UTIG FIELD OPERATIONS GALLERY

Researchers at the Institute conduct field operations all over the globe. Below are some photographs from the field programs.

This view of the seismic streamer and bubbles from GI-airguns in the foreground, glacier-carved landscape in the background was taken during a high-resolution seismic survey in Lisianski Inlet, Alaska.
Photo by Sean Gulick, 2004.

This view of the the Hubbard Glacier was taken during the Alaska EW0408 cruise in 2004. The glacier is 100 m high at its terminus (shown) and every few decades it reaches Gilbert Point (shown in photo) causing ice damming and eventual floods down the bay threatening the town of Yakutat, Alaska.
Photo by Sean Gulick, 2004.

This view of the the Muir Glacier was taken during the Alaska EW0408 cruise in 2004. This glacier has receded 100 km in 300 years, contributing along with other glaciers within the park to 8 mm of global sea level rise.
Photo by Sean Gulick, 2004.

Kirk McIntosh helps to deploy the seismic streamer on the Hess Deep cruise.
Photo by Gail Christeson, 2003.

Removing a depth control 'bird' from the streamer during the Hess Deep cruise.
Photo by Gail Christeson, 2003.

Preparing ocean bottom seismometers (OBSs) for deployment during the EW0305 Hess Deep cruise.
Photo by Gail Christeson, 2003.

Repairs are made to the streamer during deployment, Hess Deep cruise.
Photo by Gail Christeson, 2003.

Recovering a UTIG ocean bottom seismometer (OBS) during the EW0305 Hess Deep cruise.
Photo by Gail Christeson, 2003.

Deployment of a UTIG ocean bottom seismometer (OBS) off the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica. The Institute developed and builds these microprocessor-controlled instruments designed to record seismic signals on the sea floor. The instrument is deployed from a surface ship, free-falls to the sea floor, and while on the sea floor detects and records seismic signals generated by natural or artificial seismic sources. A number of these instruments are being used in several offshore seismic investigations with diverse geological/geophysical targets in many parts of the world.

Fantail of the research vessel Oceanus during a joint UTIG/LDEO multichannel investigation of the New Jersey shelf and slope, summer 1995. This expedition collected site-specific and regional high-resolution seismic images in support of the Mid-Atlantic Transect, a cross-shelf array of drilling sites designed to study the Neogene history of sea level on this margin. As a result, the Ocean Drilling Program scheduled the JOIDES Resolution to drill at shelf/slope sites offshore New Jersey in summer 1997 (Leg 174A). Dr. James Austin of UTIG and Dr. Nicholas Christie-Blick of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory were Co-Chief scientists.

Participants in the Antalith study enjoyed fabulous accomodations while shooting 60-channel seismic data over the Byrd Basin in Central West Antarctica in early 1995. The experiments were conducted by researchers from the University of Texas at Austin, the Pennsylvania State University and the British Antarctic Survey. The location of the survey area in the deep interior of Antarctica provided unique challenges in terms of logistics and technology and the field parties operated from a camp maintained by the United States Antarctic Program with financial support from the National Science Foundation.

The igloo architect, Steffen Saustrup, tells his story:

The igloo took me a week to build but I did it almost completely by myself, working on it for an hour or two every day after supper. I cut the snow blocks using a saw and shaped and stacked them according to instructions in our survival manual. The blocks are actually stacked in one long spiral rather than in several rows. I climbed inside with a shovel and with help, set the last few blocks, the last block fitting in the top like a cork. I then had to tunnel my way out to form the door. I then piled snow over it for added insulation and to fill the cracks between blocks. It was just big enough inside for an army cot, I also had a Coleman stove, some books, a clothesline, and a portable stereo. The light filtering through the snow was a beautiful blue color and it was the quietest place in camp -- away from the noise of the large generators and the constant wind. I only lived in it for about a week because it stayed below freezing and my clothes and boots wouldn't dry out, and because I got drifted over with snow every night and had to dig my way out before breakfast. I went back to the relative warmth of the tent. Still, it was a nice place to hang out and read.

Hockley seismic station in the United Salt Company's Salt mine. The station's Strekeisen STS-1 ground motion sensors, oriented vertically, north-south, and east-west, are mounted on a concrete slab located 470 m below the surface and kept under evacuated bell jars. These sensors output an analog signal which then is fed into a state of the art electronics package yielding a broad band digital signal. The Hockley station, installed in July, 1995, is the first regional broad band instrument in Texas.

Student scientists aboard the R/V Gyre deploy a 48-channel seismic streamer, Gulf of Mexico, summer 1995. Students participants in the Department of Marine Sciences training cruise studied the shallow subsurface geology of the slope area in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico with chief-scientist Bill Behrens. The high-resolution seismic system was developed at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and was used in acruise off northern California in July, 1996 as part of the Strataform project.