LO and ALO Cross-Over notes

Lisa Crowder, Sandra Hermann & Tim Bronk

IODP Expedition 359: maldives Monsoon

The objectives of the expedition Address sea level, currents, and monsoon evolution in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives carbonate edifice bears a unique and mostly unread Indian Ocean archive of the evolving Cenozoic icehouse world. It has great potential to serve as a key area for better understanding the effects of this global evolution in the Indo-Pacific realm.
Operations: Leaving from Darwin, Australia, we completed a 12 day transit to Malé, Republic of Maldives. In Malé, a delegation of ministers and press visited the vessel for a tour and press conference with the co-chief scientists. Two Maldivian observers boarded the vessel and were both replaced later in the expedition. The vessel cored 5429 meters and recovered 3096.66 meters of core. The carbonate sands at shallow depths in many of the holes and the interbedded hard carbonate layers the made for difficult coring. Eight sites were occupied and twenty two holes attempted. A total of 14,595 samples were taken onboard (6834 shipboard samples and 7761 personal samples).
Three holes were logged and two of the planned VSPs were conducted.
Labs and Technical Services: Overall there were few serious hardware issues that were critical to the expedition. A borrowed NIM module was installed on the NGR replacing the module that was temporarily fixed on Exp356.
The internet speed was slow as usual but there were additional problems using Google tools. Towards the end of the expedition the MCSs found the issue that was causing the problems with Google.
Shipboard Facilities:

• Siem replaced O2 sensors

Staff: Due to the potential high recovery and vacancies in positions, four temporary technicians were hired, Courtney Bouchard, Shawn Miller, Will Davidson and Cole Fields. Due to medical issues Bill Mills was not able to sail so Lisa Crowder sailed as the LO. Sandra Herrmann stepped up once again to fill in as an Assistant Lab Officer with Tim Bronk.
Other: Entier Camp Boss asks that IODP Staff and Scientists not ask Entier personnel for haircuts as it is against Entier policy.

Operational Dates:

START

• Port: Fort Hill Wharf, Berth 2W, Darwin , Australia
• Arrived: 30 September 2015
• Vessel departed: 5 October 2015 @ 1206

END

• Port: Colombo, Sri Lanka
• Estimated Arrival: 30 November 2015 @ 0700

General Port CALL information

• 30^th September:
  • The oncoming crew moved onboard and completed their cross-over;
  • The Co-chief Scientists and Staff Scientist boarded at the same time to being planning;

• 1^st October:
  • ODL Crew Change completed;
  • Science Party arrived in the afternoon and completed their safety a brief introduction to the ship;
  • Off loaded cores;
  • Load Schlumberger air freight;
  • Loaded all IODP air freight;
  • Loaded 40 metric tons of barite;
  • Completed PR tours;

• 2^nd October:
  • Off loaded cores and surface freight;
  • Loaded remaining Barite and loaded sepiolite;
  • Discharged refrigerated samples via World Courier;
  • Discharged all of the IODP and SWL air freight;

• 3^rd October:
  • Loaded air freight;

• 4^th October:
  • Moved to East Arm Wharf for refueling;
  • Loaded fuel;
  • Began securing for sea;

• 5^th October:
• Last line released at 1206;
• Held first fire and boat drill plus piracy security training;

• 18^th October:
• Arrived Malé, Republic of Maldives;
• Hosted Maldivian ministers and press;
• Boarded ODL driller and Maldivian observers;
• Received air freight and food;

Transit activities

• Expedition 359 started with a 12 day transit from Darwin to Malé, Republic of Maldives. The vessel was visited by ministers and press. Observers boarded the vessel and the vessel was cleared for operations in the Maldives.
• Once past Christmas Island, magnetometer data was collected to just east of The Maldives. Bathymetric data was collected on all transits.
• During the transit, tracks and lab instruments were calibrated and brought into working order.
• Completed Expedition safety inspections.
• Safety training videos were viewed by staff
• Equator was crossed, vessel not entirely clean

AMS/Inventory

• Parts and Supplies for the Vacuum Pump associated with the SEM sputter coater were added to the inventory for CMIC (repair kit, MS0041) and UTSHOP (oil, MS0040).
• Additional parts for the Welch and Labconco (Edwards) vacuum pumps were added to AMS inventory.
• Restock level and reorder point of ammonium hydroxide (CH0012) were increased.
• Vacuum bags were added to the UTSHOP inventory (JT0008).
• A DHML checkout sheet was added to the general checkout sheet routine, so ET's can keep better track of their parts.
• O-rings for APCT3 and SET2 tools added to inventory but checked out from CT Shop.
• Four UPS's were tagged that had no tags due to lower value. TAS decided to add tags to better monitor them.

Shipment

• Off going Shipment Summary
• X359 Cores and Residues are listed as CORE_1, 2 as normal, and will be shipped to GCR
• Air Freight (F359_RAF) includes a Schlumberger tool in a wooden crate (MSS) and a yellow box with CT items returned for repair
• Foreign Air Freight and Expedited box (F359_EXP) as normal.
• No World Courier Shipments exists for this expedition.
• Other
• Several heavy-duty pallets (LG0001) were damaged en route. The corners were cracked or torn off.
• New longer/wider wood pallets were used for the shipment of waxed core boxes. The new pallets have two 'stringers' that run down the center for support. Unfortunately they are the same width as the narrow pallet jack arms. We were able to move the pallet jack arms just to the side of the stringers and move the pallets without issue (the pallets would be somewhat lopsided but were able to be moved quite easily).

AREA-BY-AREA SUMMARY

Bridge Deck

LO Office:

• The tech office laser printer will either randomly not print. You may try three times to print a document and get three errors. The fourth time it will print. Totally random. The MCSs are aware of this problem, have looked at it but have no advice other than to reboot.
• Warranty replacement chair parts ordered for Biofit and Herman Miller chairs, chairs are labeled.

Core Deck

Core Entry/Catwalk:

• The air/water line for cleaning the core catcher and catwalk area has been re-plumbed

to the cold water.

• The air flow sensors for the Laser Engraver did not arrive in the freight as indicated. They may be in the 360 freight.

Splitting Room:

• The floor in the splitting room was chipped out and a large section repaired with cement purchased in Darwin. The floor was painted with the exterior gray paint.
• We had a few instances of the Uber-saw tripping a circuit breaker while sawing hard sediment. The old circuit breaker (set to 6.3 amps) was replaced with a new breaker set at 8.0 amps.
• Issues with getting the wire splitter on the core splitter aligned.

General:

• Two cracks in floor chipped, filled and painted with the incorrect paint. Numerous spots in the downhole lab painted. Needs to be sanded and painted over with PSX700 Gray paint (in flammable stores).

Logging/Downhole:

• New data transfer protocol for logging data in use.
• Mike Meiring gave instruction on APCT3 tool, measurements and uploading.

Core Description Lab:

• The emergency stop button on the SHMSL was moved towards the back of the rack carrying the computers, so the scientists can't bump into it anymore.

Paleomagnetics:

• SRM had a few positioning and limit switch issues that were all resolved.
• JR6 LIMS uploader completed. Will require additional testing on next expedition.

Physical properties Lab:

• The helium bottle for the pycnometer in the splitting room was replaced (both bottles, actually). Note that that bottle was in service from February 2013 – in use for over 2-1/2 years!
• Transducers on WRMSL P-Wave gantry replaced after one broke.
• Borrowed Quad Logic board installed in NGR.

Fo'c'sle Deck

Chemistry Lab:

• Two of the three Carver Autopak pumps are not working properly and moving exceedingly slow. New pumps ordered for X361.
• New IR Chassis installed on SRA. Instrument operational.
• New gas monitoring software operational.
• The liquid N2 generator had a full system flush to remove ice. The ball valve for the chill water system appears to be broken and allowing chill water through. Chill water is turned off and generator shut down.
• Wildco Beta water sampling bottle deployed daily with the beacon crane for plankton analysis. A vacuum filtration station was set up in the Cold Lab and operated by the scientists. A new line, tube and vertical cables ordered.

LOWER DECKs

Pallet Stores:

• The drive wheel on the electric pallet jack was replaced.
• One of the outrigger bars on the electric pallet stacker was unsecured – the bolt that should hold it in place had been removed and in another, unused bolt hole. The width was set back to just over 48" and re-secured.
• The band saw wheels (upper and lower) have had the rubber tires replaced. A spare set of tires are in the storage space at the bottom of the band saw. Band saw was adjusted per the woodworking video.

Upper Tween

• SCBAs were returned from shore. The SCBAs have been inspected and repaired by TEEX. Air tanks have been re-filled and are stored with the harnesses in the UT Landing Bat-cave. Note that one SCBA case contains the harness only (05344 in case ODP-1) at the air tank is leaking from the neck. The hydro-testing documentation has been given to the ship's mate.

Poop Deck

Underway Geophysics:

• Fantail crane was chipped and painted by Siem crew.

core Lab

COURTNEY BOUCHARD, WILL DAVIDSON, COLE FIELDS & SHAWN MILLER
In general, core lab activities are running normally. This report presents minor changes and suggestions for common problems:

Equipment modifications

splitting room

• A splash guard was added to one end of the splitting table to prevent water from getting on the floor and further damaging to the floor.
• New templates for TSB's were made to fit the impregnation boats. These are slightly smaller and save time for the thin section technician
• We had a few instances of the Uber-saw tripping a circuit breaker while sawing hard sediment. The saw motor is rated to 8.3 amps and we had a new circuit breaker rated up to 10 amps (but also selectable to 8.0 amps). The old circuit breaker (set to 6.3 amps) was replaced with a new breaker set at 8.0
• We've refurbished at least three of the spray nozzles in the splitting room by replacing the two o-rings (size 13) with new o-rings and a thin coat of Aqua-lube.

Catwalk

• The air/water line for cleaning the core catcher and catwalk area has been re-plumbed

to the cold water. It had been plumbed to hot water for a long time and we use tens of gallons of hot water when cleaning the catwalk. If it needs to be plumbed to hot water it's an easy switch.

Procedural Issues and Solutions

Lazerkatjie

• From Exp. 356 – "Frequent use caused the air sensor in the hood to become clogged, resulting in frequent error messages. The Lazerkatjie program and laser were restarted each time to clear the error message, which slowed down core flow. Six weeks into the cruise, Yurie replaced the sensor in the hood, and the error messages became much less frequent. To maintain this new sensor, use compressed air to clean the sensor periodically."

• This error message continued during Expedition 359. In order to clear it the laser was turned off for 30 seconds and then turned back on.

MECHANIC PRESS FOR XCB CORE CATCHERS

• Multiple XCB core catchers had material that was stuck in the shoe and the press in the Mechanics Shop had to be utilized. Siem asked that when the press was used that the technician clean off the bit and surrounding area so that it doesn't get jammed with sediment buildup. In this case we found it helpful to have two people working on the XCB core catcher so that if the shoe needed to go to the press one person could go and the other would stay and finish the rest of the core catcher and clean the catwalk.

Core Entry label printer

• The core entry Zebra Printer was making unusual sounds and shifting alignment constantly. The MCS replaced it with a spare unit. After looking at the original unit they discovered that there was adhesive residual and a peeled label on the dancer assembly (stainless steel plate) that was causing the problem (shown below).

• The MCS recommends that each time the label roll is replaced the dancer assembly gets wiped with a cleaning solvent such as alcohol. Also that while cleaning we are careful not to drip any liquid inside the printer or to leave any wet surfaces while loading the labels.

New Weber Ribbon

• The FH Ribbon 60.0 mm x 300M Weber FH Resin Ribbon that were recently purchased for the Zebra printers in the core labs have had some problems. The darkness has to be set to around 25 for the ribbon to print dark enough for the barcode readers to read them. But when the Zebra ribbon is in the printer and the darkness setting is set to 25 it is too dark for the barcode readers to read them. We suggest setting the Zebra ribbons to a darkness setting of 20 and putting the Weber ribbon aside unless it is needed.

Wire Splitter

• The last few expeditions have had problems with the wire splitter not splitting evenly because the wire and hook blades are not on the same plane. Previous expeditions have tried to fix this by adding washers under the hook blade mounts in order to raise them up to the same height as the wire but the problem continued on Exp. 359. When the washers are under the blade mount it is good to split the core with the archive half facing up so that more of the material is cut for the working side. We took the washers out from under the blade mounts towards the end of our expedition. When this happened we flipped the liners and cut them with the working half facing upwards.
• We also had some similar issues with the core cutter stopping at the core catcher/last section and not being able to power through. This did not happen often, but enough to be noticeable. Getting the hook blades and wire all on the same plane while splitting the core was problematic. Before the rebuild the plate on which the hook blades are attached was sitting on four large washers. When it was rebuilt or cleaned the washers were removed and not re-installed. These washers (of which we do not have any more at that thickness) set the hook blades to the exact height of the wire and also to the exact center of the core section. We will have to try and order more of them but I do not know how thick they were.
• All the issues with the splitter seem to be based on the overhaul that was conducted during the 356 tie-up period. We are currently fixing the results of a misalignment somewhere in the wagon that is moving the splitting devices (cheese cutter as well as saw).
• Throughout the expedition we found that there might be a problem with the liners themselves. A few of the liners that were split were blatantly twisted so that the splitter would start on the guidelines but end a couple of centimeters either above or below the lines. When this would happen we found that the blades were broken easily. In order to prevent this we suggest splitting slower than normal through these types of liners.

CORE Description, SEM

MARGARET HASTEDT

DESClogik

DESClogik was reasonably well-behaved this cruise. It had bouts of instability when there was copy/paste activities from Excel – see Developer's report for details. An update was issued mid-cruise to help prevent this. The core describers were scrupulous about doing Excel exports from DESC several times during their shifts. Cheap insurance and peace of mind.
As of this writing the developers are actively investigating another DESC crash related to keystroke handling. One scientist saw repeated crash behavior when mouse-clicking a cell to see the drop-down sublist it had, then attempting to hit the key corresponding to the first letter of the desired item. Kaboom! Unfortunately it doesn't happen 100% of the time so that makes it much harder to debug.
Attempting manual refreshes of the value lists from X356 to and from the DESC Google sites degraded early in the first transit until it became completely impossible. (The old Value List Manager synchronization method from Google was already defunct by the end of X355.) After that all value lists and sublists were copied from the X356 repository to IODP_Share\all things DESClogik_DESClogik_EXP359\Google current VLs and updated locally for the rest of the cruise. I will be taking home copies of all our in-use value lists and sublists and will refresh the Google site back home.
Akin to an issue with special characters in value lists causing problems at template import (see X353 DESC tech report), there was a similar issue with a soft return inside the cell containing a sublist name. The offline VLM imported the Excel sublist sheet with no difficulties, but the DESC import failed with a message saying a sublist by that name (with the soft return) didn't exist. Our database is evidently intolerant of that sort of thing.
The DESC sample selector bug from previous cruises reappeared yet again, this time on the large double-monitor station at the forward end of the Core lab. The Sample sub-window becomes distorted if the default text size in the Windows display is changed to a larger one. Make sure that it is set to small in the Windows control panel, then logout and login to DESC again to fix the issue.
The Marsaglia et al. smear slide collection was not signed out by the sedimentologists this cruise. However, they found the PDF tutorials and other smear slide documents useful. They employed paper log sheets for gathering the data for smear slides that was subsequently entered into DESC.
Speaking of paper log sheets, the sedimentologists wanted to use the 11x17" output sheets from the SHIL. Our scientists used the log sheets for all cores and sections unlike past soft-rock cruises where they were dropped once the novelty wore off. The log sheets were all scanned to PDF and put on Uservol while the physical copies will be returned to the IODP Data Librarian. Copies of the log sheet template VIs can be found in IODP_Share\IODP OFFICAL_IODP_Technical_Manual\Phyz Prop\SHIL\Current .
Reminder to all us DESClogik admins… please search for terms or species before adding them to the Excel value lists. A number of duplicate entries have been removed from several lists. Also, it would be good SOP to remove the global flag from your expedition's templates after the final exports are completed, although this can be difficult to remember during the EOX crush.

