LAB OFFICER AND ALO CROSS-OVER NOTES

LISA CROWDER, BETH NOVAK, AND DAN MARONE

Expedition Info

Expedition 397 was a high recovery expedition with APC and XCB coring. XCB core recovery was higher than anticipated, likely due to the use of the PDC bits and PDC cutting shoes as well as the sediment type.  Final recovery was 6176 m of core with 104 percent recovery for the expedition.  We experienced a lot of waiting on weather time and had mechanical issues related to the forward core line winch cable kinking, which reduced the total recovery for the expedition. At 3 of the 4 sites we experienced core expansion due to gas.  At Site U1588, the gas in the cores was causing meters of core to be extruded from the liner before it could reach the catwalk, so the drill crew opted to do XCB half cores to allow for core expansion within the liner without losing material. This method was successful and we consistently recovered over 100 percent on each core.  One core returned with 182 percent recovery.  Due to the extreme gas expansion at U1588, the expedition recovery increased from approximately 95% to 104%.

Operational Dates and Portcall

• Lisbon, Portugal Oct. 11, 2022 – Tarragona, Spain Dec. 11, 2022
• Most JRSO Staff arrived in Lisbon by Oct. 9 and all spent at 4 days isolated in a local hotel and received two COVID-19 tests and results prior to boarding.
• The crew changes were two days later than the official portcall days.

Staffing

• JRSO recent hire as curator Jame Kowalski sailed in one of the high recovery extra tech spots.
• Program Aide Daniel Rudback sailed in one of the high recovery extra tech spots.  

COVID Protocol

Technical staff arrived to the hotel in Lisbon on October 9th. Hotel quarantine was carried until boarding the JR on the morning of the 13th. During the hotel quarantine everyone received a PCR and antigen which were both negative before boarding. One staff member who arrived on the 10th boarded on the 14th. Tech crossovers were conducted via ZOOM from the hotel. The PCR test on the dock (on the 15th) identified two positive cases, which led to some Covid spread on the ship.  Before leaving port, management decided we needed to try and work with Covid on the ship, which meant possibly having Covid positive people sharing cabins or work spaces with people who were negative if necessary. Any person who was uncomfortable working with Covid on the ship was given an option to disembark the ship before leaving port. Covid mitigation ended October 29th.

Shipping

We had emails from the Portugal agent that 4 shipments had issues once they reached the destination countries.  The shipments were originally carried by UPS.  It is unclear as to what the issue was, but 3 of the shipments were returned to Portugal.  The shipments were resent via DHL and made it to the scientists. The Archive sections are being shipped to 4 locations.  We color coded the boxes when we were boxing the sections to simplify the offloading process.  Portugal shipment is red, GCR shipment is Blue, Cambridge shipment is Silver, and all unpainted boxes are being sent to the BCR. We experienced issues again with the Kinley Cutter shipping.  Because there is no record of the Kinley cutters coming to the ship, import is an issue.  Shore approved the shipment as long as the items were not sent to IODP and therefore IODP was not the importer of record.

Offgoing:

SURF

• 1 Truck of core to Portugal
• 1 Truck of core to Cambridge
• 1 40ft. container to GCR including core and regular freight returning to College Station.
• 2 containers of core to BCR

FLATS

• 1 Flat with Schlumberger cable drum

RAF

• F397_RAF
• F397_SCHLUM

FAF

• F397FAF_BROO - Germany
• F397FAF_FLOR - Spain
• F397FAF_IKED - Japan
• F397FAF_PERA - France
• F397FAF_VERM - India
• F397FAF_WU - China
• F397FAF_XUAN - U.K.

WC

• F397WC_HEYG
• F397WC_HEYG2

On Coming:

• Chamber for the new freezer dryer in FPREP.  The freeze dryer itself is already in FPREP.
• TV in bridge science office does not work, replacement 55” TV in oncoming shipment.
• TVs for staterooms.

AMS/inventory/storerooms

• Spin mops are in UTSHOP. One was unpacked, other still in box. The extra mop heads are stored in the cabinet with the floor buffer pads.
• All HF (5 liters) were offloaded in Lisbon, Portugal.
• Two pXRF standards were sent to IODP via Tim Bronk at David Houpt's request
• When receiving Property, make sure to go to the property location page in AMS and make sure it appears in the right location.  We have been experiencing issues with the items showing up as in B135 after they have been received. 
• IODPS:  Discontinuing grey long sleeve?  Note that there are duplicates of the store items in the 398 shipment so it will appear you are going to receive double of some items, but Mia confirmed she did not send more than requested.  We have put in a large order for 398P due to the increased number of visitors.
• AMS address page was updated to display mobile phone number field on the shipping paperwork.  We have a request in with Saravanan to update the address page further and change the Phone and mobile fields to Primary Phone and Secondary Phone.
• Found we can buy the top cap/nozzle part of the red wash bottles (acetone bottles) from USPlastics. Added to inventory as LS5506 and 20 should be on order. These will go in the same drawer in UTS but be separately checked out from the whole bottle as we often only need to replace the cap. 

Discussion/important information for upcoming expedition

• Experienced flooding in the splitting room twice from the forward drain line (water backs up through sink drains.  The crew snaked the line twice and found some large rock pieces. We have ordered drain filters/inserts for the sinks and a new sediment trap to be installed along the forward wall.  It is best to also ensure everyone is trying to avoid putting rock cuttings down the drains when possible.  We also had the main splitting room drain flood, bringing water up out of the floor drains.  The crew worked on the lines, and we found a lot of sediment in the pipes.  They informed us the splitting room pipe goes to a 3 inch pipe and then down to a 2 inch pipe.  
• Issues with some computers having IODP launcher installed under ADMIN privileges, the IODP apps could not update or run properly as they were trying to access protected folders.  MUT2 had issues accessing necessary folders and could not upload files.  Some computers still require the use of .\daq as the username for systems to work properly.  The NGR is one of these systems.

Load outs and Sample Locations

• 397 Loadout
• Cold Shipment Locations

Miscellaneous

-Christmas Fire place is in TBULK by red and black end caps

-REQ was made for mesh/steel sink drain inserts for the three counter sinks in the splitting room. This is more of an effort for keeping rock out of the lines as we have recently had issues with both drainage sides of the splitting room clogging down the line(X397 forward drainage, X396 aft drainage).  A sediment trap was ordered to install in the splitting room and should be in the AF to 398.

-Replaced the paleo prep lab eyewash station as the hose was deteriorating.  We ordered a new hose as a spare, but it won't arrive until tie up.  The spare (used but good) eye wash and handle are in the UTS blue cabinet.

-Kevin Greiger completed drawings for the original style core cutter with some slight modifications.  A 3D model was left on board.  We have shipped a broken core cutter back to shore and will be working to have 2 made.

-The chemists replaced a balance in the last few days of the expedition.  It was too close to the end of expedition to ship the balance.  They were waiting on information from shore to determine if we should ship the balance back to IODP.  This may need to be shipped at the end of 398P.

Mountain of D-tubes in TBULK and Cores in the reefer at the end of Exp 397

Laboratory Summary

GENERAL

• TV in bridge science office does not work, replacement 55” TV in oncoming shipment
• Found three staterooms did not have TVs for the IPTV system. Six TVs in oncoming shipment, recommend place 3 in rooms missing them (M3, M4, M5) and replace the small “Curator” TV (Room U-11) and TV with no stand (Room F19) with a new ones.  One new TV and the old TVs will be spares. A spreadsheet is in ALO Folder/Entertainment/SNAP TV with a list of rooms and assets.
• The Scott Escape Packs need to go off during 398P for the 2-year inspection (Bottles do not need hydrotesting).  Spreadsheet is updated in IODP_OFFICIAL/SAFETY.

Core Deck

Core Lab: 

• ET made a stainless steel punch to make the cardboard microfossil holders.  Currently in ET Shop.

Track Systems: 

•  SRM degaussing x-coil overheated causing excessive heat to the shield and smoke.  The coil got caught in a ramping state at 80mT after a software abort.  The software abort issue is not resolved.  Training of staff and scientists is necessary and an alarm system was put in place.
• Magnetic susceptibility Loop on the STMSL (forward track) became noisy all of a sudden.  Coms cable was shielded and noise is minimal.

Microscopes:

• Utilized the new SEM for imaging and EDS.
• Scientists were not satisfied with the SEM images so the Hitachi SEM was set up in the Chemistry Lab where there was bench space.

Focsle Deck

 Chemistry Lab:

• Had trouble lighting the plasma on the ICP, after much testing it seems the argon supply was the problem.  The 4 bottles of argon will be vented and the rack will be going home anyway.

XRay Lab:

• PXRF was set up in the Downhole Lab.

Underway Geophysics Lab and Fantail

• ET further investigated the 3.5 kHz sonar and concluded there is a short below the bulkhead connector.

CURATION

CAREL LEWIS

Expedition Summary

A total of 10,154 samples were taken on Expedition 397. 4,859 samples were for shipboard analysis and 4,949 were for personal sample requests. The total recovery for the expedition was 6,176.72 m with a recovery of 104.17%.

Holes U1385F, U1385H, and U1588C each included a drilled interval at the top of the hole.  This was done each time because weather conditions prevented high quality recovery for APC coring.  The drilled interval allowed XCB coring to begin immediately.

Sampling for both shipboard analysis and limited sampling for personal sample requests was performed on board.

Two pilot studies were submitted during the expedition with request numbers 99922IODP and 100194IODP.  Each study involves collaboration with many scientists within the science party.

Shipments

113 boxes of core will be shipped to the Gulf Coast Repository (GCR) in College Station, Texas after the expedition. This shipment will include all archive section halves collected at site U1587.  581 boxes will be shipped to the Bremen Core Repository in Bremen, Germany.  This shipment includes all working section halves collected during the expedition and all archive section halves collected at site U1588.  8 boxes of residues will also be shipped to the Bremen Core Repository in a separate pallet.  98 boxes will be shipped to the Portuguese Institute for the Sea and Atmosphere in Lisbon, Portugal.  This shipment will include all archive section halves collected at site U1586.  It will include an additional 1 box of samples for Emilia Salgueiro and 3 boxes of samples for Fatima Abrantes.  109 boxes will be shipped to Cambridge University in Cambridge, the United Kingdom.  This shipment will include all archive section halves collected at site U1385.  It will include an additional 1 box of samples for Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr, 2 boxes of samples for David Hodell, and 2 boxes of samples for Harold Bradbury.

The core boxes were divided into Archive and Working pallets. Each core box is labeled by the box number followed by an ‘A’ (Archive) or ‘W’ (Working) to denote the section halves in the box. All cores were boxed in order, however, please refer to the Core Box Inventory sheets emailed with this report. The pallet inventory will also be sent to the GCR and BCR.

All split sediment sections were wrapped in Glad Clingwrap.

