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Dispatch 11: Mooring A Recovered

Jennifer Kosty (Yale University)

September 29, 2025
17:00 local, 74.59◦N, 150.00◦W

Conditions:

  • Sunny, some clouds
  • 0% sea ice cover
  • -3◦C
  • Sunrise: 29-Sept-2025 10:17
  • Sunset: 29-Sept-2025 21:21
  • Day length: 11 hours, 4 minutes

Today, we recovered Mooring A! The day started with the BGOS team (Jeff O’Brien, Tim McDonough, Jim Ryder, Cory Beatty, Jennifer Kosty) meeting at 6:45 am to identify Mooring A’s precise position. This process involved traveling to 3 locations, each approximately 1.5 km away from Mooring A’s drop location, where we sent an acoustic ping to its bottom releases. We used the signal’s travel time to determine Mooring A’s exact location, which was 37 m from where it was dropped last year.

The recovery process was then paused for a couple of hours as we waited for the sun to rise. Around 9:40 am, we had sufficient sunlight and visibility, so Jeff O’Brien released Mooring A from its bottom anchor. With the help of the deck crew, we were able to complete the recovery process by 2 pm!

Immediately following Mooring A’s recovery, the day watch began a 3800 m CTD rosette cast. Casts this deep can take upwards of 3 hours, so the watch remained busy through supper time. Meanwhile, the BGOS team spent the afternoon downloading and reviewing the data collected by Mooring A’s various instruments and preparing for redeployment.

Although our days remain busy with the CTD casts and mooring operations, there is still time for fun aboard the Louis! As we are steaming between stations, many of us will play card games, work on knitting projects, or head up to the helipad for a game of hacky sack. We are currently steaming towards CB-7, where another CTD rosette cast will be completed tonight. We plan to redeploy Mooring A early tomorrow morning before heading back north.

 

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.
Photo 1: Mooring A’s top sphere surfaced minutes after Jeff O’Brien released it from the bottom anchor.
Photo 1: Mooring A’s top sphere surfaced minutes after Jeff O’Brien released it from the bottom anchor.
Photo 2: Mooring A’s top sphere being brought on deck after being clipped into the winch by Jerome Sibley.
Photo 2: Mooring A’s top sphere being brought on deck after being clipped into the winch by Jerome Sibley.
Photo 3: Boatswain Rico Amamio lowering one of Mooring A’s McClane Moored Profilers (MMPs) into the forward hold.
Photo 3: Boatswain Rico Amamio lowering one of Mooring A’s McClane Moored Profilers (MMPs) into the forward hold.
Photo 4: Tim McDonough (left) and deckhand Devon Fitzpatrick (right) disassembling a set of glass balls after their recovery from Mooring A. These balls sit around 2000 m deep and provide additional buoyancy for the mooring recovery.
Photo 4: Tim McDonough (left) and deckhand Devon Fitzpatrick (right) disassembling a set of glass balls after their recovery from Mooring A. These balls sit around 2000 m deep and provide additional buoyancy for the mooring recovery.
Photo 5: Cory Beatty (left) and cadet Josianne Fiset (right) preparing to switch wire reels during Mooring A’s recovery.
Photo 5: Cory Beatty (left) and cadet Josianne Fiset (right) preparing to switch wire reels during Mooring A’s recovery.
Photo 6: (left to right) Sarah-Ann Quesnel, Yuanxin Zhang, Sarah Zimmermann, Dominique Baker, and Tsukushi Komura playing hacky sack on the helipad. Photo by Annabel Payne.
Photo 6: (left to right) Sarah-Ann Quesnel, Yuanxin Zhang, Sarah Zimmermann, Dominique Baker, and Tsukushi Komura playing hacky sack on the helipad. Photo by Annabel Payne.