By Carin Ashjian for The Arctic Winter Cruise 2011 We docked at a little after 1400 yesterday. The end of a cruise is always sad but at the same time welcome. Cruises are exhausting, so much energy is expended taking advantage of every available opportunity and sample. Now we must re-enter the real world. There […]
By Carin Ashjian for The Arctic Winter Cruise 2011 I didn’t quite expect the Bering Sea to be quite this nasty in December. Bad yes, but perhaps a few hours to sneak in a few samples before roaring in again with another storm. No such luck, the storms are just rolling in like freight trains. […]
By Carin Ashjian for The Arctic Winter Cruise 2011 Another day, another storm. The Bering Sea is relentless! We managed to sneak in three stations yesterday afternoon and early this morning but then the weather deteriorated and our sampling operations were shut down again. This time we were out in the open, far from the […]
By Carin Ashjian for The Arctic Winter Cruise 2011 We’re racing a storm across the Bering Sea, going 15 knots between stations to try to get as many done as possible before the storm catches us from behind. Fifteen knots feels really fast, Healy shudders a little bit as she goes. The wake is white […]
By Carin Ashjian for The Arctic Winter Cruise 2011 The Bering Sea is gnashing its teeth and flailing around. Clearly it took offense at our attempts to wrest the secrets of plankton overwintering from its icy depths. We have been unable to work for a day and a half now because of bad weather. Two […]
By Carin Ashjian for The Arctic Winter Cruise 2011 The sun was shining brightly in Seward as we slipped our lines free from the dock and moved gently away. The winter cruise was starting! It was a long time in coming, with many ups and downs as the schedule changed. But today, we finally […]