NEWSLETTER WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION FEBRUARYIMARCH 1997 R/V Atlantis Heads Home! 1EI~~8~~~ [I~~~ RN Atlantis Is scheduled to arrive In Woods Hole Friday, April 11, between 2 and 3 p.m. A brief ceremony Is planned on the Iselin Mall, after which Captain Gary Chlljean and the Atlantis crew Invite WHOI employees aboard for selt-gulded tours of the ship. Commemorative T-shirts, hats and mugs will be on sale on the pier, and there will be a beverage and snack kiosk. Shuttle service will run from 2 to 6 p.m. between the Clark Lab and the Village. An., departing a Mississippi shipy8IrJ Man;/! 25, Atlantis st"!'f"'d in the Gulf of Mexico to conduct a variety of engine and equipment tests (more Captain Gary Chlijean (far right) and Third Mate Richard Bean photos pages 4 and 5). (len) wrlh AB Jerry Graham (center) on the bridge of the Atlantis during Voyage #, Leg I. - r Nation's Newest Research Vessel Almost Home After more than a decade of behalf of the Chief of Naval Research and control system checks, making a planning and nearly three years of and a second plaque from the Ocean­ box core/gravity core station and construction, the Institution's new ographer of the Navy, Rear Admiral conducting a SeaBeam survey of the 274-1001 Research Vessel Atlantis is Paul Tobin, who at the last minute Hudson Canyon off the New York! on its way home to Woods Hole. The was unable to attend. Both plaques New Jersey coast before the vessel ship left a Halter Marine shipyard In now hang in the ship's library. arrives In Woods Hole. Pascagoula, Mississippi, about 2:30 Director Bob Gagoslan presented Atlantis was officially turned over p.m. March 25 on Voyage #1 Leg I everyone with an Atlantis cap and an by the Navy to the Institution to bound for Woods Hole, where" Is ornament depicting the ketch Atlan­ operate on March 3. Once under scheduled to arrive April 11 between tis. Senator Loti also received a WHOI operation, the crew worked 2 and 3 p.m. A brief welcoming book of Henry Stommel's Starbuck hard learning about the ship. loading ceremony is planned on the dock, essays; Admiral Gaffney, John Dane the necessary supplies for the trip and employees are invited to take and other guests received copies of home, and getting accustomed to self-guided tours of the new vessel. former employee Dana Densmore's their new home. The sh~'s departure from Mssis­ book "A·Boat-8ix Oceanographic Atlantis is one of the most sophis­ sippi was far from routine for ship­ Cruises In the World's Biggest ticated research vessels afloat, yards on the Gu~ coast, which usually Ketch". The group then posed for equipped with precision navigation, see new vessels quietly slip away for photos near the ship, and both bottom mapping and satellite tele­ their home ports. Unlike Navy ships Senator Loti and Admiral Gaffney communications systems. Atlantis which have a formal commissioning spoke briefly with members of the will not only support Alvin operations ceremony, Atlantis began its career local media. as the National Deep Submergence of discovery with fanfare of its own. Shortly after the Senator and other Facility but also remotely operated Mississippi Senator Trent lott, guests departed, the shore cables (Iethered) and autonomous explora­ Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate, were removed and the gangway lifted. tion vehicles, including the RADM Pa'" G. Gaffney, II, Chief of A#an~s stowly moved out into the Institution's own Medea/Jason Naval Research, and John Dane, channel headed for the Gulf of imaging and survey system and its President of Halter Marine Group, Inc. Mexico. Scientific research began new Autonomous Benthic Explorer Joined Director Bob Gagosian, Senior almost immediately as Greg Eischeid ' (ABE), both of which can reach 98 Associate Director and Director of of Marine Chemistry and GeochemiS­ percent of the world's ocean floor. Research Jim Luyten, and Chairman try got a partial pressure CO, experi­ "This ship provides the U.S. of the Board Frank Synder for a tour ment in the Hydrolab up and running, ocean sciences research community of the vessel wkh Captain Gary using water and air pumped from the an unprecedented capability for deep Chiljean and lunch in the mess. ship's bow. ocean expioration," Director Robert During lunch the small group had a During its trip through the Gu~ of Gages/an said. "Research vessels chance to speak informally before Mexico and into the Atlantic Ocean on named Atlantis represent a long exchanging some mementos to mark Leg I the ship's engineering and tradttion of worldwide ocean explora­ the occasion. control systems were checked and a tion at Woods Hole Oceanographic. Rear Admiral Paul Gaffney variety of tests were conducted on Institution. This ship Is the third to presented the ship with a plaque on winches, cranes and other scientific bear the name Atlantis. which carries equipment. A