Sea Trials Transit

Daily Science Report for 5 February 2009

LOCATION: In transit across the Philippines Sea to Guam. Crossed the West Mariana Basin, with Mariana Island Arc just ahead of us.

SCIENCE UPDATE: Pre-acceptance/acceptance testing activities continue. Planning and preparation for Readiness Assessment Committee (RAC) is in progress. Ongoing efforts include distributing and organizing the labs and lab supplies, and maintenance and calibration of electronic instrumentation.

See detailed transit map

Ship highlight of the day: Core Receiving Area (Catwalk)

Each core is taken from the rig floor to the core receiving platform (catwalk), where it is split into 1.5-m long sections before it is moved into the labs. Some samples and measurements may also be taken at this point. The catwalk has been enlarged by 23%.
Catwalk panorama (Quicktime VR). Click and drag to pan around. Use the Shift and Control keys to zoom in and out.

See iodp.tamu.edu/labs/ship.html for more details on the ship's new laboratories.