Dispatch 24: An unlucky stowaway
Jennifer Kosty (Yale University)
October 11, 2026
13:00 local, 74.51◦N, 146.27◦W
Conditions:
- Windy
- 90% sea ice cover
- -6.2◦C
- Sunrise: 10:07 PDT (local)
- Sunset: 18:55 PDT (local)
- Day length: 8 hours, 48 minutes
Last night, after completing a cast at CB4, we were shocked to see the rosette surface with an unlucky stowaway – a full sea nettle jellyfish! It’s not uncommon for the rosette to surface with a few tentacles, but we rarely have full jellyfish get caught in the frame like we did last night. It was exciting to have greater insight into the ocean ecosystem below, especially since we are not in a highly productive region.
After last night’s accidental catch, this morning was spent fishing with a purpose: retrieving a tethered ocean profiler (TOP) that was drifting near our cruise track. The WHOI team and deck crew were able to recover the TOP’s surface float and instrumentation. Unfortunately, the TOP’s wire-rope tether and profiling unit had already broken off, likely severed during an ice floe collision.
Following the TOP recovery, the WHOI team deployed an ice-tethered profiler (ITP). ITPs are the original autonomous, ice-based profiling system deployed in the Arctic (the predecessor to TOPs). Like the TOP-system, ITPs consist of a surface buoy, wire-rope tether, and a profiling instrument. The ITP deployed today will collect profiles of temperature, salinity, and velocity down to 750 m deep. This particular ITP has already been deployed and recovered in the Arctic several times before. We look forward to seeing the data it collects on its latest journey!
This afternoon, we will host an open house of the science and laboratory spaces on the Louis. All crew members are invited to tour and learn about the work we are doing on this cruise. In the meantime, we will continue steaming towards our next science station (CB3), with an estimated arrival time of 10 pm this evening.