Frozen Shipments:

Lauren Haygood – 2 boxes

ATTN: Natascha Riedinger

Boone Pickens School of Geology

Oklahoma State University

105 Noble Research Center

Stillwater, OK 74078-3031

USA

lauren.haygood@okstate.edu

natascha.riedinger@okstate.edu

Tel: (1) 562-481-2161

Other Shipments:

Carlos Alvarez-Zarikian – 2 boxes

International Ocean Discovery Program

1000 Discovery Drive

Texas A&M University

College Station, TX, 77845 USA

zarikian@iodp.tamu.edu

Tel: (1) 979-845-2522

Harold Bradbury – 2 boxes

ATTN: Sasha Turchyn

Department of Earth Sciences,
University of Cambridge,
Downing Street,
Cambridge,
Cambridgeshire,
CB2 3EQ,
United Kingdom

avt25@cam.ac.uk

harold.bradbury09@alumni.ic.ac.uk

Tel: (44) 752-780-39883

Hannah Brooks – 1 box

EMR

Bergbau, Wullnerstrasse 2

RWTH Aachen University

Aachen, 52056

Germany

hannah.brooks@emr.rwth-aachen.de

Tel: 00491776904830

Emilia Carvalho- Salgueiro – 1 box

Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (IPMA)

Divisão de Geologia e Georecursos Marinhos

Av. Doutor Alfredo Magalhães Ramalho, 6

1495-165 Algés

Portugal

emiia.salgueiro@ipma.pt

Tel: (351) 962876532

William Clark – 3 boxes

201 7th Ave.
Room 2003 Bevill Building

University of Alabama Department of Geological Sciences

Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487 USA

wclark15@crimson.ua.edu

Louise Dauchy-Tric – Hand Carry

Paris World Physics Institute

1 Rue Jussieu

Paris, France 75005

dauchy@ipgp.fr

Tel: (33) 682-320-287

Viviane dos Santos Rocha – 1 box

Northern Illinois University, Geology and Environmental Geosciences

DeKalb IL, 60115 USA

Z1932945@students.niu.edu

Tel: (1) 815-753-7925

José-Abel Flores Villarejo – 3 boxes

University of Salamanca, Facultad De Ciencias, Department of Geology

Salamanca, Spain, 37008

flores@usal.es

Tel (Cell): (34) 923-294-497

Tel (Office): (34) 683 664 140

Fatima Guedes Abrantes - 1 box

Marine Geology and Georesources (DivGM)

Portuguese Institute for the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA)

Av. Doutor Alfredo Magalhães Ramalho 6

1495-165 Algés

Portugal

fatima.abrantes@ipma.pt

livia.gebara@ipma.pt

Tel: (351) 21 302 7000

Timothy Herbert

Brown University Department of Geological Sciences

Providence, RI 02912 USA

Timothy_Herbert@brown.edu

Tel: (1) 401-863-1207

Sophia Hines – 2 boxes

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

266 Woods Hole Road

MS #25

Woods Hole MA, 02543 USA

shines@whoi.edu

Tel: (1) 508-289-3483

David Hodell – 2 boxes

ATTN: James Rolfe

Godwin Laboratory for Palaeoclimate Research
Downing Street, University of Cambridge, Department of Earth Sciences

Cambridge, United Kingdom, CB2 3EQ

dah73@cam.ac.uk

EORI#: GB 823 847 609 000

Tel (Cell): (44) 790-783-2177 – James Rolfe

Tel (Cell): (44) 790-782-3177

Huai Hsuan Huang – 2 boxes

Department of Paleobiology, MRC-121

Smithsonian Institute

Washington D.C., 20013, USA

huanghuaihsuan@gmail.com

Tel: (1) 202 451 8259

Hisashi Ikeda – 1 box

Yamaguchi University, Geosphere Sciences

Yamaguchi City, 753-8512, Japan

Hisashi.0906@outlook.jp

Tel: (81) 83-933-5750

Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr – 1 box

Samples shipping to Hodell

Junichiro Kuroda

Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute

University of Tokyo

5-1-5 Kashiwanoha

Kashiwa, Chiba, 277-8564

Japan

kuroda@aori.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Tel: (81) 4 7136 6120

Jasmin Link

Im Neuenheimer Feld 229

Heidelberg University

Institute of Environmental Physics

Heidelberg, 69120

Germany

jasmin.link@iup.uni-heidelberg.de

Tel: (49) 622 154 6517

Jerry McManus – 1 box

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

61 Route 9W

Palisades NY, 10964, USA

jmcmanus@ldeo.columbia.edu

Tel: (1) 845-365-8722

Bryce Mitsunaga – 2 boxes

324 Brook St.

Brown University, Dept. of Earth Environmental and Planetary Sciences

Providence RI, 02912, USA

bryce_mitsunaga@brown.edu

Tel: (1) 858-692-6396

Lucien Nana Yobo – 1 box

Texas A&M University, Department of Geology and Geophysics

611 Ross St. Halb. 108

College Station TX, 77843, USA

Inanayobo@tamu.edu

Tel: (1) 979-845-2451

Celeste Pallone – 1 box

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

61 Route 9W

417 Comer

Palisades, NY 10964

United States

cpallone@ldeo.columbia.edu

Tel: (1) 732-865-2858

Xiaolei Pang

Peking University Centre for Ocean Research

Beijing, Haidian District 100871, China

xiaolei.pang@outlook.com

Tel: (86) 13581609995

Marion Peral – 2 boxes

UMR CNRS 5805 EPOC - OASU

University of Bordeaux

Site de Talence - Batiment B18N

Allee Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire

Bordeaux

CS 50023

France

marion.peral@u-bordeaux.fr

Tel: (33) 638-031-749

Saray Sanchez

Oregon State University

2651 SW Orchard Ave

Burt Hall 130

Corvallis, Oregon 97331

USA

sanchsar@oregonstate.edu

Tel: (1)503-983-6061

Komal Verma – 2 boxes

Micropaleontology Lab Banaras Hindu University

Department of Geology

Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh 221005, India

komalbhu@gmail.com

Tel (Office): (91) 876 584-5162

Tel (Personal): (91) 907-663-6619

Jiawang Wu – 3 boxes

C604, Haiqin #3

SYSU Zhuhai Campus

Daxue 2

Sun Yat-Sen University

519082 Zhuhai

Guangdong, China

jwwu@tongji.edu.cn

Tel: (86) 187-8981-1385

Chuang Xuan – 1 box

University of Southampton

School of Ocean and Earth Science

National Oceanography Centre Southampton

University of Southampton Waterfont Campus

European Way

Southampton, SO143ZH

United Kingdom

EORI GB56806304 14000

Importer: University of Southampton

c.xuan@soton.ac.uk

Tel: 44 (0) 7508618818

Jimin Yu  - Hand Carry

Mr Guangyu Gao

Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao)

No. 168 Wenhai Middle Road

Aoshanwei Town

Jimo District

Qingdao city

Shandong Province, 266200

China

lanceggy@foxmail.com

jimin.yu@anu.edu.au

Tel: (86) 18505468676

Tel: (86) 0532 5855 1311

Tel: 61-02-6125-9967

The frozen shipment will be sent directly to the scientist via World Courier.  International shipments will be sent directly to scientists from the ship.  All shipments to American-based scientists will be sent to the GCR, then sent to individuals from there.  Shipments to Harold Bradbury, Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr, and David Hodell will be sent to David Hodell’s facility via the shipping container containing U1385 archive halves.  Shipments to Fatima Abrantes and Emilia Salgueiro will be sent to Fatima Abrantes’ facility via the shipping container containing U1586 archive halves

Site Conversions

The conversion between pre-site to site identifiers are listed below:

Site Summary

U1586

Hole A: APC/XCB to 350 m with 339.56 m recovery

Hole B: APC/XCB to 350 m with 335.13 m recovery

Hole C: APC/XCB to 349.1 m with 334.37 m recovery

Hole D: APC/XCB to 350 m with 337.79 m recovery

U1587

Hole A: APC/XCB to 500 m with 478.13 m recovery

Hole B: APC/XCB to 547.8 m with 534.27 m recovery

Hole C: APC/XCB to 567.9 m with 553.34 m recovery

U1385

Hole F: Drilled interval to 96.9 m, APC/XCB 303.1 m to 400 m total penetration with 290.79 m recovery

Hole G: APC/XCB to 397.3 with 396.3 m recovery

Hole H: Drilled interval to 114.6 m, APC/XCB 284.6 m to 399.2 m total penetration with 284.97 m recovery

Hole I: APC/XCB to 152.5 m with 145.37 m recovery

Hole J: APC/XCB to 400 m with 397.77 m recovery

U1588

Hole A: APC/XCB to 353 m with 378.37 m recovery

Hole B: APC/XCB to 350 m with 456.08 m recovery

Hole C: Drilled interval to 92 m, APC/XCB 261.6 m to 353.6 m total penetration with 345.04 m recovery

Hole D: APC/XCB to 412.5 m with 569.44 m recovery

Catwalk Sampling

The Expedition 397 Catwalk Sampling Strategy is shown below. The following samples were routinely taken:

Head Space (HS) – (1) 5 cc syringe per core, 1 every other core for half-APC and half-XCB

 Interstitial Water (IW) – (1) 5 - 10 cm WRND per core  

Paleontology (PAL) – (1) 5 cm WRND per core

MUDLINE samples were collected at each hole.

RHIZON samples were collected at each site.    

Residues

The residue distribution is as follows:

Sample Request Codes and Numbers

Below is a list of the samples requests that were approved by the Expedition 397 SAC and their respective Sample Request Codes:

Problems Encountered

• Cracked and Broken Liner:  Cracked and broken liners were dealt with by attaching liner patch using a combination of acetone and sonic welding.
• Catwalk Application:  Catwalk crashed once during the expedition.  Both times this was due to a user trying to open the Catwalk application while there was a Catwalk window already running.  After restarting the computer, the program operated without issues.
• Gaseous Expansion:  All sites experienced gaseous expansion within the core lab, however, site U1588 had significantly more than the other three sites.  Hole A included cores that pushed sediment through and out the top of the core barrel.  This expansion continued into XCB material.  Deep in hole A, coring was shifted to half advance XCB with alternating 4.8 and 4.9 m advances.  This method gave space for the core to expand and prevented loss of material.  This method was adopted in the subsequent three holes as well, along with switching from APC coring to XCB much earlier.  Holes B, C, and D each had over 130% recovery.
• XCB in Core Barrel:  While drilling sites U1586, U1587, and U1385, XCB coring had a very high recovery rate near or exceeding 100%.  This high recovery meant that small amounts of gaseous expansion pushed pieces of core out of the top of the liner, so they remained stuck in the core barrel when the liner was removed.  These pieces had to be washed out and added back to the rest of the core.  They were either pushed back into the top of the liner, or, in cases where the material stuck in the barrel exceeded 50 cm, were put in half liners as a separated section 1.  This material was considered disturbed, and noted in the section comments.
• Rhizon Sampling:  Initially, rhizon sampling was intended to take place in sections 1 and 3 of each APC core.  While taking samples from the first site, it was noted that section 1 consistently took significantly longer than section 3 to draw water.  We changed sampling to sections 3 and 5, and did not have these issues again.  It is unknown why there was such a consistent and significant difference.

CORE LAB

LARS DANIEL RUNBÄCK & LARS JAMES KOWALSKI

Floor repair

The floor next to the door leading into the splitting room (at the working-half D-tube rack) had been damaged by the screws on the underside of the pressure-plate connected to the door. The floor was repaired by first using a dremel tool to clean the area, and then a 2 part epoxy was used to fill in the damaged sections. After curing, the area was then sanded down in preparation for painting (not yet painted). In order to prevent further damage, the pressure plate with the rubber mat was placed outside this door. There is only 1 pressure plate with a rubber mat, and it should be placed outside the splitting room door by the work half core rack. All of the other pressure plates should rest on the blue floor mat. The area will be painted after core lab cleaning.

Flooding issues in the split room

On multiple occasions water from the splitting room pipes backed up into the sinks under the sample saws and the free standing table. Several attempts were made to clear the issue ourselves, but in the end Siem-crew came and snaked the pipes and found some large rock pieces.  The super saw drains also backed up (on a separate occasion) and the SIEM crew had to snake the other drain lines and pressurize the lines to clear the blockage.  The crew indicated that there was a lot of sediment build up and that the pipes narrow down to 2 inches outside of the splitting room, leading to more restriction of the water flow.  In an effort to prevent these issues in the future a 2 gallon sediment trap has been ordered for the forward wall for the sample saw drain line.  Sink drain screens were ordered to help catch larger pieces of rock before they enter the drains.  We also began flushing more water down the super saw drains after splitting to hopefully flush the sediment through the pipes before it could settle. 

Super Saw

The door on front of the super saw (driver side) detached from the super saw.  It appeared that the spot welds had failed.  The SIEM crew assisted by putting in pop rivets to hold the door securely.  After a month with this repair, the rivet on the blade side of the door began to rust and the door was starting to become loose again.  The rivet on the saw side was removed and a stainless steel bolt and nut were used to secure the door. 

At approximately the expedition midpoint, the core saw began to cut the core liner in an uneven fashion, producing a wavy surface on the liner. To retain cutting integrity the old saw blade was replaced with an identical model. First use of the new blade created irrationally loud noises and vibration but these issues were fixed with a short interval of brick cutting before continuing with the core.

Cutting core liner extensions - New Method

A new method for cutting the core liner patch into smaller pieces when creating core liner extenders was developed.

