The Search for Didemnum: Day 3 (Survey Patterns and Pictures)

Today we worked on our survey pattern behavior. We seem to have some troubles when heading due south.


Aside from that, the surveys look pretty good.


The images we are getting at 2m altitude are a little too pale. You can make out a scallop in this image, but not a lot of red channel is coming through.

We will have to fly lower to get good quality.


At 1.4 meters altitude, things are considerably better!


A crab.


A sea star.


A lobster.


A sunflower sea star, a sculpin, and a "regular" sea star.


We prepared to make the day's first recovery. Working as a team makes what would be an awkward (and somewhat hazardous) process go quite smoothly.


John (the first mate) is very good at coordinating the recovery process.


As the seas get rougher (from 25 kt gusts), deployment gets more "interesting". We try extra-hard to get the vehicle far from the boat before we let it go.


After putting Odyssey back in the water, we weren't able to accomplish much. There were some transient control issues in our way.

We did get a good sense of our minimum turning radius (at cruising speed) when we tried to hold a position.


All in all, we confirmed that the camera system is working reliably that our survey patterns actually look like survey patterns (even if dead reckoning is still a little behind).


Every trip to the surface has pictures filled with these jellyfish.