So, what we did first right after escaping from a typhoon was retrieving an observation equipment from the borehole C0010A. This site was where we drilled last year on our Expedition 319. We had installed an observation equipment called SmartPlug for measuring temperature and pressure.

You would probably like to know what SmartPlug is like? Usually, we place a plug in the borehole after drilling it, and SmartPlug is a smart version of such a plug with a logger to keep records of temperature and pressure. Literally, it is not just a mere plug, but is smart with a logger, thus we named it “SmartPlug”. In Expedition 332, we were supposed to be retrieving the SmartPlug from last year and to place a new SmartPlug, but we got a little more greedy; our updated version of the SmartPlug can record temperature, pressure and even comes with a water sampler! Isn’t it a little more than being “smart”? We thought it was a “genius” plug! It is very simple, actually. (I’m not talking about the plug’s functional capabilities, but our way of naming equipment etc., haha…) You might want to warn us we would probably run out of better names when we update and improve this GENIUSPlug in the future, but anyway, we will think about this problem later!

Well, the name of the plug may sound slightly cheesy, however, we are paying extreme attention while installing the GENIUSPlug and retrieving the SmartPlug. The site C0010A is located in where Kuroshio current is running at 10 m/sec. Therefore, if we carelessly lowered the drill pipe for retrieving, it would cause tremendous wave swings, promising us a failure. Since we faced this “Kuroshio Swings” problem, we have been working on our new development to improve the system. As a result, we did find a way to quietly lower the drill pipe without being affected by swings and vibrations caused by Kuroshio, and to retrieve the equipment safely.

Yet, the operation of retrieving and installation made us very nervous. When we succeeded in retrieving the SmartPlug, we were so happy and excited that we almost jumpied up and down like a child! I am greatly thankful to all the crews on Chikyu.

Now that we have succeeded in GENIUSPlug installation, we are moving on to the next mission of drilling a borehole for installing Long Term Borehole System.

Eiichiro Araki