The OC2006A Cascadia H.O.P.S. expedition is now over and it is time for the real work to begin, starting with CT scanning our sediment cores and then splitting and describing them. It was a great trip and I don’t think it could be any more successful than it was. I owe a big thanks to OSU Ship Operations, the Oceanus Captain and Crew, and Cascadia HOPS science team for making it successful. It wasn’t easy pulling this off safely and responsibly in the age of COVID19, but thanks to a great team, we made it happen.
In the end we came home with 22 cores, including 7 multi cores, 6 gravity cores, and 9 piston cores. 3 of these piston cores were recovered by rigging a 50′ piston core, which to our knowledge are the longest cores ever recovered from Oceanus. We filled our entire refrigerated container and all the storage space in the Multi Sensor Core Logger van. We couldn’t have brought home any more core. This was a ton of work and required long hours by all involved–so I imagine that everyone, like myself, is taking some time to rest up in the couple days after the cruise.
We’ll keep you posted as our post cruise work develops on these cores. I’m looking forward to figuring out all the stories they record! But for now, here are a few more pictures from the cruise.
The Shipboard OC2006A Cascadia H.O.P.S. Science Team.Rigging the long 50′ piston core. We weren’t sure this was going to work, but it did, and brought back a great core!MARSSAM coring tech, Chris Fanshier, pointing off in the distance.The MARSSAM team recovering a long 50′ piston core on the side of Oceanus. As far as we know, this is the longest core ever recovered from Oceanus. And we got three of them during OC2006A!Camilo Ponton and Mo Walczak excited about the mud at the base of a piston core.Looks like we got the good stuff! Valerie Sahakian, Joe Stoner, and Mo Walczak excited about the mud at the bottom of the piston core.Mo Walczak, Valerie Sahakian, and Deepa Dwyer checking out the mud from the bottom of a piston core.Dolphins swimming by the ship around sunset.Valerie Sahakian and Camilo Ponton collecting shear stress data on a newly collect multi-core.MARSSAM coring tech, Ben Frieberg, taking a break in the ‘coring shack’ while waiting for a core to come back up.Deepa Dwyer looking at the logging as it is being collected on the multi sensor core logger. We use these data to get a sense for the sediments we recovered before the cores get split.The piston core along side R/V Oceanus, almost ready to be deployed.A fin whale visiting R/V Oceanus on a sunny afternoon.The MARSSAM team landing a trigger core on the boat, before landing the associated piston core.MARSSAM lead coring tech, Paul Walczak, and coring tech, Ben Frieberg, moving a trigger core on deck. We store the trigger core vertically until it can be split into 1.5 m sections to preserve the soupy surface sediments as best as possible.OC2006A scientists getting ready to check the uppermost section of a piston core to see how good recovery was. We did a great job recovery almost 100% recovery piston cores throughout the expedition.OSU Ship Ops MARTECH Brandon D’Andrea and R/V Oceanus Boson Doug Beck preparing a multi core for deployment.Admiring the very full refrigerated van at the end of the cruise.
Oregon State University
Paleomagnetic & Environmental Magnetic Research Laboratory
