RV THOMPSON returns to UW after 6 months

TGT Dredge Operations in the Marina Trench.  UW Marine Technician Justin Smith  compl ...

TGT Dredge Ops

Whale Shark TGT, photo taken by Third Mate Lucas Shuler

Whale Shark TGT

UW's Research Vessel Thomas G Thompson returned to the Oceanography Dock on Sunday, 29 April 2012 concluding over six months of oceanographic research throughout the Pacific Ocean. During the 187 days of operations, R/V Thompson visited Honolulu, Guam, San Diego and Manzanillo, Mexico while conducting six different science cruises. UW's professors Dr. Julian Sachs (Chemical Oceanography) and Dr. Allan Devol (Biological Oceanography) were Chief Scientists for two of the science cruises. In addition, senior School of Oceanography students carried out their senior projects onboard under the guidance of professors Rick Keil, Charlie Eriksen, Julie Keister, and Miles Logsdon.

Work included the whole spectrum of oceanographic sciences. Seismic operations, rock dredging, sonar imaging and detailed mapping were completed in the Hawaiian Lineation Jurassic Magnetic Quiet Zone and Mariana Trench regions for geologists / geophysicists. A cruise that focused on chemical oceanography was conducted at Aloha Station north of Oahu. And a great deal of biological oceanographic work was conducted also at Aloha Station and off the southwestern Mexican coast. Large quantities of physical oceanographic data were also collected throughout the cruises. Even during the transit home from San Diego detailed ocean bottom mapping was collected in support of the Cascadia initiative – a major, multiyear program that currently focuses on the deployment of a network of ocean bottom seismometers throughout the Cascadia subduction zone off the northern U.S. Pacific coast.

R/V Thompson will undergo two weeks of major maintenance at the UW Oceanography dock before returning to work in mid-May. The first cruise will be a week-long biological oceanography cruise that will be led by UW’s Dr. Ginger Armbrust and Dr. Anitra Ingalls.

Reported by UW Marine Superintendent, Posted by Port Captain 1 May 2012.