THIN SECTION REPORTS

The new and improved report builder and writer applications were used this cruise for a total of 83 thin sections as of this writing. Small bugs were squashed in both. This cruise saw expanded use of photomicrographs (outside of the whole-thin section PICAT images) that began on X355. Being able to set the image widths is a nice addition. Image width is not a global setting for all images within a report; you are able to set different image widths and they will be honored in the report. That can look a bit odd depending on image placements though.
I found and then modified a macro for Excel that will take all exports of the microscopic template and append them by tab names into one master spreadsheet. This is a much more convenient way to run the TS Report Writer. The macro is called "CombineFilesNtabs" and it is installed on the DESC workstation. You do not need to open a blank workbook for copying in data – it will create its own. However, you currently need to copy all your exports to C:\xltest first. Also, be sure to edit the macro if your tab names are different than those listed (see ~line 15). After running this macro you can run the companion macro "allbooxalltabs_cleaner" which will sort all extra headers to the bottom for quick elimination (all tabs). Or simply run your own sorts to do the same thing manually.

BUGWIN

Sandra and I spent some time acclimating to Bugwin. Sandra created a nice PowerPoint presentation for it to the paleontologists. I spent time getting used to the format of the dictionary files and mini-dictionaries. The speech recognition feature was not tested this cruise. I am still unsure about how our relative abundances should be entered with count ranges so that they will 'translate' properly into DESClogik. Unfortunately, we ran out of time for more research when coring started. Denise K. is correct in that we need to get our own house in order to properly configure and present Bugwin to our scientists so that it will get a good evaluation. There never seems to be enough time!

SEM

The SEM was wildly popular this cruise. Apart from normal species-identification use there were numerous sea water samples taken and their samples imaged as well. The SEM saw so much use that the filament burned out and had to be replaced on 10/29/2015. It required two beam alignments and a burn-in period to get the best-looking images again. The SEMup application performed well although getting the scientists to use it regularly turned into a challenge.

Leica Sputterer

The sputterer saw a moderate amount of use with no issues other than getting Argon to the unit early in the cruise. The users are reminded to close the valve to the Argon line after using the sputterer.
The spare oil mist filter for the Adixen vacuum pump was found damaged in its box. A new oil mist filter is on order.

Misc

The reduced-resolution cropped section-half images that go into VCDs were appended on a per-core basis to be used in Petrel by the logging scientist (Luedmann). The individual images are stored on the Yeop volume, but you can also get them from L2E. See the Pubs Specialist or a developer for details.
Image Magick was installed on the DESC workstation for this purpose. Gather all the images for a given site/hole into a folder and open a command window from that folder. Check to make sure that there is only one image per section – you may see multiples if the core was reimaged (if you are copying files off the Yeop volume). The command using wildcards is "convert –append -{core/type here}.jpg {site/hole-core/type}.jpg" after inserting the appropriate information. The curly brackets are not part of the command string and are for illustration only. There is probably a way to batch this but editing the command on a per core basis takes little time anyway.
Sedimentologists:
Craig Sloss
Zhengquan Yao
Jesus Perez
Juan Carlos Laya
Anna Ling
Or Bialik
Nagender Bejugam
Biostratigraphers:
Montserrat Garcia
Dick Kroon
Loren Petruny
Kaoru Niino
Santi Pratiwi
Xiang Su
Jeremy Young

MAGNETICS LAB

BETH NOVAK
Scientists: Luca Lanci and Luigi Jovane
h9. Summary
The paleomagnetics lab was used this cruise to measure APC, XCB and RCB archive and working half section halves and discrete samples. The sediments consisted of predominately weak carbonate material. The material was not always ideal for paleomagnetic measurements due to the unconsolidated nature and the amount of disturbance within the cores. Results from the section halves were often of poor quality due to the core material. High intensity values due to iron contamination from the drill pipe were noted in many of the cores. Approximately 1000 discrete cubes and cylinders were collected from working half sections and many were measured with JR6 Spinner Magnetometer and Kappabridge KLY-4S. The Icefield MI5 tools were deployed at Sites U1465, U1466, U1467, and U1471 for full APC cores. The scientists expressed concern that the red wax pens contained hematite and requested we investigate the contents of said pens before continuing their use. The results of these tests are provided in the Other section of this report.

Issues

SRM

• We encountered trouble with the SRM motion control system twice during this expedition. The first problem occurred during transit when the SRM tray moved at irregular speeds into and out of the cryomag barrel. When the 'Return to Home' button was used, the tray did not respond. Utilizing the GalilTools program, we determined that the appropriate motion control script was loaded to the Galil motor. We forced the motor to move to its home position by using the jog command. Once the home switch was activated, the controller reset the tray position and all measurements worked as normal.
• The second issue with motion control occurred midway through the expedition. The scientist experienced an issue scanning a barcode label and felt the computer and software were not functioning properly. A shutdown was initiated but the computer started to apply updates and the scientist opted to press the power button to end the process. The computer initiated a repair upon reboot, but the MCS decided to end this process by manually shutting the computer down once again. After the computer was rebooted, the computer was functioning normally, but the tray began moving at irregular speeds into the SRM and not returning to home. We opted to attempt the same fix as previously noted, but jogging the tray to home did not solve the problem. We noted that the home switch was working, but once the switch was activated the tray was not moving back the 1.5 cm increment as normal. It was determined that the motion control code that the motor was using was for a different track system and that the SRM motion control program had never been burned to the motor's memory. We wiped the motors memory and burned the srm_move-346-20130801-fackler.dmc code to the Galil board. Afterwards the track began functioning as normal.

The commands used in the GalilTools were: JGX= -1000 and then the command BGX. The JGX is the jog speed and direction and the BGX is the begin motion control command. ST command will stop the movement of the track.

• A grinding/scratching sound was noticed from the forward end of the SRM. Upon investigation we noticed the forward limit switch had been knocked out of place and the string was rubbing across the switch. The string had worn a groove into the switch. There is some slight damage to the string. We opted to pull the switch out of the barrel and continue measuring as the switch is not often used. We plan to replace the switch when the scientists are not measuring core.
• The inner fiberglass tube in the low field region of the SRM started to sag and at times the core catches on the tube. At one point the core jammed and the motor continued to try to move the boat. The motor did not shut off on its own and eventually became very warm. As soon as the problem was discovered the motor was manually shut off. The core was freed using a core liner and a strong push. The motor was confused about position when it was turned on and it flew back and hit the loading zone home switch, knocking it loose. This was repaired immediately.
• The SRM software has a small glitch in the measurement sequence set up window. When setting up a measurement sequence for the first time after opening the software, the speed will be displayed as 0. It is recommended that the user enter 10 as the speed when setting up the measurements. The track will move if the 0 speed is left, but it will move very slowly and increase the time it takes for each measurement.
• At Site U1471A the scientists noted that the declinations for cores 8-12 H were all very consistent (around 85 degrees). This is not expected with uncorrected declinations. Figure 1 below illustrates this issue. The reason for this overly consistent data has not been determined. By aborting the measurement and resetting the squids and then restarting the measurement, the issue was cleared. Luca felt the issue was related to a bias of approximately 2E-9 on the y axis based on histogram distribution of the x, y, and z components (Figure 2). This issue has not been noticed since this incident, but we should monitor for further incidents.
• At the request of the scientists we also heated the squids to remove any trapped field. The flux gate was run through the SRM prior to heating the coils to check for trapped field, but any field that did exist was very low.
• Scientists measured working half sections at U1471C to preserve the archive halves for U-channel sampling. They reported reverse polarity for the first cores and felt there may be a problem with the SRM or the software. The software registered the working halves correctly and it did not seem likely that these cores were flipped on the catwalk. These negative inclinations are still unexplained at the time of this report.

Figure 1: Declination, Inclination, and Intensity plots for U1471A. Declination values are abnormally consistent from core 8H to core 12H.
Figure 2: Histogram of the x, y, and z components. The distribution of y looks to be bimodal with a more normally distributed peak prior to Core 8 (less than 60 mbsf) and a second peak after Core 8 (greater than 60 mbsf).

Dtech

• No issues were reported with the Dtech during this expedition. The scientists were instructed to turn off the Dtech and amplifier if they were not using the instrument. The Dtech was run from the laptop throughout the expedition. The Dtech quick start guide has been updated to reflect the new setup in the paleomagnetics lab. A new version of this document will be submitted for approval following this expedition and a draft version will be left in the Pmag Documents shared folder.

JR6

• During the transit the sample holder region was cleaned extensively to remove a significant amount of saltwater corrosion. The scientists were instructed to keep the JR6 as dry as possible by sealing the cubes well before measuring and to wipe out all water after the measurements. The scientists were diligent about keeping the JR6 clean and there was minimal corrosion accumulating during the expedition. The ETS recommend following this process because the metal will likely not handle such a vigorous cleaning in the future.
• The scientists opted to use the cubic holder for all specimens instead of switching to the cylindrical holder for the mini-cores.
• Due to the weak magnetic nature of many of the specimens, the scientists opted to only measure NRM. The JR6 did not have the sensitivity to measure these sediments accurately in the noisy ship board environment. We discovered late in the expedition that many specimens were not measured at all and efforts were made to measure as many specimens as possible.
• The .txt file for the JR6 data was found to be missing the individual measurements for the magnetic moment of x and y (displayed as zeros). The z values were stored in the file. The average value for each axis is also stored in the .txt file. We have contacted AGICIO and they are looking into the reason for these missing values.
• The JR6 uploader project was completed during Exp 359. MUT will now accept the .jr6, .jr6odp, .txt, and .dat files from the spinner magnetometer and the expanded and standard reports are available through LORE. A guide for using this uploader is available in PMAG documents. Note that the scientists must use the sample TEXT ID as the sample name for the uploader to work properly. Data from Exp 359 JR6 measurements was successfully uploaded after the specimen names were manually changed to TEXT IDS. Uploader should be working for use during Exp 360.

Kappabridge KLY-4S:

• A quick start guide was started for the Kappabridge AMSspin program during transit. A guide was also produced for using the Sufar.exe program via the DosBox program. These guides will be submitted for approval following the expedition and will be left in the Pmag Documents folder as drafts.
• The scientists opted to use AMSspin at the start of the expedition, but discovered they did not understand the file format generated by AMSspin. We need to investigate a method for processing AMS data collected with AMSspin. They decided to switch to Sufar.exe instead and used their existing PERL scripts to process the data. Luca provided these scripts and they will be placed in the PMAG documents folder.
• The AMSspin program gave a "SH value too high. Data not saved" error upon trying to save the data. This has been an ongoing issue likely related to the noisy environment of the ship. By moving the Kappabridge away from the metal pole and as close to counter edge as possible, the Kappabridge stopped giving the error. The sample holder value should be E -5 or smaller as indicated in the AMSspin documentation and the Kappabridge guide. If the holder value is out of range it is recommended to remeasure the sample holder immediately before continuing the specimen measurements. This will save time as the user will not have to remeasure the sample in all orientations.
• When doing sample holder measurements with the Sufar.exe program the measurement was often registered as 'Too High.' But the values were small (E -9). The scientists decided this was not an issue and opted to continue measurements. The reason for the values being too high is unknown.
• The cylinders were found to be too long in many cases to be placed in the Kappabridge holder properly for position two. Luca opted to manually enter an azimuth of 0 and a dip of 90 for the cylinders to compensate for the differing position of the cylinder in the Kappabridge. In essence, Luca used the hatch mark (Z axis) as the X axis. See photos below for the positions used (Figures 3-6). The black arrows on the images are to highlight the direction in which the hatch mark is oriented.

Figure 4: Position 2. Hatch mark on the top of the cylinder points to the right when user is looking at the holder.Figure 3: Position 1. Hatch mark on the top of the cylinder points outward toward user.
Figure 6: The blue arrow on the cylinder is the Z axis and would typically be oriented the same as the blue arrow in the drawings shown above. In this case the blue arrow on the cylinder was oriented matching the red arrow on the drawing (x axis).
Figure 5: Position 3. Hatch mark on the top of the cylinder points downward and faces the front of the sample holder.

Orientation

• All three Icefield Orientation tools were operated during this expedition at Sites U1465, U1466, U1467, and U1471 for full APC cores.
• When the corrections were applied to the core data from the section halves the scientists found that the corrections were not always useful. In some cases the well clustered data would rotate as expected to North or South, but for other cores the data rotated to the East or West. This may have been due to the nature of the materials which were often sands and spongey muds that easily flowed/deformed in the core liner. There does not seem to be a relation to a specific tool or a specific event in time that caused the orientation data to become less reliable. Therefore we concluded that there was not a problem with the tool itself. Likely the issues with reorientation were due to poor core quality and bad measurement results due to weak core material.

Other

Waxgate: The Day the Red Pens Became the Enemy

• The scientists expressed concern that the red wax pens we use may contain hematite and therefore may be contaminating the rocks as we mark the specimens. We suspended red wax pen use until we could confirm or deny this issue.
• XRD measurements were made on the red and blue wax pens as well as on a magnetite and a hematite standard. The results from these experiments are in the Pmag Documents folder on IODP Share. The Listo Pen company that supplies our wax pens confirmed that they do not put hematite into any of their products. The XRD results support this statement showing no peaks for hematite or magnetite. The wax pens do not appear to be contaminating the specimens. See Figures 7-10 for the XRD results.

