Yesterday morning, we finished acquiring data on our final profile and recovered all of the seismic gear, with beautiful morning views of Aleutian volcanoes, especially Great Sitkin. We have collected a really exciting dataset, and I can’t wait to start analyzing the data in more detail and finding out what they’ll teach us about the Aleutian volcanoes and subduction zone. After two months away, it is also great to start heading towards home.
We are so, so, so grateful to everyone who made this expedition possible during such an extraordinary time. We are particularly indebted to everyone onboard for their hard work, professionalism and positive spirit in frequently challenging conditions, and enduring the hardship of an extra 3-5 weeks away from home for pre-cruise COVID quarantining and due to other changes in schedule. It would not be possible to do this science without the Captain, crew and scientific technical staff on the Langseth, protected species observers, and the Ocean Bottom Seismic Instrument Center technical staff, and we are so thankful for everything you do. The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Marine Office did an extraordinary job of managing the complex logistics of undertaking a cruise during the time of COVID in coordination with OBSIC, National Science Foundation and many others. It would not be possible to do this science without support from the National Science Foundation. Thank you thank you thank you!