Survey Ends

So our survey has come to an end. We recorded 100 hours of simultaneous visual cetacean and seabird surveys, passive acoustic monitoring, sea surface temperature, salinity, depth and echosounder fish marks. About 220 hours of acoutic files from the hydrophone were recorded, half of which were analysed in real-time (the reaminder being recorded over-night).

Notable findings were a large aggregation (7 to 10) fin whales on the western slopes of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge feeding during spring/winter, when most other baleen whales are in low latitudes on their breeding grounds. A group of 5 sperm whales in Irish waters just west of the Porcupine Seabight was also a significant finding and 3 sightings of striped dolphins in Irish waters when the water is at its coldest was an unexpected (given their preference for warmer waters). The acoustic monitoring showed that sperm whales are present almost continuously over abyssal plain waters (>4000m) during this time of year both east and west of the Atlantic Ridge, but not on shelf edge or shelf waters.

The bird survey confirmed that puffins do head out in to the mid Atlantic for the winter months - they were observed regularly and singularly along our transect. Kittiwakes were seen each day, whereas fulmars were not. There were no storm petrels seen. Gannets were absent from the western Atlantic area of our survey where glaucous gulls were abundant. A group of Manx shearwaters 50 strong were seen in the final hour of our 15 day survey just off the Old Head of Kinsale, and nowhere else along our route. 

"Deck of Cards", Cobh. (Conor Ryan)

There is a chance that the Marine Institute at Memorial University of Newfoundland will charter the Celtic Explorer next year. If this is the case then we look forward to repeating this survey, given the success of this one.

Kittwake crossing the wake of the Celtic Explorer (Conor Ryan)

Home Sweet Home

We came aloongside in Cork City, just behind the Celtic Voyager at 1400 today after making our way swiftly through Cork Harbour on a nice breezy sunny afternoon. I will post pictures tomorrow, but the highlights of today included a large pod of 250-300 common dolphins and 50manx shearwaters southeast of Galley Head this morning.

Nearly Home

N51 47', W10 18'. Wind F6-F7, swell 6m, sea temp. 11.5C, air temp 10C. Depth 450m. 150nm west of Dursey Island, Co. Cork.

It was a quiet morning over the abyssal plain, but conditionals were marginal for carrying out visual surveys. We persisted nonetheless with the help of Ipods (shuffled song of the day: Pearl Jam, All Those Yesterdays). 4 hours watch in the morning produced just one group of 9 pilot whales which approached the ship head-on at speed before diving away. They were heard clearly on the hydrophone. After lunch about 10nm from the Porcupine Bank shelf-break the sun lit up a whale beneath the surface to our port side (conveniently enough, as the glare to the starboard was awful). A big blunt square head, forward blow and wrinkled skin indicated sperm whale, then another, and more - 5 in total spread over an area of about 500 square metres. They were logging on the surface in 3000m of water, probably recovering after a long dive. This is the largest group of sperm whales I have seen, although not unprecedented in Ireland.

Later on we had a couple of small groups of very enthusiastic bow-riding common dolphins, using the bow wave as a springboard, particularly on the larger swells. Emily recorded gannets, fulmar, great skua, kittiwake, and puffin.There was a gang of great skuas on patrol which seemed to check-in regularly throughout the day before keeping their distance again.

Tomorrow morning we should find ourselves inshore along the West Cork coast, steaming northeast for Cork Harbour with an ETA of about 1400. The wind is forecast to be on our backs yet again so it should make for comfortable sailing.

Fat Tuesday

N51, W19. Wind F6-F7, swell 5-6m, partly cloudy, Air temp 12C, sea temp 12.5C, ship speed 10.5knots, depth 4000m. 

Sunrise this morning

Today we crossed the Thulean Rise followed by a deep trench (4500m) and now we are out over the abyssal plain, easting towards the Porcupine Bank and the Irish EEZ. It was very quiet once again on the cetacean front - not easy watching conditions with sea state 6 and glare, however the visibility is good. Our regular tea (and fruit cake) breaks were had, along with conversations such as 'do animals have a sense of dignity'.

Spot the cetacean in this

On the hydrophone Alessandro recorded one small and distant group of dolphins. At about 2230 tonight, I heard low frequency whistles/moans which are from a large odontocetes (my knowledge of acoustics is sketchy, but they did sound a lot like the killer whales we recorded last summer! But pilot whales would be more likely I suppose).

