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July 28, 2008

July 28, 2008

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©OCEANA/ Enrique Talledo

 

Taking advantage of the fact that yesterday was a day off, the Rov’s technicians joined the two umbilicals, so we went out cheery. We wanted to submerge the robot at a greater depth. Unfortunately, an approximately 20 knot W wind forced us to stay close to shore, so we did the tests with the Rov off of Zumaia at approximately 1 nautical mile.

We submerged the Rov to a depth of about 50 meters, on a rocky bottom covered with a layer of fine sediment. Despite finding some sponges of the genera Phakellia, Axinella and Geodia and some sea fans such as Alcyonium glomeratum and Eunicella verrucosa, it wasn’t a place characterized by great biodiversity. We also found an area with numerous dead oysters, but unfortunately we did not find any live specimens.

At 1:15 PM, after having traveled approximately 0.25 nautical miles, a strong gust of wind of about 25 knots forced us to abort the task and return to the harbor in Zumaia.

This time, we didn’t have problems with how the Rov was operating or with the umbilical joint. This means that tomorrow, when wind conditions improve, we will be able to work in the canyons and document bottoms at a depth of 300 meters..