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Expedition Log

09.16.17

Wrapping up our Canadian Arctic 2017 expedition

  We completed science operations on the evening of September 12th after conducting a successful ROV dive and collecting several more gravity cores in the Western Mackenzie Trough and Yukon Shelf. Although this was a geosciences expedition, we made several observations of marine life as well. Topside, we have seen numerous species of birds, including …

Expedition Log

09.15.17

Understanding the glacial history of the western Arctic

Ned King To interpret what we see today both on land and at the seabed, we need to understand how the landscape was different in the past. When we say “past”, we mean on a geologic timeframe—specifically, about 10,000 to 20,000 years ago, when the climate was much colder and glaciers covered much of Canada. There have …

Behind the Scenes

09.13.17

Testing the waters by taking to the air

Aerial platforms such as UAVs, or drones, as they are more commonly known, are making headway into scientific applications due to the variety of remote sensing capabilities they offer.

Expedition Log

09.12.17

Pingo-like features and mud volcanoes on the eastern Mackenzie Shelf

Lonny Lundsten and Michelle Côté on behalf of the science team Over the last few days we conducted three remotely operated vehicle (ROV) dives and two autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) surveys at areas of geologic interest on the eastern Mackenzie Shelf that are called pingo-like features (PLFs) and mud volcanoes. On the adjacent land of …

Expedition Log

09.07.17

Exploring new areas along the western side of the Mackenzie Trough, Offshore Yukon

For over five decades, the geology under the Canadian Beaufort Sea on the eastern side of the Mackenzie Trough has been extensively explored for the potential to find oil and gas deposits. Thus, a wealth of data exists in this area, including: multichannel seismic data looking deep into the subsurface, large swaths of multibeam data …

Expedition Log

09.05.17

Report from the terrestrial field party

Scott Dallimore and Stephen Wolfe As described in our August 30th blog entry, the 2017 Arctic field program also includes a terrestrial component with Scott Dallimore and Stephen Wolfe from the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) examining the coastal geology of the northern Yukon. For Scott and Steve, the field program is a bit of …

Expedition Log

09.03.17

Multi-channel seismic research program on the R/V Araon

A key objective of this research program is to improve our understanding of subsurface geology and permafrost and gas hydrate distribution. We hope to quantify the occurrence and release of fluid and methane gas at depth with an aim of understanding sediment instability, both landslide-type and fluid-related. The primary geophysical method used to asses this scientific question is marine reflection seismic, which involves transmitting controlled …

Expedition Log

08.30.17

Revisiting Herschel Island

Scott Dallimore and Stephen Wolfe The Araon science program began immediately upon crossing the Canadian border with targeted multi-beam and sub-bottom mapping of an interesting trough feature that occurs on the Yukon shelf. After about 36 hours of transiting and science activities the ship arrived at Herschel Island to pick up three marine mammal observers …

Press Release

08.30.17

Tracking down the whale-shark highway

MBARI oceanographer John Ryan and his colleagues discovered that whale sharks swim across the Eastern Tropical Pacific following fronts—dynamic boundaries between warm and cold ocean waters.

Expedition Log

08.26.17

Arrival and science preparations

August 26-30, 2017 Our 2017 Arctic Expedition kicked off with members of the three science teams from KOPRI, MBARI, and the GSC assembling in Barrow, Alaska, on August 26 and transferring, via helicopter, to the R/V Araon, which was anchored just offshore. Within two hours, and after many helicopter flights, all personnel and equipment were …

Behind the Scenes

08.10.17

Speeding up sound sampling

Sound may be weightless, but echosounders aren’t. To study Monterey Bay’s ecology, Scientist Kelly Benoit-Bird uses an echosounder with five different transducers, weighing about 165 pounds.

Expedition Log

05.23.17

Deep-Sea Eukaryotic Life 2017 Expedition – Log 3

David Needham Today Co-Chief Scientists Sebastian Sudek and Charmaine Yung directed the ROV Doc Ricketts to observe and collect deep-sea benthic invertebrates, such as sponges and corals, at the Davidson Seamount so we can study their microbiomes. Today we also accomplished the deepest deployment ever of the in situ ultraviolet spectrophotometer (ISUS), a sensor developed …