Full Validation and Clean 21/Mar/2012

Yesterday 4 divers completed a full validation and clean. The station had low to moderate biofouling. A couple of patches of fire coral were noted as we have not had any on the station over the winter, we removed all that we could find, lets see if we have more as the water temperature increases. The Gt Sensor was installed at 8:15am and removed at 1:05pm, we commenced cleaning of the instruments at 11:20 and completed the rest of the station over the next 90 minutes. We also removed the 4 temperature leveloggers form the station and are returning them to Miami for calibration, they have been on the station for over a year. Everything else on the station looked normal.

Full Validation and Clean 11/Feb/2012

The CREWS station received its second cleaning of the year. All the sensors, chains, lines and pole had limited biofouling. The whole station was cleaned by 4 divers after the GT sensor was installed at 8am, the cleaning commenced at 9:30 for 90 minutes. The GT sensor was then removed around 1:20pm. Everything looked in place, no changes were obvious since our last visit.

Full Validation and Clean 11/Jan/2012

After many weeks of high winds we finally completed a full station cleanup of all instruments, chains, lines and pole on Wednesday 11th January 2012. Surprisingly the biofouling was not as much as we suspected, but definitely needed a clean. Could this be due to Herbivory fish?

Photos before and after cleaning

The GT was installed at 7:45 am. Cleaning commenced around 10:40, (we installed some settlement plates on the reef wall before we started cleaning), and finished around 12:05, the GT sensor was then removed around 3:30. In addition to the general cleaning of the station and instruments we replaced the copper filters on the CTD and added three anodes to three separate chains, more will need to be replaced over the coming months. The condition of the lines are in good shape, the four lines at the base did not seam as tight as normal but the station was solid and the orientation has not changed.

Installation of YSI Instrument & Download of Levelogger Data

On 30th October, a YSI 6600 Instrument was installed on the side of the ICON Pylon with large SS hose clamps. Unfortunately after a while we noticed that the instrument was leaking very slowly through a screw hole. The instrument was uninstalled and taken to the surface.

Leveloggers were removed and replaced on the station and the data from all four Leveloggers was successfully downloaded and sent for analysis at the University of Miami.

Cleaning of instruments was postponed and will take place when the seas are next calm enough. The station looked to be in good order with low biofouling.

Full Validation and Clean

On August 31st we completed a full validation and clean in preparation before our boats are out the water for 5 weeks. The station had low biofouling and instruments, chains, spectra lines etc were easy to clean. We set the Ground truth sensor just before 8am and started cleaning for a hour and 10 mins at 10:30. The Sensor was then removed from the system at 1:30pm. We are in prime Hurricane season now so hopefully everything will be ok.

Full Clean and Validation

Today, 5 August 2011 we completed a full clean and validation of the ICON station. 3 divers cleaned and scrubbed the spectra lines, chains, pins and shackles. The instruments were also cleaned and looked in good order. There was low bio-fouling on the station compared to other months. The Ground Truth Sensor was installed at 7:50, cleaning started at 9:35 and finished around 11:30. The GT sensor was then removed at around 1:45. Orientation has not changed.

Full Clean and Validation

Thursday 7th July, 4 divers and 2 snorkelers completed a thorough clean of the ICON Station. The station had moderate bio-fouling, but an increased amount of fire coral growth in multiple areas of the station. The spectra lines, chain, pins and shackles were scrubbed while the instruments and ICON pole were cleaned. The Ground Truth Sensor was installed at 8:55, cleaning started at 10:30 until 11:45, the GT sensor was then removed around 2:30. The orientation of the station is still the same as before.