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| All sorts of different Coast Guard ships are used for science in Canada | Deck crew run all the equipment (in this case a winch) for us | CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth) unit. A basic oceanography instrument that can be outfitted with various sensors |
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Deploying the CTD | Live feedback of the CTD cast - temperature (red), salinity (blue), light transmission (green), density (white) | Taking the CTD unit as close to the bottom without touching is aided by a pinger and echosounder |
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| CTD/Rosette unit. The CTD is sometimes combined with a rosette holding a number of sample bottles so that samples of water can be brought back from different depths | Extracting samples from water bottles tripped at depth | Oxygen samples taken between 1000 and 0 m show amounts of oxygen in the water. Left white bottle is from 1000 m (little oxygen) and right orange bottle is from the surface (high oxygen) |
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| Styrofoam cup fun: cups are lowered from the CTD/Rosette unit on deep (3000+ m) casts | Styrofoam compresses at depth, making really small cups. Compare to the full-sized mug in the background | For one cruise there were too many non-meat eaters on board, requiring a stop in Gold River to pick up more veggies (I would be the vegan) |
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| Acoustics transducer used to detect fish and plankton populations | The backscatter detected from the transducer. Dense layers on the top are plankton; bottom are fish | Sunset in one of the coastal inlets. Sometimes the weather turns foul and we need to hide for a day or two |
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| It's getting rough -- must be about time to do a plankton tow | The MOCNESS, a very large plankton and larval fish capture device with six nets | Bongo plankton nets |
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| The BIONESS, a smaller version of the MOCNESS that carries nine nets | A Tucker Trawl, complete with three nets | What's in this sample? (The original caption was 'Ewwww... more whale snot') |
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| A plankton sample | Lots of oily plankton make really good seabird and fish food | Totes and totes of krill |
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| Our crab larvae isolation tank, used to find green crab larvae | There's lots of time to catch up on your reading. Note the fashion statement in the jeans | Lisa really didn't like me taking this picture -- look closely at the eyes |
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| Current moorings being configured prior to deployment | On occasion land birds get blown offshore and land on the ship. A few survive, but most die from seasickness | A very confused seagull landed one day on the helicopter deck and laid an egg |
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| Fresh cookies are served at 9.30am on the W.E. Ricker | Gym on the J.P Tully | Mooring lines also make really good places to sit or nap |
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| A fresh coat of paint is applied to the lifeboats | Survival suits, just in case you need to abandon ship. Also referred to as Gumby suits | Isn't this little fish cute? |
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| 'King of the salmon' -- a very unique fish | Tote of salmon | A good sized squid |
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| Fresh hake ready for analysis | Sampling in the fish lab for weight, length, sex, stomach contents and more | Sunfish or Mola mola get really big -- this one was the size of a small car |
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