Emily saw kittiwake, great skua, puffin and fulmar. One of the kittiwakes was oiled and appeared to try and land on the ship.

In other news; we had pancakes for dessert and Alessandro broke his record for not being sea-sick - 5 days, not bad!

Mid Atlantic Ridge

N52 29 W25 52, wind westerly F6 - F7, swell 3-4m, Sea Temp 11C, Air Temp 9C.

Half way home! We are north of our intended destination (Cork) as we are taking the great-circle-route which is the shortest distance given the curvature or 'bulge' of the earth.

Today was challenging to say the least - conditions were marginal for seeing cetaceans given the choppy sea and glare. But at least the swell is low and we have the wind on our backs, making life on board very comfortable. There were no sightings (and only 1 hallucinated beluga whale about 6 hours into the day) . Not a peep through the hydrophone either unfortunately. We spent the day traversing the Mid Atlantic Ridge - a known cetacean hotspot for sei whales and striped dolphins during the summer months and a migratory pathway for humpack and blue whales too. All is quiet here now though, maybe we will start to hear sperm whales again tonight as we head out over the abyssal plain.

EK60 screen-grab showing the sea bottom (red) profile of the Mid Atlantic Ridge as we crossed it today between the Hecate and Faraday Seamounts.

The bird survey was far more productive. Our young great black backed gull woke up this morning after sunrise and flew away, where to I'm not sure, it was very far from home. Emily recorded kittiwakes, puffins and great skua. Notably, there have been no fulmars seen for the past 2 days.

Tomorrow our route will take us over the East Thulean Rise - a submarine mount that climbs to 1500m and drops away on its eastern side to 3000m.

Our Very Own Time Zone

N51, W34. Water 9C, Air 6C. Wind F2-F3 northerly, Swell 3-4m. Ship speed 10 knots.

Today we had our very own special time zone (GMT +0.5) as we tried to catch up with GMT gradually. But as of lunch time we are on GMT (a bit prematurely, giving dark mornings but 'summer' evenings). 

Fulmar over our wake yesterday morning (Conor Ryan)

Conditions were ideal for watching from dawn till dusk today with complete cloud cover (preventing glare), visibility of >15km and sea state 2 to 3 and no showers. There were noticeably fewer birds today, however we had s surprising visitor - a 3rd winter great black backed gull that appeared to have an injured leg(s). It was unable to stand and spent the day sleeping on the bow (catching the attention of the odd passing skua). For a coastal species, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is not a good place to be with an injury I imagine, maybe it will stay on board until we reach the Irish coast. There were several great skuas today, kittiwakes, a single gannet (lost? but with a purposeful westerly flight), Brunnich's guillemot, puffin and little auks.

Great Black Backed Gull tending to it's dodgy leg on the bow of Celtic Explorer

There were 7 cetacean sightings, however 6 of these were made in the last hour as we approach the Mid Atlantic Ridge. One pod of 12 patterned dolphin species (most likely to be striped dolphin) were spotted early on in the day avoiding the ship about 3km distant. After dinner a pair of sperm whales were seen moving out of the way of the ship and then logging on the surface - this was the first sighting of sperm whales despite them being heard regularly on the hydrophone (not surprising considering their capacity to stay under for up to an hour at a time).

Immature Glaucous Gull seen yesterday, none observed today (Conor Ryan)

An hour before sunset we hit an aggregation of fin whales - 5 sightings of 7 individuals. These were lunging on the surface, some even taking half-breaches. Being so high up on the crow's nest gave some great views of the lunge-feeding in motion - a side-ways lunge to the right, the tail constantly fluking and circling in a clock-wise circle before lunging again. There may have been a sei whale amongst the fins, but the fading light made species ID tricky. The MAR is a well known location for sei whales.

Fin Whale lunge-feeding, note the white lower jaw. It is unusual to get an 'upright' lunge like this (Conor Ryan)

Upper jaw of a fin whale lunge-feeding. Western slopes of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. (Conor Ryan)

The hydrophone picked up sperm whales (10 detection events, mostly in groups) and pilot whales (3 detection events) as well as unidentified dolphins (5 detection events) today. We are picking up plenty of radio interference (the crew were wondering what language the sperm whales were speaking last night as they unexpected heard voices in the dry lab). Some of the voices were very excited and speaking about soccer (Alessandro is not gone mad from monitoring the PAM, I swear).

