Pictures

Click on the link to view my photos from the cruise:

https://picasaweb.google.com/jessica.nephin/AtSeaInTheArctic?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLz8zML6_d-gsAE&feat=directlink

ROUGH SEAS

Current Position: N 70°30' , W 127°12'

Overall the Beaufort has been calm, some days eerily so, but the last few days have been much more eventful. We were a day away from finishing our sampling stations when I experienced the sea equivalent of a snow day! The previous days work on deck was complicated by barrels of salt water splashing over us, but when it is your 15^th box core in fewer days it is exactly what you want: excitement! After a day and night of roll we started sampling stations again, and we are now fished with three days to spare. A couple of our last stations were areas suspected to have oil or gas leaks. We saw no direct evidence (no bubbles or strange smells when the cores came to the surface, which is a good thing too as the crew will smoke anywhere on deck at anytime) but there were definite signs when looking at the box core sediment. There were red blotches on the surface of the mud (maybe bacterial mats) and we found no organisms living in the box of sediment... not one! That is very unusual, while the summer water column up here is practically a desert, as far as nutrients go, the sea floor can be teeming with life.

The water column scientist, whether they admit it or not, are obviously jealous of our abundant benthos! The one thing they have up on us: surface water sampling which must be done from a zodiac in order to get finer scale measurements. A couple days ago I was lucky enough to help them out with their last station. As we were being lowered down, off the side of the Amundsen, one of the crew said “If you haven't tasted the Arctic Ocean yet, you will now!” And I did.

Today are sole objective, now that sampling stations are finished, is SX90 sonar transects for marine mammal detection. We are north east of the Mackenzie River Delta and as they have discovered, but are not exactly sure why yet, this is a great area for sighting Bowhead whales and Belugas. Apparently dozens of Bowheads were spotted all in a few hours...while I was sleeping in. Really kicking myself today! Although I have been lucky enough to spot one or two off the boat in the last week. Not giving much away, the Bowhead barely scratches the surface, hiding in massive head underwater. I was impressed with its speed being such a large mammal; it seemed as fast as a dolphin.

With only 3 more nights left in the Arctic, my chances of spotting the northern lights are shrinking. This is the perfect time of year for seeing the northern lights, the sun is setting around 11pm, and they are no doubt dancing about almost every night over my position, just out of view beyond the clouds. Even though we have experienced many clear days, most nights the ship has either been encased in fog and or covered by a blanket of thick cloud. I am hoping my last night, staying on dry land in Kuglugtuk, will be the night I spot them. The ship is on its way to Kugluktuk now, and I am hoping we run into some ice on the way there! We have only hit one patch of sea ice, and it is not very likely that we will encounter another. This year is a record year (but not one to be proud of): so far the lowest extent and volume of sea ice ever recorded in the Arctic .

MUD

Current Position: N 70°48'  W 134°36'

It's been a week since I boarded the Amundsen and I'm getting into the rhythm of ship life. After the initial day off, the sampling stations started and didn't quit. We have 13 stations in all and we are now half way through. At each station there is a plethora of information gathered from the sea: a sediment profile and topographic maps; the collection of organisms that live in the sediment, on the sea floor and in the water column; water column nutrients; and measurements of organic contaminants and mercury levels in everything from sediment to plankton to fish. On top of that there are the marine mammal and sonar teams who work together to test whether sonar equipment, typically used on commercial fishing vessels, can detect marine mammals at the species level as well as provide information on their behaviour. The level of collaboration and shared data is really impressive. I am just starting to get a handle on the scale of the Arctic Net project.

My part of all this is in the mud. Sifting through mud from the box cores (cubes of mud collected from the sea floor) and the Agassiz trawl (a miniature version of a bottom trawling net). It can be an endless and dirty job but it’s balanced by the exciting diversity you discover. Benthic fauna vary immensely depending on depth and sediment type. The most interesting species we have found so far are the basket stars, fan worms, sea spiders, soft corals, anemones that live on the backs of snails, bright colourfully patterned sun starfish as well as the jurassic looking isopods. My nerdiest and most excited moment of sorting came when I found the elephant octopus.  Although not technically an octopus (or a squid either), it looks like one with wings which it uses for maneuvering. Small enough to fit in my hand, I picked it up from our sample and rinsed it off to find a little blue octopus! As soon as I put it in water it changed deep red in colour (a fitting colour for anger) and inked a few times.  A few hours later it eventually relaxed and changed again to white.... so cool! These critters are tough: surviving the quick haul up from depth (100 meters or more) to the surface which would kill most fish. Invertebrates are survivors; if we don't have time to identify and sort everything the same day we keep them overnight and find them very much alive in the morning. The isopods in particular will still be crawling around the desk when you are trying to keep them in neat piles for counting even after being left in the fridge all night not submerged in water. The cockroaches of the sea!

ICE

Current Position:

N 70°24' W 133°42'

Landed in Sachs Harbour midday on Wednesday and by the air temperate you knew you had arrived. The town itself was so small at first I didn't even notice it was there. Peering over from the airport, which is nothing more than a dirt strip, you can see around a hundred houses huddled next to the water. The town, which has to be one of the most isolated places to live, looks like it's dwindling; apparently teenagers frequently leave home after school and move to the city: Inuvik.

After surviving the Air Tindi charter flight up here I was ready to be on the ship. The Air Tindi special is a double propeller plane circa 1960.  A throwback to the days when you could only travel a few hours before landing to refuel (our fuel stop was Kugluktuk) and the press for steward'ess' button was just that: a lady in a dress carrying a tray. The helicopter flight was short but sweet. Although it was a little unnerving that the highly paid, important company employed personnel in the seat next to me, who just went through a graphic safety briefing on how they will exit the helicopter in the event of a crash, is wearing a survival suit. No worries, grad students are easily replaceable!

We left Sachs Harbour on a course out to the southern Beaufort Sea which is where most of the sampling on this leg of the research cruise will take place. The area is of great importance to Imperial Oil and BP (whose employees all left the ship mysteriously 8 days early so they wont be present on this leg). They are searching the seabed for a deep water drilling site planned for 2015, that is, if they find the oil. The Amundsen usually has a mix of people, those looking for oil and those studying nature to provide evidence against drilling.

There is a huge variety of science personnel on board conducting research in cetacean monitoring, mercury contamination, zooplankton sampling, benthic box cores and trawls for collection and identification (what I am working on) and CTD and mooring deployment on the physical side. There is also multibeam sonar mapping the sea floor in the area, which means a 24/7 ping, ping, ping sound which cannot be heard everywhere on the ship but seems to be centred on my cabin.

Between us and the Beaufort was an expansive stretch of sea ice. Upon hearing the hull crushing sounds of breaking ice, I hopped out of bed and caught a glimpse of a small ice burg floating by my window. On deck I went photo crazy, trying to capture the beauty of the bright night sky, perfectly calm sea and brilliant blue ice. No polar bears sited yet, but the sea itself is breathtaking enough.

Yellowknife

Arriving in Yellowknife was refreshing. The landscape viewed from the plane stretched far with rolling plains completely dotted with lakes that were so small ponds may be more fitting. The first thing I noticed touching down was how stunted the trees are; a miniature forest on an endless landscape. Why haven't I come up north before?!


Yellowknife itself is much nicer than expected although my expectations were extremely low. It's an odd mix of old (or ragged as one street name points out) and brand new, artists and miners and everyone seems to roll with a kayak on the hood of their F150.


Cannot wait to board the ship tomorrow.