The new-style core cutter is fastened black handle side down in the downhole bench top vice.  Slide a piece of core liner inside the liner patch to act as a support.  Insert the core liner to the desired length of extender.   The liner patch and the template tool is then placed in the core cutter so that the core cutter blade cuts just after the core liner template tool ends. The core cutter is then closed by pushing the liner patch down. Next rotate the liner patch 360 degrees until the cut is complete.  It may be helpful to have a second tech assist with the rotation.  This method produces clean even cuts that do not require any clean up afterwards.

Sure Grip Saw Controller Joystick Boot Rip

A rip in the boot of the saw controller joystick developed after heavy use of the splitting saw. A rubber glove was fastened over the boot with zip ties to prevent any moisture from entering the joystick interior. As this is a quick fix, the joystick boot will have to be replaced using a part from Sure Grip or a rubber boot from a general hardware provider. Sure Grip has been emailed about a potential part buy, but they have not replied.

Laser Engraver Door Bottom Replacement

The gray bottom piece of the laser engraver door was damaged while taping labels to cores. Rather than super-gluing it back on, the piece was reconstructed from a slab of plastic and attached to the door using metal screws.

Laser Engraver Air flow Sensor 

The laser engraver malfunctioned and the air flow sensor alarmed with a low alarm.  The air flow sensor was replaced and the laser functioned properly.  There are no spares on board, but new air flow sensors are on order.    After examining the bad air flow sensor the ETs noticed a broken connection in the tip of the sensor.  They recommend that no one blow air or wipe the sensors as this can cause the connection in the sensor tip to detach and cause the sensor to malfunction. 

Miscellaneous

The eyewash station in the paleo prep lab was replaced due to a faulty hose being found during the weekly eye wash station checks.  We replaced the entire eye wash station.  The used eye wash hardware is in UTS and a new hose was requisitioned as a spare.

CORE DESCRIPTION

FABRICIO FERREIRA

Summary

• GEODESC applications (TemplateManager, DataCapture and DataAcess) had been used for the first time during the Expedition 397. A total of 6176.72 meters of sediments have been described, recovered from four sites and 16 holes (U1385F/G/H/I/J, U1586A/B/C/D, U1587A/B/C, and U1588A/B/C/D); 
• Eight sedimentologists, and four biostratigraphers (2 planktonic foraminifera, and 2 calcareous nannofossil) used GEODESC applications. Core Description and Paleontology templates were accordingly adjusted by the scientist, with eventually help of the technicians;
• Core Description templates include drilling disturbance, and sediments – macroscopic and microscopic (smear slides) scales.
• LIVE for GEODESC was restricted to Drilling Disturbance type and Lithology full name panels; no issues to report.
• Paleontology templates include: planktonic foraminifera, and calcareous nannofossils.
• Correlator application was extensively used.
• The Thin Section Report Builder and Writer had been used for all shipboard thin sections, of which over four were taken at the time of this report.
• The new SEM SNE-4500M Plus, was has been extensively tested,  and presented low image quality. The SEM Sputter Coating was complete cleaning.
• DESClogik folder (T:\IODP_Share\ALL things DESClogik) has been reviewed and cleaned, freeing up approximately 32 GB.

GEODESC

GEODESC are a set of applications dedicated to the core description and biostratigraphy datasets, and were intensively used. Until the elaboration of this report, approximately 6176.72 meters of sediments have been described, recovered from four sites and 16 holes (U1385F/G/H/I/J, U1586A/B/C/D, U1587A/B/C, and U1588A/B/C/D). The current versions were:

• TemplateManager v1.0.0;
• DataCapture v1.0.8;
• DataAcess v0.1.11;

The Expedition 397 was the first to use those applications for the sedimentary core descriptions (8 scientists), as well as planktonic foraminifera (2 scientists) and calcareous nannofossil (2 scientists) biostratigraphy. Templates were adjusted for the scientist with eventually help of the technicians. For macroscopic core description the templates used were fine-grained-sediments and drilling-disturbance, while for the microscopic scale the templates smear-slides-simple and templates smear-slides-detailed (thin-section) were used. The core describes, with the EPM and Coochiefs support, decided do not use Munsell Soil Colors Charts for the core descriptions. The paleontologist used the planktonic-foraminifera and nannofossils templates.

The scientist overall evaluation of the applications was good, where the DataCapture have been the highest rated application, while DataAccess was the lowest rated. Additionally, the scientists and technical staff present some suggestions to improve the templates creation/edition and the user experience on the GEODESC applications. The following suggestions were presented during the expedition to the developer group and also presented in the Geology LWG Metting:

• DataCapture:
  • Upper panels “memory” (Selected Template and Create Workset dashboard). When refreshing the screen (a.g. after create or open any workset) the user selections of Scale, Type, Expedition and Site and Template are lost. For that will be easier, quickly and comfortable if the user didn’t lose those information in the dashboards - under review by the developer group;
  • Worksets list sorted by descending order, that mean with the newest at top - under review by the developer g
  • roup;
  • Read-only version for the workset in use, instead to download on the DA - under review by the developer group;
  • Automatically add WRND in entries, and/or do not add lines with WRND, and/or automatically color of the WRND in any template - under review by the developer group;
  • Staff special permission to release locked worksets – implemented during the Expedition 397.

• DataAcess:
  • Allow download the datasets with CSF-B depth scale - under review by the developer group;

Issues

•   DataCapture:

1.      If one adds a suffix (e.g. clay), and later decides to remove it, the word “with” remains in the Lithology full name column unless ones clicks 'Delete' on the keyboard (Figure 1) - under review by the developer group;

Figure 1. Example of the "with" remains issue. 

2.      When enter a line break in a comment in DataCapture (Shift + Enter; Figure 2 - Line 5), it will mess up the entry in DataAccess.

Figure 2a. Line break enter in the DataCapture comment (line 5). 

In the DataAccess downloaded .tsv file, there will be a new line and the columns do not align anymore (Figure 3 - line 422 and 423).

Figure 2b. File downloaded (.tsv) with DataAccess and issue associated to the add line break in the comments field (lines 422 and 423).

Correlator Application

• The Correlator application was extensively used by two scientists. The current version is 4.0.1 (Windows version);
• Some suggestions were presented during the expedition to the developer group and also presented in the Geology LWG Metting, and  they are under review and evaluation by the developer group.
• The PC workstation #91218 was used exclusively for correlation.  The Mac workstation #91078 was not used due to poor performance.

DESClogik

• The DESClogik application was not used. The current version is 16.2.0.0;

The DESClogik folder (T:\IODP_Share\ALL things DESClogik) was reviewed to clean up duplicate files, and data previously saved elsewhere on the server and onshore.

Initially, the folder was using around 60 GB (within 7141 folders; 39483 files) of the server. Where approximately 50% (29.3 GB) of the contents are related to expeditions and their respective results (identified as DESClogik_EXPXXX; Table X; Figure X), while the remaining 50% (29.3 GB) were divided into different subjects (identified as Others; Table X; Figure X). For the DESClogik_EXPXXX folders (29.3 GB total), approximately 81% (23.5 GB) of the content is related to two subjects: 55% related to the TS Reports (16 GB), and 24% related to scanned Logsheets copies (7.31 GB). While for the Others folders (29.3 GB total), 89% (26.30 GB) are concentrated in the References folder.

Table 1. Number of folders and files; total (GB) and relative (%) size of the DESClogik folder (T:\IODP_Share\ALL things DESClogik) before and after the cleaning up, and freed up space.

After the initial evaluation and following group discussion, the cleaning up was made. The main modifications are: remove the (1) duplicate TS Reports, and the TS Reports thumbnail folders; remove the (2) scanned Logsheets folders; and (3) duplicate Values List. The TS Reports PDFs were maintained almost entirety, with only the duplicates removed. With that, are managed to free up approximately 31% of space (31.8 GB) from the ALL things DESClogik folder (Table 1; Figure 3).

Figure 3. Total (GB) size of the DESClogik folder (T:\IODP_Share\ALL things DESClogik) before (black) and after (green) the cleaning up, and freed up space (orange).

LIVE

• LIVE for GEODESC applications was restricted to Drilling Disturbance type and Lithology full name panels;
• template and panels were created for the sediments lithology dull name and drilling disturbance (397_DESC);

Thin Section Report Builder and Writer

• Thin section reports were created for all thin section descriptions (X in total), and all viable thin sections were described in GEODESC;
• No issues to report,

SEM

• SEM SNE-4500M Plus, was has been extensively tested, however did not present good results (Figure 4a); the figure 4b shows the difference in quality between the images acquired by SEM SNE-4500M Plus (black bar) and SEM Hitachi (white bar);
• SEM Hitachi  was installed in the geochemistry lab by the imaging specialist technician, so that paleontologists could acquire their images;
• SEM and sputter coater have been regularly used; 
• See Image specialist report for more details;

Figure 4a. Image quality and distortions problems presented by SEM SNE-4500M Plus.

Figure 4b. Difference between images acquired for the same specimen between SEM SNE-4500M Plus (black bar) and SEM Hitachi (white bar).

SEM Sputter Coating

• SEM Sputter Coating had been complete cleaning (as presented below);

• The vacuum pump hose was replacement.

Issues

• SEM Sputter Coating took a longer time to reach the maximum chamber vacuum (more than 15 min, on average); the equipment was cleaned (as shown in the previous item); in addition, the vacuum pump hose had been replaced as well.

 Paleontology wet LAB

• The Lab was used by the four paleontologists, two planktonic foraminfera and two calcareous nannofossil.
• No issues to report.

Microscope LAB

• No issues or updates to report;

Data Backup

• All GEODESC data was exported to Excel and saved on a hole-by-hole basis to data1/10.1 Core description, and copied to Uservol.
• GEODESC data will be backed up at the official "End of Expedition" around 09 December; however, the scientists who stayed behind have continued to make changes to core descriptions, so a second backup will be performed when these changes have been finished.
• All SEM files (tiff and txt) were saved to data1/25.1 SEM and uploaded to LIMS (by the scientists).

Items Received:

None

Items Order:

None

IMAGING SPECIALIST

SANDRA HERRMANN

Summary

Expedition 397 was a typical oceanography cruise with microscope usage by sedimentologists and paleontologists. All groups were furthermore introduced to the two available SEMs and the Zeiss camera on the Axio Imager microscope in the MBIO area. 

Imaging services provided:

• Head shot posters
• Download and proof line scan core images
• Shot close-ups
• Production, editing, capturing and shipboard approval of the weekly photos
• Production of group photos
• Printing of T-shirt logo
• T-shirt printing party
• Clean and adjust microscopes, change and center objectives etc.

PICAT

The PICAT was used for a few sediment thin sections. No issues to report.

CLOSEUP

A page of CLOSEUPs were requested and captured. No issues to report.

MICROSCOPES

Microscopes were set up for nannofossil and foraminifer paleontologists as well as sedimentologists. An old 100x Oil objective was requested for the nannofossil scope. The objective was added with one of the adapters and both scientists were instructed to carefully move the objective into use as the particular setup causes this objective to now stand out further than the others, which could cause them to run it into the stage when turning.

Image Capture

The pop-up that confirms that an image is uploaded was an issue for some paleontologists, so the removal of that button was requested from the developers. The software was deployed without testing and approval and caused a temporary shut-down as the new PC configuration did not allow the old software to be uninstalled with IODP Launcher in order to update to the new version. The MCSs and developers worked together on fixing the problem. This prompted more communication between the IT groups so that this Launcher and deployment issues shouldn't reappear.

SHIL

Bug report (Figure 1):

The uncropped image is not uncropped at the bottom of the section. The top of the section is not impacted. At the bottom, the image gets cropped by the cropping mechanism that is only supposed to impact the processed cropped image.

Stated in bug report: According to Bill Mills this was a feature implemented to prevent issues extracting the RGB data between sections. (Feature not a bug) Recommend to train everyone to ensure that the entire core is in the crop window.

Figure 1: SHIL uncropped image - top: as it should be, bottom: current uncropped image.

PHOTOGRAPHY

No issues encountered. All equipment is working well.

PRINTER

EPSON STYLUS 4900

No issues encountered. 

EPSON ecotank

No issues encountered. 