So tomorrow we will be on the MAR proper, heading down hill again by first light, across some more abyssal plain and then over the East Thulean Rise and the Porcupine Bank in the following days. Lets hope the weather continues to stay favourable, we've been very lucky so far and feels more like the Irish Sea than the Mid Atlantic!

View aft from the crow's nest yesterday in a following wind.

Click-Fest

50, 25' N, 40,11' W. Wind F4-F5, swell c.4m. Ship speed 9 knots. Occasional rain/hail/sleet/snow/frozen-mist showers. Sea temp 12C (but plummeting to 7C occasionally), air temp, 5C.

It was a lot 'milder' today than previous days - thankfully the crow's nest windows are no longer fogging up, and I was able to wash the salt off them without the window cleaner freezing. It was a productive day for cetacean detections, thanks to the wonders of PAM (Passive Acoustic Monitoring). With a following sea and a clean sound, Alessandro recorded pilot whales, unidentified dolphins and sperm whales frequently throughout the day. The sperm whale clicks were coming in at such a high rate that they crashed the computer at one point. These detections were not matched with sightings despite 7 hours of effort, given that conditions were tricky and we are dealing with deep-diving species. I did spot an unidentified large whale only 300m from the ship - it was most likely a fin whale given the powerful blow, large fin and brown hue to its back.

Pilot Whale whistles visualised on the spectrogram from the hydrophone (Alessandro Pierini)

Pilot whale burst pulse sound (function not really known, but VERY loud!) on the left and sperm whale clicks (used for searching for prey - echolocation) on the right (Alessandro Pierini).

There are groups of sperm whales clicking away in a mad frenzy at the moment - it sounds like a load of people breaking stones with little hammers, with the occasional dolphin whistle thrown in (most these are at a frequency too high for me to hear, but everyone else can hear them fine!). It is surprising that we have so many detections of cetaceans out here over the abyssal plain, given it has a reputation for being a 'desert'.

Profile of the water column and benthos from the EK60 - an active acoustic device which is used to record fish / plankton during the transit. Biomass can be estimated from the 'marks'. No clear marks on this screen-grab, but there are some fish near the surface. The abyssal plain is about 4200m deep here with the odd rocky feature.

Birdyology: Emily recorded kittiwakes (groups of >40 doing sudden climbs and dives), little auk, Brunnich's guillemot, great skua, lesser black-backed gull and fulmar.

Abyssal Boredom

Wind south-west 28 kn, Swell 7m, Cloudy with snow showers.

I didn't get around to posting last night as we lost 1.5 hours due to a time zone change. Yesterday morning was bright with good visibility despite the frequent snow showers. We had made excellent progress the previous night so our first day of survey was over the abyssal plain (unfortunately we steamed over the Grand Banks and shelf break at night). There were no cetacean sightings all day, however the bird activity was high with many species recorded by Emily - fulmar, kittiwake, lesser black-backed gull, glaucous gull, herring gull, dovekie (little auk), thick-billed murre (Brunnich's guillemot) and great skua. There were a few dark phase fulmars wheeling around the ship too, amazing birds which look striking against the snow clouds given their all-dark underbelly.

The hydrophone didn't detect any cetaceans yesterday, however as I type there is a sperm whale clicking away mad. We are currently in 4000m of water and making 10 knots in a following sea making nice quiet conditions for the hydrophone.

Dark Phase Fulmar, Conor Ryan

We'll report back again this evening.

Homeward Bound

Myself and Alessandro left Galway at 0100 this morning and made it to Newfoundland on time to meet the ship (Just about: flight landed at 1800, ship pulled away at 1900!). Emily Wilson ornithologist is back on board too, so in total there are only three scientists on board - we plan to have a rock-scissors-paper world cup to decide who gets the title of Chief Scientist!

We made a swift exit from St. John's and deployed the hydrophone. The PAM is working away nicely now but no detections yet (early days). We are making 14 knots in a northeasterly direction and the wind is only F3 with a slight swell. So I'm off to my bunk for some much needed sleep to rest the eyes for the first full day of survey tomorrow - we should be at the shelf break of the Grand Banks by first light. Oíche mhaith

Blizzard!

