What a perfect day! I am on board of Polarstern for the first time, heading for the Antarctic.That is magnificent and exciting — a real adventure. We have high sea state, it is cloudy and windy. But that does not matter. I have got a nice little lab in the belly of the ship that is just right for what I am doing.
During this cruise I am responsible for the deep-sea camera. With this camera we will take video footage of the ocean floor in depths to 5000 meters. The images will give us a first impression of the sediment characteristics and the abundance of animals in the deep sea. I am looking forward to this task, which I am facing for the first time, and I am anxiously awaiting the first images. Now I get started full of energy to put this camera together and make the first test photos and.... it is not working!
Well... let’s see. No, that wasn’t it either. Read the instructions one more time, in detail for the first time. Yes, so far it seems I did everything right. Electric current ok, voltage ok, plugs are plugged in and.... it is not working! After several hours of trying this and that and consulting with my colleagues the camera is .... still not working! But giving up is not an option! I work deep into the night and I can limit the problem to a small plug with interrupted contact, and if one wriggles the contact, the camera.... is not working! Arrrrrgh... overtired and frustrated I fall into my bunk.
Early the next morning I get experienced help from the ship’s ET. I explain the problem, turn on the camera and... it is not working! Well, I didn’t really expect it to. After a few more long hours, several hundred times of switching the thing on and off, reading circuit plans and giving up, testing the relais, dismantling platines and feeling despair, changing resistors, polishing contacts and becoming depressed we finally get to the core of the problem (well, actually the electronic technician does, I am really a biologist).
We weld the very last possible connection once more and ... it works! The camera works again. I spend the better part of the night reassembling the steering element of the camera. Now, after 48 hours, I am rather tired and finally in good mood again. Aside from the tasks lying ahead of us the best thing on board is the cooperation. Seamen and scientists form a team, helping out whenever necessary. Only in this way can we make our projects and thus the expedition a success.
And me, I understand a lot more about currents and voltage than before.
Niels Brenke, Senckenberg
Photos: M. Schüller, University of Bochum, and G. Veit-Köhler, Senckenberg