Additional projects:

New SEM-EDS (SNE-4500M Plus)

What I did to make progress and trying to resolve the issues:

• I gave multiple general introductions on the usage and the sputter coater and SEM at the beginning of the expedition.
• I gave several one-on-one sessions on sputter coater, SEM and EDS -each one about 1 to 1.5 hrs.
• I did trouble shooting of the sputter coater (pump oil change, extended cleaning of chamber components) when vacuum failed to be achieved, hence sputtering was not available. I instructed the technician on the opposite shift on how to continue to trouble shoot. 
• I researched and learned how to prepare a thin section sample for EDS from publications and talking to the thin section technician.
• I contacted shore support as well as the NannoImage representative to trouble shoot EDS problems that arose. I added the additional information to the manuals.
• I wrote a basic steps how to insert and retrieve a sample from the SEM one-by-one simple guide.

We were not able to take satisfying images on the SEM. Several paleontologists used the SEM and tried to get images. A magnification of about x150 is shown here (source: Carlos Zarikian) in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Ostracod images from the SNE-4500M Plus, a) without, b) with image distortion, c) a similar ostracod image taken on shore.

EDS measurements were performed on two very different samples, a potential microtektite (a dusting of bulk sample on a pelco tab on a stub) and a sandstone thin section. Both samples were sputter coated with carbon, whereby only half of the thin section was coated to be able to switch between light microscopy on one side and SEM-EDS on the other (Figure 3). The spectra acquired on the microtektite showed high concentrations of metals, as expected (Figure 4). The thin section shows micrometer lamination of carbonate layers interbedded with siliciclastic layers (Figure 5). Object measurements of single grains of sandstone indicated clear distinctions in element composition. With that, it could be confirmed that the microtektite layer displayed an equally high amount of metallic elements throughout demonstrated by very similar spectra in all object measurements.

Figure 3: Half-coated thin section.

Figure 4: Microtektie EDS mapping result and spectra.

Figure 5: Sandstone EDS mapping result and spectra from two different grains.

In summary, the SEM-EDS is working on the ship. SEM image acquisition was not satisfactory based on scientists feedback. EDS results are good and helped the scientific discoveries of this expedition.

Old SEM (Hitachi)

The old SEM was disconnected during 397P and stored in the Zoom room on 397T. Due to the marginal performance of the SNE-4500 in the image capability sector, the co-chiefs and EPM requested to bring the older SEM model back to life. The instrument was staged in the chemistry laboratory together with the MCSs providing PC support, ALOs and technicians helping secure it and I connected the pieces, aligned the electron beam and checked the image quality with the standard stub (Figure 6).

Warnings about the Turbo Molecular Pump and Diaphragm pumps needing service are known issues. The vendor recommendation on how to turn the warning off is currently investigated. If the problem continues, click OK for both warnings. It will still work.

Figure 6: The Hitachi SEM in the chemistry lab.

Zeiss microscope camera

The 397 sedimentologists and paleontologists were introduced to the Zeiss camera, including the guide I drafted on 397P. The overall feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Comparison images were taken on the Axio.Imager 2 with the Zeiss camera, and the SPOT camera to achieve 1:1 comparability. In my opinion, the SPOT and Zeiss camera show equal quality images when used in ow resolution of up to 20x. When magnification increases, the Zeiss camera shows clearer, crisper images, as shown in Figure 7.

1)                                                                                                                                                                                       2)

3)                                                                                                                                                                                       4)

Figure 7: Image comparison of SPOT and Zeiss 506 camera on the same type of microscope and they same sample: 1) forma sand on stereoscope, 2) 10x sediment thin section on light microscope, 3) 40x sediment thin section on light microscope and 3) nannofossil smear slide on light microscope.

Items received

none

Items ordered

none

Items shipped to shore

none

Miscellaneous

Items are to be received during 398: 2 x XY mechanical stages including slide holders. Please label them according to their microscope usage: 432035-9021-000 plus 432301-0000-000 for Axio Imager, 43035-9000-000 and 432333-9000-000 for Axio A1. These are not to be installed interchangeable.

PUBLICATIONS

ALYSSA STEPHENS

Summary

My primary duties included collection of publication materials from the scientists, and generating the visual core descriptions (VCDs, or graphic core summaries). I generated VCDs daily for 4 sites and 16 holes: U1385F, U1385G, U1385H, U1385I, U1385J, U1586A, U1586B, U1586C, U1586D, U1587A, U1587B, U1587C, U1588A, U1588B, U1588C, & U1588D. We recovered only sediment so I was able to use the same Strater template for VCDs throughout. This was the first expedition where a science party (live on the ship!) described the data and entered into Geodesc; the description data was quite detailed, there was a bit of a learning curve for the scientists as they figured out the software, and there were a few instances of re-description (as a result of continued discussion between the two core description shifts). Because of this, I repopulated the VCDs a few times, but I feel confident that they are now in a good state and that all parties are satisfied with the product. I was able to crossover with both shifts to discuss their wishes as to how data should appear within the VCDs. Decisions regarding the final VCD templates and lithology colors, patterns, and symbols are finalized; however, these may be updated onshore as usually happens at the editorial post-cruise meeting. 

I also generated core recovery figures for all holes (and repopulated these as well) throughout the expedition, so that the group would be able to show trends in their presentations/reports; this also aids them in informing their sample requests. These were provided to the scientists electronically via the server. In addition, I assisted the scientists with figure creation for the volume as needed.

I collected publication materials (and kept tracking logs) for U1586, U1587, U1385, and U1588, as well as the Methods chapters. I also created a draft of the VCD legend figures for the Methods chapter. 

Additionally, I created the core composite images using Virtual Photo Table. I also collected the Thin Section and Smear Slide spreadsheets from Geodesc.

When I had free time, I assisted on the catwalk and provided assistance in the core lab. I was able to assist with all aspects of coring activities: from receiving, to splitting, to running the physical properties instruments as time allowed. I appreciated this opportunity to be more involved in helping and enjoyed the hands-on processes in the core lab. 

Additionally, I did the usual Yeoperson's duties (passport collection and handling, check-in/check-out list for Brad, travel information collection for the radio operator, secretarial duties, managing the T-shirt logo contest, organizing birthday cards and general festivities, assisting other techs as needed), and helping with off-going information in the time of COVID (PCR/Antigen tests, travel requirements, and restrictions).

Equipment & Software Performance Summary

Software used: Strater 5, Acrobat, Illustrator CS6, PhotoShop CS6, Excel, DESC, L2E, LORE, Virtual Photo Table, Word, and Outlook. All the software worked fine on the PC and the Mac.

Database, entries, and data upload or download related

L2E was used to export depth, section, core scale, title, core images, samples, analysis data, and core composites photos. It worked well with no issues in performance.

Geodesc export was used for all core descriptive data. There were no issues with its performance. While I had worked on this project, and had utmost confidence it would perform well, I was still very impressed by its first live ship performance. The learning curve for the scientists seemed simple (everyone took to the software and understood it quite intuitively right away). Additionally, downloading the spreadsheets I needed for my VCDs was very fast and easy. I was able to use them to populate my VCDs through Strater absolutely seamlessly. I had no issues whatsoever and was very pleased with its performance on both the input and output ends.

Virtual photo table was used for creation of the core composites. I used LIMS reports to then download these for my records. No issues occurred.

Volume Materials

There is a medium amount of volume material so far and it has been halfway collected as of writing this. I am awaiting volume materials for the last two sites, methods chapters, and the PR. But as we are still coring the last site, this is to be expected. I fully expect to have all materials by the time we get off the ship, as we are already in good shape. I have prepared my tracking logs for text, tables, and figures. 

I updated the VCDs daily - printed hard copies of the VCDs and provided the scientists with this copy in a binder on the core deck. PDFs were placed on the Uservol server in a separate VCD folder that I had notified the scientists I would create for them to view if they preferred a digital copy. 

General Duties Performed

• Exported data using L2E, Geodesc, and LORE; reviewed data for accuracy; plotted data using Strater software version 5; produced PDFs of the VCDs and core summaries; distributed PDFs to the scientists for review.
• Worked with the Geodesc programmer and other programmers as needed to communicate about DESC exports and L2E.
• Worked with the scientists to ensure accurate data display in the VCDs. Corrected/modified VCDs, Strater schemes, templates, and Methods legend figure as needed.
• Collected, organized, and tracked all publication volume materials including text, figures, and tables in hard copy and electronic files.
• Assisted scientists with figure creation and in the use of the Adobe Illustrator software.
• Provided administrative support to scientists and technical staff as needed, including providing supplies and assisting with travel arrangements.
• Distributed and collected necessary expedition paperwork - IODP communication policy, lab safety certification, photo image release, manuscript and copyright forms, cabin repairs, personal safety equipment, and shipboard network access.
• Worked with the LO, Radio Operator, and Leon/the travel office to ensure the science party and technical staff had appropriate documents for arrival, had the appropriate COVID test scheduled for their departure from Spain as needed, and were placed on the correct shuttles for departure from the ship for their travel plans.

Additional duties

• Assisted in the core lab and on the catwalk as needed.
• Communicated with shore staff regularly to provide updates.
• Restocked Publication supply cabinet as needed and provided science party with supplies per request.
• Set up birthday/expedition milestone celebrations, and t-shirt contest.

PALEOMAGNETICS LAB

MYRIAM KARS

Summary

Expedition 397 - Iberian Margin Paleoclimate - drilled four sites with a lithology consisting mostly in nannofossil ooze. This high recovery expedition, with a total of 6,176.72 meters of recovered material, has required the extensive use of the SRM. Scientists measured all archive sections, except core catchers, on the SRM for NRM and AF demagnetization at 20 mT. Most shipboard discrete samples were also measured on the SRM which allowed the scientists to conduct more demagnetization steps. The rest of the discrete samples was measured with the JR6. The most noticeable event in the paleomagnetism lab during the expedition is the X-coil overheating incident because of an aborted demagnetization sequence which was not aborted properly. The IMS code was fixed and an alarm on the degausser controller unit has been installed to prevent such incident to happen in the future.

Expedition 397 represented the opportunity to verify the orientation procedure discussed and decided during Expeditions 397T/397P. All APC cores were oriented with the two Icefield tools which work nicely with no major issue reported. On 161 oriented cores, 84.5% showed very good orientation data (i.e., with a standard deviation of ± 5°).

Expedition 397 Material measured

Items received

• Antistatic solution (5 liter)
• Two new snubbers: one snubber was used to replace the broken snubber #104 (fixed with the old pin during X397) and a spare snubber (no pin provided) is stored in the cabinet of the pmag lab

Items shipped

None

Items ordered

• Two Mesh Screen for 3/8 NPT Low-Pressure Bronze Y-Strainer, Mesh Size 80 (for the wye filter installed on the supply line of the ship chill water)

• One Heat exchanger HX, WP1-10(WW1)WWT#WP110R-19 (spare heat exchanger for the Haskris water chiller)
  

• Hose fitting 5/8'' barb x 3/4'' NPT male brass hose fitting, connector (to connect hoses to the heat exchanger of the Haskris)

• Hose fitting 5/8''Hose ID x 3/4'' Male NPT Brass 90 degree elbow barb fitting (to connect hoses to the heat exchanger of the Haskris)

Instruments

Magnetic Orientation Tools (MOTs)

A total of 161 APC cores were oriented during Expedition 397 with the two Icefield tools available onboard (2052 and 2043). No APC coring was done when the heave was high, i.e. above 3-3.5 m. This approach was to preserve the quality of the recovered material, which in turn allowed better conditions for core orientation. Except for a survey with the last two cores non oriented with Tool 2043 (no data recorded, unknown cause), no issue was reported for the two Icefield tools which were extensively used during Expedition 397.

• Orientation procedure

A core orientation procedure, decided after discussions during Expeditions 397P and 397T between paleomag technicians, Ops Superintendent and Siem personnel, was followed during Expedition 397 with all APC cores oriented with: (i) a pressure between 500 and 1000 psi applied during orientation to keep the tool steady, and (ii) the heave compensator off for a 5-min orientation period. Based on this protocol, 84.5% of APC cores were successfully oriented with a standard deviation of ± 5°. It reaches about 97% for cores with a standard deviation of ± 10° or less.

Statistics on heave, standpipe pressure and coreline tension from Rigwatch during the orientation period were made to investigate whether a parameter dominantly control the quality of orientation data. Heave clearly controls the quality of APC coring. No APC coring was done during high heave which allowed very good orientation data for Expedition 397.