The PAM detected dolphins and sperm whales at the shelf break as we came over the Grand Banks at night. The visual survey didn't produce much yesterday morning as we steamed over the banks (120m deep only) despite the excellent visibility. Three dolphins were spotted briefly but not identified to species level (most likely white-beaked given that the water is only 1C!).

There were many auks (razorbill, poss. Brunnich's guillemot, little auk), fulmar, kittiwake, glaucous gull, lesser black-backed gull and a single eider heading south.

'The Narrows', St. John's, Newfoundland.

Cetacean and Seabird Team on the quayside at snowy St. John's: (left to right) Conor Ryan, Emily Wilson (birdyologist), Alessandro Pierini.

We picked up our pilot at around 1500 and sailed through 'The Narrows' into St. John's in a blizzard. It is an amazing harbour, very sheltered and dotted with wooden houses on steep cliffs. We hit the town for a few drinks but it was very quiet following the heavy snow and considering it was a Sunday night. Just packing our gear now to leave the ship. I'll post some pictures of St. John's later. We are flying home and will return on the 3 March to carry out the return leg from St. John's to Cork... hopefully the weather gods will be kinder on the way home.

Cape Spear, the most easterly point in North America. As seen from Signal Hill, St. John's.

Larophiles' Paradise

48N 47W, Air 1.5C, Sea 5C, wind 22 knots, depth 2000m.

Today started off with gales and a large swell but the conditions improved slowly as the day progressed. We are heading along north of the Grand Banks but are still off the shelf over the abyssal plain. The sea temperature plummeted from 13C to just 4 or 5C today as we went from the warm Gulf Stream to the Labrador Current.

Snow Clouds at Dusk

 There were no cetaceans seen but the seabird activity was much higher than previous days, particularly for gulls: Glaucous gull, kittiwake, herring gull, lesser black-backed gull . There were many auks too: razorbill (c.100), little auk (or 'dovekie' as they're known in Canada (c.50), puffin and possible guillemot.

Immature Glaucous Gull

The hydrophone has just been deployed, just in time for us to enter Canadian waters (in about 30nm or so) and for crossing the shelf-break tonight which will bring us up onto the famously productive Grand Banks. No acoustic detections so far but we are getting a good clean signal. Fingers crossed for some cetacean sightings tomorrow for our last day of the survey. Current ETA for St. John's is 1600 tomorrow.

Crew deploying the hydrophone on its 200m long cable. It is deployed from the beam to avoid the noise of the ship's wake.

Some of today's salty trivia from the bridge - A vessel is making way, but is not underway, how is this possible?!

Signs of Life!

Gales, Air temp 2C, Sea temp 13C, snow showers, position 400nm west of Newfoundland.

Despite being in the deepest water yet this trip (4500m) there were more signs of life today (Friday) than in days gone-by. We had a convoy of fulmars (even a dark phase, not quite 'blue' though) and kittiwakes following the ship. A few puffins were spotted battling the spin-drift also.Two cetacean sightings were made of 3 pilot whales and 8 common dolphins, none too particularly interested in bow-riding - hardly surprising given the unpredictable slamming of the bow. The swell has died a little bit now (although still above 4m) make life on board far more comfortable. We haven't been able to deploy the hydrophone or get to the crow's nest since the Irish EEZ four days ago. As we approach the Flemish Cap and the Canadian coast we are hopeful for some more settled conditions and some different, more cold-hardy fauna - little auks ("Dovekies") and some white-beaked dolphins perhaps.

Squalls and Gulls

49N, 35W. Wind 35kn, Air 11C, water 11C.

Force 9

After a sleepless night for many (except Emily who slept soundly!) given the high swell (average of 9m) and winds (gusts of 76knot, F12), a respite in the weather was a welcome sight this afternoon. The sea state improved although the swell stayed high. Myself, Emily and Alessandro carried out visual surveys for cetaceans and birds from the bridge. There was a pod of 12 pilot whales (including 2 calves) seen about 200m from the ship this morning, followed by many kittiwakes, a juvenile lesser-black backed gull and a juvenile glaucous gull. The glaucous gull provided some entertainment as it chose to land on the most exposed part of the deck...