Figure 7: Plain Blue Wax Pen results. Top three components are Rutile, Titanium Vanadium Oxide, and Titanomagnetite
Figure 8: Red Rouge Wax Pen results. Top three components are Rutile, Aluminium Niobium Titanium Oxide, and Titanomagnetite

Figure 9: Hematite Standard results. Top two components are Hematite and Titanomagnetite
Figure 10: Magnetite Standard results. Top two components are Magnetite and Titanomagnetite.

PMAG Cube Labels:

• Performed an update to the PMAG cube label to include the Text ID on the label itself. The old label format is still available in Sample Master as Pmag Cube (old).

Iron Contamination:

• The carbonate cores for this expedition were expected to be magnetically weak. But the scientists noted magnetic intensities higher than expected in the APC cores throughout the expedition. The values were often higher than those expected for a basalt. The high intensities would often persist for the first 1-5 meters of a core and then the values would drop to near the expected intensities. The high intensities were attributed to contamination from an outside source, but not from rock fall in as all the material we were drilling through was weak. The discrete cubes were not subject to this contamination, leading us to believe the contamination was around the outer part of the core, possibly from the drill pipe and rust.
• The PIG was not run prior to drilling for this expedition. Once the contamination was brought to our attention the PIG was run twice through the pipe after U1467C. At the time we were 323 mbsf and the total length of the drill string was 821.4 meters. The same pipe was used after the cleaning, but if we exceeded 821 meters of pipe, the new pipe sections were not cleaned. The scientists did not see a significant difference after the pipe was cleaned. This contamination made the section half results for many sections unusable.
• *Note that during 354 pieces of rust ranging in size from a few millimeters to a centimeter in size were found in many of the first sections, leading to issues measuring the archive half cores.

Cryomag readings

h1. PHYSICAL PROPERTY LAB
Shawn Miller and Margaret Hastedt
h9.Summary
Leg 359 utilized all stations extensively in the Physical Properties lab, with the exception of the STMSL track (used only on a few cores). A few relatively minor problems and one hardware-issue developed during the course of the expedition (old and new issues), but workflow was not significantly affected.

Measurement Systems

Velocity Gantry

The Velocity GANTRY was used throughout the expedition on both core sections and discrete samples.
Problems:

1. The scientists often had issues getting the software to pick the correct peak during acquisition on the PWC. This issue was largely corrected by "manually" choosing the correct peak/point (this was mainly a problem associated with the poorly consolidated/saturated cores).
2. An issue developed with the new LORE reports (LIMS Reports III), where discrete samples measured on the GANTRY had no depths assigned after the PWC report was generated. This is because LORE expects sample offsets within the data file and the old-style GANTRY files for discrete samples don't have it. The older report types (LIMS Reports and Web Tabular) are able to use the Text ID of the sample to retrieve the offset and get depths for discrete sample measurements. A new LORE report for PWC discrete samples was created to handle this situation.

Tech service:
Regular cleaning and lubrication of the calipers on the GANTRY was performed along with regular calibrations (every few days/weekly).

MOISTURE AND DENSITY (MAD)

The MAD station was run extensively and successfully with only a few non-major issues reported.
Problems:

1. One of the physical properties shifts had a slight issue at the first drilling site (U1465A): the vial caps were left on the vials during measurements, forcing the developers to make data corrections. The issue was resolved early and effectively.
2. Near the mid-way point in the cruise, the MAD balance (the unknown half of the pair) showed about 40 grams while taring was performed. This issue was the result of the pan being partially dislodged/unaligned during weighing. The issue was easily resolved by properly rehanging the pan on its pins. No further issues were observed.

Tech service
The pycnometer on the MAD was recalibrated regularly (daily to every few days) and regular cleaning took place throughout the expedition. The ultrapure helium gas container was changed just prior to the first site.

SHEAR STRENGTH STATION (AVS)

The AVS system was not operational throughout X359 (old problem). Correspondence with regards to the AVS should be directed towards shore-operations and old physical properties technical reports.
Manual hand-measurements using the Torvane and pocket-pin penetrometer were performed regularly and successfully with no reported issues. The scientists seemed to get good/reasonable data from the manual apparatuses.

SPECIAL TASK MULTI SENSOR LOGGER (STMSL)

The STMSL was not utilized all that much during the expedition (just a few cores). The problems associated with the STMSL were minor.
Problems:

1. There were a few erroneous measurements with regards to density from the GRA on the STMSL. The shutter on the GRA was closed (hard to see/pinpoint because of the wooden barrier on the Cs source), although it appeared to calibrate correctly. David Houpt found the integration counts to be low and off-center (from the shut GRA shutter), after looking at the data files of the erroneous measurements. The shutter was opened, the GRA was recalibrated, and the STMSL resumed normal operating behavior.

1. The barcode-scanner gun on the STMSL was not parsing the barcodes properly for curated sample entry into the MSL software. The scanner gun was reprogrammed and the rules are hanging near the STMSL on the wall in case this happens again (it didn't, at least while general calibrations were performed during the expedition).

Tech Service:
Regular cleaning and calibration of the STMSL track were done.

WHOLE ROUND MULTI SENSOR LOGGER (WRMSL)

The WRMSL generally performed as expected and did not slow down work flow. The WRMSL was the dominant track used on whole-rounds, as the STMSL was not used (with the exception of a few cores). GRA and PWL calibrations were performed regularly (daily to every few days) and successfully.
Problems:

1. The PWL on the WRMSL had the face of one of the transducers fall off while basic cleaning and maintenance was being conducted. The photos below show what is being described above.
2. There was no apparent way to reattach the face-plate and no one aboard the JR had encountered this particular issue before. After the transducers were replaced (lone spare pair), the PWL was re-calibrated and continued to perform well within standards.
3. It is also recommended that "Couplant B" (glycerin) be used on the PWL rather than "Couplant A" (propylene glycol) because it is more viscous and resistant to the effects of compression, corrosion and constant water drip on the PWL calipers.

The aluminum-water standard GRA calibration WR core seems to have a microfracure(s) allowing in air. The standard had D.I. water replaced twice during transit to the Maldives, only to have air/dissolved gas manage to get in (no physical water leaks from the liner or caps were ever observed). The standard had to be tilted and tapped on for a few minutes with a mallet to get a good calibration (often a few to several run-throughs).
Technical service:
ET's replaced the transducers on the PWL (from the spare gantry set-up) on the WRMSL after the face of one fell off during maintenance. The good transducer was kept onboard and should be usable with no future problems (the transducers are mechanically and electronically separate/isolated from one another). The spare transducers that were put on the PWL have a slightly smaller diameter than the machined hole on the frame (where the transducers sit), causing inadvertent loosening (which in turn can cause a bad coupling effect). The oncoming physical property tech and ET may want to address this issue (can potentially slow workflow) when the spare transducers arrive from David Houpt.
Additional details/ observations:
David Houpt is sending an additional set of transducers from the WRMSL in College Station (will be shipped in the A/F along with SHIL #3). Incoming PP tech should be looking for it; both transducers will be in an Ocean Optics foam-lined box and will be clearly marked.

SECTION HALF IMAGE LOGGER (SHIL)

The SHIL functioned normally with only minor issues (some not resolved as of now).
Problems:
When the SHIL records a copy of the paper log sheets as a .PNG file, the filename reflects the label ID of the next scan, not the actual current scan's label ID. This file itself is correct (core photo and name ID at top of paper logsheet), just the file name is incorrect. For example, section U1467D-2H-5's logsheet would be found in 2H-6's .PNG file name. The developers are still trying to figure out exactly why this is happening. It seems to happen after a standard is run (based on what we've seen) but will save the file name correctly if the SHIL program is closed immediately after a standard is run, reopened and a subsequent "real" core-section is run.

SECTION HALF MULTI SENSOR LOGGER (SHMSL)

Problems:

1. The AR200 Laser on the SHMSL malfunctioned soon after we started getting core, seemingly related to a bad UPS. LabVIEW will not communicate with the laser when it resets its baud rate to default (9600); it expects to be able to talk to the laser at 112K baud. For all this to actually work the laser has to be manually set to 112K by pressing and holding a button on the actual laser body and waiting for the prescribed number of blinks from a small LED. The procedure is in the AR200 Manual (pages 25-27) and is also posted on the corkboard next to the SHMSL.

1. There was an offset seen with the MS Point-Source measurement in the SHMSL of about 8-12 instrument units (SI) between the SHMSL MS and the WRMSL MS. The SHMSL MS is reading MS too low (to the left) relative to the WRMSL. While some deviation can be expected between the two measurements (point source and WRMSL loop), the magnetic susceptibility values for the point source MS on the SHMSL are too low to represent the diamagnetic dolomitic-limestone (generally around 2 / 2 instrument units) present in most of the cores. The trends between the two measurements generally follow one another quite well as seen below in cores 10-15 in site U1466A (other sites show similar data and MS trends). Also, several measurements of U1466B-22R-1 were taken to test for reproducibility on the SHMSL MS Point Source. The results are also shown below. There is a slight deviation in the 3 SHMSL MS measurements but the core is highly fractured, split and had a low recovery from the rotary (RCB) drilling. The same pattern as before is clear: about 10 SI units (/- 2) separate MS Loop (WRMSL) from MS Point data.

The issue seems to be related to the new UPS, since no other "change in environment" could be identified that would affect the MS offset (and in this case the zeroing of the MS on the SHMSL, presumably giving the MS an erroneously low value of ~ 10 IU). The zeroing point has about ~10 IU of "positive" MS reading, causing all measured values to be this low (~10 +/- 2 IU); several measurements using the TEST air core demonstrate this phenomenon.
The MS point system is measuring the MS Barrington standard quite well (always within the accepted +/- 5%), but never above the standard value of 444 IU (439 IU was found to be the average of several standard measurements).
The magnetic drift problem on the SHMSL (old problem) is still not resolved and more detailed information on this can be found in Aaron De Loach's X356 technical report and from shore technical staff.
Tech Service:
The light-bulbs in the SHMSL were changed twice during the course of the expedition (each month).

NATURAL GAMMA RAY (NGR)

The NGR ran quite effectively with only minor issues reported; only one hardware component was changed during the transit before actual drilling. A single NGR background was used for the entire expedition, since all the drilling sites were within a few nautical miles of one another.
Problems:

1. Several NGR data file groups for a handful of sections had to be recreated manually by the developers after bar-coding glitches interfered with proper file naming. The issue presumably was caused by the cursor being in the wrong field at the time of a barcode scan (a field other than the "Text_ID" field) and users failed to notice the problem before continuing the NGR run. Notice below: the "Label Name" field is selected, if a scan is subsequently run with this field selected, the NGR count data will not be uploaded to Limspeak, etc. (as an example of what commonly occurred).

Tech service:

1. A borrowed quad logic board was inserted into the NGR's NIM crate and the NGR "switchboard" was rewired appropriately to ensure that the m/n 758 Board could have final maintenance repairs completed. This board is involved in the active shielding of the instrument (plastic scintillators).
2. NGR energy calibration checks were performed regularly on 10/18, 10/27, and 11/7/15 to date.

THERMCON

TeKa Thermal Conductivity (TCON) was run successfully for the duration of expedition 359 (at least during actual coring). Both the half-space puck-probes and needle probes were used extensively.
Problems:

1. During the transit in route to the Maldives, technical staff and scientists experienced a few issues getting TeKa data to upload (only occurred intermittently). A screenshot of one of the uploading errors is shown below. The problem stopped once actual coring started and only seemed to occur occasionally while measuring TEST cores.

1. Measurements occasionally could not be taken successfully due to the core material (often very unconsolidated sand/fractured carbonate material), although this was not a major issue throughout.

Measurement Counts as of:

General

When restarting a program because of scan/track failure check the Task Manager to ensure all parts of the program have ended and are actually "closed". Occasionally LabVIEW (and MUT for that matter) will still be visible on the Processes Tab when it should have been closed. These "hung processes" have to be killed for normal functioning to resume when you restart the applications.

SHIPMENTS To shore

• Panametrics-NDT Transducer, M2008, 0.5 MHz sent to IODP for repair
• Logging sheets for all instruments

Wireline logging & DOWNHOLE MEASUREMENT LAB

SETH FRANK, RANDY GJESVOLD, GARRICK VAN RENSBURG and MIKE MEIRING

WIRELINE LOGGING

Summary

• Successful Sites Logged: ¿ 3
• All logging tools operated without incident the entire time. Hole integrity was sometimes unreliable, but no tools were lost or damaged in the process.
• All logging data was backed up in its proper place in 'Uservol' and 'data1'.
• File data transfer protocol was made simpler this cruise by allowing any file dropped into the 'JR2Lamont' folder readable by the script, and all files were sent without incident.
• Logging SOP updated to include new script information.
• Proxy access in Groupwise was granted to the logging scientists as this was deemed suitable in order to track incoming data messages faster than having the logging tech wake up to check.

Petrel

• Seismic images were viewed in Petrel, as it was noted that Techlog doesn't read and open seismic images. The program experienced no problems

Techlog

• Techlog was used to plot other log data by the logging scientist. The program experienced no problems.

downhole Measurements

APCT3:

• Cal files: Requested received and installed calibration files on DHML PC at C:\Antares\WinTemp\CalibrationFiles for tool S/N's 1858004C, 1858005C, 1858007C and 1858009C
• Received tools #005 and #007 at the Maldives port call.
• Cleaned, Inspected and Prepared APCT-3 tool #4, 5, 7 and 9 to run. Found a discrepancy in the O-Rings. Three out of four O-Rings for the APCT were not active inventory items in AMS. Dave Lehnert updated the items in AMS and they checked out through the CT Shop.
• Broke out and tested APC tools.
  • Ran APCT-3 Tool #4 on Site 1465A, core 3 and 5, Site 1466A, core 10.
  • Ran APCT-3 Tool #5 on U1465A, core 4, U1467B, core 5 and 9, U1471C, core 3, 5, 7, 9 and 18
  • Ran APCT-3 Tool # 7 on U1466A, core 5 and 8, U1467A, core 3, U1467B, Core 3 and 7.

• Data uploaded to LIMS and manually moved to DATA(\\JR1) (S data1 14.1 Formation Temperature APCT-3_SET_WINTEMP_TPFIT

SET:

• Cal files: Requested received and installed calibration files on DHML PC at C:\Antares\WinTemp\CalibrationFiles for SET2 tool S/N's 1854540C and 1858922C
• SET2: Accepted by acceptance team members.
• SET2: Tool was dropped and connector OM 0181 broke. Eric S to ship spare connector to Exp 361
• Awaiting TPFit application which includes the SET2 model before temperature measurements can be processed.
• SETP S/N 1 was sent out with MDHDS but will be returned. This tool was used to demonstrate assembly procedures back at CS. It was not assembled by a qualified person and probably not fit for deployment. Pressure txd requires calibration.
• Down Hole Tooling Calibration Cycle and Data Update Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) document status to be moved up from DRAFT status to operational and implemented.
• A SET2carrier (old style) to be shipped to JR for deploying the SET2 with the Collet Delivery System. (Bob already assembled).