Orientation data obtained during Expedition 397 as a function of water depth and core depth are shown below. Each dot represents an oriented APC core. It seems that deeper sites give more "fair" data.

The orientation procedure used during Expedition 397 is likely to be used during the next expedition (Expedition 398) by the opposite crew. As a reminder, the Odd and Even Siem crews are doing orientation differently.

For information, the set screw position was systematically documented with pictures of the top of liners to verify any migration and deviation of the tool during orientation. Although it is seen that the set screw was displaced out of the double-line on some liners, the migration/deviation was not significant enough to compromise the orientation data quality. This displacement may have happen on the rig floor - before or after recovery. Most features observed on liners are ricochet due to the firing (picture below).

Ricochet feature on U1586B-16H liner

Orientation evaluation file with Rigwatch data and set screw observations are found on IODP_Share>PMag>Core_Orientation>Core Orientation procedure.

Superconducting Rock Magnetometer (SRM)

The SRM was extensively used to measure archive sections (NRM and AF 20mT demagnetization) and shipboard discrete samples.

• Not so long after the beginning of the expedition, the X-coil overheated because it was still ramping up after an aborted demagnetization sequence at 80 mT. Smoke was observed out of the SRM and Siem personnel took over with power shutdown. The situation was always under control. Once the coils were cooled down, tests were conducted to get a status of the coils and Dave Schuler from Applied Physics was contacted for advice. Tests were good and the coils did not seem to be damaged. The incident report with details of the event is found at Super Conducting Rock Magnetometer (SRM). Scientists kept using the SRM up to 20 mT until the decision was made with confidence that the SRM could be run up to 50 mT. Higher demagnetization steps, i.e. above 50 mT, are not recommended for the time being.

X-coil (in the back) after overheating

• To access the coils, it was necessary to disassemble the Low Field Shield region of the SRM. A Confluence page, "Disassembling the SRM", was created with information on how to disassemble the SRM based on our experience during the coil overheating incident and Expedition 397T (tie-up in Cape Town) when we disassembled the SRM to access the SQUIDs region.
• After the coil overheating incident, we made the decision to install an alarm based on the time the "Ramp Up" and "Tracking" LEDs of the degausser controller unit are on. Details on how this alarm was designed and works are found at the SRM Degausser Alarm Confluence page.

SRM Degausser Alarm on top of the SRM Buzzbox alarm

• Sediment material measured during the expedition was very weak in the order of the tray background. This was particularly the case for the XCB cores which show a strong magnetic drilling overprint. These cores showed also steep inclination after AF demagnetization at 20 mT. The steep inclination observed is likely due to small flux jumps not recognized by the SRM because the sediment is too weak and get remagnetized during the degaussing sequence.
  

Haskris Water Chiller

The Main Haskris Water Chiller rose in temperature several times during the expedition which triggered the SRM Buzzbox alarm. The Haskris was cleaned, and rusty debris were observed in the wye filter, installed during X397T, and in the heat exchanger. Temperature of the Main Haskris rose again many times after cleaning, suggesting that something may be blocking the system. Regular cleaning of the wye filter and heat exchanger is necessary. Over the year, the mean H₂O_in temperature has increased from about 65°F to 69°F (see the Vital Signs log and Figure below). This may be due to a change in the ship chill water temperature which varies with the season and the location of the ship. Consequently, to take into account the recent changes in the ship chill water temperature, the alarm set point for H₂O_in in Cryowatch was increased to 73°F. Since this change, and despite regular sudden ship chill water temperature spikes (see Haskris Water Chiller), the alarm has not been triggered, and the Haskris temperature stays around 71°F.

H2Oin temperature versus time since 2019

JR6 Spinner Magnetometer

Used occasionally during the expedition to measure samples demagnetized with the D-tech. No issue was reported.

D-2000 AF demagnetizer

Used occasionally during the expedition to demagnetize samples measured with the JR6. No issue was reported.

MFK2 Kappabridge

Not used during the expedition.

Thermal demagnetizer TD-48SC

Not used during the expedition.

IM10-30 and IM-10 Impulse magnetizers

Not used during the expedition.

QA/QC

• QAQC Paleomagnetism Standard Operating Procedure and Paleomagnetic Cube Standards Confluence pages were updated and completed. Note that all IODP cube standards should be measured in a Working Top-Away position. The standards were measured several times with the SRM to establish intensity and directions statistics.

Miscellaneous

• Low Temperature Demagnetization (LTD) with liquid nitrogen: XCB cores show a strong drilling overprint removed by 5-10 mT. The magnetic intensity of the XCB cores collected during the expedition is low which complicates the establishment of the magnetostratigraphy. Scientists tested a low temperature demagnetization with liquid nitrogen on a few samples from Site U1587 to check whether the measurement of the paleomagnetic signal of discrete samples collected from XCB cores is improved. This experiment rarely done on the JR has been used in the pmag JR history with saw-cut cubes (either lithified sediments or hard rocks). During Expedition 397, the experiment was conducted on pmag plastic cubes which appeared to stay intact at liquid nitrogen temperature and during the warm-up to room temperature.
  

LTD with liquid nitrogen experiment on the catwalk

• Uploader MUT2 was installed on the JR6 and SRM workstations. All pmag instrument hosts are now using MUT2.
• A new format for the small "pmag cube" label to be scanned with the IMS-SRM code was deployed. The old labels were no longer accepted with the new IMS code when they were scanned. The "pmag cube" label was therefore modified to match the IMS-SRM code. The new labels were tested with the JR6, the MFK2 and Gantry successfully. The "pmag cube" format in Sample Master was deployed with changes made to match the SRM sample information entry. It has to be noted that following this change the small QAQC labels on the IODP standards cubes are not working anymore. Use the large labels with the "Sample Table" format instead.
• LORE Expanded Report for the SRM was edited - unused columns were removed from LIMS. LIMS Component Table was added to the SRM User Guide. All LORE Reports for the SRM, JR6, MFK2 and MOTs have their components defined in the respective User Guide of the instruments.
• PuTTY and LINX Labview library were installed on the SRM computer to set the com ports unchanged for Cryowatch and Buzzbox. Cryowatch and Buzzbox were not set up at the time of this report. For the time being, we need to follow the procedure described in Restarting the SRM computer, IMS, and Peripherals.

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES LAB

ALEJANDRO AVILA SANTIS

Summary

Expedition 397 had high core recovery, extracting approximately 6176m of sediment at a total of four sites. The data resolution was 2 centimeters changing in some holes to 4 cm, and in the case of SHMSL to 5cm at the last site

Individual Measurement Systems

Whole Round Multisensor Logger (WRMSL - AFT track)

• WRMSL was measured at 2cm of intervals and 4cm (GRA, MS and Pwave)

• The GRA connection was lost, the USB port was disconnected, reconnected and restart the IMS, all good after that.

Special Tasks Multisensor Logger (STMSL - FWD track)

• The Magnetic Susceptibility meter on the STMSL track began giving noisy values half way through the expedition.  We attempted to correct the issue by checking all cable connections, replacing the power supply, restarting the computer, and eventually switching the loop inside the shielded box., but we saw no improvement in the data quality.  To ensure we were not having a software problem, we also ran tests with the STMSL loop connected to the WRMSL track.  The problems persisted.  We then removed the MS loop from the shielded box and completed water core measurements. The MS data was no longer noisy.  Placing the loop with the new cable back inside the shielded box, the problem returned.  We determined that the original cable, which was still inside the shielded box, was conducting noise into the shielded box and affecting the measurements.   The original cable was placed into an RF noise shield sleeve, secured to the aluminum t-slot, and reconnected to the MS loop.  The noise issues were significantly reduced.  We recommend re-routing of the x-ray cables and MS cables in tie up to reduce the noise issues further.  

X-RAY Imaging (XMSL)

• Ramp up problems with the source started just one time in the middle of expedition. They were solved by restarting the computer.

NGR

• The NGR show the pop up window warning with low memory in the middle of the energy calibration, so I restart the PC and start again with the energy calibration, no issues after that.
• The phys props scientists modified the Matlab code to work with IMS and did the quantization of K, Th, U. The code was added to the notebook along with the previous one.
• A second time during the expedition the IMS software showed the pop up message warning about low memory, this time at the beginning of section run (no data saved), IMS was restarted and the sample was re-run.
• A digital version of NGR calibration log is in desktop to log the historic values of energy calibration (energy calib log.docx).

Thermcon

• Mini puck H51035 gave a heating error and was replaced with H51033, no issues after that. (H51035 needs to be tested).

Gantry

• Used for split core sediment measurements, X-axis only.

Geisa Torvane

• Not Used in this expedition.

MAD 

• O-ring for cell number 3 was replaced, no more issues after that.

SHMSL

• Bulb was replaced because it did not turned on.

Logistics

Received onboard: none

CHEMISTRY LAB

AARON MECHLER and CHANG LIU

Ampulator

Used. No issues to report.

Balances

During the previous tie-up I had accidently hit the 'internal adjustment' button for one of the Mettler balances. It had some sort of error during it, and ever since then has seemed like the internal weight was stuck out of place. This resulted in weighing acting as if there was an additional 100g on the scale with very high variability on measurements. Weighing could still be done, and was fine, but needed longer measurement times for accuracy. 

That balance has now been replaced with the spare unit. The 'spare balance' box is above the coulometer and now contains the old balance along with spare glass shields, drip tray and power cords.

Will need to arrange for sending the old balance off for service. 

Carver Presses

Oil leaking has returned. Middle press has some leaking around the bottom when used. The manual press has a small leak from a section along the top when used. ETs had been notified. Will probably get rebuilt, likely during upcoming tie-up. Until then, keep an eye on it and clean as necessary.

Cary Spectrophotometer

Measured ammonium and phosphate. No issues to report

Coulometer

Had a backpressure build up that blew off the top connection of the KOH scrubber. Resulted in KOH being ejected out onto countertops. Contributed more white corrosion marks to metal bits around the coulometer.

No issues otherwise.

Elemental Analyzer

Used buffalo river sediment and sulfanilamide standards. Measured sulfur along with carbon and nitrogen.

Autosampler piston seems to be a frequent cause of failed leak tests and needs regular cleaning.

Freeze-Dryer

No issues to report.

Fume Hoods

no issues to report.

Gas Lines/Manifold

Mount D-Tubius made changing gas bottles a massive pain as access points to the gas bottles were blocked off by large stacks of D-tubes.

Had problems with gas monitors not getting a steady signal early in the expedition. Would alternate between displaying the proper pressure and displaying 0 psi (no signal, or something else going on). Returned to normal later on. Not sure what the issue was but speculate that something got knocked by the mountain of D-tubes.

Played around with the old gas monitor as a Labview practice/learning. Tended to use that one as we're more accustomed to the look compared to the new one that had been made.

GC: NGA1/NGA2/GC2

NGA1 was used for some void gas samples taken during one site with lots of gas and expansion.

Wasn't getting signal on the TCD for NGA2 early on. Didn't worry about it at the time as we only wanted to get the FID calibrated for it. Later discovered the problem as a broken column that had snapped apart. No signal to TCD due to no gas getting to TCD. Fixed and reattached the column and TCD signal was normal again.

Hydrogen Generators

No issues to report.

IC

Service rep did a PM and MCS replacement. Anion pressures have been settling in the 6-7 MPa range now. 

Encountered issue with sample uptake being much less than normal. Discovered that service rep installed wrong tubing (for us) on the autosampler. Had the 'white' tubing installed which I believe is meant for systems without the ultrafiltration cell. With the ultrafiltration cell there should be a 'yellow' and a 'black' tubing.  The yellow for sample delivery to UF cell, and black from UF cell to instrument.

ICP

Had some ongoing problems with plasma ignition over several runs. Eventually tracked it down to bad argon. Plasma ignition has been fine since using different bottles.

There was a corroded connector on the HR nebulizer. Maybe acid got to it or something. Replaced the nebulizer as I was unable to get the connector piece removed.

Salinity

No issues to report.

SRA

Not used.

Pipettes

No issues to report.

Titrations

ALKALINITY

No issues to report.

CHLORINITY

Used 150 uL of sample per measurement rather than the normal 100 uL.

Water system

No issues to report.

AMI Nitrogen Gas O2 Sensor

No issues to report.

