Skip to content

Dispatch 10: Change of Plans, TOP15 Recovered

Jennifer Kosty (Yale University)

September 28, 2025
18:00 local, 74.58◦N, 141.12◦W

Conditions:

  • Cloudy, flurries
  • 0% sea ice cover
  • -3◦C
  • Sunrise: 28-Sept-2025 09:36
  • Sunset: 28-Sept-2025 20:51
  • Day length: 11 hours, 15 minutes

Change of plans! During the daily science meeting, co-chief scientist Paul Macoun informed us that there has been a last-minute adjustment in the schedule for the next few days. Ice specialist Kyle McDougall warned that next Wednesday the forecast at the site of Mooring A included stormy weather and rough seas, resulting from the pressure gradient between two nearby systems. Rough weather can be common during this time of the year, so Paul and the BGOS team decided that we should take advantage of the relatively calm seas forecast for the next couple of days and immediately head towards Mooring A. The plan is now to recover Mooring A tomorrow and redeploy on Tuesday. We will then decide if we want to return to CB-17 and the originally planned schedule, or if it will be more advantageous for us to work our way backwards through the stations up north.

We left CB-18 around 1 pm, and started steaming towards Mooring A. Along the way, we stopped to recover TOP15, another tethered ocean profiler that was deployed last September on the 2024 BGOS/JOIS expedition. The recovery process went smoothly, with Jerome Sibley clipping the surface buoy into the winch and the deck crew bringing it aboard. The whole process only took 15-20 minutes!

Following the TOP recovery, we enjoyed supper which consisted of cold cut subs, onion rings, cod nuggets, and snap peas. Of course, we also had to celebrate the end of the week with some Sunday Sundaes! We anticipate arriving at CB-6 late tonight, where the night watch will complete another CTD rosette cast. We will then steam towards Mooring A and begin the recovery process early tomorrow morning.

 

Figure 1: The most recent sea ice concentration map for the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas (Source: https://data.seaice.uni-bremen.de/databrowser/).
Figure 1: The most recent sea ice concentration map for the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas (Source: https://data.seaice.uni-bremen.de/databrowser/).
Figure 2: Map showing our current location along the planned 2025 cruise track.
Figure 2: Map showing our current location along the planned 2025 cruise track.
Figure 3: TOP15 drift track (Source: https://www2.whoi.edu/site/itp/data/).
Figure 3: TOP15 drift track (Source: https://www2.whoi.edu/site/itp/data/).
Photo 1: TOP15 spotted from the bow of the Louis.
Photo 1: TOP15 spotted from the bow of the Louis.
Photo 2: Jerome Sibley being brought back on deck after clipping TOP15 into the winch.
Photo 2: Jerome Sibley being brought back on deck after clipping TOP15 into the winch.
Photo 3: Jeff O’Brien and Tim McDonough examining TOP15 after its recovery.
Photo 3: Jeff O’Brien and Tim McDonough examining TOP15 after its recovery.
Photo 4: (left to right) Magali Pucet, Paige Hagel, Collette Leclerc, Dominique Baker, and Marguerite Larriere enjoying their Sunday Sundaes! Photo by Collette Leclerc.
Photo 4: (left to right) Magali Pucet, Paige Hagel, Collette Leclerc, Dominique Baker, and Marguerite Larriere enjoying their Sunday Sundaes! Photo by Collette Leclerc.
Photo 5: Sunday Sundaes! Photo by Collette Leclerc.
Photo 5: Sunday Sundaes! Photo by Collette Leclerc.