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Dispatch 15: Mooring B and TOP13 Recovered

Jennifer Kosty (Yale University)

October 3, 2025
18:00 local, 77.58◦N, 149.58◦W

Conditions:

  • Sunny
  • 90% sea ice cover
  • -13.5◦C
  • Sunrise: 3-Oct-2025 10:50
  • Sunset: 3-Oct-2025 20:42
  • Day length: 9 hours, 52 minutes

Today was a busy day for the BGOS team (Jeff O’Brien, Tim McDonough, Jim Ryder, Cory Beatty, Jennifer Kosty)! We started with recovering Mooring B in the morning/early afternoon. The relatively thick sea ice pack made Mooring B’s recovery slightly more challenging. After we identified Mooring B’s precise location, the ship spent around 30 minutes breaking a large hole in the ice pack for the recovery operation. At 11:30 am, Mooring B was released from its anchor, and we were delighted to see its top sphere pop up right within the hole we had created. We then began the long process of winching Mooring B’s instruments and nearly 3800 m of wire on board. Although we faced a wind chill of -20◦C, we were treated to some beautiful views of the sea ice as the sun finally emerged from behind the clouds. Mooring B’s bottom pressure recorder and acoustic releases were on deck by 3:15 pm, marking the end of the recovery process. After 4+ hours in the blistering cold, we were excited to warm up with a well-deserved supper. Tonight was pizza night on the Louis, much to the excitement of the science team!

After supper, we re-donned our gear and headed back to the fore deck to recover TOP13. TOP13 is another tethered ocean profiler that was deployed on the 2024 BGOS/JOIS expedition. We found TOP13 sitting on the ice, approximately 19 miles away from where Mooring B was recovered. The recovery process went smoothly, and we resumed steaming 30 minutes later.

We are currently headed towards CB-12, where the watches will complete another CTD rosette cast late this evening. In the meantime, the BGOS team remains busy processing data from Mooring B’s instruments and preparing for its redeployment tomorrow. Tonight, we celebrate another great week of science aboard the Louis with a ship-wide happy hour!

 

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: Deckhand Jerome Sibley clipping Mooring B’s top sphere into the winch.
Photo 1: Deckhand Jerome Sibley clipping Mooring B’s top sphere into the winch.
Photo 2: Deckhand Colin Kavanagh guiding Mooring B’s top sphere on deck.
Photo 2: Deckhand Colin Kavanagh guiding Mooring B’s top sphere on deck.
Photo 3: Members of the deck crew and BGOS team waiting for a McClane Moored Profiler (MMP) to be reeled in on the mooring wire.
Photo 3: Members of the deck crew and BGOS team waiting for a McClane Moored Profiler (MMP) to be reeled in on the mooring wire.
Photo 4: Pizza night on the Louis! (left to right: Sarah-Ann Quesnel, Yuanxin Zhang, Annabel Payne, Erinn Raferty, Dominique Baker).
Photo 4: Pizza night on the Louis! (left to right: Sarah-Ann Quesnel, Yuanxin Zhang, Annabel Payne, Erinn Raferty, Dominique Baker).
Photo 5: TOP13 sitting in the sea ice.
Photo 5: TOP13 sitting in the sea ice.
Photo 6: Members of the night watch (left to right: Collette Leclerc, Marguerite Larriere, Paige Hagel) playing a round of Dutch Blitz in between science stations.
Photo 6: Members of the night watch (left to right: Collette Leclerc, Marguerite Larriere, Paige Hagel) playing a round of Dutch Blitz in between science stations.