Tool inventory

• APCT3's: 1858004C, 1858005C, 1858007C and 1858009C
• SET2: S/N 540
• 2 X SET2 Carriers for MDHDS.
• SET: S/N 5
• SETP: S/N 2 (Requires maintenance/calibration, but should stay until after Exp 362.)
• ERS: 2 X Complete tools.
• MDHDS: OT7031, Flapper Guide Tube.

Engineering

Bob Aduddell and MIKE MEIRING

MDHDS/ERS/SET2 Test:

• ERS Electronics: Adapted control electronics to Schlumberger wireline characteristics. Found loss over Schlumberger cable at the DTMF frequencies to be ~6dB. Tested both ERS Electronics housings and found serviceable. During test-deployment, Control electronics in housing #1 failed. String was retrieved, faulty module replaced with Electronics module #2 and re-deployed to ~500mbrf. Test was aborted due to incompatible BHA and tool string was retrieved. Found IC-2 in Electronics module #1 failed, reason unknown. This IC only adds a diagnostic function by driving indicating LED's not required during operation. To negate the risk of a similar failure of this component in future, it was removed in both electronic modules and the documentation amended accordingly. Both Electronics housings #1 and #2 were serviceable. On 2^nd deployment the "Tool present" LED operated intermittently from 300mbrf. Found the potted hall-effect device to be faulty. Probably the effect of hydrostatic pressure. Requires a second look at design.
• DC Drive-motor: A new motor was installed in the motor-can and filled with water at the start of expedition. It was exercised daily and no abnormal behavior or leakage was noted. Following the first deployment, the motor can was removed for a visual inspection and nothing abnormal was observed. There were no evidence of leakage or seawater ingression. After the 2^nd test and being submerged and operated in tap water for two months, the motor was taken apart. No evidence of seawater ingression. No obvious evidence of corrosion. Brushes and commutator in excellent shape. Gearbox loose and smooth.
• ERS User manual: Manual was updated.
• Rinsed ERS tool with fresh water, preserved all parts with oil layer and stowed both systems in the DHML, ready to be deployed.
• One of the two Collet Delivery System units was removed from the storage shucks and discarded of to make room for the MDHDS. This still leaves one CDS in the shucks.
• MDHDS deployment procedures updated to reflect lessons learned during the deployments.

VIT SYSTEM:

1. Deployment:

A single deployment was made to 500mbrf to pressure test the system.
All devices functioned well and both SD and HD video footage were recorded and automatically transferred to S:\data1\1.3 Ops Video\U1467 Press test

1. CAMERAS:
2. SD CAMERA (OV0801): A second SD camera was installed in one of the refurbished pressure vessels and marked CAM #2. We now have 2 x FCB-EX20D color SD NTSC cameras in pressure vessels and serviceable. A third camera only FCB-EX20D is available as spare.
3. HD CAMERA: The Kongsberg low light camera was replaced with a second FCB-H11 COLOR HD-SDI camera. The first is currently used as Survey cam on the P/Tilt unit. It is planned to use the 2nd as the re-entry HD- camera when Seaview telemetry system is implemented tie-up Cape Town. Unfortunately the wrong mounting disc was shipped, but new will be available in Cape-Town. A third camera only FCB-H11 is available as spare.
4. FOCUS ISSUE: Both the SD and HD cameras have zoom functionality, and for this reason they have controlled focus, even when zoomed out all the way. In low contrast scenes, for example large areas of white sand on the seafloor, focus could be hunting, even when fully zoomed out.
5. POWER/FO CONNECTOR FAILURE: A new connector set is on order following the O-ring failure on Expedition 356. Delivery is expected end March 2016. A Birns single pass FO connector set was purchased and adaptor plug machined, as workaround, in the unlikely event of another failure. Expecting delivery start Expedition 360.
6. O-RING MAINTENANCE: An O-ring maintenance guide was produced following the O-ring failure Expedition 356. Installing the connector face seal O-ring can be tricky and special attention should be paid by ensuring it is seated properly before mating.
7. Found pinched o-ring on the coaxial CCP connector on cable between pod and HD camera. No spare o-ring. Replaced cable with spare and ordered o-rings.
8. The oil leak around the NPT threads of compression glands on the Frame J-Box was repaired.
9. SONAR: The sonar should be able to identify a re-entry cone 100yds away on the sea bed. Some of the operators claim the device is useless and we have disprove that statement yet. Please determine how effective the sonar is in detecting a re-entry cone on the sea floor.
10. FO INSTRUMENTS:
11. Received a FO Power source/Power meter.
12. Received a second Fusion splicer/cleaver set.
13. The latest VIT User manual and schematics were forwarded to Electrical Supervisor.

1. NEW SEAVIEW TELEMETRY DESIGN:
2. Completed the bulk of the design featuring the SVS-Telemetry stack from Seaview.
3. Slip-ring: Bob created engineering drawings for the slip-ring extension sleeve, modifications to the drum axle and a protection bumper. He will place orders to get these parts fabricated/machined in time for tie-up Cape Town.

Optical slip-rings were both received, tested and will be shipped to 361.

1. Pod endcaps: Delivered, will be shipped to 361.
2. Surface control box: Some parts received and assembled, remainder on order for 361.
3. Seaview SVS Telemetry cards: Cards received and will be shipped to 361 for assembly in the spare pod and surface control box..
4. FO Cable Winch/Subsea/DP: FO J-boxes received, expect cable delivery 361

VIT TENSIOMETER:

1. Calibration: Calibrated pay-out on tensiometer S/N 354.

As found pay-out scale: 17.674 p/m
As left pay-out scale: 17.805 p/m
Updated both A and B lookup tables with new scale.

1. Created Binder Hardcopy of User manual and left at control panel in Subsea.
2. Due to limited time, request for running it with VIT deployment was denied. System ready to go.
3. Box with recommended spare parts and spare indicator are in SUBSEA.

RIS:

1. Reset Draw works encoder at expedition start.
2. SLB Wits-data to Rigwatch stopped updating during a logging run. Fault cleared while tracing. Data transfer functional. Functioned normal later during MDHDS test deployment.

DOWNHOLE TOOLS:

1. Cal files: Requested received and installed calibration files on DHML PC at C:\Antares\WinTemp\CalibrationFiles for tool S/N's below

APCT3: 1858004C, 1858005C, 1858007C and 1858009C
SET2: 1854540C and 1858922C

1. APCT3: Bench tested all 4 x APCT3's and found measurements to be in ballpark.
2. SET2: Accepted by acceptance team members.

Tool was dropped and connector OM 0181 broke. Eric S to ship spare connector to Exp 361

1. Awaiting TPFit application which includes the SET2 model before temperature measurements can be processed.
2. SETP S/N 1 was sent out with MDHDS but will be returned. This tool was used to demonstrate assembly procedures back at CS. It was not assembled by a qualified person and probably not fit for deployment. Pressure txd requires calibration.
3. Down Hole Tooling Calibration Cycle and Data Update Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) document status to be moved up from DRAFT status to operational and implemented.
4. A SET2carrier (old style) to be shipped to JR for deploying the SET2 with the Collet Delivery System. (Bob already assembled).
5. Tool inventory:

APCT3's: 1858004C, 1858005C, 1858007C and 1858009C
SET2: S/N 540
2 X SET2 Carriers for MDHDS.
SET: S/N 5
SETP: S/N 2 (Requires maintenance/calibration, but should stay until after Exp 362.)
ERS: 2 X Complete tools.
MDHDS: OT7031, Flapper Guide Tube.

Hikurangi CORK:

1. Completed preliminary design of the HSM-01A ACORK. This ACORK has a simple mud skirt and does not require a seal at the base of the ACORK.
2. Completed preliminary design of the HSM-18A ACORK. This ACORK requires a re-entry cone as well as a seal.
3. Effort was made to use existing part designs proven to work on previous CORK designs.

MISC:

1. Created OP2420, (model and drawing) Modified Landing Sub, Half APC. The Core Tech's requested this modification, which has no speed control valves in addition to extra flow holes. The current practice with the Half-APC is to run all the speed control valves open in order to get the maximum down force. The addition of extra flow path holes will allow even greater down force. The flow holes are tapped for a NPT plug, which will allow the technicians to tailor the amount of downforce.
2. Created OL1004 (model and drawing) Single Window XCB Latch Sleeve. It was determined that when using the current Window Latch Sleeve (OL1012), the XCB occasionally landed in the upper set of windows, which would result in very poor core recovery due to the incorrect space out. The new Latch Sleeve (OL1004) has only a single pair of windows, which assures that the XCB lands correctly.
3. Created model and drawing for OT2905 (Body, Rotary Shifting Tool), which had previously been hand drawn. Modified dimensions as needed to ensure the assembly would fit together. Currently the Core Tech's were modifying the parts themselves so the part could be assembled.
4. Created a complete model of the entire Half-APC assembly, no assembly drawing had existed to this point. Currently working on a 2-D rendering so that the Core Techs can make measurements using ACAD.
5. Created new assembly model of the Telemetry Pod, incorporating the new Endcaps and the new internal layout as designed by Mike Meiring.

ORDERS:

1. OP2420 (Modified Landing Sub, Half-APC) is on order and should be delivered for use on Expedition 361.
2. OL1004 (Single Window XCB Latch Sleeve), several are on order.
3. 75 ohm RG 179 BNC patch cables and connectors. (Pasternack)
4. Burton and Coaxial connectors for end-cap. (Seacon)
5. 19" Slide-out frame for DP, terminal blocks for dist. Boards (Newark)
6. PCB'S for dist frame (Dean to order)
7. Screws for mounting DB9'S and stand-offs (McMaster)
8. O-rings for connectors and slipring conduit/glands. (McMaster)
9. 16AWG wire, 232 cable, hand tools (Newark)
10. Solder station, Fluke multimeter
11. FO Splice sleeves. (Anixer)
12. Various OF patch cables and adaptors. (l-com)

ACTION NEEDED:

1. Redesign ERS "Tool Present" indication.
2. Tensiometer to be handed over to Siem.
3. VIT Sonar to be evaluated.
4. Send SET2 carrier (old style) for CDS out to JR.
5. TPFit for SET2 not available yet.
6. Implement SOP(existing) for managing tool calibration cycle and files.
7. Create maintenance plan for VIT cable.

IMAGING & MICROSCOPES

TIM FULTON

Summary

Expedition 359 has been a moderate recovery, and successful expedition. The main focus of my work was to proof the line scan images for all the core recovered, photograph all close-up requests and thin sections, produce or edit the weekly photos and write the captions, produce the group photos, t-shirt stencil production and co-ordinate the ironing party, assist the scientists with microscope set-up and issues and provide assistance on the catwalk with the core retrieval.
No major issues with software/programs occurred. The only issues that did occur were the replacement of the PC connected to the SHIL and the institution of the tiff correction. This was fairly quick and only created minor issues with the workflow.

equipment and software performance summary

I used Photoshop to edit/produce images for the cruise. Image Grabber to download the line scan images and Excel to sort the data for whole round sample check. These all worked fine as expected.

General Duties Performed

• Generated the "mug photos"
• Downloaded and proofed all of the line scan core images.
• Photographed the close-up requests and thin sections.
• Photographed and edited the weekly photo submissions and produced the captions.
• Produced all of the group photos.
• Printed the T-shirt stencils and coordinated the ironing party.
• Assisted with the core retrieval on the cat walk.

Additional duties

None this cruise as the work load was moderately heavy.

Issues

None

Microscopes

• The microscopes were set up as needed for Nannos, Radiolarian and Foraminifera in the main lab.
• One of the Diagnostic Instruments cameras (Strawberry microscope) malfunctioned and had to be replaced. The malfunctioning camera is being sent back for repair.
• There was a complaint about the condenser being dirty on the Axioskop in the core lab. Suggestion was to keep the condenser defocused to avoid problem.
• The inventory of the objectives will be completed as per every expedition. There had been a lingering issue with two sets (4) objectives sharing inventory numbers. This inventory number is not an AMS type of number rather it serves the Imaging Specialist and others to keep up with locations and count.
• To close, the microscope lab equipment available and overall layout of the lab is strong and well suited.
• The microscopes will be cleaned for the next Expedition.

Issues:

• Objective #220 63x was run into wet glue on a slide and is being sent back for repair.
• Another Spot camera should be ordered for an SV-8.

Image Files Produced

• 268 Close-ups Images
• 72 Thin-section Images
• 2486 Line Scan Images
• 45.49 GB Still Images

CHEMISTRY LAB TECHNICIANS REPORT

LISA BRANDT & RACHAEL GRAY

As of 0800 25 Nov

SYSTEMS

Ampulator

• The Adelphi ampoule sealer was used, with no issues to report.

Balances

• No issues to report for the Cahn & Mettler balances.

Carver Presses

• We noticed that the middle Carver press moves quite a bit faster than the other two. Garrick and Lisa Crowder took apart the aftmost press to see if they could find any problems. After corresponding with Carver, they found that the problem is within the two Motorpaks, the pumps, not the jack itself. To confirm this, they hooked up the middle Motorpak to the aftmost press, and it raised at the normal speed associated with the middle Motorpak. New Motorpak pumps have been ordered.

Cary Spectrophotometer

• The Cary was used to analyze ammonia and phosphate at a few sites, with no issues to report.

CHNS

• Total carbon and nitrogen was measured on the EA. No major problems.

Coulometer

• The coulometer was used heavily. A lamp was replaced early in the expedition. There are currently no spare lamps on board. The vent line is presently not attached as there were issues with it becoming clogged.

Freeze-drier

• There were no issues with the freeze-drier. The oil was changed mid-expedition. A new seal for the vacuum chamber was ordered last expedition, but did not arrive.

Fume hoods

• No problems.

Gas Lines/manifold

• The gas monitoring software was not working at the start of the expedition, but was fixed by the programmers. James Zhao has released a new version of the web interface which will work on any browser or OS, and it seems to be working well.

GC3/NGA1

• Both GCs were calibrated. All headspace samples were analyzed on the GC3. There were no issues with either unit.

Hydrogen Generators

• No issues with the hydrogen generators

IC

• The IC was used to measure cations and anions on the IW and rhizon samples. Anions and cations columns were both replaced mid-expedition after inconsistent calibrations. The only other issue encountered was that we found that the first two samples analyzed after startup regularly had inconsistent uptake volumes by the autosampler, which led to odd calibrations. We decided it would be best practice to run two blanks before starting the calibration sequence. This also has the benefit of flushing out the flow paths and columns.
• Extra vials and a supply of spare autosampler needles have been ordered in preparation for X361, which will have extensive porewater squeezing.

ICP

The ICP was used to measure minor and major elements on the IW and rhizon samples, as well as to analyze sediment, using an acetic acid dissolution method proposed by Peter Swart. We used designated glassware and vials for the acetic acid method to avoid cross-contamination. No issues to report.

