The objective of this cruise was to continue building a collection of hydrographic and biogeochemical data at the Hawaii Ocean Time-series(HOT) stations. Four stations were to be occupied during the cruise, in the following order:
1) Station 1, referred to as Station Kahe, is located at 21° 20.6' N, 158° 16.4' W and was to be occupied on October 5 for about 3 hours.
2) Station 2: ALOHA (A Long Term Oligotrophic Habitat Assessment) is defined as a circle with a 6 nautical mile radius centered at 22° 45'N, 158° W. This is the main HOT station and was to be occupied for 3 days from October 6 though October 8.
3) Station 8: HALE ALOHA is located at 22° 20' N, 158° 10.6' W. Station 8 was planned to be occupied on October 8 for about 2 hours.
4) Station 6: Located off Kahe Point at 21° 50.8' N, 158° 21.8' W. Station 6 was planned to be occupied on October 8 for about 3 hours.
A single CTD cast was to be conducted at Station 1 to collect continuous profiles of various physical and chemical parameters. Water samples were to be collected at discrete depths for biogeochemical measurements.
Upon arrival at Station ALOHA, a floating sediment trap array was to be deployed. A full-depth CTD cast was to be conducted followed by CTD casts at 3-hour intervals for 36 hours of continuous and discrete data collection. Plankton net tows were to be conducted near noon and midnight on October 6 and 7. A floating primary production experiment was to be deployed and recovered on October 7. Following recovery of the sediment traps on October 8, the ship was scheduled to return to Station ALOHA for trace metal and optical casts. Once work was completed at Station ALOHA, the ship was to transit to Station 8 for a single 1000 m CTD cast then to Station 6 for a single 2500 m cast. The ship was scheduled to return to SNUG Harbor at 0800 on October 9 and unload. The following instruments were to collect data throughout the cruise: a shipboard ADCP, a thermosalinograph, a fluorometer and an anemometer.