A few puffins were also seen, donning their winter plumage, as if they'd been in a coal bunker: a sooty face and a dull beak, no comparison to their bold summer colours. Fulmars were more abundant today by comparison with previous days.

The temperature is fluctuating a lot going from 2C to 13C in only 3 hours with a snow shower this morning - a little taste of things to come I reckon. We are still in the influence of the North Atlantic Drift, but it will be interesting to see if the fauna changes as we enter the cold Labrador Current in the coming days. Now I'm  off to bed to cling on to the mattress for a few hours.

View from the bridge looking ahead!

Half-way

49N 31W, Wind 45kn (gusts 65kn), swell 8m. Sea 12C, air 7C, sleet and hail in squalls.

After a heavy pounding last night, there was no respite today but the ship is handling it well. Emily conducted bird surveys during daylight hours producing sightings of 3 (rather nervous-looking) puffins and about 50 kittiwakes. I carried out cetacean surveys all day from the bridge (on the off-chance we'd run over one... that's the only way you'd spot them in this weather). Apart from one phantom/imaginary fin, there were no sightings of cetaceans. We saw one lemonade bottle easting at about 12 knots and a spyhopping beach bucket (lesser-spotted). Thanks to Tayto and Bill Bailey for tonights entertainment. Pictures of weather to follow...

Mind the potholes

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650nm North of the Azores, 700nm west of Ireland, 1000 nm east of Newfoundland. Wind F8, gusting F10, swell 6-7m. Sea temperature 12.3C, Air, 7C.

Bow of Celtic Explorer hitting a trough

We awoke this morning to a similar sea to yesterday. The hydrophone wasn't put in the water given the rough conditions, however visual surveys for cetaceans and seabirds were carried out from the bridge. A single pod of 6 pilot whales was seen over a seamount. Kittiwakes and puffins were observed by Emily. While the conditions were not conducive to seawatching, the overall impression is that there is not much megafauna in this area. Some marks were seen at 150m on the EK60 and the plankton layer is extensive and can be seen undergoing the largest migration on earth (in terms of biomass) every day as darkness falls.

We are entering the Mid Atlantic Ridge area and spent the day crossing over steep-sided sea-mounts in the Faraday Fracture Zone. Hopefully we will pass the Faraday Sea Mount during daylight hours as we are keen to carry out observations as the sea floor jumps from 3000m to just 600m, forcing up-welling which gives a boost in productivity and hence in the abundance of predators such as birds and cetaceans.

What a difference 25 hours makes

50N, 020W, about 300nm east of the Mid Atlatnic Ridge. Wind 37knots, Water temp 13.2C, air 12C.

We are on 25 hour days as we head through the time zones, so an extra hour in bed (the challenge is being able to stay in bed without falling out). Big swell today, 4 -5m and strong gales which weren't really forecast. The day started at 5am - task one was to haul in the hydrophone so as not to lose it in the building swell. At first light, I spotted a group of common dolphins bow-riding which I thought was a good sign for the day... but that was it! Emily had some kittiwakes passing at speed but the constant nose-diving of the ship into deep troughs and the spin drift made viewing conditions very tricky for spotting birds or cetaceans. Given that a cetacean survey was not possible, I indulged in some statistical analysis for the day.

The weather charts don't look to good for the coming days either, but we are hopeful that a brief respite in the weather will coincide with our passage over the Faraday Seamount and perhaps the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. For now the hydrophone remains dry, but hopefully we'll give it a good soaking tomorrow. I'll post some pictures of the rough seas tomorrow. Oíche mhaith.

Kind Weather

View aft from the crow's nest

Conditions: We had sea state 0 to 1 for many hours this morning and we found ourselves 150nm WSW of Mizen Head at first light. The swell was low all day and the sea state crept up to a 4. Daylight was quenched quickly (just in time for dinner rather conveniently) by a veil of ominous looking clouds.