Microbiology

• None

salinity

• The optical refractometer was used, with no issues to report.

SRA

• A replacement for the entire bottom chassis of the SRA was shipped to Darwin and installed. The SRA seems to be functioning well now, but was only used briefly to analyze a small handful of samples. The autosampler is still not working.

titrations

alkaClinity

• Alkalinty 5.1 had some initial issues, such as users not being able to direct-input TextIDs for samples, not being able to select IW splits other than the first one uploaded, and no ability to run IAPSO as a sample. Tim Blaisdell did some work with Algie Morgan onshore to get these issues sorted out. Rhizon splits are also not able to be selected via the hierarchy search; they must be entered via TextID.

chloride

• No issues to report.

Water systems

• No issues to report.

Pipettors

• No issues to report with any of the pipettors.

Misc

Scientists:

Clara L. Blättler Inorganic GeochemistDepartment of GeosciencesPrinceton UniversityUSA
Mayuri Inoue Inorganic GeochemistDepartment of Earth SciencesOkayama UniversityJapan Masatoshi Nakakuni Organic GeochemistJapan
Peter K. Swart Inorganic GeochemistDepartment of Marine GeosciencesUniversity of MiamiUSA

XRD & ICP SAMPLE PREP LABS

SETH FRANK

Summary

This expedition say high resolution sampling to account for low to moderate recovery. About 70 percent of the XRD sample taken were soft sediments ground in the mortar and pestle, the rest requiring the Shatterbox for powdering. Because of the carbonates in these sediments, no flux fusion was run on the ICP. The PC in the Xray lab in the corner had a hard drive replacement because of a RAID array failure. No data or programs were lost, and a full systems check was run to ensure nothing else was corrupted. All other equipment ran efficiently and with minimal issues the entire cruise.

Total samples

XRAY: ¿470
ICP: 0
XRF: 0
MBIO: 0

xray diffractometer

• The Xray diffractometer ran smoothly the entire time, as well as the software. No noticeable problems at all expect for a small squeaking noise when the 2theta was below 10. No change to data quality.
• There were two times the XRD was on for a period of time with no samples running, and the alarm light went on as the Xray generator turned off. This was solved by shutting everything down and turning it all back on.

icp preparation

• ICP was performed this cruise, but flux fusion was not used. Instead, an alternate form of sediment ICP was run, not requiring any Xray lab materials to operate no requiring LOI.
• Mettler Balances – An error occurred with the balances during transit and twice during drilling ops. A 'Program memory default' error occurred. It was solved by turning off the power supply, waiting a few seconds, and then turning it all back on. The balances weren't used at all during the cruise, so the error is still a mystery, and seemed to occur at random.

microbiology

• No microbiology samples were run in the Xray lab.

Other Notes

• VDU SDP now active on this PC.
• New agate mortar and pestle may be required for future expeditions. The ones currently in the drawer are starting to show etches from harder samples powdered in them. Just a thought to avoid cross contamination.
• XRD can potentially be run a lower voltages and with less steps in order to speed up data run time.

THIN SECTION LAB

Ben Daniel
h9. Summary
There were a total of 84 thin sections requests. The majority were limestone with a few dolostone, and 2 of chert. Developed a method for dyed epoxy thin section epoxy.

Special Projects

• None

Problems Encountered

• Vac pump for the petro thin/ impregnation system has not been working particularly well. Would work for 10-15 min and then get very hot and start to cough and weaken. This was found to be due to water in the pump oil and resulting rust and corrosion of pump internals causing excess heat buildup. Changed oil and had ET's clean and rebuild internals of pump.
• The VS2 water trap has been collecting lots of liquid. I think that this is due corrosion between the Petro Thin faceplate and cutting arm. Took everything apart and cleaned out some excess silicone grease. The vacuum is better and the precision of material removal w/ cup-face is better, but still taking in a lot of water. Recommend checking and emptying trap before and after each use of Petro Thin to minimize water getting into the vacuum pump.
• After cleaning VS2 with the ET's, there was no water in the trap after light/moderate use. Much better than before. Excellent vacuum strength. Would still keep a close eye out for water.
• Small vacuum system for impregnation got epoxy in the air passage. Took apart and cleaned, put back together. It "works" now but seal is weak. Might need to make a new one, rather than reusing old materials.
• Used the vacuum bell on the freeze dryer to do impregnations. This worked even better than small system. Found cracks in the vacuum bell and replaced it with a new one.
• Lapping jig for LP50 was not changing height very well. Took apart for cleaning again, sonicated components and reassembled. Still sticking and not changing height very well. Began using the 3^rd jig for lapping with old lapping jig now in reserve.

Misc.

• Routine equipment maintenance and cleaning was done as needed.
• Dying of thin sections was requested regularly. Found this to be difficult, has not been done recently that I could tell. LO and ALO's have not seen anyone ask for this service, but we offer it on the request form so I developed a crude technique for making a dyed epoxy.
• Using approximately 1mg/ml (3-4mg per pump of epoxy resin) Methylene Blue powder in heated epoxy resin (part A) before hardener (part B) is added, mix thoroughly. Heat mixture on hot plate for about 1 hour to have good dissolution of dye. Add hardener in normal ratio, expect the dyed resin to change from blue to dark violet/black color during mixing, this is sometimes reversible to blue after cooling but sometimes not… no idea why. Add to impregnation mold and preform impregnation as normal.
• Note: prolonged heating (6+ hrs) of dyed impregnated billet will degrade the color of the dye to a dark red. This is not necessarily a problem, except that the intensity of the dye will be much less apparent when thinned to 30um than good blue/violet.

UNDERWAY GEOPHYSICS & FANTAIL REPORT

Lisa Crowder and Randy Gjesvold

Underway Lab

Bathymetry

• Bathymetry was collect on all transits and sites using the Winfrog 2 computer. No issues to report.

MAGNETOMETER

• Data was collect on the transit after clearing vessel traffic until east of the Maldives. No issues to report.

Documentation

• The JRNav GE and Depth Correction user guides were updated. A basic user guide was created for the GEODAS-Ng coastline extractor procedure. The WinFrog User Guide will need to be updated with the changes to coastline extraction but a note was put in the PDF copy that there is a change. Electronic copies are available in the IODP Manuals folder on the IODP_Share server.

Winfrog/GPS

• Winfrog 1 computer was used as the primary computer for navigation acquisition. No Issues.
• The map loaded in Winfrog covers Colombo to Capetown so it should be good for the next two expeditions.
• Forward/aft GPS units performed well.
• Both Winfrog computers had updates applied and were restarted.

VSP

• Because of the hole conditions only 2 of the planned VSPs were conducted. The G-Gun Parallel Cluster was assembled as 2 x 250 in³ and hung at 3m water depth. Only one gun was used for the VSPs.

G-Guns and Cluster

• All rigging was dismantled and secured on the Fantail or in the lab. The guns and cluster were dismantled, cleaned and serviced.
• The threads on one of the Parallel Cluster bars is slightly damaged. The nut will thread.

Fantail

• The Fantail Crane was greased, Dry Slide applied to the cable and exercised. The Crane was chipped and painted by the Siem crew. Some minor weld repairs were made to repair rusted out sections.
• The Gunline winch (Starboard) and Seismic winch (Port) were greased and exercised.

vsp/protected species report

summary

On Expedition 359 only 2 of the planned 4 VSPs were conducted due to poor hole conditions. Protected Species Observations (PSO) and operational procedures were followed as outlined in the Seismic Activities document.
Pre-seismic planning was included in the Pre-Spud meeting attended by the OIM, Captain, Operations Superintendent, EPM, Co-Chief Scientists, LO, Schlumberger Engineer and Logging Scientists. The Logging Scientists requested hanging the sources at 3 meters depth and to only use one source at 250 in³.
No Protected Species were observed during seismic activity.

VSP / Check Shot Operational Procedures for Expedition 359

WATCH IS FOR MARINE MAMMALS, SEA TURTLES and Diving/Forgaing birds (Protected Species)

When conducting a seismic VSP / Check Shot operation, the following guidelines will be followed:
Daytime Startup:
Observation: 1-hour prior to the use of seismic sources, the Mate on Watch on the bridge and the Protected Species Observer on the aft end of the ship will begin observations for marine mammals. Observations will continue until the seismic operations are completed. If a marine mammal, turtle is sighted within the safety zone, (900 meters) and diving or foraging birds (100 meters) prior to the soft start, the soft start will be stop until the protected species has left the safety zone. Then it will commence as a new soft start.
Soft Start:
Beginning at a pressure of 500-psi, the gun will be fired at 30-sec intervals gradually increasing the pressure to the "operational" pressure, (2,000 psi) over a 30-minute period. On site, during a VSP experiment, if the source used is interrupted for 30-minutes or more the Soft Start procedure will be used, even if no protected species have been sighted.
NOTE
Seismic sources can only be operated during daylight hours. These sources can only be used after sunrise and should be shut down by sunset. This will allow the observers enough sunlight to adequately detect protected species.
Operational Pressure:
The operational pressure should be kept at the lowest practicable levels throughout a survey. The maximum operational pressure available is 2000 psi.
Protected Species Encounter:
The Safety Zone (Exclusion Zone Radius) used for Expedition 359 for 1 x 250 in³ G-Gun
Water Depth
Shallow- less than 1000 m is 0.5 nautical mile or 900 meters and 100 for birds
If a protected species is detected within the safety zone by the forward or aft observer, the information will immediately be sent to the mate on watch on the bridge and the Technician on Watch running the VSP. The Technician on Watch will suspend operation of the guns by disabling the trigger leads and lowering pressure of guns to 500 psi.
A soft start will be required once the protected species leaves the Safety Zone.

ELECTRONICS TECHNICIAN REPORT

Garrick Van Rensburg & Randy Gjesvold

ET Shop:

• Charged UPS batteries individually and snugged up the connectors on the NGR UPS.
• Soldiering Iron replacement has been ordered.
• Manufactured four power supplies for the M-Drive system.
• Assembled 6 control boards for the M-Drive Version 3.

Core Lab:

• Curators Office: Manufactured a computer shelf. Repaired and varnished the window shelf.
• NGR: Installed new RA4015-6-RDC48 fan cooling systems from Synergy Global Technology Inc (www.RackmountMart.com). Will monitor for temperature variations.
• NGR: The borrowed quad logic board was inserted into the NGR's NIM crate and the NGR "switchboard" was rewired appropriately to ensure that the m/n 758 Board could have final maintenance repairs completed
• NGR: The new UPS is ready for service. A L5-30 wall socket will be hand carried to port call and should be installed in RP7-14-1, a 25 Amp circuit.
• Speaker in the forward end of the lab ceased to function. The fault was traced back to the amplifier. The wires had become loose on the amplifier. These were tightened.
• The JR-6A Spinner Magnetometer had a buildup of corrosion. It was cleaned and restored to service.
• Changed out the Ocean Optics bulbs on the SHIL Oct 17^th and Nov 12^th.
• Added a small amount of oil to the RM6 Lauda water circulation pump to quiet it down.
• Blew the dust out of the SHIL and SMSL power supplies.
• The SHMSL was found with the computer powered off. During investigation found the UPS will not work correctly on the Load 1 plug-ins. Any time you draw even slight amperage it ceases to work. The computer and instruments are plugged into the Load 2 sockets.
• WRMSL P-Wave Logger Transducer cover fell off. Replaced both Transducers and re calibrated the WRMSL. Transducer will be sent to College Station for repair.
• The Cryomag end of travel switch broke off. It will be repaired as soon as core flow eases.

Core Splitting Room:

• Encountered numerous problems with the door sensing pads. Replaced the ends on three of them.
• Aft sliding doors started to struggle closing, after cleaning the runners, bearings and door alignment it continued to struggle closing. At this point I turned up the "reverse sensitivity" and the doors close normally now. I would suggest that the sliding doors be fully serviced during stand-down.
• The Supersaw started to constantly trip the beaker during operation. Changed out the 6.3 Amp Moeller circuit breaker for the 10 amp breaker and manually set it at 8 amps. The motor is rated for 8.3 Amps.

• The Core Splitting Wire appeared to have alignment issues. Numerous small adjustments were made throughout the expedition.

Paleo Prep Lab:

• The forward fume hood began making a high pitch noise. This was repaired by installing a shim on the back of the hood to stop the shield from vibrating.
• Replaced the oil in the Sputter Coater Vacuum Pump IODP Number RF 52681 on Oct 14 2015.

LN₂ Gen:

• Ran for 3 days without charging. During investigation found the Nitrogen Generator had an oil filter that indicated it needed to be replaced. It was replaced as was the water filter. Changed out the O-Ring on the vent valve to the water filter because it was leaking. The LN₂ Gen was drained of Liquid Nitrogen and purged with Nitrogen. The LN₂ Gen gauge was re set to a lower limit of 3 and the upper limit to 7 and re started.
• Water was seen on the deck coming from underneath the LN₂ generator. The water was from heavy condensation on all of the lines that carry chill water to and from the compressor. These lines had chill water flowing through them despite the fact that the valve actuator was closed. It is suspected that the ball valve has failed. We are still trying to determine the model of the ball valve in order to find a replacement.

-80 Freezer on F Deck:

• Cleaned out the filter and defrosted.

Chem Lab:

• Timer wouldn't produce an audible alarm. Replaced the buzzer.
• The Mixer Mill would not function. Inspected, check contacts for corrosion and added oil to the motor bearings. Functions normally.
• Gast vacuum pump would not function. During investigation found the fan cover bolts to be too tight. These were loosened and it functioned normally.
• The 220V vacuum pump in the freeze dryer was cleaned and the oil replaced, main gasket suspect, be careful when working on it. The pump says Labconco on it but it is actually an Edwards RV8 pump. A manual was printed and put with the Labconco freeze dryer manual. Rebuild kits and spare oil mist filters ordered.
• The two outside carver press systems were running very slowly. The hydraulic jack was removed from the aft system and serviced. The inside of the cylinder was pitted and oil found above the piston seal. The rig mechanic honed and polished the cylinder and it was replaced. The jack was reinstalled in the press with no change in behavior. A different jack was put into the press with no change in behavior. Discussions with a Carver service technician concluded that the pumps in the Autopaks were not functioning properly. Two new pumps have been ordered and will be sent to X361.
• The lower plate insert in one of the titanium squeezers got stuck while trying to disassemble. The rig mechanic pressed it out and polished the interior of the sleeve.

