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Ears of the Deep, Part IV: Recovering and Deploying Moorings

ABOARD THE USCGC HEALY, ON THE BEAUFORT SEA– Recovering a mooring of any significant size essentially amounts to getting it to the surface and picking it up with a ship using a crane...



Ears of the Deep, Part III: Placing a Mooring

ABOARD THE USCGC HEALY, ON THE BEAUFORT SEA– Kate's moorings, like most others, are constructed to be placed on the sea floor at a particular location and depth...



Ears of the Deep, Part II: Mooring Technology

ABOARD THE USCGC HEALY, ON THE BEAUFORT SEA-- My last dispatch discussed the work of scientist Kate Stafford, who uses sets of acoustic sensors called…



Ears of the Deep: Hydrophone Arrays

ABOARD THE USCGC HEALY, ON THE BEAUFORT SEA-- While much of the Coast Guard personnel continued to host the distinguished visitors, the science work increased in tempo. The primary science activity to be accomplished on the cruise is to recover and deploy moorings...



Listening for Bowhead Whales

ABOARD THE USCGC HEALY, ON THE BEAUFORT SEA-- Now that we are aboard the HEALY and settled in, while we slept a survey was done running roughly offshore of Barrow. The principal work along this leg was mapping of the seafloor bathymetry with the ship’s multibeam acoustic system...



Sea Ice Dynamics

ABOARD THE USCGC HEALY, ON THE BEAUFORT SEA-- One of the things about the sea ice surrounding HEALY that cannot escape your attention is the fact it is neither all white nor flat and level...



Welcome Aboard

ABOARD THE USCGC HEALY, ON THE BEAUFORT SEA-- It had been over three years since I last stepped off Healy, and there it was-- about a mile offshore, visible from the highway on the way to the airport...



Off to Sea

ABOARD THE USCGC HEALY, ON THE BEAUFORT SEA-- Travel has many pleasures, but as everyone knows, can involve the unexpected...



Barrow, Alaska: US gateway to arctic science

BARROW, ALASKA-- Barrow, Alaska, is the northernmost city in the Americas, and the US gateway for scientific exploration in the arctic. Getting supplies in and out is just a little bit tough in a place where winter temperatures can reach -50F...



North to the Future

BARROW, ALASKA-- "North to the Future" is Alaska's State Motto. It seems particularly appropriate now with the changes taking place in the north. You fly in to Barrow first via a stop in Fairbanks, and then Dead Horse...