Last morning in Dutch Harbor, AK
In the sweltering heat of an August afternoon in Norfolk, VA, it's hard to fathom what those sub-Arctic temperatures were like a few weeks ago. Although the sensation of cooler air has left me, the…
The Oceanus at Dutch Harbor, Alaska
The Oceanus is docked at Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Under the heavy fog and misty skies early this morning, the Oceanus quietly meandered to its port at Dutch Harbor. Time, these past nine days, seems…
Chip Millard aboard the Oceanus
Chip Millard, First Assistant Engineer, offers a tour of the Oceanus engine room. The galley, or dining room of the Oceanus, provides a shared meeting space for the crew and science teams. It's a…
Lee Teevan and the CTD
With her spear and magic helmet, Lee tries to guide the CTD onto the ship. Every few hours, the ship slows down and we know it's getting close to the time to start sampling. There are stations,…
Team Jellyfish on the Oceanus
Team Jellyfish night and day crews meet at last on the Oceanus. To get a glimpse of what's going on beneath the surface, the science team is using a sonar-imaging device called the ARIS (Adaptive…
Morning horizon over the Bering Sea
The many hues of blue and grey meet over the Bering Sea. Morning was a Rothko painting, the subtle blues of the sky forming the horizon with the pewter grey of the sea. The sea had calmed…
Lee and CDT
Lee disentangles jellyfish body parts from the CDT before breakfast. Photo by Mary Beth Decker. At each station along the transect, we get data from the CDT rosette, which is lowered into the water…
Lee in immersion suit
Always the fashionista, Lee models the latest in immersion suits. "Live and breathe safety on this ship" were the words spoken by the Oceanus Captain, Captain Ronald Short. We had all gathered for…
The view of Dutch Harbor from the ship
This is the view of Dutch Harbor from the Oceanus. Following the outline of the Alaskan coastline from my plane window, I saw large areas of wetlands and bogs finally give way to snowcapped…
Dutch Harbor
On a map, the Aleutian Islands look as effortless as a "connect-the-dots" activity. Getting to Dutch Harbor, however, has proven to be a much greater challenge for several reasons. Basaltic rock is…
Lee, pickles and jam
The stacks of zucchini and cartons of blueberries probably are not what you'd expect on the kitchen table of someone preparing to depart for a PolarTREC expedition to the Bering Sea next week. To me…
ZOOVIS and ARIS
Jellyfish are among the showoffs of the ocean. On the surface, they are flamboyant and splashy. By mid-summer in many temperate coastal waters, multitudes of jellyfish can be seen pulsating across…