It took Robyn and me quite a while to get off the boat. I was waiting around to send my cold weather gear via parcel pick-up. Robyn had a great idea that we could take our time and say our goodbye to our friends, eat one last lunch, and then take a taxi into town.
So we hugged and hugged all our Bering Sea Shipmates and called a taxi to the hotel. Just as our taxi arrived, the Alaska Maritime Shipper did as well, so we departed the Healy and took on a new residence at the Grand Aleutian Hotel in town.
After we hauled out duffels to our rooms, we took time talking to our loved ones still at home, a long shower, and then rendezvoused for supper with whoever was in the dining room. All the food was delicious! We had fresh green salads again, and so much more.
I went back to my room, sprawled across the huge bed. As soon as I closed my eyes, I found the sleep of a person transforming from sea to cement.
I woke in Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day was created by a mother who wanted to recognize the sorrow of mothers who were losing their sons in war. I pondered that sorrow as I shared my last meal with Robyn. I had a different kind of sorrow today, it was a bittersweet feeling for sure.
After eating we left for the airport and said our goodbyes. Was it coincidence that the next chief scientists arrived on the same plane that Robyn was about to depart on? The science continues in the Bering Sea, a mission passed on as surely as any relay racer passes on their baton. Goodbye Robyn! Good life and happy memories. As we hugged goodbye our life changing experience spent on the Healy was realized and acknowledged.
The afternoon was spent with one of my Healy roommates. She rented a car and we bravely went where we had never been before. We found the ‘wild herd’ of horses that roams the Dutch Harbor mountains. After our hike, we were very tired and accepted the warmth and rest our rooms afforded.
Tomorrow would bring a new day, a new week, and a return to civilization. Was I ready?
I had learned from Dr. Michael Cameron, that we were about to pass through the most concentrated seal soup of the entire mission around 9:30 yesterday evening. He said that there were so many seals in that region, that the helo opps (helicopter observations) had to take turns recording their seals, waiting for one to finish until the other could sight verbally.
So what do YOU see? There are two walrus here.
So I rambled up the three ladders to the bridge, and as I have for so many days this cruise, screwed the binocular eye cradles into my eye sockets and swooped back and forth across the magnified ice vista.
I LOVED to go up to the bridge and observe.
What did I see? Lots and lots of seals! There were spotted seals, and ribbon seals, and even a bearded seal pup or two. The Coast Guard crew assigned to watch those few hours were taking the ‘Seal Avoidance Mission’ seriously, much to my relief.
And then what?
There it was, the edge of the ice.It was obvious on the horizon.The ice was changing too.
Not so much large ice cakes anymore. There were smaller pieces honeycombed with holes and meltpools.
The concentration of small pieces jumbled together became thicker, and thicker.
During this scientific mission to the ice pack of the Bering Sea, I have met many new creatures. Let me introduce you to yet one more.
**Dr. David Hyrenbach**
Scientific name: *Hyrenbachia daveediosus PhD***
Where does Dr. David live? Dr. David lives in Greenlake, slightly north of down-town Seattle. In the summertime he migrates down to central California to rendezvous with black-footed albatross. During the school year he forages around the University of Washington.
Dr. David Hyrenbach has spent two years coordinating the BEST research mission.
How many Hyrenbachs are there? Just him. He is an only child, however, there are close species in Spain and in France.
What are Dr. David’s identifying characteristics? David is an exemplary teacher. He is able to take complex ideas and explain them to others. He hangs out with Carleton, the walrus puppet. He is often seen carrying binoculars and on Sundays he wears his green penguin shirt.
What does he eat? David totally enjoys curry and coffee. He consumes bananas and his favorite vegetable is bok choy with tofu and soy sauce. Mahi mahi is one of his favorite fish to eat.
Dr. David dons the MS 900 survival suit prior to his flight in the helicopter.
How was Dr. David educated? He went to high school in Spain. At 17, he was a YFU (Youth for Understanding) exchange student in Saint Paul, Minnesota. After that, he went to the University of California San Diego and earned a Bachelor’s degree and PhD in ecology and oceanography. Then he went to the Duke University Marine Laboratory in North Carolina. In 2005, he returned to the west coast to the University of Washington.
How old is he? Dr. David has lived 37 years; longer than a ribbon seal. His main predators are mosquitoes, viruses, and possibly zombies. There seems to be little interaction between him and cigarettes or any tobacco products.
Dr. David Hyrenbach wears the albatross hat.
Do you know what is really cool about Dr. David Hyrenbach? He owns an albatross hat that his mother has made for him. It comes in very handy when he has to pick up other species at the airport.
