Peter Winsor monitoring CTD cable tension.

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iBase ID

75356

Creator

Linder, Christopher

Title

Peter Winsor monitoring CTD cable tension.

Type

Still Image

Date

09/11/2007

File name

graphics/agave2/cl_20070730_agave07_ctd_015.jpg

Notes

This doesn't happen on research cruises near the Equator, nor pretty much anywhere else but polar oceans. The cable suspending the CTD instrument into the ocean has bitten into an ice floe, which has flipped over to expose its blue underbelly. WHOI physical oceanographer Peter Winsor keeps an eye on the situation and radios instructions to the bridge. There's a lot of tension on the cable, and some among researchers, too. This situation is not unusual in polar regions, but they have to be careful. If the cable snaps, not only would the CTD and cable be lost, the top of the cable could whip up with tremendous force and cause damage. The icebreaker Oden's crew is using its bow thrusters to flush water onto the floe to lubricate it. It also moved the ship forward slowly to nudge the ice floe. Meanwhile, the winch operator is moving the cable up and down carefully, trying to wiggle and pull the wire out of the nook it has cut into the ice.

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