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Expedition Log

12.17.19

Seafloor Ecology Winter Expedition 2019 – Log 3

Wrapping up the cruise and the year: It is the last day of the last research cruise of the R/V Western Flyer for 2019. We have had a busy and exciting four days exploring the depths of Sur Ridge and Davidson Seamount with the ROV Doc Ricketts. We have explored the Octopus Garden, measured the …

Expedition Log

12.16.19

Seafloor Ecology Winter Expedition 2019 – Log 2

Updates from researchers on the R/V Western Flyer: Monday, December 16, 2019 Jim Barry Taking the pulse of the Octopus Garden: We were excited to send the ROV down 3,300 meters (just over two miles!) to the Octopus Garden, a site discovered a couple years ago where thousands of female octopuses nest in warm hydrothermal springs. …

Expedition Log

12.13.19

Seafloor Ecology Winter Expedition 2019 – Log 1

  We dropped lines and headed out into the thick fog at just before 7:00 a.m. on this Friday the 13th. Hopefully the fog isn’t an omen of some sort. The Western Flyer headed for Sur Ridge, a rocky undersea ridge about 65 kilometers (40 miles) southwest of Moss Landing. The swell from a large …

Expedition Log

11.21.19

Midwater Ecology Expedition Fall 2019 – Log 5

Henk-Jan and Stella Scheer We are guest scientists from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and are very happy to join the MBARI midwater expedition on the Western Flyer. During this week, we have been documenting and collecting a range of midwater animals. Such in situ observations provide much more than an image alone. …

Expedition Log

11.20.19

Midwater Ecology Expedition Fall 2019 – Log 4

The word from Captain George Gunther was that we might have a short dive Tuesday due to deteriorating weather. This was seconded by the modern sailor’s favorite tool, windy.com. But first thing in the morning, the winds were light and we began our dive at 6:30 a.m., as always, feeling optimistic and excited about what …

Expedition Log

11.18.19

Midwater Ecology Expedition Fall 2019 – Log 3

Kat Bolstad It is wonderful to be back at sea. I’ve had the honor of sailing with the Western Flyer crew several times before, but not since 2015 (life and small children have happened in the meantime), so it’s great to be back aboard. And this cruise has gotten off to a wonderfully squiddy start for me—I lead …

Expedition Log

11.17.19

Midwater Ecology Expedition Fall 2019 – Log 2

Updates from researchers on the R/V Western Flyer: Sunday, November 17, 2019 Astrid Leitner We started out at our deep dive location just outside Monterey Bay on Saturday. We dove all the way to the bottom to about 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) where we deployed Henk-Jan and Stella’s bait package and filled up the Midwater Respirometry …

Expedition Log

11.16.19

Midwater Ecology Expedition Fall 2019 – Log 1

We departed Moss Landing on Friday heading out to our first dive location on the south side of Monterey Canyon. The weather and sea conditions were pretty calm making for a nice beginning to our seven-day expedition. There are a lot of different objectives for this week but, luckily, the science team is flexible and …

News

10.17.19

Glowing to the bottom

MBARI researchers recently found that animals living on the deep seafloor are much less likely to produce light than those swimming or drifting in the “midwater.”