He moves about the city by bus or by flex car. He really likes the flex cars because they are mostly hybrid cars and are gentle on gasoline.
He enjoys silly walks, especially when he launches from the curb.
Dr. David likes to hang out at the arboretum. He frequents Freemont, where there is a large troll statue that is of great interest to him.
Dr. David has a commensal relationship with Chorbiken, the beanie baby.
Why do we know so little about Dr. David Hyrenbach? Dr. David is an elusive being. He is always running around. The only place he sits is in his office. The best way to find him is by e-mail.
Take the Dr. David Hyrenbach quiz! Write the number of the question with the letter of the best answer on any ‘Ask the Team’ comment form. Make sure to include your name ? Thanks!
Which of the following is true?
a. David drives his big SUV smoking a cigarette on his way to work. b. David works at a circus training chickens to play the piano c. David thinks the Bering Sea is boring d. None of the above
Which of the following animals is David’s favorite?
a. cockroach b. centipede c. Black footed albatross d. mosquito
What would David order from the following menu?
a. seal steak b. steak tartar c. spoiled milk d. mahi-mahi
What does Dr. David like to do more than anything else in the whole wide world?
a. Make money b. Teach the next generation to be stewards of their environment c. Smoke cigarettes d. Super glue his fingers together
Why has David spent two years coordinating the BEST (Bering Sea Ecosystem Study) program?
a. So he can make money to buy cigarettes b. To understand how the Bering Sea Ecosystem will respond to global warming. c. To find the Seattle Seahawk. d. To put on MS 900 survival suits
I’ve been feeling a little sad these past few days because the Healy 0701 mission is coming to a close. There’s been so much data taken, so many measurements done, and more than a few hypotheses tested. So WHAT has been learned?
The CTD was lowered and fired over 200 times in rough water
This research here, this Bering Sea Ecosystem Study, has been some of the first research done with SEASONAL ice during this time of the year. SEASONAL ice is ice that melts and then reforms each year. The algae blooms occur because the seasonal ice melts, creating a stable freshwater layer, a place for the algae to grow. The algae take up nutrients, which act as a fertilizer, and explode in numbers. The nutrients are quickly used up. The bloom for that year is over.
Rob tested the water for iron, getting baseline data to see if it is a limiting factor in Bering Sea productivity.
In areas of the Bering Sea that we visited that were really shallow, like around Nunivak Island, the ice has melted and the nutrients have been used. The bloom is over.
Nancy Kachel collected many samples from the CTD during this research mission.
What has been a surprise to some of the scientists is that the very productive algae blooms occur at the ice edge, not so much under the ice.
When phytoplankton reproduce very quickly they can actually turn the color of the seawater green.
The algae need sunlight, and the sunlight just doesn’t seem to penetrate ice. Algae explode in large numbers when the ice, under which they have been growing, melts away.
Although this seems to be a small observation, it is actually HUGE! Or at least it was for me. Look at areas of the Arctic that do not have the seasonal ice. The flow of energy in that ecosystem is different. The energy transfer from sunlight through the high Arctic permanent ice to the algae that populate the Arctic Ocean is different. Same thing with the Antarctic permanent ice.
This is one of the deepest drops that the CTD made. Over 3000 meters!
If the Arctic or Antarctic holds more seasonal ice, i.e. starts melting, the model of how energy is transferred in the polar region will change. Knowing how seasonal ice acts as a medium to facilitate algal blooms will be very important. Right now is a critical time to research this key component.
TAS Maggie observing the sea ice
I learned a huge amount about ice. I made ice observations many, many times. The scientists on this mission to help them interpret their data will use that information.
The science community has named this an International Polar Year (IPY). What I am doing, in trailing along with scientists, is acting to translate and understand the Bering Sea Ecosystem Study, and to act to educate others about cutting edge scientific research of climactic change. I think I can begin to start telling you the story.
Monday, April 30: The ice is here so ice observations take place every two hours. I had a feeling today was going to be a wildlife bonanza and it was. We saw lots of ribbon and spotted seals and birds. As always the time up in the bridge turned into hours.
I learned how to filter seawater and replace filter papers in Dr. Ray Sambrotto’s Lab. He is measuring the productivity of the Bering Sea.
After lunch I concentrated on getting my presentation to Dr. Ray to edit for the webinar on Thursday. Robyn and I worked out the times for the last webinar and got some images together for the Thursday show. David Hyrenbach as always came through with a good baseline Powerpoint for others to work off.
