Dive 1603 Installing Cable to Eastern Caldera
Dive 1603 marked the first installation of an extension cable onto the seafloor at the summit of Axial Volcano. The 2083 feet of cable was installed from near Primary Node 3B to a southern site known as Eastern Caldera. This cable will be connected to a junction box that will provide power and communication to seismometers that will detect earthquakes in real-time and a bottom pressure-tilt instrument that will measure the inflation and deflation of the volcano's floor. ROPOS surveyed the cable route, transiting over lobate flows, bulbous pillow flows, and a few skylights. The cable was then installed and ROPOS set the cable laying system ROCLS (Remotely Operated Cable Laying System) onto the seafloor near marker W. ROPOS then removed the flange box from ROCLS so that the wet-mate connector would be available for follow-on connection to the J-Box later in the cruise. A few rat tail fish were observed along the way.