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MISSION DISPATCH 1 • 08/26/01 Today's Weather - images courtesy of NOAA & RSMAS Dispatch by Rebecca Johnson - HARBOR BRANCH Oceanographic Institution Latitude: 27°47'004"N • Longitude: 91°90'4438"W The R/V SEWARD JOHNSON eased out of the dock at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute at about 9 pm last night, steaming southeast into the Gulf of Maine toward our first dive site, Oceanographer 
Canyon. Located along the southern flank of Georges Bank, Oceanographer Canyon is one of three
sites we plan to visit in our search for the siphonophore,
Nanomia cara. Our primary goal is
to capture, both on film and in the sampling canisters on the
JOHNSON-SEA-LINK submersible, many
specimens of this relatively large gelatinous zooplankter.
Oceanographer Canyon is the deepest of the three dive sites. The plan was to work deep first while the promise of good weather held. Last night, as the research team set up and battened down microscopes, computers, and other equipment in the ship's laboratories, the weather looked as if it was going to cooperate, with only light winds stirring the sea's surface under the glowing eye of a bright, first quarter moon. 
Day 1 dawned clear and sunny, winds still light. But by mid-morning, the motion of the ship began to change perceptibly, as the swells flowing through the ink-blue waters of the North Atlantic built in intensity. Testing our sea legs against those swells, we prepared the submersible for its first dive, assembling the complex system of clear acrylic canisters designed for capturing and holding specimens. 
As the ship neared the dive site however, the expressions on the faces of the sub crew were less
than optimistic. A strong, deep surge coming from the south, a remnant of Hurricane Dean, made
launching the submersible an iffy proposition at first. Eventually it was decided 'no go'.
PI
Marsh Youngbluth summed up the frustration nicely when he said the JSL was "all dressed up
with no place to go."
During what remained of the day, we measured water temperature, salinity and depth at the site with a CTD recorder, which was sent down almost to the seafloor, about 900 meters below. With a wind shift now in the forecast, we decided to leave the area and Captain Ralph van Hoek has the R/V SEWARD JOHNSON steaming north toward calmer seas and the Wilkinson Basin.  | |
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