MISC

The old SEM was set up in the chemistry lab as they were having trouble getting good pictures with the new SEM. They didn't want to replace the new one, but wanted to compare pictures between the old and new and needed a space to use the old SEM.

XRAY & ICP SAMPLE PREP LABS

JESSICA RIEKENBERG

Summary

During Expedition 397, the Bruker D4 XRD was used to analyze all sediment samples. Sediment (unignited) was weighed out from each XRD sample to make beads for ICP analysis. The Bruker Tracer 5 pXRF was used for high resolution measurements of a depth interval of interest at site U1587B, Cores 1 and 5-7. A new safety presentation and an updated safety guide were completed for pXRF operations with the new device. The full user guide and a quick start guide have been started and drafted, respectively, for the Tracer pXRF. A remote in to the Bruker Tracer 5 pXRF was completed, restoring the missing application and fixing one of the results files produced by the Limestone application. The uploading of pXRF data was configured by the Developers and successfully completed. The Labconco freeze dryer was delivered without the bell, so installation is on hold until that arrives at the Exp 398 port call. Otherwise, all instruments are in working order at close of expedition.

Sample Totals

Instrument Updates

Bruker Tracer pXRF

The Tracer was received toward the end of port call in Lisbon. The device was checked and found to be operating properly. A few days of being powered on and plugged in recharged the internal battery and the date and time were reset. A ship laptop was set up for the Tracer that will allow server access without a hard wire connection. Scientist should sign in with their own login to the OES to be able to download and save data to Uservol. This information has been included in the Quick Start and User Guides for the Tracer pXRF. The shore laptop that was sent out with the Tracer has been given to the MCSs to store in Lower Tween. It still works with the device and can serve as a backup.

The EPM and scientist requested to use the Tracer to measure several section halves of a core with areas of interest during the second site. A quick start guide for the scientists was drafted and a brief presentation on operating the device was presented to the scientist performing the measurements. The Tracer was used with the desktop stand and lowered onto the section half, which was covered in Ultralene (Fig. 1). Moving the device up and down on the attachment rail was found to be challenging and not smooth. A plastic holder that the device could be set in during measurement was prototyped and 3D printed (Fig. 2). This provided a stable means of measuring on section halves while also incorporating more shielding for the device during measurement (although this is not required by the manufacturer). This holder addresses the concerns of the scientists on Exp 393 who found it difficult to hold the device on a section half and measure. The holder opening allows the nose of the device to stick out underneath by several millimeters (Fig. 3), which should allow the device to be able to sit flat against the sample surface. If the sides of the core liner are too high, which could happen with hard rock core liners, use the putty to prop the piece up in the liner. Subsequently, because the nose sticks out, the Tracer needs to be taken out of the holder before moving to the next area of interest - do not slide the holder with the Tracer in it along the section half! This could damage the measurement window and/or the surface of a sediment core. To aid with this, a stand to hold the Tracer in between measurements was made from the initial shielded holder prototype (Fig 4). Feet were added and this became a stable dock that the Tracer can be taken in and out of quickly. Additionally, special section half holders were also 3D printed that can hold a ruler next to the section half for easy reference when measuring (Fig. 5). These holders can be used with the printed box holder and a ruler (Fig. 2, Photos 1 and 4)

Figure 1. Tracer used with the desktop stand to measure on a section half.

Figure 2. Photo 1, shielded holder printed to measure on a section half. Photo 2, the shielding wraps around the bottom of the section half. Photo 3, there are indicator marks on the inside to line up the holder with the area of interest on the core surface. Photo 4, an indicator line on the outside aligns with the location of the measurement window for reference with a ruler placed along the section half. 

Figure 3. The nose of the Tracer protrudes through the opening of the holder by several millimeters.

Figure 4. A stable holder for the Tracer when not placed for measurement.

Figure 5. Right, 4 white plastic section half holders with a groove for ruler on each side. Left, demonstrated set up with ruler and section half.

During this time, leak testing was performed with the ion chamber to determine the level of scattered radiation occurring during the measurement of section halves. The radiation profile provided for our pXRF (Fig. 6) from Bruker indicates the highest amount of scatter is detected at points H and I, perpendicular out to the side of the nose of the Tracer. When used pointed away from the operator, this is not a concern. However, as we use it when measuring on a section half, this scatter is in a direction toward the operator. The Bruker measurements are done at a distance of 10 cm. We performed measurements at multiple distances, with and without the shielded holder (Table 1). Shielding is not required by the manufacturer, but additional shielding within the holder decreased scatter to only slightly above background at less than 10 cm and by 20 cm, there is only background radiation levels detected. This helps decrease scatter for the operator and any potential unintended bystanders, depending on the location the Tracer is set up. 

Figure 6. Radiation profile of our Tracer pXRF, serial number 900G7838.

With the Tracer being fairly new onboard, it was prudent to update the safety presentation and the safety guide with the safety features of the Tracer. This also seemed a good time to refresh the safety presentation and guide with up-to-date information on regulation dose levels and general information on radiation and radiation safety. These have been drafted and await review. 

The Quick Start Guide provided the scientists will need editing and additional information. 

The full User Guide has been started and will need to go through quite a bit of editing as we move forward and agree on how all aspects of sample preparation, measuring, and data management are to be handled. Some very important issues to cover are:

• Clearing the internal memory, potentially after each site, or when we get to a specific run number.
• Also keeping the USB clear. The vendor has indicated that a lot of data files on the USB in the Data folder contributes to the device freezing up. Therefore, the data should be removed from the USB to a separate folder on the laptop or copied to data1 before deleting off the USB.
• The trained operators should use the User password, not supervisor password. They can still download the data as a User, but they do not need access to some of the other functions available with the Supervisor password.
• ALL the data files should be downloaded to the Data IN folder before the data is copied elsewhere.
• The barcode scanner has been programmed to scan the TextID, which can be used when editing the sample information. The JR6 rules were used, which sends everything up to the comma, so it works for both 11 or 12 digit TextIDs.
• The run numbers do not have to be automatically reset when the internal memory is deleted. For the option 'Reset Assay file name counter' (Fig. 7), making sure this box is not checked, will allow the run numbers to continue after the internal memory is deleted. 

Figure 7. The 'Backup Data' display screen. The orange box indicates that the run number will not be reset when left unchecked.

When working with the Tracer to start the user guides, it was discovered that the Mudrock (Air) application had not been reinstalled when the device was in Germany for repair this past September. Additionally, when testing the Limestone check sample, it was discovered that the Limestone.tsv results file was missing the reporting of values for CaCO3. A product specialist with Bruker was able to fix these issues during a TeamViewer session with the Tracer connected to the XRDIH computer. The Bruker pXRF software was installed on the XRDIH computer to accomplish this and can be utilized in the future if needed.  The specialist copied the Mudrock (Air) application files to the device and corrected the script of the Limestone.tsv file. Both of these were tested during the TeamViewer session and seemed to be operating properly. 

One further issue was that the Limestone application check sample values were out of tolerance based on the ranges provided by Bruker in the calibration certificate for the Limestone application. A set of 10 measurements were performed and all results files sent to Rick at US Analytical to consult with Bruker. The product specialist at Bruker, Dayeeta, says everything looks fine and she changed the calibration values for our instrument and sent a new calibration certificate for the Limestone application. 

There is an issue with the proximity sensor, so at times it will stop a measurement for no apparent reason, prevent a measurement from executing, or it would indicate something was in the measurement window when it was still several inches away. Communication with Rick at US Analytical indicates that something may be loose with the sensor. He suggested disabling the proximity sensor if this becomes too frequent. The backscatter sensor is still in place, which will terminate the measurement if no backscatter is detected (if the device is pulled away from the sample mid measurement) and this feature cannot be disabled. This should be addressed if the Tracer is sent in for repair again, but is not an issue that prevents measurement (because it can be disabled while there are still other safety features in place that cannot be disabled) or affects data quality.

Working with Developer Tim, the data for this expedition was able to be uploaded in a format similar to the previous device. MegaUploadatron2 (MUT2) utilizes the '.tsv' files produced to upload the element % weight  results for each sample. Each sample also has a '.pdz' spectra files and the 'Results.csv' uploaded with it. Details of the upload procedure are outlined in the full User Guide for the Tracer.

Bruker D4 XRD

The Bruker was used to analyze all XRD samples for this expedition. Samples were initially taken at a resolution of 2 per core at the first site (U1586A). All subsequent sites were sampled at 1 XRD sample per core (U1587A, B, and C, U1385F, and U1588A). The Bruker D4 XRD was used to analyze the XRD samples.  The first site scan parameters were 5-70° 2θ, 0.008° step, 0.22 s/step (30 min), then changed to 4-70° 2θ, 0.008° step, 0.40 s/step (56 min) for all remaining sites. This change helped decrease the signal to noise ratio for analysis of minor element. The bolts of the sample table cover were found to be loose on the left side and with ET Garrick's assistance, both sides were checked and tightened. Additionally, preventative maintenance was performed as indicated in the maintenance schedule. The instrument worked without issue for all samples.

Haskris

Preventative maintenance was performed on the Haskris as indicated in the maintenance schedule, including changing the water and cleaning the filter. The flow rate was documented as 6.32 L/min after the maintenance. The Haskris worked without issue during the expedition.

Aeris XRD

Daily checks were analyzed on the Aeris, however, no samples were analyzed. Preventative maintenance was performed as indicated in the maintenance schedule, namely cleaning of the fan filters. One system error occurred, but was cleared by powering the instrument off and on again. It is important to refill the reservoir on a routine basis (once a month!). There were errors in the Error Log indicating the instrument had reached high temperatures and when investigated, the coolant reservoir was found to be below the 'Low' level. This was refilled and checked routinely and the error did not reoccur. Otherwise, the instrument worked without issue the remainder of the expedition.

Beadmaker

The beadmaker was used to make 247 beads for ICP analysis and operated without issue for the duration of usage. As indicated in the maintenance schedule, the water filter of the beadmaker was changed at the end of the expedition. Thirteen crucibles were sent off for recasting, while ten remained onboard and were well used during the expedition.

Software Updates

New license for the PDF-4/Axiom mineral database (2023) were received digitally in early October and installed on the virtual computer and XRD Instrument Host (XRDIH). These license are good for 3 years (until the end of September 2025). A third license was also purchased and installed onshore. A copy of the database has been saved at V:\TAS\dml\software\labsystems\XRD Software\Databases Phase identification\ICDD PDF-4-Axiom 2023 Database.

A program for XRD file conversion, PowDLL v2.9, was installed on XRDIH to facilitate converting XRD scans between files types for scientists who use programs other than DIFFRAC.Eva and HighScore Plus.

The Bruker pXRF software programs, Bruker RemoteCtrl and Instrument Tools, were installed on the XRDIH computer to facilitate the TeamViewer session with Bruker. The Tracer can now be connected to that computer and use Bruker RemoteCtrl and Instrument Tools. This can be utilized in the future if a remote session is needed or to manage/delete data files when needed.

Lab Updates

XRD Lab Notebook instrument pages were updated, as well as the Preventative Maintenance schedule.

Because of the shortage of the16ml snap cap vials (LS0113), 8ml snap cap vials (LS0276) were used to store the XRD residues.

A kit for sampling vein material from hard rock cores was put together previously (Exp 393). This kit includes several fine tools (Fig. 8) and is stored in the 'Special Curation Tools' drawer in the splitting room.

Figure 8. XRD Sampling Tools for sampling vein material.

Freight

Received

• Bruker Tracer 5 pXRF from repair in Germany
• Labconco Freeze Dryer main unit (Did not include bell)
• 4 Boxes of flux vials

Oncoming

• Bell for Labconco Freeze Dryer

THIN SECTION LAB

AIDEN LEETZ

Summary

4 thin sections were requested and produced. The materials ranged from clays to foraminiferous sand. The thin sections were polished for reflected light and SEM use. A slightly unconventional method was used to produce the thin sections, whereby no water or lapping machines were used as the material was quite brittle and susceptible to delamination due to water ingress. The method is discussed below.  The thin section tech also aided in X-ray lab sample prep. Two new sample preparation guides were added to confluence, under the new heading “Sample Preparation References”.

