DIARY OF EVENTS

Cruise Operation: SK285, ORV SAGAR KANYA

Cruise Period: 18/05/2011 to 09/06/2011

Participants List

NIOT, Chennai

1. Mr.Venkatesan Gopalakrishnasamy, Chief scientist

2. Dr.Damodar Manjunath Shenoy, Deputy Chief Scientist

3. Mr.Sridharan Ramalingam, Technical Assistant

4. Mr.Gowthaman Duraipandian, Project Technical Assistant

5. Mr.Elango Sivalingam, Marine Engineer

6. Mr.Nareshkumar Manickam , Field Engineer

7. Mr.Stig Erik Lyng, Field Engineer

8. Mr.Inge Dahl Saetereng, Field Engineer

9. Mr.Krishna Chaitanya Yerramilli, Field Engineer

10. Mr.Sakthivel Palani, Field Engineer

11. Mr.Selvaraj Emayavaramban, Deployment Assistant

12. Mr.Rajapart Ramalingam, Deployment Assistant

13. Mr.Sakthivel Devaraj, Deployment Assistant

14. Mr.Yuvaraja Arumugam, Deployment Assistant

15. Mr.Anbarasu Vilvamani, Deployment Assistant

16. Mr.Sudalaimani Balakrishanan, Deployment Assistant

17. Mr.Raghuvarman Arumugam, Deployment Assistant

NIO, Goa

18. Mr.Anand Methar, Technical Assistant

19. Mr.Satelkar Narayan Pandurang, Technical Assistant

20. Ms.Jesly Araujo, Junior Research Fellow

21. Ms.Richita Naik, Junior Research Fellow

22. Mr.Sandesh Varik, Project Assistant II

23. Mr.Fernandes Hendry Joe, Project Assistant I

GOA University

24. Mr.Sen Avirup, Msc Student

25. Mr.Pednekar Duruvesh Ramesh, Msc Student

NCAOR, Goa

26. Mr.Sarvesh Goral, Shipboard Assistant

27. Mr.Bibin Abraham, Shipboard Assistant

M/S Norinco Pvt Ltd (AMC)

28. Mr.V.C Sarathchandran, AMC Engineer

29. Mr. Narayan Dhanasekharan, AMC Engineer

30. Mr.Avertano Callitus Luis, AMC Engineer

31. Mr.Tachezhath Baiju, AMC Engineer

Standby AMC Engineers

1. Mr.Manivannan Dayalan

2. Mr.Rajapandian Karthickraja

3. Mr.Thangaraj Ramesh

4. Mr.Manoharan Krishnaraja Perumal

5. Mr.Elavarasan Vasantharaja

6. Mr.Palanisamy Boopathy

CRUISE TRACK

INDIABay ofBengal

NIOT stations

78 80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 96 98Longitude ºE

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

24

Latit

ude

ºN

BD13(D) TB05(R/D)BD12(D)

Rama Buoy

BD01RBD10(D)

BD08(D)Paradip

BD11(D)

Chennai

BD03(R)

Date & Day (DD/MM/YYYY)

Time (XX:XX am/pm)

Events Description

18/05/2011 Wednesday

2:00pm All NIOT cruise members were signed on. Mr.Inge from Ocenaor has not arraived since he missed his luggage.

4.00 pm Rooms were allotted to cruise members. 19/05/2011 Thursday

1:00 am All the NIOT, Norinco and NIO materials were loaded in ship.

4.00pm Mr.Inge from Oceanor boarded the vessel, and ship started sailing.

20/05/2011 Friday

9:00am Assembling of BD13 (Omni buoy) was started.

The sea was very rough sea state is 6. 10:30am Chief officer has given some safety instructions/

training to all the crew members.

Safety meeting 11:30am Chief scientist had a discussion with Captain and

Chief officer about the operations & cruise track. Captain said that vessel may reach the BD13 location on 21th May 2011 at 15 hrs tentatively.

