Pressure: 1004.2 Mbs


Personal Log:

The low pressure system over our heads just will not let up. The seas are a little flatter today and I could sleep last night without feeling like I was going to wind up on the floor. In any ship, the sections at either end, the bow (front) or stern (back) move up and down the most with the heavy seas. I’m way up in the bow. My cabin really moves. What does a cabin look like on a research ship? Well here is mine. Tomorrow we will take a tour of the entire ship.

I am also including some unique views of the ship while out at sea. As you can see from the photos, the weather just does not want change.


Science Log:

The work on the survey continues. The ship is moving in a kind of search pattern around the northern section of the Gulf of Alaska. We are looking for Pollock larvae and we are finding many. We are also finding lots of other cool creatures in our nets. Here are a few:


We are still waiting to hear more data from Excalibur, though it has returned some. Keep watching the drifter site for more information. In the mean time, here are some intersting creatures from today's catch. You can double click the photos to make them larger.

This segmented worm usually stays near the bottom. When it is ready to lay eggs, it swims up into the water and scatters its eggs in the water as it goes. We must have caught this one as it moved up off the bottom to lay eggs. Can you see the eggs in the photos?

These are crab zoea. They will become like the crabs we think of later in their lives. The long spines may prevent preditors from eating them.

The ship was pointed at 51 degrees and moving at 355 degrees because the wind was blowing against the side of the ship.

Yes, Morgan, we do experiments 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Work continues today as always. Toby, I’ll be back next week.

Marty. Great to hear from you. I will say hello to all. Thanks for the great information.

Hello to Mrs. Bolte’s Class, Amanda and Ms. Stern’s Class. Great to hear from you all.

Mrs. Freeley’s Class, we catch only baby fish, but have seen many other kinds besides Pollock. The scientists, however, are mainly interested in Pollock. We eat lots of different kinds of fish. Last night, we had halibut. Tonight, we are having shrimp. And I’m hungry.

We do take showers, but you have to hang on when the ship moves or you wind up leaving the shower a little before you planed on it.

How do we sleep? In a “rack,” which is ship-talk for a bed. It is kind of fun in high seas to lay flat on your rack and look at your feet going way up above your head as the ship rolls over the waves. It takes a little getting used to. There is a picture of my cabin on the blog today for you. There are no animals on the ship this year.

Thanks to all for writing.