This field trip was all about collecting oceanography data and beach seining for forage fish and also a few bird transects that we didn't get to on the trip before. We headed out to McCarty Fjord and worked our way back to Northwestern Lagoon and Aialik Bay before heading back to Seward. Again, it pissed down rain for most of the trip, but then the sun broke through the clouds on the last day, brightening our spirits and again, we were in paradise.
rocking out in the boat
the Gyre in Northwestern
crazy breakers in Northwestern, right above the morraine
We use a CTD to measure conductivity, temperature, at different depths of the water column at different locations in each bay/fjord.
Yumi & Erica getting ready to cast the CTD
Yumi hauling in the CTD
strike a pose!
Erica...
Yumi...
me..
ya - not sure what that's supposed to be. I was trying to 'vogue'.
Madonna would be disappointed because I definitely didn't succeed in vogueing...
this trip was also about beach seines - we sampled several beaches to get an idea of what kind of fish are out there for the birds to eat. How does a beach seine work? First, 1 person is dropped off onshore with one end of line.
then, the net is unloaded from the boat and the other end of the line is brought onshore
and then we pull.
There are definitely moments, when I think:
it's summer time. my friends Outside are wearing shorts & tank tops. soaking in the vitamin D. and I'm wearing insulated rubber boots, fleece jacket on top of 2 more layers - what the hell am I doing up here in a place where no one boxes up their winter clothes because you have to use them at some point in the summer.
and then I get to beach seine in one of the most amazing national parks and it reminds me of why I love it up here.
Erica loading the beach seine back into the boat.
Yumi measuring the catch.
We fill a bucket with seawater, put the fish in it, and then get them back into the water after measuring them. Almost all the fish survive the process.
bucket o' mostly herring
sculpin
me & Erica pulling up the net
greenling
leaving the last beach
my happy fisherman
filleting the catch
Emma - waiting for fish to drop out of the sky
flowers coming up in the yard.
The two of us at Exit Glacier
Exit Glacier in all it's glory.
Bjarke & Emma at Afognak Beach.
Bjarke decided to sit on my lap and Emma wasn't sure about how she felt about that.
Rebecca made a yellow lemon cake with raspberry jam filling, lemon butter cream filling and white frosting. 3 layers of cake. 4 tiers of cake.
The challenge will be to keep from eating the cake before the wedding.
later this evening, the calves were romping around, head butting each other and one of them came into our yard and gave the tires a good sniff
rocking out in the boat
the Gyre in Northwestern
crazy breakers in Northwestern, right above the morraine
We use a CTD to measure conductivity, temperature, at different depths of the water column at different locations in each bay/fjord.
Yumi hauling in the CTD
strike a pose!
Yumi...
me..
this trip was also about beach seines - we sampled several beaches to get an idea of what kind of fish are out there for the birds to eat. How does a beach seine work? First, 1 person is dropped off onshore with one end of line.
then, the net is unloaded from the boat and the other end of the line is brought onshore
There are definitely moments, when I think:
Erica loading the beach seine back into the boat.
bucket o' mostly herring
sculpin
me & Erica pulling up the net
greenling
leaving the last beach
Dave on the roof, cleaning one of the chimneys.
while keeping an eye on Dave, I found a robin's nest with 3 chicks in it!!
Erica taking the Naiad out of the boat harbor
glacier in Northwestern
back on the boat to warm up
Yumi scanning for birds
glacier in Aialik Bay
The National Park Service boat, the Serac, was our support vessel this trip.
hooray for SUN!
me, Dan & Yumi
the Naiad was towed behind the Serac
view of part of Seward from the water