Methods

Method for making thin sections from semi-consolidated sand and mud

• When sampling the sand its is best to remove an entire biscuit, if possible, and use the rock saw with minimal water for cutting out the billet. The thicker the billet the better (if possible).
• For muddy material, it is best to take the sample out using cling-wrap/para-film. Then place directly into impregnation mold.
• Put both sand and muddy material in the vacuum freeze drier for 12 hours
• The samples were then sufficiently stable to work with
• The samples were heated on the hot plate until hot to the touch
• They were then vacuum impregnated and sufficient epoxy was poured over the sides of the billet to form a stable border around the billet and also to penetrate (under vacuum) along the sides of the billet
• The billets were left to set
• Once hardened they were ground by hand on 240, 400 and 600 grit disk (placed on a flat surface) until sufficiently flat, water was not used during this process. The disks were instead lubricated with ethylene glycol
• The billets were placed on the hot plate again to heat up after grinding and epoxy was mixed
• The billets were mounted to slides and left to set
• Sections were cut off using the cut-off blade on the PetroThin, but ethylene glycol was hand sprayed instead of water
• The sections were then ground down by hand on 180, 240, 400, 600 and 2000 grit sandpaper disks, using ethylene glycol as a lubricant instead of water
• The samples were polished on the MetaServ using a mix of diamond powder and ethylene glycol

Equipment Status

Buehler PetroThin: Vacuum chuck holds a good seal. Blade cuts smoothly. Diamond wheel grinds evenly. No observed leaks from water feed switch, previous fix seems to be holding up well.

Logitech VS2: Vacuum System: Functioning properly, no air leaks.

Logitech LP50: Functioning properly. Responds correctly to all function requests.

Logitech PM5: The joystick seems to be damaged, however, a new part was ordered for EXP398. It does still however respond correctly to all function requests. Plate rotates smoothly, WG2 arm works well. Guide wheels rotate smoothly. 

Buehler MetaServ: Wheel rotates smoothly at all RPM’s. Water feed functions properly.

Welch Vacuum Pump attached to PetroThin: Creates a good vacuum, no issues of water ingress. Perhaps due to limited amount of thin section produced. Routine maintenance should continue to be performed as often as possible.

Hot Plate: Heats up to selected temperature, confirmed with Omega temperature gauge.

Polarizing Microscope:  Operating perfectly in transmitted and reflected light.

Barnstead DI system: Functional. Will continued to be in use until the consumables run out, at which point it will be retired.

*Emergency shut offs, on all machines therewith equipped, are functioning properly.

Additional commentary

Installation of the new vacuum freeze drier could not be completed as the second box containing the hood was not shipped with the rest of the equipment.

While having down time due to weather and other factors, five thin sections were produced for SEM-EDS testing/practice. These have a high-quality finish/polish and contain some of the common rock forming minerals.

DOWNHOLE LAB & LOGGING

MARK HIGLEY

Wireline Logging

The Kinley cutter was used twice on this expedition which exhausted the ships supply of cutters. Because there were no more cutters available, and in case they were needed, it was decided not to log the last site as a precaution.

Instruments

APCT-3

The latest calibration files were missing from the downhole computer. The only calibration files found on the downhole computer were from 2019 or earlier. Additionally, these files were located in C:\Antares\WinTemp\Calibration\CalibrationFiles whereas wintemp searches C:\Antares\WinTemp\CalibrationFiles for the calibration (this directory was empty). The user had to manually navigate to the correct folder in order to load a calibration file. The current (year 2022) calibration files (.wtc) and the .pdf documents were found on the ET's computer. The old calibration files as well as the current calibration files were moved to the directory that wintemp searches (the old calibration is in an archive subdirectory). After moving the files, the user no longer needed to navigate to the correct directory and load the calibration.

VIT

The VIT was not used on this expedition. A box was made to house the newer Niskin water sampler. The box is large enough to house all associated brackets and mounting hardware. The foam interior leaves room for improvement but it is a start and the sampler is no longer free to roll around in the logging office cabinets. The box is located in the shelves in DHML next to the old Niskin sampler.

CTD

Not used

Shipping

Items Received:

CTD pressure sensor 306526 and Temp/Conductivity sensor 450735 arrived back on the ship after being calibrated on shore. Calibration documents are saved on the server at T:\IODP_Share\Logging\CTD\calibration docs, the tracking sheet on confluence (CTD Calibration Dates) has been updated, and the hard copies are in an envelope in the CTD case.

Items Shipped:

CTD pressure sensor 308233 and Temp/Conductivity sensor 450864 were sent back to shore for annual calibration.

UNDERWAY GEOPHYSICS LAB

MARK HIGLEY

Summary: 

The JR got underway for Expedition 397 at 08:30 on October 16, 2022 from Lisbon Portugal and returned to dock at the end of the expedition in Tarragona Spain at XXXX on December 11th. Expedition 397 occupied 4 sites. The initial transit to the first site was short at roughly 100 nm. The echosounder was run in 12 kHz mode for the duration of the expedition due to issues with the 3.5 kHz frequency which arose on X397T. A satisfactory bottom profile was still obtainable on the initial transit to the first site however no GPS position was recorded for the the echosounder due to a missing USB extender for the laptop in the gym locker. The transit from the last site to Tarrgona was approximately 800 nm.

Instruments:

Navigation:

Navipac Helmsman was used when approaching sites/holes in order to determine when to pick a depth for the PDR. Other than that, JRNav GoogleEarth was used for navigation display.

JRNav GoogleEarth

• Now that the waypoints are entered directly into JRNav google earth, instead of through JRDataServer, the correct column order for a waypoint file is lat degrees, lat decimal minutes, N/S, long degrees, long decimal minutes, E/W, waypoint name. This is the same format that the bridge gives waypoints in so it is convenient.

Navipac

• After the computer replacements on the previous expeditions, it seems that Navipac reverted back to version 4.5.4 (from version 4.5.6) causing remote helmsman to no longer function. After downloading and installing version 4.6, remote helmsman functioned with no issues. When updating Navipac, check to make sure that helmsman also gets installed/updated. We had to run the installer twice since the first time helmsman remained as version 4.5.4 while the rest of Navipac updated to 4.6. Also, to correct the tech report from expedition 390, a second license was not needed to fix this issue. The vendor originally intended to issue a second license as a workaround but instead, they were able to fix the problem with the software itself in version 4.5.5. Thus, any navipac version after 4.5.4 should have no issues with the remote helmsman.

Bathymetry:

• the 3.5kHz channel was not functioning during this expedition. a satisfactory bottom profile was achieved using the 12 kHz channel with Tx Pulse set to 16ms, Tx power 3, process shift 0, Tx blanking 2.5.  When the ship approached sites and slowed down, the bottom profile was very good and bathy had no problem picking a bottom depth that seemed reasonable.

• The ET performed additional tests to try to determine the source of the fault in the 3.5 kHz system. See ET Report.

ET REPORT

RANDY GJESVOLD and GARRICK VAN RENSBERG

CORE DECK

DHML

• Broke out and start prepping tools for deployment. Sort APCT-3 Run Sheets/Procedures. Conduct deck checks to see how the instruments were reading. We currently have five functional APCT-3 Instruments. 1858002C, 1858019C "High Temp", 1858031C. APCT-3 1858036C and 1858041C.

        1858002C: Cal Date 04 July 2022 Cal Due Date: 04 May 2023 Battery Voltage: 2822.
        1858019C: Cal Date 09 Aug 2022 Cal Due Date: 09 June 2023 Battery Voltage: 2855(High Temp Tool)
        1858031C: Cal Date 17 July 2023 Cal Due Date: 17 May 2023 Battery Voltage: 2734
        1858036C: Cal Date 13 July 2022 Cal Due Date: 13 May 2023 Battery Voltage: 2919
        1858041C: Cal Date 12 Aug 2022 Cal Due Date: 12 June 2023 Battery Voltage: 2959
        Tool 1858041 C was run on Hole U1586A Cores 04 and 13.
        Tool 1858041C was run on Hole U1586A Cores 07 and 10.
        Tool 1858041C was run in Hole U1587A Cores 04, 07, 10 and 13.
        Tool 1858041C was run in Hole U1588A Cores 04, 07, 10 and 13.

Core receiving platform

• Cleaned and greased the press and vice. Also added oil to the quick disconnect fittings and the power wash nozzles.
• The air hose for the main spray gun on the catwalk need to be replaced, various leaks were repaired during the expedition.

Paleo Prep

• Repaired a heat sealer.

Microscope lab

• Sputter Coater would not achieve full vacuum. Argon supply bottles had recently been changed. Checked hoses, fittings and Argon in. Vented Argon through the regulator valves. Cleaned all the sealing surfaces again and cycled the power to the machine. It is now fully functional. Problem came back a few days later. Changed the filters and pump oil. Still will not achieve full vacuum. Cleaning the Sputter gaskets and seals.
• Training was given on how to service a vacuum pump and how to replace the vacuum pump oil.
• The spare SEM was installed in the Chemlab.

SRM

• SRM degaussing coil overheated, we immediately secured the main power to the system. Disassembled the fwd end of the SRM to gain access to the hot coil. This lock-up would occur when the user pushes the software abord button in the degaussing sequence. Opening the SRM was done to allow cooling and to perform continuity checks and tests. We re-assembled the fwd end and started doing calibrations.
• 1/10/22 The SRM Haskris started alarming on over temp, we shifted to the backup cooling system. Isolated the chill water system and cleaned the Y-filter. The Y-filter had a lot of debris in it, this would seem to point to the chill water supply being very dirty. We placed the Haskris back into service and about 20 minutes later it started alarming again. We shifted to the backup cooling again. 
• It was at this time that we decided to remove the heat exchanger from the Haskris, the power washer on the catwalk was used to back flush the chill water side of the heat exchanger several times. We could see a lot of debris being flushed from the heat-exchanger. The heat-exchanger reinstalled and the Haskris was placed back in service.
• A spare heat-exchanger and components were sourced from Haskris. 
• 11/12/22SRM The Haskris alarmed on high temp, we removed the y-filter, it was blocked again. After the filter was cleaned everything was put back into service.
• 11/16/22 SRM Haskris was intermittently alarming on high temp, we shifted back to the back-up cooling system. We isolated the chill water supply, removed the y-filter and cleaned it. There were almost "no" or very little debris in it. It was decided not to install the filter back at this time. We removed and cleaned the heat-exchanger again. This too had almost no debris in it, While the heat-exchanger was out we also cleaned the flow regulator valve. Placed everything back into service. 
• In the end: A culmination of restricted flow, caused by the restrictions in the dirty y-filter and heat-exchanger and add to this higher than "normal" temperature chill water AND a lower temperature setting on the BUZZ box seemed to be the issue.
• Note that in certain instances the Buzz box temperature settings would change lower on its own, this means that you need to check the setting after every alarm.
• A temperature probe was installed, it was setup to measure the input chill water and the returning chill water temperature. It is a valuable tool to diagnose the system. Normal readings for this expedition seemed to be 5~6 degrees in and 14.5 ~ 15.5 back.

Core lab

• Replaced a few hinges on the core cutters.
• Serviced box stapler, it was leaking air and could only be activated once.
• Replaced blade holder on a core cutter.
• Changed out the broken blades on other core cutters.

Laser Engraver

• Cleaned Filters and a regular basis.
• Laser engraver started alarming on low flow, found that the air flow sensor was bad and replaced it.
• It would seem that cleaning the tip of the sensor has a very high probability of destroying it. EXTREME care should be taken when cleaning the airflow sensor.

X-Ray Track/STMSL

• We had very strange readings with the MS loop on the  STMSL "X-ray" track, Noise was being induced on the coax cable !
• The interference was cleared by installing an RF shield around the coax.

SHMSL

• Changed out the Ocean Optics Bulb on Nov 18 2022.
• The X-axis MDrive board stopped working, the two ICs burned out. Both were replaced and the track tested ok.

SHIL

• The Newall encoder was dirty and caused vibrations while the track was moving, cleaned the shaft and the Newall encoder.

Gantry

• No Assistance Required.

Core Splitting Room

• Replaced several Hose Fittings and Nozzles that were stuck or leaking.
• Installed a temporary boot for the super-saw joystick.
• The cover for the Super saw had come loose. It was pop riveted back in place, later one of the rivets came loose. It was drilled out and replaced with a bolt.