Thin Section Lab:

• Vacuum Pump (IODP # RF 52665) on the forward end of the shop ceased up. It was found to have a lot of water in the oil. This caused the paddles to overheat and expand due to lack of lubrication and ceased the pump up. It was disassembled and the paddles removed. The smaller paddles were replaced. There were no new large paddles available so they were sanded down until they would move smoothly and installed. Re assembled the pump. Reviewed the periodicity of checking the water trap with the Thin Section Technician. Changed oil in Vacuum Pumps RF 51304 and RF 52665 on Oct 10 2015. The vacuum pump (IODP # RF 52665) needed another oil change 11 Nov 2015. It also has a knocking sound which turned out to be "bypass valve", Page 37 P/N 61-6057 that wasn't seated properly.
• The Stereo is having issues. Found it disconnected and the audio cable missing. During investigation found one of the output channels to have a shorted Transistor. Repaired several cold soldier joints to restore partial function and ordered Transistors replace the shorted one's (A1220A-Y).
• Manufactured four impregnation jigs for Thin Section.

Conference Room:

• Replaced the batteries in the Kensington Remote Control. Had to clean out a lot of corrosion.

Gym:

• Repaired Bicycle Pump. Added air to the Speed Bag. One of the Schwinn Stationary Bike MPower Console-Wired module failed. New one is on order.

Movie Room:

• Cleaned, inspected and updated the Popcorn Media Player. Removed, cleaned and inspected the UPS. Outdated batteries were replaced.

Fantail:

• The Gunline winch (Starboard) was greased and exercised. The Fantail Crane was greased, Dry Slide applied to the cable and exercised. The Crane was chipped and painted by the Siem crew. Some minor weld repairs were made to repair rusted out sections. The Seismic winch (Port) was cleaned, greased, had Dry Slide applied to the slide bars and exercised. The Magnetometer was deployed. Assisted in the preparation of the Seismic Airgun Cluster. Monitored the high pressure air system during the VSP. Responsible for ramping up the air pressure and depressurizing the system as required for the VSP.

Underway:

• Deployed the Maggie and everything is working.

Misc:

• Cleaned the filters in all of the vacuums. Assisted in retrieving core on the morning shift because they were short of people to retrieve core on the catwalk. Also assisted on the catwalk due to injured personnel.

ORDERS:

Requested General ET Shop supplies and M Drive board components
Requested replacement UPS batteries for:

1. 1. Down hole lab APC Smart ups 750 "N1896"
   2. Curator office APC Smart ups 750 "N1895"
   3. Curator office APC RS 1500 "old Lemont unit"
   4. Curator office APC RS 1500 "old Lemont unit"
   5. Movie room

CURATORIAL REPORT

CHAD BROYLES
h9.Summary
A total of 14,595 samples were taken for Expedition 359. This included 6,834 shipboard samples, and 7,761 personal samples. 3,097 meters of core material was recovered during the expedition with 63% average recovery.

Shipments

Core:

Approximately 24 pallets of 496 core boxes will be shipped from Colombo following the expedition to the GCR in College Station, TX. The core boxes will be divided into Working and Archive pallets. The electronic Core Box Inventory is being sent via email with this report (EXP 359 Core Box Inventory Electronic.xlsx). The handwritten Core Box Inventory was scanned as a *.pdf file, and is being sent via email with this document for cross reference. (Exp 359 Core Box Inventory Handwritten Archive.pdf & Exp 359 Core Box Inventory Handwritten Working.pdf). The pallet inventory (X359 Pallet Inventory.xlsx) is also being sent via email with this report.

Sample Distribution

Residues

The shipboard residues are distributed as follows:

Thin Sections

84 thin sections were prepared by Ben Daniel on Expedition 359. The thin section inventory is being sent via email with this report (Exp 359 Thin Section Inventory.xlsx).

Smear Slides

The sedimentologists prepared and described 110 smear slides. All smear slides are being sent to the GCR. A complete list of smear slides is being sent via email with this document to the GCR.

Core Preservation

All core sections both Archive and Working were wrapped in Glad Wrap. For lithified sediment we used shrink wrap.

Curation and Sampling

Pre-Site to Site Conversion

Curation for U1471E Cores 15R-18R

Gregor Eberli requested that vertical mini cores be taken for U1471E 15R-18R. In order to accommodate this request we had to curate these cores as if they were hard rock (e.g. basalt).
We used the following procedure:

• Curate into sections on the catwalk, tape endcaps, enter into LIMS, and print section labels. Run these sections through the Whole Round Multi Sensor (WRMSL) and Natural Gamma Radiation (NGR) machines.
• Shake out Whole Round (WRND) core material into a half liner marking the bottoms of oriented pieces.
• Measure new lengths of sections, change curated length in LIMS, and recalculate the depth of the Hole.
• Cut a set of half liners with new curated lengths, label, and laser engrave.
• Eberli (EBER) picks his samples.
• Curator cuts and enters vertical mini-cores using Type=CYL, Tool=CORER_VERT, Name-EBER_vert. Labels are also printed at this time.
• Place samples in labeled pop-top vials with foam cushioning.
• Pieces from the sections are split in half by hand and put out on tables.

This process significantly slowed core flow so Dr. Eberli decided to take WRND samples (1 per core) for the rest of the Hole.

Catwalk Sampling

Catwalk Sampling for Site U1449 Hole A consisted of samples for Geochemistry (Interstitial Water and Head Space), Microbiology, Paleontology, and Sedimentology (Figure 1).

Geochemistry

Samples for analysis on Interstitial Water and Head Space Gas were taken as whole rounds (WRND) on the Catwalk.

Interstitial Water (IW)

• Figure 1 details the IW sample plan.
• 0 to 200 meters: 1 per Core.
  • Every other Core for ½ APC.
• 200 meters-TD 1 every 3rd Core
  • 1 every 6th Core for ½ APC (until material was too lithified to squeeze).
  • Increased to 10-15 cm when water content decreased.
  • Bottom of Section 4. If interval was found to be disturbed, the sample location was adjusted.

Head Space Gas (HS)

• Taken below IW sample
• 5cc plug.
• Small pieces were taken for lithified material.

mudline

• A mudline sample was collected in a bucket for all APC holes.
• Sample entered at the top of 1H1.
• A 50cc syringe of water was collected for IW

Paleontology (PAL)

• 5cc Whole Round (WRND) from bottom of Core Catcher.
• Splits were taken for foraminifera and nannofossils

Other Samples taken from section before splitting

Rhizon Samples

• U1466 & U1467
• Split was used for some shipboard analyses.
• Sub-Splits went to Clara Blattler and Peter Swart.

Squeeze Cake Splits for Shipboard Analysis

• ICP (1cc)
• XRD (1cc): Residue to BLAT, 20541IODP

Paleontology (PAL) Core Catcher Splits for Personal Samples

• The PAL sample was divided between 7 people and as described in the table below.

  Requestor Name	Sample Request Code	Sample Request Number	Volume (cc)
  Montse Alonso-Garcia	GARC	29985IODP	25
  Dick Kroon	KROO	20567IODP	25
  Loren Petruny	PETR	30503IODP	25
  Santi Pratiwi	PRAT	30494IODP	25
  Xian Su	SU	30456IODP	25
  Jeremy Young	YOUN	28857IODP	5
  Carlos Zarikian	ZARI	30936IODP	25

  Section Half Sampling - Shipboard Samples

  The following is an outline of routinely-taken shipboard samples:

  Moisture and Density (MAD)

• 1 per section.
• 10 cc syringe for soft sediment.
• Small piece for lithified material.
• MAD residue was also used for CARB.

paleomagnetics

• 1 per meter,
• 7cc cube
• Resolution was changed depending on results.

nanno

• < 1cc toothpick sample.
• As needed to refine ages.

PAL

• As needed to refine ages.
• 10cc tube.
• Shared amongst paleontologists.

TBS (10-15 cc billet)

• Determined on a core to core basis.
• 10cc volume.
• Taken with permission from on duty co-chief, staff scientist, and/or curatorial representative.
  • • If staff scientist and curator are off shift then the co-chief and on duty ALO make these decisions.
    • Criteria include co-chief/EPM approval and do not deplete entire interval.
    • Requested by sedimentologists and sometimes benthic foraminifera scientist.

Sedimentology Smear Slides (SS)

• As needed from Archive half.
• < 1 cc toothpick sample.

Section Half Sampling - Personal Samples

The following is an outline of routinely-taken personal samples:

Nagender Bejugam (BEJU, 30565IODP)

• U1466, U1467, U1468, U1471
• Black lithic grains which could either be manganese oxides, pyritic, volcanic or may have a detrital origin.
• Sample ash layers.
• 10cc Quarter Rounds (QRND).

Gregor Eberli (Code: EBER, Number: 30519IODP)

• U1465, U1466, U1468, U1469, U1471
• 1" Mini-core in horizontal. Volume=10cc.
• Samples taken in all indurated parts of the sites;
• Sample may need to be adjusted depending on core recovery.
• Vertical mini cores and WRNDs taken on U1471E.

Dick Kroon (Code: KROO, Number: 31160IODP)

• Lower part of U1467.
• One 10cc sample per section.
• Section 4.
• 75-77cm, around midpoint of section.
• Isotope pilot study.
• Collaboration with Jim Wright.

Juan Carlos Laya (Code: LAYA, Number: 29994IODP)

• U1465, U1466
• 2 -3 samples per core from the major neritic (bioclastic) marine facies after visual identification.
• 10 m below the platform top 3 to 4 samples per cycle will be required in at least 4 cycles, after the cycles are identified in the VCDs.
• 4 cm Quarter Round Sample
• Unconsolidated sediment, 2 x 10cc tubes side by side.
• For soft sediment, cut out with spatula, and wrap carefully in parafilm. Volume=35cc

Anna Ling (Code: LING, Number: 30511IODP)

• U1465, U1466, U1468, U1469, U1470.
• 2 -3 samples per core from the major facies.
• Denser sampling towards the top of the platform
• For the platform two samples per section in a facies that needs to be visually inspected. In particular her first priority was the potential hard grounds that we encountered in the top core.
• 4 cm Quarter Round Sample, 27cc.
• Unconsolidated sediment, 2 x 10cc tubes side by side.

Jesus Perez (Code: PERE, Number: 29749IODP)

• Sites: U1465, U1466, U1468, U1469
• Samples were taken after visual estimation of core properties based on description.
• 1 sample per facies, if a facies stretches throughout several sections, then 1 sample per section.
• 4 cm Quarter Round Sample, 27cc.
• Unconsolidated sediment, 2 x 10cc tubes side by side.
• For soft sediment, cut out with spatula, and wrap carefully in parafilm. Volume=35cc

John Reijmer (Code: REIJ, Number: 32014IODP)

• U1465, U1466, U1468, U1471
• The request was to take home approximately 5-7 cycles that are different in their sedimentological expression to start working on. During the Post-Cruise sampling party I want to complete the dataset.
• 4 cm Quarter Rounds (QRND).

Jim Wright (Code: WRIG, Number: 20567IODP)

• Upper part of U1467
• 0-300m
• One 10cc sample per section
• 75-77 cm, around midpoint of section.
• Isotope pilot study
• Collaboration with Dick Kroon.

Sample Request Numbers and Codes

The following table is a list of scientists with their corresponding request numbers and codes.

Core preservation

In general soft sediment cores were wrapped in Glad Wrap. More lithified sediment was wrapped in 3mm shrink wrap tubing.
Special procedures were taken when handling Cores U1468A-97X through 107X. This was done in order to protect them from plastic contamination as they will be sampled for organic biomarkers for post-expedition research at the shore based sample party.
These cores contained white (nannofossil ooze) and dark (organic-rich) layers. These are the same lithologies that we observed at the early Miocene section at Site U1467.
The following procedures were carried out for sections within these cores where dark and light layers were present:

• Gloves were used when handling or sampling the cores.
• No food or beverages over the sampling table were allowed.
• There was no sampling of dark intervals.
• Core sections (working half) were double wrapped in Aluminum foil, and then in shrink wrapped.
• Working half sections were refrigerated promptly.

Action Items

Thin Sections-The following scientists have requested to borrow thin sections:
These will be sent to the GCR and then forwarded to the requestor.

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED

Core Catchers (CC)

Throughout the cruise there were several mistakes on Core Catchers including incorrect lengths, wrong placement of the PAL sample foam spacer, and incorrect entries of the PAL sample in the database. These discrepancies were usually found by the Imaging Specialist. I made necessary corrections and reimaged the CC. Sometimes it was necessary to edit the offset of the PAL sample in LIME. In this case labels for all sub samples taken off of the PAL were reprinted.

computer software

Sample Master

Tim Blaisdail worked on a few upgrades to the SM application. One feature includes cell editing. In the old version of the application you had to double click the cell, backspace to remove the old value, and then enter the new value. The new version works more like an Excel spreadsheet where if you click in the cell and start typing, old information is deleted and overwritten by new information. The new version had some problems with copying and pasting from Excel. It was briefly deployed into production only to be rolled back to the old version (v10.0.0.0) due to this issue. The new sampling program project has yet to begin despite having a charter that is around 2 years old. With no new sampling program in sight I suggest improving upon the existing application. This would take less resources to implement than overhauling the entire system.

LORE Reports

I was surprised to see that LORE (LIMS Reports Version 7) Reports was deployed into production on the ship. In my opinion this reporting system has not been sufficiently tested to be deployed into production. In general it is a difficult system to use. It takes several steps to extract data from LIMS. In order to extract a sample or data file you must first extract it to a Java file (*.jnlp). You then have to open this file with external Java application. This application then extracts the data and formats it in the format that is useful for us (i.e. a *.csv file) In addition the data extraction is slow. This reigns true for both sample data and science data regardless of file size. I suggest that a more rigorous testing protocol be implemented at IODP-TAMU for this system. It feels like a step backwards from our original reporting systems: Web Tabular Reports (WTR) and LIMS Reports.

Sample Party Macros for Exp. 360

I have added a folder to your VOL1: Curator folder called Sample Party Macros. These should be added to the oncoming curator's Personal Macro workbook. This should assist the oncoming curator with sample parties that will take place onboard the ship.

Combine Files Macro Upgrade

Maggie and I worked on upgrading the existing combine files macro to improve its functionality. It now automatically sorts the file by Exp-Site-Hole-Core-Section-Top Offset (cm). It also left justifies all of the data and standardizes the text to a font of Arial and size of 12. Additionally it removes any extraneous information that is not needed for upload.

