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Crew Change
Crew Change
Today we had a small crew change in Carmanville, NL before heading out for a roughly 30-hour steam to the Northeast Slope for the second leg of this expedition!
July 17th, 2024
A Long Way From Home
A Long Way From Home
Yesterday we had a visitor that seemed to be lost in the area, a Brown Booby that is native to the tropics. The Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster), can be found in the Carribean, Australia, Central and South America, all the way to Eastern Africa and Hawaii. However, even though they are frequent travellers, for them to be spotted in the United States or Canada is a rarity.
Given the nickname Ricky, by Jack, one of the students on board, our new little friend stayed with us for two days until he took flight to his next destination.
July 21st, 2024
Chasing Bergs
Chasing Bergs
Today we got to play tourist after we finished our station of the day, and got a beautiful view of an iceberg.
The team was all smiles for the rest of the day! Pictured on the left are the science crew from this leg, from L-R are Gordon De Jong, Jack Sullivan, Meghan Donovan, Hannah Steele, Robyn Whelan and Martin Dahl.
July 24th, 2024
Keeping Track
Keeping Track
From St. John's to the NE Slope, to Carmanville and back to the Slope, over the two legs of this expedition, we have covered a lot of stations!
Using data from up to July 25th one of our students, John, was able to compile a map of our track lines and stations covered. We have covered a lot of ground, or ocean if you will, but we still have a few more stations to hit before this season is over!
July 25th, 2024
Rain Rain Rain
Rain Rain Rain
Today's weather wasn't ideal, but we were still able to collect CTD data from a station we had previously missed. The hardest part about deep water sampling is the sheer amount of time it takes to deploy equipment, meaning the team had to stand outside in the rain for the 3 hours it took to deploy and retrieve the CTD.
Luckily we have our oil skins on board!
July 26th, 2024
A Whale Of A Time!
A Whale Of A Time!
While the marine mammal sightings in the NE NL Slope are less frequent then compared to the teams time in Funk Island, it makes it that much sweeter when we have visitors throughout the day!
This trip we have had many sightings of different species of whales, and have taken the opportunity for some marine mammal observations. The most common species has been pilot whales, with 3 sightings of pods of 20+. We have also been fortunate enough to see a sperm whale, a minke whale, and a pod of bottlenose whales.
July 27th, 2024
A730D902-95D6-4127-894C-2A5F15855648.MOVIMG_5098.movF7E252E8-CF68-4FEA-90B7-A97BEAEA8B09.movDC352D5D-D35D-4634-95CA-23F1FC59CC9F.movSnipping Recording 2024-07-23 090623.mp4An Underwater View
An Underwater View
Although we are in deep water, we have seen lots of life in the benthic environment here on the NE NL Slope. Our Baited Remote Underwater Video (BRUV) system is one of the key pieces of equipment used in the MCA project, as it gives us a visual idea of the species present at each station we are monitoring.
So far through this field season we have seen Turbot (Scophthalmus Maximus), Blue Hake (Antimora rostrata), Roughhead Grenadiers (Macrourus berglax), Northern Wolffish (Anarhichas denticulatus), and Greenland sharks (Somniosus microcephalus) to name a few!
July 28th, 2024
The End
The End
The team steamed back into St. John's harbour today at 14:00, ending the field season for this year.
Thank you all for following along and we will see you next year!
July 29th, 2024
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