On the R/V Atlantis, the mission is research

Audrey Saiz, The Daily Astorian, Ore.
·3 min read

The R/V Atlantis is a distinctive sight in Astoria in the summer.

With its easy-to-spot dome and huge A-frame at the stern, the research ship brings in a crew of 23 people and can take two dozen scientists and about a half-dozen technicians aboard.

R/V Atlantis

The remotely operated vehicle, Jason.

On occasion, the crew also talks to the International Space Station from thousands of meters below the ocean surface.

The U.S. Navy ship is operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

The institution, located in Massachusetts, owns three different research ships outside of the Atlantis. The organization is dedicated to learning more about the oceans in connection with the planet.

With careers across science, technology, engineering and mathematics, the institution also partners with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to create a program for students interested in oceanography related STEM careers.

The Atlantis is rented by scientists around the world who need access to top-of-the-line equipment, such as the human occupied vehicle, Alvin, which explored the wreckage of the Titanic on the sea floor in 1986, and the remotely operated vehicle, Jason, which was recently used to explore the Axial Seamount, an underwater volcano off the coast of Astoria.

A team of scientists on Atlantis spent days in July placing sensors and studying the volcano, hoping to catch its fourth eruption in the past 30 years. The scientists, hailing from universities across the country, hope to apply their studies to volcanoes on land, too.

The Atlantis is also the only ship in the world that can deploy the HOV Alvin, which has a permanent home aboard the ship. The HOV is cleared to reach depths of 6,500 meters — or 4 miles — into the ocean.

Ana Elmendorf, one of the marine technicians aboard, consults with scientists to make sure the equipment they plan to use works smoothly.

One of her main duties is to work with the conductivity, temperature and depth rosette sampler. This circular piece of equipment is deployed into the ocean on a winch system, which proves difficult at times due to pressure limits on the winch. Without those limits, it is able to go to the full depth of the ocean, but it typically maxes out at about 4,000 meters due to its size.

“This is kind of what we consider the bread and butter of oceanography. Like what oceanography started out as was just, you know, a sailboat and a really, really low-quality version of this instrument. And it’s since evolved a little bit from there,” Elmendorf said.

The rosette sampler can also take water samples through a ring of bottles controlled remotely. This allows scientists to bring ocean water up from different depths for tests.

A lot of the ship is dedicated to laboratory spaces for research. A wet lab on the main deck opens out to where the rosette sampler is stored, and a few other open labs are available for scientists to hook up their own equipment.

With the crew transitioning out of the Atlantis every few months, they are prepped and ready to help the scientists during each study. This year, the ship has found new species of deep sea worms and studied plate tectonics, with other expeditions planned.