04.00 pm Mr.stig and Mr.Inge explained about the deployment of OMNI buoy. The deployment of Tsunami BPR was explained by the NIOT team members. This meeting was held at the conference hall, Sagar Kanya. List of Participants: 1. Captain 2. Chief officer 3. Chief Engineer 4. G.vengatesan, Chief scientist 5. Damodar, Deputy chief scientist 6. Niot team 7. Euroteck team 8. Stig , Oceanor 9. Inge, Oceanor 10. Nornco engineers 11. Nio teams

12.Emayavaramban, Deployment assistant

Deployment meeting 5.00pm DSM winch has some wiring/connectivity problems.

Problems identified and rectified. 06.00pm The reception BD 13 data is ok. Confirmation

message received from shore station. 21/05/2011 Saturday

2.00 pm We reached BD 13 location, the weather was rough and waited till 4 o clk. No improvement was there. After discussion with captain, chief officer, Oceanor team and OOS-group head we skip the BD13 location.

22/05/2011 Sunday

8 .00am Chief scientist had a discussion with deployment assistants regarding the "Onboard safety procedures"

10 am We reached TB05 location. We recovered old BPR 1402

BPR 1402 retrieval

BPR1302 deployment 2.00 pm-9.00 pm We deployed the new BPR 1302.

BPR position: 11 deg 00 min 233 sec N 89 deg 30 min 068 sec E Depth: 3200 meters

9.10 pm Confirmation message received regarding the BPR data reception. Message informed to group head-OOS

10.00 pm Heading towards the BD12 location. 23/05/11 Monday

10.00 am Assembling of BD12 (Omni buoy) was started.

3.30pm Induction rope and nylon rope were coiled in deep sea winch between 3.30 pm and 5.00 pm.

24/05/2011 Tuesday

7.00 am We reached BD12 location. We had a problem with data transmission. NIOT- modem didn’t receive any data from 23/04/11 .Mr.Stig spoke to the Norway land station to check whether they can receive the data or not. They are receiving the data continuously.

9.00 am We also checked by sending the BD12 data to ship field modem and NIOT- modem. That also received the data.

11 am to 12 pm We did bathymetry survey for the anchor drop position.

We confirmed normal data with shore station. 12.15 pm-2.00 pm We lowered the met buoy and sub surface sensors.

we deployed anchor at 2.00 pm Anchor drop position

10 deg 29min 984sec N 93deg 59min 947sec E Depth: 2100 m

BD12 Deployment 2.30 pm Took a CTD, ADCP, MET data collected with the help

of NORINCO engineers. 4.00 pm Due to the bad weather again we skipped BD13 and

moved to RAMA buoy location. 25/05/2011 Wednesday

09:00am Assembling of BD10 (Omni buoy) was started.

3.30 pm Induction rope and nylon rope were coiled in deep sea winch between 3.30 pm and 5.00 pm.

26/05/11 Thursday

Assembling of BD08 (Omni buoy) was started.

4.00 pm Reached RAMA buoy location the buoy looks physically good. Reported to NIOT and proceeded next location

Rama Buoy Inspection

27/05/11 Friday

6.30 am BD01 retrieval started.

7.45 am Due to the heavy swell the upper mast got broken while retrieving the buoy.

9.30 am BD01 retrieval details are sent to OOS.

BD1 Retrieval 11.00 am Data download from the GENI CPU was done. The nylon rope connected by thimble at the end of

combination rope is missing. There might be a defect in nylon rope splicing. While retrieving, due to the heavy swell the top portion of upper mast got broken.

11.30 am Chief scientist has conducted a safety meeting especially for the deployment assistant. More safety instructions were given.

12.00 am Inspecting the upper mast welding point. 28/05/11 Saturday

6.00 am BD03 retrieval started

7.30 am Sensor carrier arm was vandalized. The sensor cables at the upper mast got cut. No other physical damages found. The mooring was dropped into the sea. Battery pack voltage level is 14.46V DC. The fishing net entangle with combination rope.

BD3 Retrieval 10.00 am – 12.15 am BD10 deployment started. Safety instructions are

given before the deployment. We lowered the met buoy and its sub surface sensors. The buoy was deployed at 12.50 pm.

12.15 pm Anchor drop position Lat: 16 deg 30 min 014 sec N Long: 088 deg 00 min 109 E Depth: 2600m

BD10 deployment 29/05/2011 Sunday

11.00 am – 12.25 pm BD08 deployment started. Safety instructions are given before the deployment. We lowered the wave buoy and its sub surface sensors.

