Tom and I began work cleaning the attachment lines, as algae and barnacles had been noted on the January 2nd inspection. The lines from the sea floor to subsurface attachment buoys were easy to clean and mostly only covered in a light layer of reddish-brown turf algae. The lines from the subsurface attachment buoys to the chains (which then attach to the buoy substructure) are partially made of elasticized rope, and appear to be preferred by gooseneck barnacles. Approx. 60 barnacles as well as more turf algae were removed from the lines.
Jon inspected the attachments, shackles and chains on the seafloor, noting that everything was in sound condition. The abrasion on the chain between the two attachment points seen on the Jan 2nd dive has not worsened.
I was then able to scrub the outsides of the metal substructure and clean the subBIC arm of more algae, removing a handful of gooseneck barnacles along the way. The eye of the subBIC was much less biofouled than on Jan 2nd, indicating that a 2-3 week cleaning frequency is likely optimum. Sacrificial anodes still have adequate material and the conductivity cell on the CTD was gently cleaned although relatively unaffected by algae.
All cables and connections topside appeared in place and unaffected. The solar panels are still clean and all MET instruments were operational upon visual inspection.
Until mid-February! See photos below.
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| Tom cleaning the main rope - scrubbing makes the rope go back to bright white. |
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| Sam picking barnacles off the black elasticized rope after being scrubbed for algae. |
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| Sam cleaning the subBIC arm and metal structure of the buoy. |