Sunrise on 30 January 2011, 150nm WSW of Ireland

Sightings: Early sightings helped me overcome the mental anguish (having my forgotten my toothbrush: ironically the pub conversation the night before leaving was mostly about teeth, I brought floss & toothpaste, and I find myself in a place called The Seabight). The First sighting was of a patterned dolphin species, but I couldn't nail the ID. Soon after a distant group of bottlenose dolphins and then a group of striped dolphins (4). Just as we left the Seabight and slipped over the abyssal plain, a mother-calf pair of fin whales was spotted about 2km away. The rest of the day was quiet apart from an active group of striped dolphins (15) trying desperately to avoid the ship it would seem. These are noticeably smaller than common dolphins and are considered a warm water species... the sea temperature is 12C here at present. 

Striped Dolphins

Acoustic Survey: In the early morning, between seven and half past seven, two groups of dolphins were detected, however it was not possible to identify those to specie level, because It was still dark to carry out the visual survey, which could have confirmed the specie ID. All the afternoon was really quiet, while at around eight in the evening another group of dolphin was recorded. As soon as dolphin whistles were heard, characteristic clicks from Sperm Whale appeared on the spectrogram as well. It is not the first time that Sperm Whale and dolphins have been recorded together. It was expected to have encounters of Sperm Whale, because we are actually in very deep waters (4635 m), which are perfect habitat for this species due to its deep diving behaviour. The hydrophone is still in the water but the situation seems to be very quiet at the moment.

Seabird Survey: It was a quiet day up on the bridge as well for the seabird survey. I saw kittiwakes and northern fulmars scattered throughout the day, but mostly in the morning. During the CTD drop we passed by a little Atlantic puffin sitting on the water, looking nervous about the big ship looming above him (pardon the personification). Some stray pieces of garbage floated by as well, plastic bottles, balloons and bits of foam all find their way out here. The calm water and clear sky made for good visibility throughout the day... if only we had more birds to see!

So Far So Good

We departed Cork City as planned at 1500 and sailed down a very calm and bird-ful River Lee, past Cobh and out past Roches Point towards open sea. The only cetacean sighting was of 4 bottlenose dolphins right on cue where they usually hang out - between Roches and Weaver Points in the mouth of Cork Harbour. One of the animals had a well-maked dorsal fin which I recognised as one of the Cork Harbour resident group.

The visual survey was finished at 1730 due to darkness, about 9 miles south of Cork Harbour. The hydrophone was deployed just before darkness and so far there have been two acoustic detections, probably of  Common Dolphins arouind 1930 off Galley Head, Co. Cork.
The weather forecast looks good for the next two days, but we're likely to hit some strong winds on Monday evening. Fingers crossed for some detections over the shelf break tomorrow.

Trans-Atlantic Cruise Blog

I visited St. Johns, Newfoundland on an Ireland-Newfoundland Partnership Scheme grant in 2010, to collect samples for my PhD and to part-take in a biodiversty cruise on board the CCGS Hudson. The collaboration between the Biodiversity Research Group in GMIT and the Montevecchi Lab in Memorial University of Newfoundland has since strengthened. The R.V. Celtic Explorer is heading for Newfoundland and Labrador for an over-wintering cod survey. To maximise the return for this trip, a multi-disciplinary research cruise will take place during the transit to Canada. The Celtic Explorer will depart from Cork on 29 January and arrive in St. John's, Newfoundland after 7 February (depending on the weather!).

The Canadian Marine Institute have sponsored flights for myself and Alessandro Pierini (GMIT and IWDG) to return to Ireland after the cruise, but to return to Canada for the return transit after the cod survey is complete. We will carry out a visual and acoustic survey for the duration of the transit. Simultaneously, a bird survey will be carried out by Emily Wilson (MUN) as well as a continuous plankton recorder and EK60 survey (for identifying plankton and fish biomass).

Our route should take us over highly varied and dynamic habitats including shelf edge canyons, (Porcupine  & Grand Banks) mid-ocean fracture zones (Charley Gibbs Fracture Zone) and sea mounts (Hecate Seamount & Orphan Knol)l with extensive areas of abyssal plain in between. Surveys of this kind during the winter have been few and far between so we don't know what to expect. It is known that the mid-Atlantic ridge is a stronghold for the poorly understood sei whale, sperm whales and beaked whales. Migrating humpbacks are believed to migrate further offshore during their southward migration, but we may have missed the main migratory event, with news from Cape Verde that the humpbacks have already started to arrive there.

I will try to update this blog at least once a day and ask others to add to it. Fingers crossed for some favourable weather and that the megafauna gods will be kind to us.

Conor Ryan