PN1D is Installed!

Wednesday, August 01, 2012
PN1D Ready for Deployment
Plan for OOI RSN Primary Node Installation

Plan for OOI RSN Primary Node Installation. Node drawings courtesy of L-3 MariPro.

PN1D Night Deployment

This photo taken from the bridge of the TE SubCom Dependable, shows the deployment of OOI RSN Primary Node 1D in the early hours of 1 August 2012.

--Photo by Paul Hagstrom, Consortium for Ocean Leadership

We are pleased to announce that the shallowest and last node on the Oregon Endurance Line is now officially installed and functioning as designed. Another major milestone has been reached!

At a half hour past midnight today, preparations were under way for the deployment of OOI Primary Node 1D. By 0230h PDT, the node was deployed; it landed on the seafloor a half hour later at a depth of about 114 meters, only 5 meters from its intended target position. The node was successfully tested from the shore station and pitch and roll parameters were verified to confirm that the node was lying flat on the bottom.

As of 1330h PDT, we have completed three ROV burial passes along Segment 4 in the approach to node PN1D, and the final inspection is satisfactory. We will be removing our deployment bridle and be on our way back to port shortly.

The second part of our summer 2012 installation work--three more primary nodes along the northern section of the OOI cabled infrastructure to Axial Seamount--will begin in a few days after the port call in Portland, Oregon to load the remaining nodes and to resupply the ship.

-- Cecile Durand, OOI Marine Maintenance Manager, University of Washington, at sea aboard the TESubCom Dependable.