NGR

• Tested a replacement fan unit and installed it on the starboard side of the NGR.
• Installed X4 12Vdc fans at the back of the NGR cabinet, the idea is to see if pushing cold air down the back of the equipment would assist the 1U fan modules.
• On Nov 28 we lost ventilation in the Core Lab for about two hours. Installed a portable fan to cool the NGR racks down during this time.

ET Shop

• Found information for the Infracool control PCB.  Ordered two new control boards for the Infracool Cooling Fans on the NGR but the manufacturer says the boards are not compatible with our old fan units.  It looks like there is a newer boards installed in one unit but they do not do any controlling, just temperature.  This is adequate since we don't need to control the fans, just have them on and the temperature readout is very handy!  For now will bypass any control features and just have all fans on.  There is one spare control board onboard.
• Completed Portable Power Tool Safety Checks. Repaired several power cord strain reliefs that had normal wear and tear. The Wine Sealers tend to get the wires pulled out by the power switch on the power cable.
• Manufactured a shelf and mounting system for the ET Shop Computer.
• The Stereo in the Developers office has no Left Side Stereo output. During troubleshooting discovered that one of the speakers had a variable resister that had severe corrosion issues. This was removed.
• Went through the Audio-Visual equipment stored in the DHML Determining which equipment is still needed.
• Manufactured a Hot Knife to cut Styrofoam Rounds in half with no mess left over. Used 34 GA Round Resistance Wire (16.8 Ohms). Used the LA 200 Power Supply set at 5V 1A.

Focsle Deck

Rad Van

• No Assistance Required.

Thin Section lab

• Repaired Dremel tool locking pin.

-80 Freezer on F-Deck

• Cleaned Filters.

LN2 Gen

• LN2 Gen was started Oct 14 at 7pm, shut off at full level automatically.
• LN2 Gen ran from Oct 27 to Oct 29 in auto.
• LN2 Gen ran from Nov 10 to Nov 11 in auto.
• LN2 Gen ran from Nov 24 to Nov 25 in auto.
• LN2 Gen ran from Dec 07 to Dec 08 in auto

X-ray lab

• Worked on the audio system … sound is coming and going, Moved on speaker to the B channel. The speaker closest to the door can now be disabled and the volume turned up on the remaining speaker.
• Assisted the technician in getting the Chill Water system filter unscrewed to change out the filter.

Chem lab

• Store vacuum gauges in bottom drawer of Swagelock cabinet.
• Center Carver Press would not come up to full pressure. It was making unusual noises and there was leakage around the top of the bottle. During investigation found that the fluid level was very low. Refilled the hydraulic reservoir and tested. It is no longer noisy and comes up to pressure and maintains it. Monitoring Leakage.
• Aft most Refrigerator began making odd noises. During investigation discovered that it was iced up and the fan was hitting the ice. Powered the Refrigerator off and defrosted.
• Checked fluid levels in the carver presses and topped them off on Dec 01 2022.

Lower Decks

UT

• Cleaned the filters on the -80 Freezers.
• Cleaned both shopvacs and replaced all the filters, don't understand why the filters are removed and not replaced?
• Band Saw ceased to function. During troubleshooting found that the wires to the safety footswitch had been pulled loose causing it to short against the case. The wire was re-secured and an internal strain relief was added to stop it from happening again. Re-aligned the wires so they don't rub on anything. Added electrical tape to the areas where the wires were close to any protrusions. Tightened the mounting screws on the switch and the ground wire.

Tormach CNC Machine

• No Assistance Required.

3D printer

• Printed a test piece for the SRM, completed the spacer and the scientist is happy.
• Printer seemed to be under extruding. During investigation found that the Print Head temperature seems to be about 20* C too cold. Replaced the Thermocouple and conducted a printer test to confirm proper function.
• Printer seemed to be stalling and making odd grinding noises at two spots on the print. Print quality remained good. Upon investigation found that one of the filament feed tubes had come loose and was hitting against the cooling fan. Re inserted into the print head.
• 3-D Printed several Coke Machine fittings for the Galley.

Hold Reefer

• No Assistance Required.

Gym

• Cleaned and oiled the Chain on the Rower.
• Added Air to the Speed Bag. Replaced Speed Bag with a used spare.
• Found the Treadmill Plastic Cover broken off. Epoxied it back together and re attached.

Movie Room notes

• Calibrated the Audio for the Stereo System.

Underway

• A full round of tests was performed on the Sonardome system. In the end the only conclusion would that there is a short circuit, somewhere after the bulkhead connector. 
• I read Jurie SNRs notes and copied his test from Cape Town. The test was done with a frequency signal generator and a voltmeter.  
• DSS3 cable on the 3.5Khz circuit.  DC ohms = 2.6

               1.5Khz   =   230mV

               2.5Khz   =   243mV

               3.5Khz   =   2.56mV

               4.5Khz   =   2.69mV

          A number of readings were taken, but in the end, you could see that I was just testing a short circuit. I also tested on 12Khz with similar results.

Fantail

• Cleaned, Greased and Exorcised the Gun Line Winch. Control Lever would let you pay out but not retrieve. Investigation found that the Control Rod had a very long bolt in it and was getting caught in the pump piping. Slid it over and applied some tape to the bolt to keep it from sliding over again.
• Cleaned, Greased and Exorcised the Seismic Winch. Cleaned and added Dry-Slide the slide bars. The Black Wheel is stuck. Applied some Dry-Slide and allowed it to soak in. Conducted percussive maintenance to get the Wheel free and used a large screwdriver to shift it inboard so it doesn't rub on the framing.

Misc

• SRM project request: design and print cube holder, the Solidworks design is completed and printed successfully.
• Performed current tests on C-Rio in the IRIS box, sent the information and pictures to engineering.
• Built an aluminum cutter for the cardboard test slides … works ok..ish.
• Designed a whole new test slide cutter on Solidworks and I'm preparing the CNC for manufacturing.

SYSTEM MANAGER’S REPORT

ENRICO DEPANO and STEVE THOMAS

Servers (Microsoft):

• All servers patched with November updates.
• Acronis - looks good and machines are being backed up and current without any errors.

Servers (Linux):

• Updated Alutan RMT server with latest updates.
  
• Updated Taal and now it is at Ubuntu 20.04.5 LTS

Servers (ODA):

• Changed the Service Account for Oracle Enterprise Manager emails from a Mailbox to a Distribution List

Servers (VMware):

• No issues were encountered with VMware.

3PAR SAN:

• No issues were encountered for the 3PAR.

Network:

• SonicWall Firewall
  
  • SonicWall Firewall firmware is current, and signatures have been updated as of December 9, 2022.  Licenses look good.
• Sonicwall VPN 
  • Sonicwall VPN firmware is current.PC Workstations:
    
• IP-54176-XRAY
  • The Scheduled Task to run XDU.ps1 which mirrors C:\DATA\IN to data1 stopped working when logged in as the ship DAQ account.  Changed the Scheduled Task to run as NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM.  
    
    

• Most the Workstations and Instrument Hosts had problems with IODPLauncher.  The reason being is that IODPLauncher was originally installed on the image with the local DAQ account, and then we switched over to the Domain DAQ account, and Full Control is granted to CREATOR OWNER and Administrator.  So, if local DAQ installs the software, local DAQ is CREATOR OWNER with Full Control, but ship DAQ only has read rights in the file system.  Resolved by changing the file permissions of the C:\ProgramData\IODP folder with a script to all hosts.

• WM-53992-PhysP
  • Internet Access Enabled and Creative Cloud Installed per request by LO.  This will probably now be a permanent Internet Access enabled workstation.
    

Mac Workstations:

• No issues reported with Mac Workstations

Printers:

• Replaced fuser kit Core deck color printer
  
  
•  Updated firmware on plotter.  Downloaded and installed updated HP Click software on MCSPC1 and URPC4

Satellite/Internet/Phones:

• Outages
  • Several Internet Outages reported, including at least 2 of large, extended durations.

 22 Oct 2022 Internet outage started approximately 21:30 and was out approximately 13 hours.  Marlink made some core infrastructure changes (according to them) and it broke the connection to our router at IODP.

Firewall:

• Updates App signatures on firewall

Rigwatch:

• Krakatoa
  • Rigwatch started freezing every several hours on Krakatoa a couple of days before Thanksgiving while we were waiting on weather.  The tracer pump was not completely shut off and disconnected in Rigwatch as it should have been, and not only does it need to be off, but the COM Port needs to be set to NONE when the pump is not in use
    
    

Other Equipment/Projects:

• TV - Smart 55'' Q80 QLED (2020) in BSCI on SORI is no longer working.  TV doesn't POST completely.  It just power cycles.  There is (should be) a replacement coming out for your expedition. 
• The Co-Chiefs requested the Old SEM Instrument and Host be replaced back into service.  The reason being poor image quality with the new instrument, believed to be caused by it being a much more complicated instrument & ship vibrations.    The old SEM Instrument and the host were placed into service in the Chemistry Lab during our expedition, but we were requested to de-configure this setup at EOX Zoom Room for storage.   It is available to be set up again if needed.
• Intranet / Ship's Installers Webpage
  • Updated McAfee.dmg on Ship's Installer's webpage to McAfee Endpoint Security for This gets us support for MacOS 10.15.x Catalina and later.
    
  • Downloaded newer HP Print Drivers package from Apple. This DMG has been also copied to our Installers website so customers can download these drivers from our Mac Software page.  Also uploaded to iPrint Driver store, but it still doesn't work right.  Tested to work with Monterey.  Correct procedure now for Scientists is to download and install the driver package from the Installers (Mac Software) page FIRST, then install iPrint, then install the desired HP printer on our network.
• UPS Status
  • It has been decided that the UPS will be connected to regulated power bus and not the emergency power bus utilizing the step-up transformer tested during EXP393. That transformer has now been permanently installed in the Koomey room and it will step up the 208V provided by the motor generators to the 480V needed by the UPS.
  • This will mean that the data center will not be powered by the emergency generators, so in the event of a power failure, the UPS will need to be monitored closely for remaining backup power and the data center will need to be powered down if the back time remaining is going to be depleted.
  • The UPS is still not operational at this time due to a non-functional fan relay board. A replacement part is supposed to be delivered in Lisbon and once replaced, the UPS will be ready to be connected to the load and go into full operational status.

DEVELOPER REPORT

TIM BLAISDELL and DAN CARY

Summary

This document highlights changes to the JOIDES Resolution laboratory data management environment during Expedition 397.

Selected issues are highlighted, but not reviewed in exhaustive detail. In general, see the ship activity log and product pages on the developer site for additional detail: {+}http://banff.iodp.tamu.edu/display/DEV/Developer+Home+Page+
The activity log specific to this expedition will be placed here: {+}http://banff.iodp.tamu.edu/display/DEV/Ship+Activity+Log+

Special Projects

During Expedition 397, the developers worked on the following projects beyond the expedition routine duties:

• SDRM: The new web-based application planned to replace the old SaDR application.  This project is nearing completion, with a planned deployment in March 2023.  
• SPLAT: At the same time as SDRM, a new version of SPLAT will be released that integrates with SDRM.
• IMS-2023: Time was spent studying the IMS code and architecture and investigating how it can be modularized to make future development and maintenance easier.
• New pXRF instrument: A new hand-held XRF device is available aboard ship that generates output data unlike the previous one.  The pXRF uploader module in MUT was modified to support the new format.
• Active Directory migration issues: Early in the expedition, there were several issues related to the Active Directory migration.  The issues all had to do with IODP applications being unable to write to key folders due to operating system permissions issues.  The developers worked with the MCS team to resolve these issues, which cropped up all over the ship during the first few weeks. 
  • In a few cases, this problem manifested as a complete inability to launch IODP applications (such as MUT) on a workstation, and no amount of fixing folder permissions would resolve it.  The only fix that worked was for the MCS to complete delete the DAQ account from the workstation, and re-create it.
• IRIS: Some time was spent attempting to support the IRIS application, which was for a short time running in the drill shack as a sort of beta-test.  Unfortunately the application is still too buggy to be of use, and was too much of a distraction for the drillers, so it was shut off.

General Duties Performed

During Expedition 397 the developer participated in:

• Routine expedition support.
• Maintenance of software applications (as detailed in the sections below).
• Assist with data management in cases where LIME and other software tools do not suffice.
• Other duties as assigned.

Change Summary