Iceapelago by Peter Brennan

Author:Peter Brennan [Brennan, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Climate Change, Environmental, ecofiction
ISBN: 9781838063900
Publisher: Peter Brennan
Published: 2020-05-24T22:00:00+00:00

Holland 2

Just after dawn the Holland 2 was launched into the blue-grey waters off the stern of the RV Celtic Explorer. The ROV crew expertly positioned the umbilical tether. They knew if it twisted the ROV would have to be retrieved.

Its thrusters were controlled by Paul McCrossan who used the joysticks like a professional gamer. Once the ROV was in position any variation from that position was indicated by the sensors. Sitting in front of several display screens, McCrossan drove the ROV as if he were onboard it. His job was to deliver a payload to a predetermined location and once there, to execute certain tasks. In this case to test the salinity and temperature of the columns of seawater that were the motors of the Gulf Stream.

Seated close behind him, two technicians monitored the ROV’s vital functions.

The ROV deck crew had completed standard pre-dive safety operating procedures on dozens of occasions. The day before the ROV had been given a full physical examination. All the equipment: the frame, specialist instruments, cameras, communications and the tether were tested. One or two technical adjustments had been made. All systems had been tested and cross-checked and double cross-checked. It was expensive to make a mistake. A shorter checklist was completed in the period immediately before the ROV was expertly winched into the water using the research vessel’s Triplex crane.

The surface directed ROV was capable of descending to two thousand metres. It was the pride and joy of the Irish Marine Institute since its purchase for €2 million a year before. It gave marine research an entirely new dimension. The biggest advantage was its advanced submersible technologies. It was chock-full with the latest gadgetry. It had successfully been deployed on a variety of research tasks: hydrographic tests, fishing surveys, seabed mapping and recovery tasks.

With the support of the Chief Engineer, Paul McCrossan had set the coordinates for the dive. With his team, he had also prepared the scientific instruments that were ready to detect the smallest changes in the salinity of the ocean and the speed of the currents. He was especially pleased with his innovation in assembling and installing electro-connectivity devices that didn’t require a flow of water to take a reading. These could – in theory at least – measure the salinity of water by testing the electrical conductivity of the water. While the sealed bottle canisters had worked well near the surface, this was the first time they had been tried at significant depth while secured to an ROV. He spent a lot of time ensuring the devices were correctly calibrated and that the stainless-steel electrodes were cleaned with pure alcohol to improve performance.

‘What do you think we’ll find?’ asked Patricia Treacy, one of Tony Doherty’s colleagues from the University of Maynooth, whose job it was to analyse the salinity test readings.

She stood at the science desks that were to the rear of the bridge. The Chief Scientist and other researchers were also present to observe the first findings of the salinity tests.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.