An additional late day post from Jen Miksis-Olds: The first ADEON bottom-lander was successfully deployed! This bottom lander now sits at the ocean bottom approximately 250 m deep off the coast of Virginia.

This post is by Joe Warren, Stony Brook University, Chief Scientist, RV Armstrong #25.

Jen and Carmen have given you an overview of some of the ship's science activities that we'll be doing for the next month. But one very important task when you come aboard a ship (after tying all our gear down securely) is to learn the safety procedures that exist on the RV Armstrong.

Learning where to go during an emergency (our primary muster station is the main science lab), the safety gear on the ship (ranging from PFDs (personal floatation devices -- or life vests) to life rafts), and the highlight of every trip? Watching people try on immersion suits. These are called "Gumby" suits (although Jen Miksis-Olds has a valid argument that their color suggests they should be called "Pokey" suits).

These are neoprene suits that will keep us warm if we had to get off the vessel in case of an emergency. But they are a bit bulky and require some practice in how to get them on quickly. Once in the suit, your mobility is restricted a bit so it's good to get a feel for what you can (climb stairs -- challenging but doable) and can't (go to the bathroom -- just don't even think about it) do in the suits.

Fingers crossed that we will not need to put these suits on again this trip, but it's good to know that we have them on board.  We do have weekly safety drills - which means the night watch folks usually get a surprise wake-up in the middle of their REM sleep!