12.20 pm Anchor drop position

Lat: 18 deg 10 min 011 sec N Long: 089 deg 040 min 08 E Depth: 2200m 12.30 pm

BD08 Deployment 2.00 pm NIO had taken water samplings near the BD08 buoy.

We moved 8 kms away from the BD 08 buoy anchor

drop postion. 30/05/2011 Monday

7.00 am – 11.00 pm NIO subsurface buoy deployment started. They lowered the floats with the buoy and the deadweight. The buoy deployed at 11.00 pm. NIO Anchor drop position Lat : 18 deg 11 min 00 sec N Long : 089 deg 035 min 00 E depth :2175 mtrs Date&time : 30/05/11& 12.30pm

NIO Buoy Deployment

31/05/2011 Tuesday

9.00 am Assembling of BD11 (wave buoy) was started.

01/06/2011 Wednesday

Data Downloaded from data buoys.

02/06/2011 Thursday

9.30 am BPR data download which is recovered from the TB05 location. BPR ID – 1402

11.00 am Training was given to the Goa university students.

Training 03/06/2011 Friday

1.00 pm – 4.00 pm BD11 deployment started. Safety instructions are given before the deployment. We lowered the wave buoy and its sub surface sensors. The buoy deployed at 2.00 pm.

4.00 pm Anchor drop position Lat: 14 deg 12.168 N Long: 082 deg 054.182 E Depth: 3400m

BD11 Deployment 04/06/2011 Saturday

10.00 am to 2.00 pm Assembled BD13 buoy. Transmission started and data confirmed from shore station.

4.00 pm to 7.00 pm Induction cable and nylon rope coiled in winch. 05/06/2011 Sunday

BD13 deployment started. Safety instructions are given before the deployment. We lowered the wave buoy and its sub surface sensors. The buoy deployed at 1.00 pm.

Anchor drop position Lat: 11 deg 00.34 N Long: 86 deg 29.19 E Depth: 3500m

BD13 Deployment 06/06/2011 Monday

9.00 am to 2.00 pm Started packing. Make off-loaded matrials list from sagar kanya. Mail sent to NIOT, NCAOR.

BRIEF REPORT ON NIO OPERATIONS DURING SK285 (19/5/11 TO 9/6/11)

This cruise forms part of the SIBER project entitled “Time series observations in the northern Indian Ocean (Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal) to monitor the effects of global change on biogeochemical cycling and ecology”. This is the second cruise in the Bay of Bengal under this project.

Participants:

Dr. Damodar M Shenoy

Mr. Anand Methar

Mr. Narayan Satelkar

Ms. Jesly Araujo

Ms. Richita Naik

Mr. Sandesh Varik

Mr. Hendry Fernandes

During the cruise one sediment trap was deployed at the Bay of Bengal time series location. Water samples were collected using a Seabird CTD system from 3 stations. In addition 2 Argos drifter buoys were deployed and 18 XBT operations were performed. The station locations are show in figure 1 and the details of operations are as below.

1. Under SIBER Project (GAP2425):

Date Time (hrs) Longitude ºE

Latitude ºN

Operation

24/5/11 1530 94 10.50 CTD, water sampling

29/5/11 1630 89.58 18.19 CTD, water sampling for sediment trap

30/5/11 0420 89.58 18.19 CTD, water sampling for PP incubation

30/5/11 1200 89.58 18.19 Sediment trap deployment

31/5/11 0600 89 18 CTD, water sampling (3 casts)

31/5/11 1300 89 18 Zooplankton net (2 casts)

2. Under Drifter deployment project (GAP2018):

ARGOS id Date of deployment

Time of deployment

Latitude Longitude

53648 28/05/2011 14:50 06 34.47N 88 04.97E

53648 30/05/11 14:00 18 09.00N 89 37.00E

3. Under XBT deployments (GAP2016):

Sr no.

