Dispatch 26: Packing, cleaning, and science presentations
Ashley Arroyo (Yale University)
September 24, 2024
12:00 UTC, 71.76°N 124.85°W
Conditions:
- Mostly cloudy
- 0% sea ice cover
- 7°C
- Winds 30.6 knots easterly
- Sunrise: 24-Sep-2024 08:08:30 -06
- Sunset: 24-Sep-2024 20:16:34 -06
- Day length: 12h 8mn 3s
As our eastward steam to Cambridge Bay continues, the science team spent most of the day packing and cleaning. For example, our trusty orange mustang suits that kept us warm throughout the expedition needed a wash. Many suits were covered in grease from touching the wire during CTD rosette operations, and salty residue from sampling sea water. After scrubbing and rinsing the suits, we hung them to dry in the forward hold. The bongo nets were also rinsed with freshwater and hung to dry. Bottles that held water samples (for salts and chlorophyll) throughout the cruise were also rinsed and left to dry so they can be reused on future expeditions. The chlorophyll/ammonium “green room” was disassembled and packed away in large silver boxes that will be shipped back to the Institute of Ocean Sciences.
Aside from the packing and cleaning, there were a couple presentations/performances that took place aboard the Louis today. Mary-Louise Timmermans and Paul Macoun put together two science presentations for the crew members describing data we collected this year, and how we will integrate our new findings to learn about the changing Beaufort Gyre. It was nice for the crew to get to see the scope of data they assisted us in collecting for the past month – doing everything from holding us in position on the bridge, to operating the winch for rosette casts, to working on the deck during mooring/buoy operations to preparing delicious meals in the galley. After dinner tonight, deckhand Greg Reid put on an excellent concert in the forward lab, singing and playing traditional Newfoundland folk music on the guitar/harmonica!
Today, as we were passing through Dolphin and Union Strait, we got our first glimpse of land. The Louis will continue to steam east through the Canadian Archipelago until we reach Cambridge Bay tomorrow evening.
