Edge of the Arctic Shelf

Moorings in the Chukchi
Jim Johnson was holding his breath when he typed in the code to release the first mooring this morning. The stress of the last mooring recovery was still very fresh in his mind. When the bridge immediately reported "floats on the surface," Jim smiled with satisfaction. "That's how it's supposed to work" he remarked.

Having completed eleven recoveries now, the mooring team made the operation look simple. Jim Johnson directed the mooring team, using hand signals like he was conducting an orchestra on the fantail. In a short 20 minutes, the mooring was hauled on deck and disassembled. The second mooring was recovered just after lunch in record time. A curious savannah sparrow watched the mooring operation from his perch on some mooring equipment. The fluffy little fellow has been on the ship since our transit through the Bering Strait.

Jim and Seth were happy to have the assistance of Celia, David, and Andrea from the University of Cadiz. Celia commented "I think the mooring recovery work is very difficult because you must have a lot of care with the instruments and they are very heavy." David also tells me: "We've never seen the moorings before, and for us it's a surprise how Jim and Seth communicate with the mooring using the acoustic release mechanisms."

I was surprised to see the Coast Guard crew members in civilian clothes instead of their normal blue uniforms today... Earlier this month, the morale committee had a raffle for someone to be the Commanding Officer and Executive Officer of the ship for the day. Captain Bilby and Commander Haugk granted the crew a day of civilian clothes, movies all day, and pizza and ice cream for dinner.

The following questions are from Dr. Linda Werner's class at the Morse Pond School. Thanks to Dean Stockwell for the answers.

Question: Have you ever been contacted by anyone in Russia who knows that you are in the water and doing research?
Answer from Dean Stockwell: "A Russian colleage has been working with us during the entire SBI project. We have been collecting phytoplankton samples on all SBI cruises. These samples are sent to Moscow where taxonomists will tell us what phytoplankton species are in the water. They will also count all the phytoplankton present so we can compare these numbers to our chlorophyll data."

Question: Is the food chain getting weaker because of global warming?
Answer from Dean Stockwell: "Arctic animals are dependent on the ice conditions present in Arctic seas. Migrations, feeding, hunting and mating are all dependent upon the timing of ice formation and ice melting. Global warming will have a definite impact on these food chains. As conditions change, however, new species now living in warmer waters may extend their habitat ranges into these newly warmed waters. Food chains will see changes as warming of Arctic waters take place."

As we resumed CTD operations this afternoon, a southerly wind picked up, bringing slightly warmer (but by only a few degrees!) temperatures and some rolling swell waves. Right at dinnertime, a large wave caught the CTD and twisted the cable. Sarah Zimmermann immediately noticed a problem with the data from that station, and the decision was made to cut the damaged part of the cable and reattach the cable to the CTD. The CTD surgeon (Jim Schmitt) and the Marine Science Technicians performed the operation and now the CTD is returning excellent data again. Tomorrow the CTD section will continue, taking us over the Chukchi Sea shelf edge into deeper water.