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Moving a laboratory onto a ship is no small feat. Multiple days are required just to transfer gear from shore to ship. It’s somewhat similar to moving from your own home to a dormitory, where more people share smaller spaces. On top of that, your schedule is always different, often times working in the evenings … Continued

Setting sail on the R/V Falkor a few weeks ago to explore unknown features in the Pacific Ocean led us to consider the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which overwintered in Astoria, Oregon in 1805 after crossing the continent and leaving markers and waypoints for those who would follow them. During the #HuntingBubbles cruise we have … Continued

This morning at 0900, after two full days of loading and prep, Falkor slipped the dock and headed north out of Nanaimo into the central Strait of Georgia. Just north of the Departure Bay – Horseshoe Bay ferry route that runs from Nanaimo to toward Vancouver, the ship parked for some critical equipment tests. The … Continued

The science team continues to pore over the fire hose of data they’ve collected from CTD casts and the Moving Vessel Profiler (MVP). As they’ve begun to delineate places where upwelled deeper water seems to make it onto the continental shelf, they’ve had to constantly readjust plans in hopes of mapping out the most critical areas. In … Continued

The sea is constantly changing, and today, it was a shift toward the rough side, as the forecast for gale force winds proved accurate. Work continues, but with a few further shifts to plans. Until today, seas had been calm, making it easy to climb the four decks up to the observation platform to watch … Continued

The bumpy sea abated through the night, and by morning, the winds were light and the sea a confused wash of old and dying waves. We steam along at our preferred MVP speed of eight knots, and sample with particular purpose. We’ve used the MVP to find exact locations across the continental shelf front for our … Continued

A very big part of this project depends on a piece of equipment called the ADCP (acoustic Doppler current profiler).

If you have ever read a scientific paper, you probably know how dry and dull they can be. As a graduate student I spend a lot of time reading papers and I can say with confidence that the methods section is often the most mind-numbingly tedious part – this is the portion of an article … Continued

Just before 7am, as the rest of the science team is still waking up, I dash around the wet lab, organizing bottles. I finish setting up some incubations right as the CTD rosette brings the next round of deep seawater onboard. I am tired after working through the night, but looking out at the morning … Continued

As we make our way to the Subtropical Front, the Falkor bustles with activity. Dozens of people run tests and equipment checks to ensure all systems are go for our work to begin. Walk into any room and you will hear discussions of drone ops or CTD testing or outreach initiatives—and these conversations are all … Continued