Underway and beginning to collect data

For the last couple of days, we have been slowly (very slowly) steaming along at 4 knots (~4.6 miles an hour) towing all of the gear behind the ship and collecting seismic data. A lot of data! Each of the four seismic streamers behind the ship records returning sounds waves on 468 channels. Every time one of our air gun arrays fires, we collect 60 Mb of data.  Repeat that every 16 seconds for a few days, and it adds up.  Even though we have only been at it for a few days, we have already generated 405 Gb of raw seismic data, and that does not include all of the other types of marine geophysical data that we collect (bathymetry, magnetics, etc). Nonetheless, there are many reminders that we still have a long ways to go.  For example, a large map on a table in the main lab shows all 56 profiles that we plan to acquire during this cruise in our target area for 3D imaging (black horizontal lines in the image below). As we complete them, we draw a green line along the profile on the map. Four down, fifty-two to go! 

Donna Shillington

8th June

Map in the main lab showing planned profiles. The ones we've already completed are in green

*Follow our progress on the "Survey Area" page as we update the sail lines every ~4 days.