The ship is tracing a path we have gone before. It is tracing the path through the most productive areas we’ve been to. Much of that area is not under ice. Needless to say, I noticed that there was very little ice algae growth on the ice. The researches say the productivity is in the water, not on the ice. I am sure there will be some new conclusions brought forward.
Tuesday, May 1: Learn to Burn. First it was ‘learn to return,’ our survival safety class. Now it is ‘learn to burn?’
Well, the Healy works hard to be ‘green.’ There are only certain amount of resources available for a big 422 foot ship going out to sea for a whole month. Conservation of resources is a necessity.
We have been told how to conserve water when we take showers and wash and brush our teeth. We sort our trash into burnable, recyclable, and food compost. We only wash full loads of laundry.
The majority of the trash we are able to burn. However, not EVERYONE can burn. One has to be trained to burn. The two scientists that burned on the first leg of this trip, left on Saturday. The large pile of burnables present in the science conference room spurred Robyn and I to volunteer for a job that nobody wanted to do.
Steven Elliot, our coast guard science liason, took time out to teach us the specifics of burning. Lucky for us, two Coasties came in while we were being trained and put a bag of trash in the incinerator that was WAY too big. One of the ship engineers came down to the incinerator room and scolded them. We watched with eyes large, and vowed never to make the engineers angry at our burning ways.
Robyn and I were very happy to finish burning the bags of trash.
It took the bulk of the afternoon to burn the many bags of burnable trash the science conference room had to offer. We collected bags from the science lab too. When we left the incinerator room it was 90 some degrees. Robyn named us the ‘Fire and Ice’ team. We observe the ice and we burn the trash.
Wednesday, May 2: The cups that the students from St. Paul decorated have been sent down to the deep and back up. They will be so excited to see the results. I will be sending them from Dutch when I get there next Monday.
St. Paul students will be happy to get their teeny weeny cups back.
The scientists have been named as chefs for the Morale Night Dinner on Saturday. It was decided we would cook with a Mexican theme, since it was the fifth of May. I wanted to make a piñata. After all who doesn’t like a piñata? We used paper mache and bright green gloves to try and make a hard ball. No go. It collapsed. So I talked with some guys who have made piñatas in the past and tried to follow their guidelines.
Our first attempt at making a piñata failed.
The trick was NOT to use paper mache, but duct tape and cardboard to fashion a hollow container. I chose to make a diatom using cardboard and discarded egg dividers. At 7 pm, Janet Scannell, our dinner coordinator, told me the piñata was out. I was disappointed. After all that work, no piñata. I cleaned up my mess and focused on Thursdays IPY webinar.
The ice is back. As a loose loose pack. Still lots of open water amid the flows. Skimming the waves between the flows were Laysan and Short-tailed Albatross, my Hawaiian friends!
Thursday, May 3: An IPY webinar at an early hour on ship. 9:00! We had two very important guests so we wanted to do our best. Somehow, between all the planning e-mail, a time reminder went out with the incorrect time. Now a half hour of time is a precious thing to busy people. We told our guests to hang tight, we would let them know when time had come. Thirty minutes of time has never passed more slowly.
But pass it did, and a very informative hour followed. Between Dr. Ray Sambrotto, the cruise Principal Investigator, and Captain Tedric Lindstrom, the Healy captain, the internet audience was wowed.
Immediately after the webinar, the Arcus folk had arranged for me to talk directly to my students. This was a huge special treat for me. I teach very active seventh graders, and their attention span and the schools technical equipment did not lend itself to easy listening. For a whole half hour I was connected to my Green Honus (fourth period students) who asked me any and all kinds of questions. Oh my, how I missed my students.The rest of the day was spent catching up with journal writing, editing pictures, and ice observing.
Friday, May 4: Today, we decided to try and work with our mp3 voice recorders. Robyn had recorded Carleton Ray discuss walrus ecology and I wanted to work with a Frank DeLima presentation from my school. Ice observations, writing, answering questions from the webpages, cleaning our rooms, the day was done, and we weren’t any closer to our mastering the mp3 podcast platform.
To the Coast Guard, it’s all about safety.
There were many last-minute dinner problems that came and went. And the ice was always present and changing, we made sure of that.
Saturday, May 5:
Between cooking a Mexican banquet for 130, I ran up to the bridge to take ice observations.
Started like any ordinary day, but soon morphed into a remarkable one. Check out my journal entry for May 5 to fill in the blanks between. OH, by the way, we also took in a tour of the ships engine, and cooked a Mexican banquet for 130. It was fun and delicious. And so ended our next to the last week on the icebreaker Healy.
