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