Exp 396 ALO Tech Report

Expedition Info.

Expedition 396 (August 6 to October 6, 2021, onboard till October 8.) Started and ended in Reykjavik, Iceland. The expedition cored rock and sediment using APC/XCB and RCB in the Norwegian Sea.  Expedition 396 is the first expedition to sail with a science party since COVID protocols were enacted.  Multiple sites cored through hard rock and sediment interbedded with one another.  In these situations we alternated between hard rock and sediment curation, sometimes within one core.  We also dealt with expanding clays after core splitting.  In order to curate these we removed end caps from the split sections and added extenders.  Afterwards the lengths of the section halves were adjusted in Catwalk.  We had two instances when the UPS unit for the servers failed, meaning all data services were unavailable (LORE, LIVE, MUT, LIMS, Catwalk, etc.).  The MCS and programmer were able to restore the servers.  The second incident the UPS did not recover and the servers were rerouted through ship's power.  Ship's crew should not test the emergency generator until the new UPS is installed as the server will crash.

Notes

Whole round basement sections recovered on EXP 390C  and 395E are onboard. They are boxed in the HRS (AFT Port side).

COVID Protocol

Staff, crew, and scientists completed a seven day quarantine with two covid PCR tests in the Reykjavik hotel. During the quarantine staff and scientists participated in Zoom meetings to provide as much training as possible. The Life at Sea talk was given via Zoom.  An HF safety and protocol meeting was held with the Captain, First Mate, and Doctor as well as the palynologists, chem techs, ALOS and LO.  Technical staff boarded the vessel one hour prior to the scientists.  We found proper social distancing to be impossible upon scientist arrival as the scientists needed to be shown to their rooms and around the ship.  Because people sharing a bathroom are considered close contacts, we divided the scientists into small groups (2-4) based on their room assignments and assigned a technician to show them their cabins and a brief tour of the lab stack.  Scientists remained on the dock until they were called in order to  reduce traffic in the hallways. Scientists and technicians went directly on to shift, with a few exceptions to allow for training.  The scientists were assigned to groups (9 people or fewer) based on their shifts and were shown the SIEM safety video during the first 24 hours on board.  Safety tours were done on the second day of port call.  The only issue we encountered was having enough time to show the scientists the lab while also distributing freight and checking the labs.  Because they had already had all of their meetings in the hotel, they were anxious to begin working in the labs.  

Scientists were asked for their feedback regarding our COPE protocols via a pdf form.  The form can be found in the ALO folder for Exp 396.

Shipping

395E Offgoing AF

-AF for 395E was sent after the 396 crew boarded

-Refrigerated and frozen samples were picked by the World Courier agent 

396 Received 

396 SF and AF

-Received the new Ludlum area monitor and detectors and installed on the x-ray track

396 Offgoing 

SURF

-Core reefer to Bremen 

• Working half sections and residues

-Core reefer to College Station 

• Archive half sections

• Epson Stylus printer from imaging office

• 2 Incubators replaced during 395C

• Old Haskris unit from XRD

  AF:

• 1 card board box containing pipettors for calibration, a microscope stage, and the master flat for thin section

• 1 PVC tube containing the magnetic orientation tool (2052) returning to vendor for repair

• UBI tool returning to Schlumberger-Larose

• MSS tool returning to College Station

• World Courier shipments (refrigerated and frozen) shipped to scientists from 395C and 396

Special Notes:

There was confusion regarding the cold shipments departing from Expedition 395C. The on-coming crew thought the samples were packaged and ready to put into the shipping coolers/boxes, but the samples were not bagged and labeled or boxed properly. We had to do a rushed repacking of the refrigerated samples when the World Courier agent arrived. And we missed half of the frozen samples in the upper tween freezer.  The remainder of Melody Lindsay's (395C scientist) samples will be sent at the end of 396.  In the future we should be sure to properly pack, label and leave clear instructions for the oncoming crew, especially since we are unable to cross over in person due to covid.  It would be beneficial to ensure that all samples for 1 individual are in one location/freezer.  Also note that World Courier failed to maintain the frozen samples at temperature and they arrived in the US thawed.

AMS/Inventory/Store rooms

IODPS sold $1,468 worth of Store Items. Cash and store form from 396 were sent back to IODP with Chieh Peng.

Store items are due to arrive in the surface to 396T (sweaters and shirts) and in surface to 391U (blue and khaki caps).

AMS:

The cold shipment instructions in the shipping document have been updated after emailing with Rakesh and Saravanan. The cold shipment feature works, but the user may need to do minor edits manually in the pdf.

Special projects

• Flooding in Splitting room.  Water was back flowing from the floor drain near the saw controls.  SIEM crew had to snake the drains and use air pressure to clear the blockage.  We were told the splitting room drains go down to the chiller room.  Splitting had to stop for about 8 hours while this issue was resolved.

• Ship took a large roll during a storm on Sept. 22nd when we hit a 12-15 m wave. 

  • The mobile core table in the splitting room came loose and created a large hole in the wall under the electrical panels in the core lab.  SIEM repaired the wall.

  • Core boxes in the reefer shifted off the shelves and the play cores all fell to the floor.  Significantly damaged play cores were disposed of.  To secure the cores on the shelves dtube boxes were strapped with ratchet straps against the cores.

  • The oven near the MBIO lab flipped over and many crucibles inside were broken

  • Flammables cabinet on the catwalk fell towards port side and the acetone cans were both damaged.  The cabinet is now secured properly to the bulk head

  • Many computers and tv screens were found unsecured.  We had multiple occurrences of computers flying off shelves and unplugging themselves.  It would be beneficial to look into better ways to secure the TVs on swinging wall mounts.  The tv in the co-chief office was temporarily secured with rope as it was swinging widely and hitting the wall.

  • The -86 freezer in Upper tween, closest to the wood shop, became partially unplugged during the ship roll and the freezer log shows the power was inconsistent.  Eventually the system warmed up and alarmed.  At which time we re-secured the plug and restarted the freezer.  System began to cool only after a full restart.

  • Scale for weighing packages was damaged.  A new scale has been requisitioned.

Projects for Transit

• Repair floor in front of muffle furnace under the autoclave in the chemistry lab

• Maintenance is needed on the splitting room door floor pads.  There appears to be damage to the wires on one pad causing the pad to not operate correctly.

• Defrost the -20 and -86 freezers

• Repair conference room table legs if possible.  

• Repaint floor in the imaging office 

• Research methods for securing the glass front cabinets in the labs.  Some magnets were requisitioned, but latches may be a good solution for some areas.

• Rock cutting saw cover modifications to ensure the covers can be pushed up against the wall in the splitting room.