Station Maintenance

On Friday March 1, 2013 Interpretative Ranger Jose Sanchez and Coral Fellow Jennifer Travis traveled to the Salt River station for a routine maintenance trip and calibration.

Conditions were fair with sunny skies, Jose and Jenn attached the ground truth CTD at approximately 10:00 a.m.  It was retrieved after 2:00 pm.

All mesh screens were replaced on both the shallow and deep CTD and general cleaning of ropes, chains and the stick were completed.

Unfortunately the teams camera had technical difficulties and no pictures were able to be taken.

A next trip is planned for the week of March 18th , 2013.

Station maintenance

On Wednesday the 30 January 2013, a team from DPNR and the NOAA  travelled to the Salt River station under clear skies and rough seas. The station had not been attended to since November 2012, and at least two previous attempts were aborted due to unsafe weather conditions.





The weather conditions on Wednesday were challenging but with the help of Jose Sanchez , (STXEEMP Ranger), John Farchette ( STXEEMP Ranger) Jennifer Travis( NOAA CRCP Coral Fellow ) and NOAA Liaison ( Marlon Hibbert), we were able to remove the deep light sensor and change the sacrificial anodes on the base plate and on the chains.

A plug was placed on the light sensor as it had been dropping in and out of service. No further cleaning was attempted on the station due to the conditions , but it was observed to be in fair condition.



A basic cleaning and CTD validation is planned for mid February.

Pictures courtesy of Jenn Travis and Jose Sanchez

proposed removal of Deep BIC, St. Croix CREWS Station

[n.b. This is a backdated post, part of a May/2014 blog catchup.  This post's content is a slightly edited version of an email sent on December 21st, 2012, about signs of trouble with the station's Deep Light Sensor and our plans to correct the problem.]

The station's "deep" BIC has been dropping in and out of communications, with the first hints of trouble in July and more serious data gaps starting in September.  This isn't so worrisome in and of itself but beginning in late November the station's power levels have been fluctuating as well, which could indicate a flooding problem in the light sensor.  In extreme cases this could take the entire station offline due to power loss.

Our next visit from AOML to the station cannot happen until April or May at the earliest.  However, we will be shipping a collection of dummy plugs to Marlon Hibbert (NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program) and José Sanchez (USVI's Department of Planning and Natural Resources) so that they may remove the failing instrument and cap its cable during their next maintenance visit.

(signed)
Mike Jankulak

Station maintenance

On Wednesday November 14, 2012 Jose Sanchez ( STXEEMP Interpretative Ranger) and I traveled to the SRV12 to conduct routine maintenance.

Conditions were not the best, winds between 12-16 knots with gusts up to 20 knots and seas running about 3-6ft. We were able to safely attach the calibration unit done at 10:40 am and it was retrieved at 2:25 pm. Jose cleaned all the ropes on  two dives and worked on the lower portions of the stick, base plate etc.

The zincs on the support chains will need changing, and the lower base plate zinc will need changing as well. Cleaning of the upper portion of the stick was not attempted due to the surge conditions and was deemed unsafe.

Checks on the data the day before revealed a possible issue with the deep light readings which measured a consistent -9 over the last 72 or so hours.

No pictures were taken on this trip.

Next scheduled event is mid December barring weather and unforeseen events.

Station maintenance

Station maintenance  was conducted a week after our planned September 10-17 date due  to some rainy and stormy weather conditions and some meetings for the update of the STXEEMP management plan. On a clear  almost flat day on September 21, 2012  Jose Sanchez, STXEEMP Interpretative Ranger and myself ( Marlon Hibbert) journeyed out to Salt River.

Pleasant conditions 

                                         

Before-deep CTD 

                                         
                                           

After - deep CTD 

                                             

Jose-roped to his work

                                         
                                               .

Jose - chipping away

                                                 
                                                   

Main  column - before

                                                 

Main column-after 

                                                   

The big picture

                                                   

Cleaning brought us many friends hunting for scraps

Spectators doubling as security guards

                                             
                                       
                                               

Cleaning has pitfalls -we saved this one. 

                                       

Jose's handiwork

                                                                                         

Paling of corals 

Pale Montastrea sp

Diseased-Meandrina sp 

Connected groundtruth CTD

The groundtruth CTD was connected at about 10:56 am and ran undisturbed for at least two hours. Jose cleaned and changed the mesh on the top CTD, but for the most part none were disturbed. The groundtruth CTD was disconnected at about 3:20p.m. just before our departure from the site.

A week before going to the site , a check on the data revealed conditions conducive to bleaching, on a brief swim around, we did observe some minimal paling that did not appear widespread and  was mostly species specific.

Next planned visit, Week of October 15, 2012.

Station maintenance

On Friday August 10^th, 2012, Interpretive Park Ranger Jose Sanchez was accompanied by Jonathan Brown, Fisheries Biologist with the Division of Fish and Wildlife, DPNR  to clean and calibrate the ICON station.

Jose and Jonathan did extensive cleaning of station and connected the ground truth CT.  They also replaced the mesh screens on the deep and shallow CTD’s.

The cleaning took place just in time for the arrival of Tropical storm Issac who thankfully skirted the south of St Croix.

Next planned visit week of September 10^th , 2012.

Pictures courtesy of Jonathan Brown, DFW, DPNR. 

Jose Sanchez chipping away 

Station Maintenance Performed

On Thursday Oct. 6th, 2011 staff from DPNR-CZM's St. Croix East End Marine Park visited the station to perform some cleaning and hook up the groundtruth CT. All looked well at the station including the repair of the ladder rung that was performed by park staff and the USVI NOAA Liaison on Sept. 22nd. Pictures to follow