Date Time Latitude Longitude Depth

1 21/05/11 14:51:38 10 58.066N 86 28.623E 760m

2 24/05/11 16:25:17 10 31.012N 93 59.376E 760m

3 25/05/11 10:45:45 11 01.000N 91 35.000E 760m

4 26/05/11 09:35:29 14 03.000N 90 20.000E 760m

5 26/05/11 16:08:58 14 59.000N 90 00.000E 760m

6 27/05/11 10:59:06 15 01.000N 88 57.000E 760m

7 29/05/11 09:25:42 18 11.463N 89 43.410E 760m

8 30/05/11 08:31:09 18 09.510N 89 28.857E 760m

9 31/05/11 12:27:24 17 50.959N 88 41.795E 760m

10 01/06/11 04:08:06 17 24.780N 87 34.580E 760m

11 01/06/11 13:32:43 16 16.521N 86 40.961E 760m

12 02/06/11 03:43:48 15 35.515N 85 16.771E 760m

13 02/06/11 13:42:31 15 09.099N 84 12.977E 760m

14 03/06/11 03:45:47 14 21.239N 83 10.482E 760m

15 03/06/11 14:21:43 14 16.327N 82 55.394E 760m

16 04/06/11 03:40:00 13 04.391N 84 10.002E 760m

17 04/06/11 14:27:32 11 59.868N 85 16.681E 760m

18 06/06/11 03:40:56 11 26.870N 84 48.261E 760m

Use of on board equipments:

1. Milli-Q system: The system performed satisfactorily.

2. Autoanalyser: The system was set right by the NIO team with help from Norinco engineers. The system is in working conditions. A problem with the air pump during operation was set right by the Norinco engineers. The NIO team has taken note of the spares available in stock and essential spares list (for procuring) has been handed over to ship board assistants with a copy to Norinco engineers.

The air-conditioning unit in the port-wet lab was not functional.

Use of NIO equipments:

1. Dosimat (for dissolved oxygen analysis): The system performed satisfactorily. 2. pH meter: The system performed satisfactorily. 3. Gas chromatograph: The system performed satisfactorily. 4. Filtration units: The systems performed satisfactorily.

****Accommodation: The scientist accommodation on the forecastle deck needs cleaning. Some of the drawers are un-useable (Room 453) as they smell of cockroaches.-(DEPUTY CHIEF SCIENTIST)

In scientific accommodation there are more number of bedbugs and cockroaches. The hot water line is rusted so that water is in reddish colour. (CHIEF SCIENTIST)

TRAINING PROGRAM CONDUCTED BY NIOT & NIO TEAM

80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94Longitude ºE

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

24

Latit

ude

ºN

INDIA

Bay ofBengal

CTD and water samplingSediment trap deploymentArgos drifter deploymentXBT deployment

PREPARED BY

Mr. SEN AVIRUP Mr. PEDNEKAR DURVESH RAMESH

(GOA UNIVERSITY STUDENTS)

INTRODUCTION The National Institute of Ocean Technology (N.I.O.T) has conducted a cruise programme for the deployment of five and retrieval of two weather buoys and retrieval and deployment of one tsunami buoy on ORV Sagar Kanya which has attended by 2 students from the department of marine science, Goa University (batch2010-2011). We also have scientists and research assistants from the National Institute of Oceanography (N.I.O) joining us on the cruise who carried out their work off Paradip. The work consisted mainly of C.T.D casts, water sample collection for nutrient analysis from different depths, analysis of the primary productivity, deployment of sediment trap and a vertical profile of dissolved oxygen. ORV Sagar Kanya is India’s research vessel coming under ministry of Earth science. The cruise is being conducted from 18th of May 2011 and is for a period of 24 days culminating on 10th June 2011.

DESCRIPTION The different kinds of buoys that are deployed are as follows: a) Omni buoy (Met buoy)

b) Tsunami buoy

c) Omni buoy (Wave buoy)

d) Subsurface buoy (NIO)

MET buoy consists of instruments for measuring wind speed, wind direction, air temperature, air humidity, air pressure, pyranometer, radiometer, precipitation gauge, electronic compass, current speed and current direction using DVS current meter.

Wind speed and direction sensor:

The wind sensor is located at the sensor carrier arm at the mast top. The Lambrecht model 1453 S2 is a combined sensor for wind speed and direction. The housing and the wedge shaped wind vane are made of sea water resistant Al alloys and the cup rotors is made from high quality plastic. When the cup rotor is rotated by wind the number of revolutions per time unit is converted to a linear output current by a precision DC generator. This current is subsequently converted into a voltage across a match resistor to adjust for the dynamic range of the A/D converter. Orientation of the wind vane is a linear output current which is connected to A/D converter through a matched resistor.

