ALO Expedition 399 Technical Report

Owned by jr_barnes
Last updated: Jun 12, 2023
4 min read

Expedition Info

Embarked April 13th, 2022 in Ponta Delgada (Portugal) and disembarked June 13th, 2023 in Ponta Delgada, too.

COVID Protocol

Some of the restrictions were reduced. There was no hotel quarantine. Daily antigen tests and masks during 7 after boarding. Crossover with the onboard staff was conducted in person with masks.

Shipping

CORE REEFER

F399_CORE_GCR: Section halves and whole rounds, 1 pallet of residues and 2 K-boxes with split liners. See load out at bottom of this report.

  • 8 pallets with 16 + 1 WR box (U1601C)

  • 1 pallet with 18 boxes (U1601C - A/W)

  • 1 pallet with 10 boxes (U1309D - A/W) + 6 WR boxes

  • 2 K-boxes of split liners (approx. 400 total)

  • 1 pallet with 11 boxes of sample residues.

FAF

Pallet by Elevator inside. Note that one of them is a cooler, the scientist requested that the cooler be used although they are regular temperature shipment. Another large shipment is in two yellow boxes.

HC

TWO scientists are hand carrying samples.

RAF

F399_RAF - Kbox on upper tween

 

3rd Party Equipment (staged fwd elevator)

Wheat

Lang

Wang

Sissman

Quemeneur

SURF CONTAINER

F399_SURF - 3 gas racks, XSCAN crate and 2 auxiliary crates, 2 stacks of 5 empty kboxes + 1 stack of 4 kboxes, yellow box with returning supplies, Schlumberger sheave wheels, mud motor, knobby, core liner box hardware.

SCHLUMBERGER (AF)

F399_RAF_SHLM - wooden crate with misc. items on helideck

World Courier 

BRAZ (send to LINDSAY at END OF EXP395) - USA:  8 x GTI 80L Frozen TBULK

LANG - USA: 13 x GDI 80L Frozen in HCR

QUEM - FRANCE:  1 GTC56L Refrigerated in core liner TBULK (she has 3rd party pressure chambers in black pelican case awaiting info to when they will be sent)

ROBA - USA:  5 x GDI 80L Frozen TBULK

SISS - FRANCE: 1 x GDI 80L Frozen in HCR and 1 x GTC56L Refrigerated in TBULK

SOUT - AUSTRALIA: 1 x GDI 80L Frozen HCR (*papers need to be added)

WANG - CHINA: 7 x GDI 80L Frozen TBULK and 2 x GTC56L Refrigerated HCR

WHEA - USA: 1 GDI 80L Frozen HCR and 1 GTC56L Refrigerated TBULK

Important Notes:

  1. Cores recovered on EXP399 contained significant amounts of Naturally Occurring Asbestos Minerals (NOAMs). Extra precaution was taken to prevent fibers from contaminating the lab and possibly affecting staff. A procedure for dealing with such material was promptly made and is in Safety Central Safety Procedures for Handling Core Materials Potentially Containing Asbestiform Minerals. In summary, we enclosed the super saw and the parallel saw in plastic to keep any material from dispersing into the air. Positive pressure BAs and Tyvek suits were used by personnel who were splitting core. P100 filters and half mask were used in the splitting room for shrink wrapping. All staff worn the minimum of N95 masks when in core lab or handling core. Cores were kept wet or covered during description. Hazardous waste (gloves, towels that came into contact with the cores were double bagged/tagged and given to SIEM for their disposal). It is important to note that despite the above mitigation, fibers were identified via swab testing in the air returns in ceiling of core lab, on all surfaces (including keyboards, shelves) and floor in the core lab, as well as on the ledges in the stairwell and in MBIO lab. A certified asbestos testing and cleaning company will be boarding in port call to test and clean the labs/spaces and ducting where asbestos fibers were found or where there is potential contamination.

  2. C13 gas leak in the RADVAN. The C13 canister leaked its contents when attaching a regulator. The regulator was then brought out of the van to test. Because C13 is stable and in a 'gas', the clean-up procedure, as advised by Dr. Susan Lang, was to air out the RADVAN. The only concern was C14 contamination because C14 was used in the RADVAN in the past. Dr. Lang decontaminated (with decon soap) all areas outside the RADVAN where the regulator was taken.  She also did a swab tests for C14 (to be measured onshore) on areas where the regulator could have caused contamination. C14 contamination would be of great concern to scientists who want to do C14 tests in the future.

  3. BRAZ world Courier samples are in TBULK -86 (8 bags). These must go with Meloldy Lindsay's at end of EXP395. They are added into AMS under EXP395.

  4. Some batches of core liners are brittle and splitting them was irregular with jagged edges. We opened 3 different core liner boxes and all were the same. Black lined liners. Beware this may be an issue for our upcoming expeditions.

  5. Mugs in IODPS: 14 had scratches and one with broken handle, these were separated, and shore notified. One of the fleeces had a hole in one arm.

  6. First Aid kits where inventoried. Excel spreadsheet is in Safety Central.

  7. There are several empty single Gas Bottles that need to be returned to IODP. A request for an empty gas rack was made.

  8. Onboard single gas bottles summary:

  •  

    • GB1237 MBIO MIX – EMPTY

    • GB1115 MBIO MIX – EMPTY

    • GB1116 MBIO Mix – EMPTY

    • GB1113 MBIO Mix - EMPTY

    • GB1117 MBIO MIX – FULL

    • GB0047 UHP Ni – EMPTY

    • GB1119 MBIO MIX with Carbon Dioxide – IN SERVICE

    • GB1114 MBIO MIX with Carbon Dioxide - FULL

    • GB0037 Nitrogen – IN SERVICE

    • GB5040 Oxygen – FULL

    • GB5046 Nitrogen – FULL

    • GB5008 Nitrogen – FULL

    • GB0028 Helium – IN SERVICE

    • GB5051 Nitrogen – IN SERVICE

    • GB5035 Helium – IN SERVICE

    • Carbon Monoxide – IN SERVICE. Small bottle. It will return to the chem lab at EOX.

Chem Lab

  •  

    • GB0099 Nitrogen – IN SERVICE

    • GB5068 Oxygen - IN SERVICE

    • GB5067 OXYGEN – FULL

Cold Room

  •  

    • GB0114 Nitrogen – IN SERVICE

    • GB0100 Nitrogen – IN SERVICE

    • GB1120 MBIO MIX –IN SERVICE.

Load Outs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Â