Our first OBS recovery was a success, despite some initial problems with communication. After some trouble shooting, the OBS engineer (Martin) changed a cable and that did the trick. Once communication was established, a command was sent to the OBS for it to drop a weight, allowing it to leave the ocean bottom and float to the surface. Then the fun began with scanning the horizon for an orange flag. A neighboring albatross helped us find the OBS, it was curious or hopeful and settled down on the water next to the floating instrument. The ship proceeded very slowly with the OBS on its starboard (right) side, and the engineers grabbed the OBS with very long sticks when it floated by. Check out the photos below to get a better idea of how the OBS is retrieved.
Communicating with the ocean bottom seismometer. This can be nerve-wracking as we wait to hear back from our OBS on the seafloor.
The little orange flag in the middle of the ocean is our OBS.
An albatross decided to visit the OBS
When the OBS gets close to the ship, the Scripps engineers use long poles to attach ropes to it
The green ball on the bottom is the seismometer. We want to make sure it doesn't bang against the ship
pinging?