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Dispatch 12: Mooring A Deployed

Jennifer Kosty (Yale University)

September 30, 2025
18:00 local, 74.00◦N, 150.00◦W

Conditions:

  • Cloudy, windy
  • 70% sea ice cover
  • -8◦C
  • Sunrise: 1-Oct-2025 10:54
  • Sunset: 1-Oct-2025 21:31
  • Day length: 10 hours, 37 minutes

Conditions:

  • Cloudy, flurries
  • 0% sea ice cover
  • -6.5◦C
  • Sunrise: 30-Sept-2025 10:23
  • Sunset: 30-Sept-2025 21:14
  • Day length: 10 hours, 51 minutes

A quick turnaround! This morning, we successfully redeployed Mooring A, a mere 19 hours after it was brought on board yesterday. The weather conditions were a bit harsh, with 1-2 meter swells, wind chills around -12◦C, and occasional flurries. However, after many conversations between Captain Briggs, co-chief scientist Paul Macoun, and the BGOS team, it was ultimately decided that we could safely go ahead with Mooring A’s deployment.

The deployment operations began in the pitch black, with the deck crew unloading Mooring A’s components from the forward hold around 8 am. By 9:30 am, we had assembled Mooring A’s base and were lowering it over the side of the deck. We spent the next 4.5 hours releasing approximately 3700 m of wire into the ocean, pausing occasionally to attach instruments, change wire spools, or connect strings of glass balls (which supply additional buoyancy to the mooring). We took turns escaping the cold for a quick lunch of halibut steaks, roasted tomato basil soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, and fresh veggies. By 2 pm, we were at the final stages of the deployment process and were lowering Mooring A’s yellow top sphere over the side of the deck. We waited for Captain Briggs and second officer Dominique Rennie to give the all-clear that we were in position before Mooring A was officially released from the ship. A huge thanks to the amazing crew for making Mooring A’s recovery and deployment a success!

Today, we also honored the Canadian National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Health officer Laura Stanford passed around a questionnaire about Canadian Indigenous history, and everyone who participated was entered in a drawing to win one of a few Inuit hand-made crafts.

We are currently steaming westward towards CB-5, where the watches will complete a CTD rosette cast late this evening. Tomorrow, we will arrive at the RS-line, a series of closely spaced science stations along the Northwind Ridge. These stations were not included in the original science plan for the 2025 BGOS/JOIS expedition. However, the slightly longer duration of this year’s cruise affords us the exciting opportunity to visit additional stations and collect more data!

 

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: The deck crew unloading spools of wire from the forward hold in preparation for Mooring A’s deployment.
Photo 1: The deck crew unloading spools of wire from the forward hold in preparation for Mooring A’s deployment.
Photo 2: The components of Mooring A’s base (anchor, bottom pressure recorder, acoustic releases, glass balls) laid out prior to deployment.
Photo 2: The components of Mooring A’s base (anchor, bottom pressure recorder, acoustic releases, glass balls) laid out prior to deployment.
Photo 3: Jim Ryder and boatswain Rico Amamio attaching a set of glass balls (which provide additional buoyancy) to Mooring A’s wire.
Photo 3: Jim Ryder and boatswain Rico Amamio attaching a set of glass balls (which provide additional buoyancy) to Mooring A’s wire.
Photo 4: Mooring A’s top sphere being lifted for deployment, as seen from the bridge.
Photo 4: Mooring A’s top sphere being lifted for deployment, as seen from the bridge.
Photo 5: Members of the science team (left to right: Marty Davelaar, Yuanxin Zhang, Michiyo Yamamoto-Kawai, Erinn Raftery, Tsukushi Komura) playing a round of cribbage in the forward lounge.
Photo 5: Members of the science team (left to right: Marty Davelaar, Yuanxin Zhang, Michiyo Yamamoto-Kawai, Erinn Raftery, Tsukushi Komura) playing a round of cribbage in the forward lounge.