Follow The Team GeoMicrobe: GeoMICROBE Sled on the seafloor 海床上的採樣雪橇

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There is our sled!! JASON team has mounted a “homer” on the sled so that they can track where the sled is.

採樣雪橇靜靜的在海床上迎接我們的到來。

Everything looks good. The sled is not covered by the sediment.

看起來一切都很完好，而且也沒有太多的沈積物覆蓋在上面。

JASON helps to transport the sled to the CORK well head. Note the donut shape HOV/ROV plate form. That is where sled is going to sit on.

傑森號幫我們把採樣雪橇移動到水下觀測井，井口的地方有圓形的平台，可以讓研究潛艇停泊，也是我們即將放置採樣雪橇的地方。平台看起來好像很小。

Arrive at the well head. Position the sled on the plate form.

到達觀測井了，傑森號幫忙把採樣雪橇固定在平台上。我們的設計是恰好讓雪橇可以好好的放置在平台上。

JASON is getting ready to connect the fluid intake tubing of the sled to the CORK’s port. There are three connectors need to be connected to three different ports. The three ports deliver fluids from different depth/horizon; 70m (shallow horizon), 130m (middle horizon) and 170 m (deep horizon) into the rock. We have program the sled to collect certain depth using certain connector; therefore, they have to match the right port. The big numbers on the connector sure help.

傑森號準備幫我們把雪橇上的進樣管接到水下觀測井上。這個觀測井有三個底液輸送管，延伸到三個不同的深度，最淺的輸送管深入岩石中70 米處，中間的到130米，最深的到170米，這可以幫助我們了解不同深度的地下水是否有互相連通，水的性質是否相似或相異。因為採樣雪橇已經在事前寫好採樣程序了，所以我們不能接錯深度，因此我們在進樣管的接頭處標註大大的數字，的確幫助很大。

The pilot skillfully put the connector into the port on CORK.

傑森號的機長很小心的把進樣管的接頭放到觀測井的接頭上。

This connector need to be turn 90 degree to lock itself in position. However, the handles are too soft. It gave the pilot some challenges. The material chosen for the handle deforms in the cold bottom seawater (~2°C). This is something we must improve in the near future.

接頭必須要旋轉九十度才能夠鎖緊否則會漏水，但是我們接頭的把手材質在冷水中變形了，這個缺點給了傑森號的機長一些挑戰，剛開始是實習機長，他足足試了一個小時，仍無法轉動接頭，後來換資深的機長，才用一些技巧，把接頭給鎖緊。