Document for preparing Excel files for upload to the LIMS database

I assisted the GCR superintendent with preparing a document to describe how to use the Sample Party Excel macros.

computer HARDWARE

Core Entry Zebra Printer (Model ZT410-203dpi)

We experienced many problems with the new Zebra label printers. Most of the time when we changed the ribbon, label, or both we had to adjust the top and left position of the label in the Zebra Programming Language (ZPL) interface. The new printer seemed to have a difficult time finding its calibration positon when something went wrong. It also sometimes smeared ink on the label. It also had a tendency to produce a squeaking noise. I contacted a Zebra technician and they sent me some troubleshooting guidelines for calibrating the printer. I placed the user guide and calibration guide in the following location-V:\Curator\Zebra Model ZT410-203dpi. I also worked with the Marine Computer Specialists in the troubleshooting process. They adjusted the print head pressure adjustment toggles (Figure 2) and this seemed to briefly help the printer readjust itself after the print head had been raised and lowered. However the drift in the labels eventually returned.
Towards the end of the cruise the Core Entry Zebra completely failed. It started giving a ribbon out error even though it had plenty of ribbon installed. We finally had the MCS trade it with another printer.
We experienced similar problems on all of the new Zebra printers in the lab.
The issue seemed to become more pronounced when we printed long strings of labels. This was most evident when getting cores every 20-30 minutes.
The MCS found that adhesive builds up on the dancer assembly (Figures 3 and 4) after heavy use. This was causing the squeaking noise and ribbon fault. I suggest to clean off the dancer assembly with Acetone periodically or when changing labels/ribbon.
I also suggest only using the official Zebra brand ribbons. Using Zebra brand ribbons I found using a darkness of 20 printed desirable labels.

CURATOR OFFICE UPGRADES

Herman Miller Chair

I changed out the piston on the Herman Miller chair we use in the Curator Office as it was no longer retaining air pressure. The seat for this chair also needs to be replaced. The LO ordered a new seat for this chair and I will change it out on my next Expedition (X361).

New Shelf for Laptop and Docking Station

The desk space in our new office on the Core Deck is much more limited than the old office on the F-deck. I commissioned a new shelf that was built to hold our laptop and docking station (Figure 4). It sits above the desk and frees up a considerable amount of desktop space.

miscelaneous

New TSB Templates for Impregnated Thin Sections

We encountered very fragile and porous core material for the majority of this expedition. In order to make thin sections of this material the technician need to impregnate the sample with epoxy. It helps them greatly if we cut the TSB to the correct size. The billet is smaller than our normal TSB size. To aid in this process we created a new TSB template for impregnated samples. I stored them in the Special Curation Tools drawer in the Splitting Room.

Wax Pencil Analysis and Results

There was a concern from a paleomagnetist that the red and blue wax pencils that we use contain magnetic minerals such as hematite. We did XRD analysis and found that they do not contain magnetic minerals. I also contacted Listo one of the manufacturers of the wax pencils. They confirmed that their red wax pencils do not contain hematite.

Preserving Core Liners and Split Core Liners for Exp. 360 and Oman

There was some concern for the amount of core liner that will be available on Expedition 360 and Oman. If a small amount of core material was received we shook it out of the liner and the drilling crew reused the liner. There is a strong possibility that Exp. 360 will not use core liner in the core barrel when coring. The rock material will be slowly removed from the core barrel on the rig floor and placed into half liners. We made as many split section core liners as possible. These consist of 150cm sections with endcaps held on by acetone. They are split using only the hook blades on the core splitter. All pre-made whole round split liner core sections are stored in the alligator box on the bridge deck.

OTHER CORE LAB DUTIES

Image QAQC and Corrections

I assisted the Imaging Specialist with Image QAQC. The Imaging Specialist identifies problems with images capture on the Section Half Image Logger (SHIL). My role was to rescan incorrect images and cancel the incorrect image in the database. The SHIL also crashed a few times during the expedition. I copied all error data and submitted it to the jr_developer email account.

WRMSL data QAQC.

I assisted the Physical Properties Technician and Stratigraphic Correlator with canceling duplicate Whole Round data in the LIMS database.

LIME account administrator

I serve as the LIME account administrator. I create LIME accounts. I also set privileges in the database for canceling, un-canceling, and editing tests and samples.

Cross training in Physical Properties

I cross trained on the Whole Round Multi Sensor logger by helping to calibrate this machine before a new site.

report figure

Figure 1: Catwalk sampling plan for all sites.


Figure 2: Manufacturer Guide for the Zebra ZT410 label printer. We adjusted the print head pressure adjustment toggle (2) to and the printer was able to correct itself more accurately when the print head is raised and lowered.

Figure 3: We found that adhesive builds up underneath the dancer assembly (2). It is suggested to clean this after heavy use or when changing labels/ribbon. Dancer assembly
Figure 4: Check the dancer assembly (silver plate) for adhesive buildup. This needs to be cleaned off with a solvent (I suggest acetone) periodically to prevent printer errors.


Figure 5: A new shelf was installed above our desk in the downhole logging office. This was built in order to free up more desk space.

PUBLICATIONS REPORT

DOUGLAS CUMMINGS
h9. Summary
Duties included primarily the production of visual core descriptions (VCDs) for review by the science party and to be included in the final publication, which I performed twice daily and printed according to the wishes of the co-chiefs and sedimentologists. Changes were made frequently to the template in the first few weeks of drilling, but became less frequent toward the end of the expedition. Nevertheless, I do anticipate further changes after the expedition ends as some nagging issues on how to display certain things aren't yet settled. Hole summaries were also produced on a twice daily basis.
Reports are being collected for seven sites (with a possible eighth pending logging success at the present site) as well as for the PR/Summary and Methods chapters. Site reports have been coming in somewhat slowly from some groups, but I do not anticipate any issues in collecting all volume materials by the end of the expedition.
Further, this being my first expedition, I was eager to learn and assist in other areas and helped on the catwalk and core deck generally when time allowed and the additional help was needed, and assisted in performing daily surface water sampling.

Equipment & Software Performance Summary

• Software used: Strater 4, Acrobat, Illustrator, Photoshop, Excel, DESC, L2E, Word, FontCreator, etc.
• All software and equipment performed as expected with no observed issues. However, the monitor on the PC seems to have occasional issues. Minh suspects this has something to do with the seating of the RAM or video card, but we did not address it further as it seems to sort itself out after a few minutes.

Volume Materials

During the long transit and the beginning of the expedition, little progress was made on getting the scientists to settle on a template for the VCDs, so I started with the template for 356 and from there made changes as requested. Patterns were changed several times, as was the desired way to plot them, finally settling primarily on a single pattern in shades of the same color, with texture plotted on top of it as a stair step. Some new symbols were created and added to lithsymbol5, and there still may still be several more as even at this late stage some new things have been added back in that I was initially told they wouldn't be using.
Also, numerous changes have been made to the way things are being described, especially in regard to lithology prefixes, some of which I have been asked to plot, and many on which no decision has been made, but it doesn't appear that these changes have been made to the earlier sites in DESC, so I'm really not certain what they're going to want me to do with those, or even if they will.
One last concern here is with the color column, which I was asked to plot with the full text description. This creates problems on small intervals because the text doesn't fit, and so I wrote a macro that removes the data from small described intervals, leaving only that with intervals large enough to contain the text. But this isn't ideal either, as it can leave a large number of blank intervals, depending on the core. I have addressed this with the staff scientist and co-chiefs on several occasions, but have not received any instruction yet on what they'd like me to do instead. This may be something I'll need to change after the expedition.
Site reports and associated materials were submitted slowly at first, but toward the end they are coming in with some frequency, such that I do not anticipate any issues in having everything by the end of the expedition. Submitted reports were tracked in excel, and this was sent to the staff scientist with each update.

General Duties Performed

• Regular communication with the Radio Operator (e.g. gathering passports, verifying number of science and technical staff onboard, assisting with Customs/Immigration forms and travel visas
• Distribution and collection of expedition paperwork (communications policy, photo releases, copyright forms, etc.)
• Preparation of Birthday cards and ordering cakes from the Catering Staff;
• Coordination of provisioning proper immersion suit sizes;
• Coordination of cabin room deficiencies/maintenance requests;
• Collection of Scientist address changes/updates for correspondence and shipping;
• Assist in coordination of T-shirt contest;
• Assist in daily water sampling with LO and scientists as conditions permitted;
• Help on catwalk and core deck when time permitted and assistance was needed;
• Produced cards and certificates for equator crossing.

DEVELOPER'S REPORT

TIM BLAISDELL & JAMES ZHAO

Overview

This document highlights changes to the JOIDES Resolution laboratory data management environment during Expedition 359.
Selected issues are highlighted, but not reviewed in exhaustive detail. In general, see the ship activity log and Pending pages of various products on the developer site for additional detail: https://sites.google.com/a/scientific-ocean-drilling.org/developer-page. The title of each product section is a link to the release notes for that product on the development Google Site.

WORK IN PROGRESS

During 359, developers created and/or deployed for the first time on ship, the following applications:
TASAPPS: A new dynamic data-driven web app to replace the static tasapps page. This was deployed during 359, but did not fully replace the old tasapps page. Rather, the old tasapps page now has a link at the top ("Check out the new page!"), which goes to the new TASAPPS application. The reason for this was as follows:

1. Early in the expedition it was quickly recognized that due to the sheer number of links on the ship-board tasapps pages, the design of the TASAPPS application would not be practical for use on ship.
2. Because of the initial strong negative reaction to the TASAPPS application by the LO, ALOs and others (which was due to the design problems), it was decided that even after the design issues were addressed (and there is a difference of opinion as to whether they've been resolved sufficiently), it would be better to leave the old pages up alongside the new TASAPPS app for the duration of this expedition.

DocSync: A new service installed on the developer's build server (C:\DocSync) that synchronizes various documentation files (lab software user guides and such) with an SVN repository that makes it possible to provide web links to the latest versions of these documents on TASAPPS. This application was initially envisioned as a continuously running Windows service, but at present operates only as a console application (due to limitations imposed by restricted access to Novell volumes) which should be periodically executed manually to capture any changes to the files it synchronizes.
Currently there are only a few documents synchronized by this application, and a link to each has been added to the TASAPPS application (via the NAV_DETAIL table in Oracle). They are:

• \\NOVARUPTA\VOL1\IODP_Share\IODP OFFICAL_IODP_Technical_Manual\Phyz Prop\MAD\Current\MADMax_QSG.pdf
• \\NOVARUPTA\VOL1\IODP_Share\IODP OFFICAL_IODP_Technical_Manual\Core Desc\Current\DESC\DESC_QSG.pdf
• \\NOVARUPTA\VOL1\IODP_Share\IODP OFFICAL_IODP_Technical_Manual\Core Desc\Current\SEM\SEMUP_QSG.pdf
• \\NOVARUPTA\VOL1\IODP_Share\IODP OFFICAL_IODP_Technical_Manual\Core Desc\Current\Imaging\Image Capture QSG.pdf
• \\NOVARUPTA\VOL1\IODP_Share\IODP OFFICAL_IODP_Technical_Manual\Chemistry\Current\Chloride_TITRA_MAN.pdf
• \\NOVARUPTA\VOL1\IODP_Share\IODP OFFICAL_IODP_Technical_Manual\DHML\Current\Temp data LIMS uploader.pdf

Analytical Gas Status: An HTML replacement for the gas bottle monitoring system used in the Chemistry Lab.
Value List Manager: A replacement for the existing Value List Manager application that has become largely non-functional because of its dependence on a discontinued Google Docs API. This application was not completed during this expedition and is still in progress.

Curation and Core Handling

SampleMaster

One defect was fixed that had caused the driller's core information to seem to disappear when null values were populated in the database for certain fields. Also, several minor fixes and enhancements requested by Chad Broyles were completed, but not deployed due to, initially, a bug in their implementation, but later due to the approaching end of the expedition. The version number of the problematic release that included Chad's changes was 10.1. We are currently operating at release 10.0.0.1 which includes the fix to the defect found by the drillers. I (Tim) believe that the problems in 10.1 have been resolved in current code, and the next SampleMaster release should include the latest changes. These changes/enhancements are:

1. Certain columns in the tables have two independent drop-downs – one is a combo-box-like drop-down, and the other is related to an "auto-complete" feature of the cells. The problem Chad highlighted was that when both drop-downs appear, the one on top is not the one that receives mouse input, making it difficult to know what you were selecting, and greatly increasing the likelihood of error in data input. This has been fixed.
2. Certain columns are very narrow, and when the drop-downs appear they are too narrow to see what you're selecting. This has been fixed so that the drop-down lists are wide enough to show the longest entry.
3. Chad requested that the configuration of hidden columns be persistent. Currently if one hides/reveals various columns, the configuration does not persist the next time SampleMaster is launched. This has been fixed. Also, the fix for this was where the problems originated which were found when 10.1 was deployed. I believe I've resolved those issues, so it should be safe to deploy this now.

Laser Engraver

No change. Operating with release 3 since Exp 350.

LIME (LIMS Editor)

No change. Operating with LIME 5.1 since Exp. 356.

Geology

DESCLogik

One major long-standing defect was fixed during this expedition. The defect was as follows: If the user blanked out a value that had been downloaded from LIMS, and subsequently uploaded the data, the expected result would be that the result represented by the blanked-out value would be canceled. Instead, the software would throw an unhandled exception and the upload would stop at that point. This defect has apparently been in the software for at least 2.5 years, and the techs (such as Maggie and Sandra) have employed a workaround, telling users they must always cancel such results first explicitly by right-clicking and selecting "Cancel" (which does not involve the defective code). The problem with this workaround is that when users update data by pasting large sections from Excel, values may be blanked out – possibly very many of them, and it is tedious and impractical to expect the scientist to first go through each one right-clicking and cancelling them individually before performing the paste. Users can now dispense with that practice, however the techs may retain a tendency to do this for some time before confidence in this feature returns. Operating at release 13.2.

Virtual core composite GENERATION (aka Virtual Photo Table)

No change. Operating with release 3.0.0.0 since tie-up 349P.

Stratigraphic Correlation

Correlator

No change.
It was planned that there would be changes to CORRELTOR during expedition 359, but the code hasn't been released yet from Lamont. The Correlator scientist was able to finish his work using the current version.

[SCORS Data File Download

|https://sites.google.com/a/scientific-ocean-drilling.org/developer-page/applications/java/jnlp/scors-downloader]Changed. Operating with release 6.0.

• Downloading section sample function is added to the new release.

SCORS Splice File Fixer

No change. Operating with release 10.0 since Exp 354.

Scors aFFINE/SPLICE uPLOADER

No change. Operating with release 1.0 since Exp. 353. Replaces application named AffineSpliceUploader.

resteasy-scors

No change. Operating with release 1.3 since Exp. 354.

Microscopy and Imaging

Closeup, Microphoto, Thinsection Capture

ImageCapture was changed. There was a defect where if there were certain characters (that are not allowed by Windows in a filename) in the sample name field, the software would crash when you tried to upload an image to LIMS. The specific case encountered had to do with the '<' and '>' characters, but others could also be a problem. This was fixed by replacing such characters by an underscore before using the name.

Scanning Electro Microscope (SEM) Uploader

No change. Operating with release 1.3 since Exp 356P. This application was tested and approved for deployment during the transit from Colombo, Sri Lanka and tie-up preceding Exp. 356. The SEM uploader was used for the first time during this expedition. No major issues were reported by techs or scientists. One minor issue was noted:

• When user selects a long description from drop-down list it causes the element to expand pushing the comment text box off the screen. The application must be maximized to access the comment text box.

