Daily Journal

Recovering the Ocean Bottom Seismometers

Erik Hauri's Log

A busy day recovering the ocean bottom seismometers put down so long ago by our Japanese colleagues Shio and Hiroko. They are quite happy to see them come up from the seafloor 2 kilometers down, like happy parents getting their children back from summer camp. Except that the seismometers have been down for a year.

We're making excellent time, so much so that we'll get to Guguan this afternoon (instead of the middle of the night). After 2-1/2 days at sea, our group is really eager to get on the volcano get some samples. The seas are calming down, so hopefully they will be low enough to permit us to land easily with the Zodiac. The Zodiac is brand-new, and the guys on the ship have padded out the front with all sorts of matting, even an old tire (!), so that we don't puncture the boat on the rocks. One of the guys said it looks like something from the movie "Waterworld".

Still have to pack our gear for the overnight, have a good look at the maps and plan the sampling strategy, test radios and sat phones. Then around noon it's time for the Zodiac drill.