Category Archive

The current science verification cruise aboard R/V Sally Ride will test the ship’s ability to support coring operations. Seafloor sediment cores reveal information about the history and behavior of off-shore fault systems. They also provide insights into what the climate was like thousands of years ago. Scientists from multiple institutions are working together to collect and process cores, including students … Read More

As you may recall, last month R/V Sally Ride was easily visible from La Jolla and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The science mission was to recover moorings (strings of instruments anchored to the seafloor) that were deployed in the La Jolla Canyon area a few months earlier. Belonging to the lab of Scripps professor Dr. Matthew Alford, these moorings collect data for the study … Read More

In 2012, a methane seep was discovered by a group of SIO graduate students on a UC Ship Funds research cruise onboard Scripps’ now-retired research vessel Melville. SIO’s ROV Trident was used to take video of the site as well as collect samples from the seafloor. Now called the Del Mar Seep, it’s the first of its kind to be studied off the coast of San … Read More

During last month’s cruise aboard R/V Sally Ride, an ROV named Jason (after the Greek mythological hero and explorer) was deployed in order to test the ship’s capabilities, performing scientific operations under the direction of Scripps scientists. Labs at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP) at Scripps study seismographic data from the ocean floor using tiltmeters to measure … Read More

Last month, R/V Sally Ride went out to sea for a week with the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Jason onboard, which is owned by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). One of the science verification cruises, the main purpose was to ensure that the ship was able to support the ROV work in a way that the technicians at WHOI are … Read More

During a recent science verification cruise, Dr. Eric Terrill’s group from here at Scripps Institution of Oceanography tested out some of their suite of remote-controlled oceanographic equipment – modified aerial and aquatic vehicles that can be loaded up with sensors and sent out on scientific missions. Drones are becoming more and more popular – from the hobbyist to the military, … Read More

During a recent science verification cruise a remote-controlled kayak from Dr. Eric Terrill’s group at SIO was tested, using R/V Sally Ride as a platform. It sits in a custom-built frame, which was lowered into the water using the ship’s A-frame. From there it was operated by a hand-held controller just like those for toy cars, leaving the frame and heading off … Read More

Those of us who work and live aboard research vessels know that many of them are owned by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and operated by oceanographic institutions such as Scripps, Wood’s Hole, and the University of Washington. ONR is a division of the United States Navy that, after World War II, funded the AGOR (Auxiliary General Oceanographic Research) fleet of … Read More

[ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”6″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_basic_imagebrowser” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” ajax_pagination=”0″ maximum_entity_count=”500″]  For the next few days, R/V Sally Ride will be doing science operations as part of a verification cruise in La Jolla Canyon. Just outside of the marine protected area, the ship will be recovering moorings for the lab groups of Dr. Ana Sirovic and Dr. Matthew Alford. Deployed from R/V … Read More

  Dr. Sophia Merrifield is Chief Scientist aboard R/V Sally Ride this week. A postdoc in Dr. Eric Terrill’s lab at Scripps, she organizes and watches over every deployment and recovery. Other members of the lab are out here on a science verification cruise, to make sure the ship is ready and able to deploy their unmanned autonomous vehicles. Designed, built, … Read More