Geophysics

Whole core systems

Whole-round logger (WRMSL), Special task logger (STMSL)

No change. Operating at MSL software release 6 since Exp 355.

Natural gamma Radiation (NGR)

No change. Operating with release 4 since Exp 353P.

Split core systems

Section half image logger (SHIL)

Minor changes were implemented, mostly as recommended by Bill Mills. The primary defect was that when scanning whole-round quadrants, the .roi file written by the software would include a reference to a "_trim" file that did not actually exist, causing the upload to fail. This was repaired. In addition, a few changes to the component names used for whole-round scans were changed to match what was planned for MUT and the WRLS analysis in LIMS.

Sonic velocity (GANTRY)

No change. Operating with release 3 since 355.

Reflectance and susceptibility (SHMSL)

No change. Operating at release IMS 8.4 SHMSL since Exp. 354.

Discrete sample systems

Thermal conductivity (TCON)

No change. Third party acquisition software. Operating with vendor TCON release 5.0.0 build 7 since Exp 335.Uploader utility. No change. Operating with release 1.3.1.0 since 341S.

Moisture and density (MAD)

No change. Operating with release 2.0.0.9 since Exp 344. Display shows different version than available in the distribution site.

Penetration Strength

No change. Operating with version 2.

Paleomagnetics

Kappa Bridge KLY-4S

No change. Operating with AMSPIN unchanged since Exp 335.

Superconducting magnetometer (SRM section)

No change. Operating with release 318 since Apr 2011.

Superconducting magnetometer (SRM discrete)

No change. Operating with release 318 since Nov 2011.

Geochemistry

Alkalinity

Two changes were made to this software. First was a change made by Algie on shore that fixed a defect where selecting different samples in the UI "drill-down" controls would not update the text ID field below. The second change was more minor. It was desired that a certain value be written to the log with greater precision. This was merely a matter of changing a single integer constant (the precision).
These changes to the code were made on the instrument host, which is also where the build was performed, and the changes have not been checked in.
A couple more problems persist: Certain samples, characterized by the chemistry lab techs as "RHIZON" samples (sample type "LIQ") do not appear in the drill-down UI, and the user must look them up in LORE and enter the text ID manually. It is not currently known why these samples (as opposed to other "LIQ" samples, which do not have this problem) do not show up.
The other request was that the software would make noises when tests were completed, etc. (but not the annoying, long film clips and such that were originally removed from the software).
Operating with release 5.1.

CHNS

No change. Operating with vendor FLASH_EA 3000 since 341P; and MUT 2.1.0.1 [TEST] since Exp 346.

Coulometer

No change. Operating Coulometer with release 2 since Exp 349.

Gas bottle monitoring

Changed. Operating with release 1. HTML version of Gas Status Monitor was deployed to replace Silverlight version. This version is environment friendly, can be viewed on any OS and Chrome and Firefox browser.
Pending
Labview version of reader for acquiring gas data located in Upper Tween storage area is still pending. Chem lab has been using Gas Status. Testing data will interfere the real data.

Downhole

TPFit Uploader

No change. Released version 3.

Development Tools and Frameworks

LabVIEW

Currently all production LabVIEW applications are built with LabVIEW 2014.

IMS Common tool box

Carried forward. No change.

SQL Developer

No change. Operating with version 4.1.0.18 since Expedition 354.

Other

Data Loaders

MegaUploadaTron5001 (MUT)

Many changes:

1. The JR6A analysis was added to the software. This is an all-new analysis module that uploads data from the JR6A spinner instrument in the PMAG lab. Due to some unique properties of the data files written by the instrument software, this uploader works somewhat differently than any other. The reader is directed to consult the "JR6A Uploader Specification" on the developer's Google site.
2. The JR6A analysis uses a ".csv" file, which is an extension also used by at least one other analysis. Problems were encountered when MUT would interpret this .csv file as belonging to the wrong analysis. Later on, it was discovered that this problem existed for other analyses as well. For this reason, a new feature was added to MUT enabling the user to "activate" and "deactivate" different analyses on any workstation running MUT. By default, all analyses are "active" (to preserve existing behavior), but it is recommended that we get into the habit of activating only those analyses needed at a given workstation. This will reduce the chance that changes to one analysis will impact others.

Operating with release 13.2.0.0.

Reporting

LORE

Changed.

• Created a new PWC report showing csf-a and csf-b depth.
• Created new WRLSC reports.
• Created new JR6A Spinner reports.
• A defect was fixed in resteasy-lore related to the "Personal Samples" report.

Thin Section Report Builder

Changed: Stop Editing function didn't work if nothing modified. Fixed it to work all the time, as requested by Maggie.

Thin Section Report Writer

Changed. Fixed a null-reference-type defect in the writer, which showed up as a "General Error" exception message box. This was a simple matter of checking a value for null before using, but could manifest in different situations. The software still seems to be fairly fragile, and I (Tim) believe there are many other similar fixes that need to be done.

LIMSspeak

Changed. Released version 2.1.

• Added a template showing GRA, NGR, and only the L* component of RSC. This was requested by the correlator.

Driller Report

Changed. The message returned is not friendly if login failed. The changes make the display feedback friendly.

WebTabular reports

No change. Operating with Release 6.

LIMS Reports

No change. Operating with release 7 since Expedition 349.

LIMS2Excel

No change.

Utilities

Thermconfileconverter

No change. Operating with release 0.4-BETA as of Exp. 356.

Libraries

IODPUtils: Changed. As part of the work on Value List Manager, many classes were moved out of IODPUtils, and into Desclogik's or SampleMaster's own private libraries.
LIMS.NET: Similarly, some classes were moved from IODPUtils to LIMS.NET, and from LIMS.NET into private application code. This was done to reduce the bloat of these libraries with code that was very specific to a single application.

Web Services

SUSE OES Tomcat Servers [Ararat, Rainier, Shasta, BUILD]

Auther: No change. Operating with Version 1.1 since Expedition 349.
ChangePassword: No change.
ReportOverview: No change.
UWQ: No change.
WTR: No change.
depth-services: No change.
resteasy-affinesplice-webservices: No change.
resteasy-auther: No change.
resteasy-desclogik-services: No change.
resteasy-drillreport: No change.
resteasy-error-reporting: No change.
resteasy-lims-sync. No change.
resteasy-qaqc. No change.
resteasy-asman: Changed. The version of asman in production at the start of the expedition was from code that was several years old, and it was found that it would not receive images from the new WRLSC uploader (the new WRIMG application), however, a build of asman based on the latest code had no problem. Therefore, upon agreement among the development team, the latest code was deployed on ship.
resteasy-lime: No change.
resteasy-lims-webservices. No change.
resteasy-lore. Changed. Fixed the bug that cannot display personal sample report.
resteasy-monitor. Changed.

• Add one more function to format JSON returned, the purpose of this function is for new application to easily process data. The new changes don't affect the old application.

resteasy-printer. No change.
resteasy-reports. No change.
resteasy-reqmgmt. No change.
sampling-services. No change. Operating at release 1.3.0.1-PJR-b9-20110905030644-fackler

Solaris Tomcat Server

Sites. No change.
labnotebookWebDav. No change.
resteasy-asman. See description of change above. Operating at release 2.5.0.1-PJR-b67-20111125070258-blaisdell
resteasy-image-tiling: No change. Operating at release 2.0.0.1-PJR-b12-20110905111358-fackler. Removed on all SUSE nodes. Service can only be used on the system providing the file backing store: the Solaris cluster.
Image tiling is triggered by MUT and Image Capture for the various image sets. Both are hardcoded for a given environment--remember to revise it at build-time.

Developer Resources

Office Space

No change.

Desktops

No change.

Servers

Load Balancing. Added WRIMG (the new WRLSC uploader) to the load balancer. Also briefly added an alternate build of resteasy-asman to the load balancer for testing, but this was later removed when the new version was deployed officially. These changes were effected by changing the "balancer.conf" file, and were done by the MCS.
Tomcat 7 Java 7 SUSE Linux OES. No change in Java version. OES was updated to new version during last tie-up.
Tomcat 7 on Build. Changed. Upgraded to Tomcat 7.0.53. Applied ojdbc7 library from Oracle 12.1.0.1.0.
Subversion code repositories.
Added the "jrdocs" repository, which is mastered on ship, with a shore mirror to be established soon. This repository is where documentation synchronized by the new "DocSync" application is maintained. HTTP links to documentation on TASAPPS extract files directly from this repository.
Also added two new repositories to be used by the new Value List Manager: "jrvlist" and "jrvlist_master". The former is intended to hold "project" lists, and be strictly local to the ship. The latter is expected to be the "master" repository which should eventually be a local read-only mirror of a shore-based repository. The specific details of how this will be implemented are still in flux.
Subversion repository replication mechanism. Pending. Add dedicated repository for LabVIEW applications on the shipboard side. It will be replicated to shore triggered by post-commit hooks.
Virtualization. Changed. Build box is now a virtual machine. The physical box became a console for virtual machine service management. Some work has been done toward creating a virtual for housing image tiling off of the Solaris cluster.
Barcode scanner rules. Most of these are in cumulus. Some are on specific workstation desktops. The scanner manual and selected barcodes that we use in programming the scanners are here: r:\AD\DEPLOY\Bar Code Information.

SYSTEM MANAGER'S REPORT

MIKE HODGE AND MINH HUYNH

Servers

Microsoft

• Starting with Expedition 359 Engineering catalog will be imported along with Techdoc catalog into Cumulus ship vault. For Expedition 360 an additional catalog will start to be imported called "Safety Data Sheets". Cumulus SOP has been edited to reflect how to process new catalogs and sent to shore for review.
• The Identity Finder server has been upgraded to version 8.1. The new workstations agents were installed and tested on all Userroom PCs and Macs. For the remaining JR workstations the agent will have to be deployed during a transit or tie-up period.

LINUX

• On Expedition 356 it was discovered that other file types besides logging DLIS files were not being properly handled in file transfer process. Lamont devised a new file transfer script that was tested by IODP shore and deployed on Expedition 360.
• The ZENWorks server for pushing applications and updates out to workstations has been successfully tested to deploy software to workstations in the Userroom. The ZENWorks agents will have to be deployed during a transit or tie-up period.
• Incurred one instance where AFP protocol for Mac workstation became hung and had to be restarted on Oct 20^th.
• Incurred one instance where Groupwise WebAccess became hung and had to be restarted on Oct 13^th..

SOLARIS

• During portcall Oracle became unstable due to clean-up efforts by developers for expedition. Solution was to migrate Oracle from server Pico to Etna then back to Pico resolved the matter. This was the equivalent of restarting Oracle without rebooting the servers

Oracle oda

• Started configuring new installation of Oracle's Database Appliance X4-2 ODA. This will ultimately replace our existing Oracle installation on Sun V490 servers.

VMWARE

• No incidents with any of the ESXi servers or virtuals (VMs) running on servers to report. Checked periodically during expedition and no errors or alerts.

EVA4000 SAN

• No incidents with the EVA to report. Checked periodically during expedition and no errors or alerts.

NEtwork

• Resolved network connectivity issue with Schlumberger Dog House. Two patch cables had failed along with the Trendnet Ethernet to fiber transceiver was wrong speed at 100 MB, needed to be 1 GB. Replaced all resolved matter.
• Changed MTU on WAN Interface on Sonicwall to 1472 in an attempt to improve traffic throughput on the satellite Internet link. The MTU on the firewall is set back to 1500 after no significant improvement in speed was observed.
• Loading Google sites in a browser randomly failed for most of the expedition. Was discovered that SonicWALL rule for blocking Skype traffic was also blocking Google sites. Bing.com searches were not affected. Disabled rule resolved matter. Investigating a solution to resolve Skype rule blocking Google sites.

Dell SonicWALL released a technical document with an alternate method for blocking streaming content such as Flash. This was implemented successfully.

Workstations

PC

• Replaced failed hard drive in Dell D630 LT51609 and reimaged laptop.
• Resolved two scientist's laptops that blue screened BSOD. Were able to initiate repairs and make them operational. Repaired one laptop with OS internal System Restore function and other laptop with Win7 SFC command.
• Uninstalled WinZip off of ~28 PCs to meet licensing compliance.
• Updated 6 workstations in Microscopy lab to Bugwin 2014 Aug 26 version 8.26. They were at different version levels or missing.
• PC52514 XRD-Bal encountered a hard drive failure. Replaced with a spare drive. Internal RAID rebuilt itself and resolved the matter.

MAC

• Re-imaged Mac Mini 52603 sent from shore as repaired.
• Upgraded Paragon NTFS to version 12 for Mac on following Mac-minis; MAC52621, MAC52622, MAC52623, MAC52624, MAC52638, MAC52630. Documented MCS Software License spreadsheet with license key info. Checked all deployed Macs on the ship for installed instances of the application. Of the six installs, five are located in the Userroom and the other is a spare in LTDAT. No other installs found.

printers:

• Printer HP4350 RF51688 (Open Ofc – EO printer) was jamming on every 3 or 5 page printouts, swapped in replacement RF51686 unit. Printer RF51688 was successfully repaired on the ship and returned to storage as a spare unit.
• One of the recently new Zebra barcode printers became problematic printing labels. Investigated the matter and found label and adhesive goop in label roll path. Wrote up an email discussing the matter along with a resolution and sent to all technical staff.

satellite/internet/phones:

• During transit from Darwin to Maldives incurred many short duration outages of 30 seconds or more. Every couple of days encountered complete outage where Rignet had to be contacted to reset modem at Germany's Land-Earth site. Efforts to mitigate this matter was; reviewed all parameter settings of equipment with Rignet, adjusted trims on satellite dishes on Oct 9^th and ultimately modem was replaced on Oct. 14^th. Mini outages persisted but, complete outages stopped.
• On Oct. 17^th worked with ETs and connected spectrum analyzer to investigate our spectrum frequencies. Observed some type of interference signal adjacent to our receive frequency. Output was captured of our receive frequencies and forwarded to Rignet. After exhausting all other options on Oct 21^st IntelSat with Rignet migrated our receive frequency to 80.7MHz from 65.53 MHz. Internet services became stable and mini-outages stopped.
• Nov 1^st swapped out failed UPS batteries in both dome's Below Deck Equipment (BDE) UPSs successfully.

other equipment/projects:

• During portcall gave a presentation on how to reboot or shutdown a Windows PC without applying updates. Discussed that updates should be applied when appropriate downtime was available during an expedition. Emphasized that updates do not break PCs and after applying updates to do a cursory check of the PC for functionality.
• Auxiliary AC belt replaced on Oct 6^th and on Nov 4^th