Air temperature and humidity and temperature sensor:

The MP102A probe is designed for the measurement of relative humidity and temperature. The humidity sensor is located at the sensor carrier arm at the mast top. The humidity sensor is analog and is connected to the A/D converter. Humidity sensor is film type. The measuring point is on compared with the reference point to give the relative humidity.

Air pressure sensor:

The air pressure sensor is a Vaisala BAROCAP digital barometer. It is a new generation barometer designed for a wide range of high end atmospheric pressure management. It has extremely high accuracy. The barometer is a separate unit mounted on the underneath of the central cylinder lid. The environmental barometric pressure is fed to the barometer through a water trap by a plastic tub from an air pressure inlet on the top of the sensor carrier arm.

Pyranometer

There is also a long wave radiation (LWR) sensor which can serve as a means of getting the sea surface temperature by measuring the flux of LWR leaving the ocean surface. A short wave radiation (SWR) sensor is present to measure the flux of incoming solar radiation. The Precision Special Pyranometer is a World Meteorological Organization First Class Radiometer designed for the measurement of sun and sky radiation totally or in defined broad wavelength bands (Sensitivity= 9µV/WM-2) The precision Infrared Radiometer, Pyrgeometer, is intended for unidirectional operation in the measurement, separately, of incoming or outgoing terrestrial radiation as distinct from net long wave flux.(Sensitivity=4µV/WM-2).

Rain sensor:

Precipitation measurement is made with a capacitive transducer and electronic circuit that produce a calibrated voltage output. Standard output is 0-5.00VDC for a 0 to 50 mm precipitation with an accuracy of ±1mm. Precipitation is collected in a catchment funnel which has a cross sectional area of 100 cm². Rain collected in catchment funnel is directed into the measuring chamber and when the column reaches a maximum of 250mm the chamber automatically empties and the process repeats.

Antenna is present to transmit the data stored on the data logger to the satellite which in then transmit it to NIOT (Chennai). The buoy consists of Li batteries (3200 amps) as power source. In addition solar cells are present. Dependence solely on solar cells has been reduced due to vandalism. A keel weight is used below the buoy to serve as its centre of gravity to keep it steady. It is galvanised and zinc is also added separately to save the keel weight from the corrosion. In the buoy we have the data logger present which records the data every hour. Also a power management unit (PMU) is present which manages power to the batteries and the data logger.

Underwater current speed and direction sensor (ADCP):

An ADCP (acoustic Doppler current profiler) is connected to the keel weight. It is mounted in a frame and attached to the mooring line approx. 7m below the surface. The RDI Acoustic Doppler Currant Profiler (ADCP) employs the Doppler principle to measure speed and direction of water currents up to 200mts depth.

CTD sensor:

Conductivity, temperature and depth sensors are present. A CTD string is attached to the mooring line. The temperature and conductivity profile are measured by Sea Bird electronics SBE37-IM MicroCAT, which is a high accuracy self contained conductivity and temperature sensor with an optional pressure sensor. The SBE-37-SIP MicroCAT is a high accuracy conductivity and temperature serial interface sensor with integral pump, without batteries or memory. It’s depth capability s 7000 meters and is made of titanium and other non corroding metals. From that arrangement a nylon rope is attached to a floater so as to keep the rope slack and finally that is attached to dead weights. Data is sent to the processor every one hour. The satellite used is immersion satellite.

Compass:

The TCM2.5 is high accuracy electronic compass module that gives an X-Y-Z reading with an accuracy of 1 degree. It is used as a reference for the current meter/ wind sensor.

Underwater current speed and direction sensor (DVS):

The RDI acoustic Doppler volume sampler (DVS) employs the Doppler principle to measure the speed and direction of the currents in the water. The sensor is placed in the well on the buoy float and is always in contact with water. The DVS transmits acoustic pulses fro a transducer assembly along four beams. The transducer receives back-scattered echoes from plankton and small particles riding the water current. Using the Doppler effect and some basic trigonometry he DVS converts the back-scattered sound into components of water current velocity.

