Blogs from Atlantic, Oceans and Seas - page 6

3rdJuly It’s another beautiful morning here at 61oN 33oW, just off the coast of Greenland. The Arctic Circle is at 66oN, so we're not too far off. Since we set sail about 17 days ago, we’ve been warned that we're in the North Atlantic, so stormy, cold, wet weather is to be expected. In the past few days, however, we hear “this just isn’t right… It’s never this nice for so long in the North Atlantic”. In fact, we’ve been very lucky, and have had magnificent weather most days. There have been a few cold, windy and grey days, but even those weren’t too bad. We were supposed to encounter a storm on Sunday, but we travelled north and it stayed put, so we missed it. Instead, we had the most amazing day. The sky was ... read more

Day 12 It’s just over a week and a half since we left Ponta Delgada, and we are settling nicely into a routine. We are traveling back and forth from areas of suspected high biomass, to areas we think have been infected by viruses, sampling along the way to see if we can catch the interesting stuff. If you take a look at the route the Knorr has sailed in the past few days (http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=8581) you'd probably think we have a problem with the navigation system, or that someone on board has a drinking problem. But no, all it is, is us trying to find 5 micron cells inside an ocean. But we are starting to see very promising initial results, so we're modifying our sampling and analyzing regime accordingly. Between sampling and experiments, ... read more

Did the Vikings discover St Helena? Your correspondent from the South Atlantic has had to buckle down to some serious work and energy levels have prevented me from undertaking any adventurous activities this week. First, to answer some questions that will have been at the front of your collective minds: The disappearing cat was sighted once again (I think) as a Wahoo-coloured creature paced past the patio window again. No sign that the animal recognized ‘chez-nous’ as his second home. If, as I think it is, it is Wahoo then he has clearly either gone feral and is using the grounds as part of his hunting ground or, perhaps, someone else has fallen for his neutered but still masculine charms and is being fed elsewhere. Despite some robust responses from some of this blog’s female readership, ... read more

Day 8, 23 June 2012 We haven’t hit gold yet, but we’re getting into a good working routine. We usually start the day just before sunrise, sampling the water at 05:00, and end the day close to midnight, finishing off the evening sampling and preparing for to coming morning. During the day we work loads, each on their own task, but everyone cooperating nicely. We usually have time to go out and look at the ocean, which seems different each time I look at it. The color of the water is constantly changing, mixing blues with greens, white caps with the reflection of the sun. The day before yesterday was the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, and boy, was it long. The sun rises at 5-ish, and at 11pm there are still some ... read more

What a privilege we had today, when we got a call from the bridge telling us there were some whales outside, and we should go take a look. We all rushed out to the deck to see the most magnificent sight ever. There were literally hundreds of Pilot whales all around the boat. Sometimes they were almost close enough to see their face. They swarmed all sides of us, in small groups of 2-6 whales. We all had our cameras with us, but I couldn’t really take any pictures, I just stood there and watched these amazing beings, free in their natural environment, doing what is natural to them. It probably won’t surprise those of you who know me that I got all teary. I think his was one of the most amazing things I ... read more