METEOR sailed from La Coruña on Saturday January 21, heading for the first sampling site at 47° 30'N, 15° 20'W at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain. Due to repairs on the friction winch and the exchange of the deep-sea wire, which proved to be damaged in the course of leg 1, our departure had been delayed for two days. During the exchange of the deep-sea wire a foreroll of the winch broke. A repair of the roll seemed to be too time consuming as the broken part was completely inaccessible and could only be reached by welding through the wall of a ballast tank. In consequence it was decided to do all deep-sea sampling with the 18mm cable. During the passage to sampling site 1, which was reached on the evening of January 23, water samples for CO2-measurements, nutrients, and dissolved organic carbon were taken with a pumping system.
Station work at 47° 30'N, 15° 20'W started with the deployment of two free-vehicle-longline systems for catching deep-sea fishes. After the successful deployments, a series of multiple corer samples were planned. Weather conditions deteriorated with wind forces of 6-7 Bft and a swell of 4-5 m height. When lowering the multiple corer the deep-sea cable looked quite corroded so that the speed of lowering was reduced to less than 1 m/sec. About 30 m above the sea bed (water depth 4850 m) the winch was stopped as some single strands of the cable broke and we tried to tape them. A few minutes later the cable broke about 30m below the sea surface which lead to the loss of the multiple corer, a pinger and 4800 m of the cable. The tension on the cable was less than 1/3 of the guaranteed capacity. Benthic sampling was stopped and CTD/rosette samples were carried out during the rest of the night. During the next morning we tried to retrieve the two free-vehicle-longline systems. In both cases the releases commanding the ballast weights were successfully activated, as we got a positive confirmation for the activation of the releases on the control board as well as by acoustical signal on a headphone. However, in both cases the gear did not float up as the range meter indicated, and the mooring remained in 4850 m water depth. Although release of the ballast weight was repeated several times with positive confirmation, the moorings gave no sign of floating to the surface. In the afternoon we decided to stop any further attempts. It can only be speculated as to the cause of the malfunctioning of the mooring. An implosion of the glass spheres seems to be a possible explanation.
As the deep-sea wire on winch no. 11 could not be used and the deep-sea cable proved to be a risk for any further benthic sampling the ship had to turn back to La Coruña, which was reached in the morning of January 26. A new cable was put on winch no. 12. A spare multiple corer was also delivered by lorry from Hamburg. Repair work was finished in the late evening of January 27 and METEOR left La Coruña at midnight, heading to the second station (BIOTRANS) of leg 2 in 47° 11'N, 19° 34'W. During the passage to the BIOTRANS-station water samples for CO2-measurements and nutrients were taken again with a pumping system. In the afternoon of January 29, at 46° 30'N, 17° 25'W a transect was started of CTD/rosette samples in 10 nm intervals and multinet samples in 50 nm intervals. This transect was finished at 47° 11'N, 19° 34'W in the early morning of January 31. A series of four successful multiple corer hauls was taken during the day. For the evening a prolongation of the CTD/rosette transect was planned. However, weather conditions deteriorated during the day reaching force 9 Bft in the evening. Station work had to be canceled after the first CTD-cast at 20:30 until 14:00 the next day, when the CTD/rosette transect was continued with course 115. The transect was finished at 02:30 February 2. METEOR steamed back to the central Benthos-station at 47° 11'N, 19° 34'W, where after a test of glass floats and transponders on the deep-sea wire, a series of multiple corer samples were taken. During the course of the station, weather conditions again deteriorated rapidly. The barometer dropped 20 hPa/3h between 14:00-17:00. Wind force was already 10 Bft when the gear was retrieved reaching force 12 Bft an hour later with maximum gusts of more than 230 km/h and wave heights of 18-20 m. The vessel held against the wind with about 2 kn, course 320. At 01:52 the laboratory container was smashed out of the twist locks and was washed over the back part of the working deck damaging an escape hole and thus creating a leak. Water invaded the hole but was controlled by pumping. During the course of the night the leakage was sealed provisionally. At 02:39 the container knocked a winch from its stand. The container and the winch were now washed around on the working deck damaging other gear and smashing about 30 gas bottles out of their containers. Train wheels for moorings and other ballast weights and a box grab became loose creating havoc on the working deck. The container and the winch were provisionally fixed two times during the night but were again knocked free. At 09:10 the crew managed to finally secure them. During the course of the night the life boats were loosened by wave action and the central crane was knocked from its lock. The crane swung around from port side to starboard side threatening the ship's chimney. The lifeboats and the crane were also secured by the crew in a life-threatening battle. The hurricane force gale kept on for the next 36 hours.
On February 4, wind speed went down to 7 Bft in the morning. We were able to turn around and take a course of 180 in order to head for calmer waters as another low with violent gale winds was heading for the work area. An inspection of all damages to the ship and to the scientific gear revealed that no further work was possible without repair in a shipyard. It was therefore decided to head for Lisbon. METEOR reached Lisbon in the morning of February 8 at 08:15 where leg