Wave buoy:

Wave buoy have all the similar sensors as that of MET buoy. In addition to them, the directional wave spectrum and associated parameters such as significant wave height, mean wave period, mean wave direction etc. will be measured by Seatex’s motion reference unit, MRU-4. Significant height is the average height of the 30% of the average highest waves. Some of the advantages of MRU-4 include accurate wave measurements, small size, virtually maintenance free and it is easily transportable. There are no moving parts inside the sensor, only electronics. The unit over-samples the sensor signals and uses advanced digital signal processing algorithms for calculation of the wave motions.

Tsunami buoy:

Tsunami buoys are relatively far simpler. It consists of a data logger (PMV) and Li batteries. It is kept in position by dead weights present on the ocean floor. It is attached to acoustic transducers by cables. At 200m distance from the buoy a BPR (bottom pressure recorder) is placed on the ocean

bottom. There are SEIC buoys. A BPR consists of one battery, one CPU, one pressure censor and an acoustic release. If the wave height is 3cm or more above the sea level for 5 minutes or more then the acoustic transducer from the BPR sends acoustic signals to the transducer attached to the buoy which then recorded on the satellite and then to the NIOT. There is another set of tsunami buoy some distance away with the same setup. The data from the tsunami sets can be used to measure the wave speed and other parameters to generate an early tsunami alert.

There are also stand alone BPR from sonodyne U.K. which contain acoustic transducer, CPU, Li- battery and releaser together.

In addition to all of this we have also and CTD casts, the working of pH meter and auto analyser, sediment trap deployment and measurement of dissolved oxygen.

CTD operation

A CTD consists of conductivity sensor which measures the conductivity of sea water which can be then used to calculate salinity, temperature sensor, a pressure sensor which gives the pressure in mbars (can later be used in calculating corresponding salinities), a dissolved oxygen sensor and a chlorophyll fluorescence sensor, turbidity sensor. Water is sucked into the instrument and then sent out. Dissolved oxygen is measured best when the instrument is lowered at a steady slow rate about 0.6-0.8 m/s. Chlorophyll fluoresces at 683nm and hence the sensor can give a measure of the primary productivity in that area. We can basically retrieve water samples from different depths in the water column depending on the real time data generated by the C.T.D. The instrument can accommodate 24 niskin samplers of varying capacities, 1.7 litres, 5 liters, 7 litres and has maximum capacity of 30litres. It needs to be calibrated at least once a year. The C.T.D present onboard Sagar Kanya is a deep cast C.T.D with a titanium casing and can measure parameters upto around 7000 meters depth.

The vertical profile of the temperature is as follows. The ocean consists of a wind mixed layer where the temperature is more or less constant due to mixing by winds. It is generally up to a depth of 30-40m.Below that we have the thermocline zone where there is a rapid decrease in temperature with the depth. Below the thermocline we have the deep zone where we have the Antarctic bottom waters which are very cold and have high oxygen concentration. Temperature here is more or less constant.

There were three sediment traps deployed which were connected to each other. They are present at different depths and can trap the material falling through the water column. There are 21 cups filled with sea water from the respective depths and poisoned with mercury chloride along with NaCl. As the material trapped in the cup the HgCl2+NaCl prevents bacterial decomposition. The cups are changed after every 21 days. The entire set up is kept vertical by 1400kgs of dead weight at the ocean bottom.

The auto analyser is used to measure the concentrations of the nutrients. The nutrients present in the sea water like phosphate, silicate, ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite are found by auto analyser.

Phosphate concentration is measured using monochromatic light at 880nm, silicate concentrations at 810nm, nitrate and nitrite are found at 543nm and ammonia at 630nm. The principle is that of beer lamberts law. We can measure the optical depths of the different nutrients and then the absorbance is calculated.

PHOTOS:

Fig.1 Explanation about different buoy structures

Fig.2 Explanation about Omni buoy systems

Fig.3 Explanation about Tsunami buoy systems

Fig.4 Explanation about sensors and its working principles

Fig.5 Participation of students during NIO sediment trap deployment

THANK YOU