brief port call was with it a rich legacy of contributions made at Ft. Lauderdale, FL, to ooean research. The U.S. Navy The Newsletter is published monthly or March 29 to disemball< techni­ has had a long-term commitment to bimonthly for employees, st1.dents and cians, agency and other pers0n- oceanography and to ocean re­ members of the Woods Hole Oceancr nel. search. so it is most appropriate that graphic Institution coomunity. Ideas for Leg II March 29 to April 5 this particular ship be funded by the stories, photos, and other nems of Involved calibrating the Navy. Atlantis and its unique interest to the community are wekx>me SeaBeam bottom mapping capabilities embodies the close and and should be sent to: Newsletter Editor, system, with work in deep water essential relationship between the News Office, MS #16, Woods Hole norlh of the Bahama Islands. A Navy and academic research and Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, brief stop was made at Norfolk. between the Navy and other federal MA 02543. Telephone 506-289-2270 or VA, to change scientific engi- funding agencies. such as the 289-3340. neering and agency personnel. National Science Foundation, that I Writer/Editor: Shelley M. Lauzon Work on Leg III will include will enabfe ocean scientists to vastly Staff Support: Kathleen Patterson continued ship's engineering Continued on page 8 2 WHOI NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY/MARCH 1997 WHOI Staff/Equipment Seek to Explain Staff Honors and Awards Loss of British Vessel Members of the Institution's Deep Submergence Senior Scientists Mark Kurz of the Marine Labor~~ory.(DSL) are conducting a search and survey Chemistry and Geochemistry Department and Jack expedition In the western Padfic for the wreckage of the Whitehead of the Physical Oceanography Depart­ M/V Derbyshire. a 964-foot British bulk orB carrier which ment have been elected Fellows of the American sank near Okinawa in September 1980 while carrying Geophysical Union (AGU). Selection as a Fellow is some 157,000 tons of iron orB concentrate from Canada one of the highest honors bestowed by AGU and is to Japan. All 44 people on board died. The vessel, built awarded to "those scientists who have achieved in 1976, is the largest British merchant ship, in terms of widely acknowledged eminence in a branch of tonnage. ever lost at sea geophysics." Each year, a Committee of Fellows Several inquiries and searches have been conducted reviews nominations and conducts a rigorous but the cause of the sinking has never been establiShed: ~election process to choose new Fellows, a distinc­ A formal investigation in 1989 concluded that "the tion conferred upon no more than 0.1 % of all AGU Derbyshire was probably overwhelmed by the forces of members in any given year. nature in Typhoon Orchid ... The evidence avai1able does Senior Scientist Robert Ballard of the Applied not support any firmer conclusion." According to British Ocean Physics and Engineering Department has newspaper reports families of those lost, trade unions been selected to receive the first Excellence in and shipping experts have argued that structural defects Geophysical Education Award of the American not weather, caused the disaster. ' Geophysical Union (AGU). The new award is The wreckage of the Derbyshire was found frag­ given for significant and lasting contributions to mented on the seafloor in nearly 4,300 meters (about geophysical sciences education through the 14,000 feet) of water in 1994 by an expedttlon funded by innovative training, support and encouragement of the International Transport Worker's Federation (ITF). students. Ballard was honored for his role "in the Following the ITF eXpedition BritaIn's Lord Donaldson conception and development of the JASON Project was appointed to assess whether further work should be as well as the extraordinary impact of that project." undertaken to establish the cause of the ship's loss. Lord The award will be presented at the AGU Spring Donaldson recommended that a further survey should be meeting in Baltimore in late May. undertaken, and the European Commission agreed to contribute towards the cost An initial survey of part of the wreckage site was "This is a truly international cxroperative effort, conducted in July 1996 by three Independent Assessors, drawing on the expertise of specialists from the 'United two appointed by Britain's Department of TrWlsport and Kingdom. France, Greece, Italy and the United States one by the European Commission. That survey con­ and with the support of the European Commission," said cluded that conditions were suitable for a comprehensive Lord Goschen, Britain's Minister of Shipping. "We hope photographic survey of the wreckage. WHOI was ap­ that the results of the expedition will allow the causes of proached by British Government officials and asked to the loss of the Derbyshire to be established.