.

photo credit: Jack Seubert

Shot 10. The monitor with a glance at the survey data.  The "bumps" or lighter colored dots, are called "target of interest". 

photo credit: Jack Seubert

 

Shot 11. These are day shapes. Ideally this particular pattern is a sphere or circle, over a diamond, over a sphere. Which means restricted in maneuverability. Dayshapes help other vessel, that are nearby know to stay away and far out of our way, because we are operating and we cannot move once we have our sector scanner 250 ft on the seafloor.

photo credit: Jack Seubert

  Shot 12. Emily and Morgan organize the cable in an orderly and safely fashion.

photo credit: Jack Seubert

Shot 13. On the left is Cameron and Richard. They are taking in the cable, and undoing each ziptie as Gerry brings up the scanner with the crane. The cable then gets passed from Richard, to Emily, and then on to Morgan as they coil up the cable.

photo credit: Jack  Seubert

 

Shot 14. Zeus stopped by for a bit. :) The storm that ran us off.

photo credit: Jack Seubert

Shot 15 (left) 16 (right).

A waterspout forms  on our starboard side. We kicked it up a few knots and got into port real quick!

photo credit: Jack Seubert

All of the above were photos from our first day at the Rodon Amphora site. 

We did go back out to the wreck on 07/23/2014 and finished 17 drop sites with the sector scan, however, only videos were taken, so please review the youtube site to see everything in action! 

 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKV9mHN9WJU-IX-NQOHCQ4Q