If you want to check out where the ship is in the Bering Sea, follow this link to the USCG Healy’s website where the ship’s position is logged:

http://www.icefloe.net/cruisetrack.html

This is a map of the cruise plan of where samples will be taken during the cruise:

Here are some images of the sea ice coverage currently in the study area.  It is early spring now so the ice should begin to recede.  I am currently in Anchorage where it is a balmy 30 degrees Fahrenheit.  I have been looking at the ice images in order to anticipate what lies ahead.  (The images are from the Alaska Ocean Observing System.)

The white indicates where there is ice coverage.  This is a satellite image much like a sea surface temperature map or productivity map.  

The open water is very rough so the ship is likely to stay in the ice where it will be calmer because the ice dampens the swell.  

 

On March 29, fifty scientists set out from Dutch Harbor, AK as part of the International Polar Year (IPY) aboard the United States Coast Guard Cutter Healy to try to elucidate the effects of climate change on the Bering Sea Ecosystem.  The second cruise of a six-year, $50 million study funded by the National Science Foundation and North Pacific Research Board, HLY0802 (cruise number) is focused on the animals and plants at the base of the food chain. 

The Bering Sea is one of the world’s most prolific bodies of water providing more than half of the seafood caught in the United States.  The productivity of these waters is largely influenced by seasonal sea ice.  These waters are home to King Crab, Alaskan Pollack, Cod and many other commercially valuable species. 

I am looking forward to joining the ship on Sunday in the waters off of St. Paul in the Pribilof Islands in the middle of the Bering Sea. 

The weather forecast looks interesting for the upcoming days, rough and windy. 

 

 

I am one week away from departing New York for Alaska and the Bering Sea.  This means a tremendous amount of preparation and organization.  I am making spreadsheets of gear, charging batteries and ensuring that I have back up equipment and chargers.  Currently the gear I am taking consists of two high definition video cameras, two digital SLR cameras with multiple lenses, my favorite camera, a Mamiya 7II medium format camera, a computer, tapes, memory cards, etc, etc, etc.  This will all be packed into a waterproof case and a backpack with waterproof zippers.  Hopefully they will let me on the plane with all of the gear.  

I have not thought about the clothing I will need although I must make sure to pack my hard hat and steel toed boots for working on deck and then loads of warm clothes.