Close to the small New Zealand town of Kaikoura, the Kaikoura Canyon creates a unique opportunity for researchers to study sperm whale populations due to its proximity to the New Zealand coast. Just over a kilometre away from a mountain range with peaks over 2200 metres, the Kaikoura Canyon plunges to 1000m depth, and it connects with the Hikurangi Trough which … Read More
It Walks the Line: a Wirewalker™ record deployment
In September of 2016, a surface wave-powered Wirewalker™ descended to the bottom of its 100-m wire, reversed direction, and smoothly ascended to the surface. Onboard, a payload of instruments took detailed measurements of physical and biological properties in Southern California’s La Jolla submarine canyon. It was the first cycle the Wirewalker would complete at the La Jolla canyon mooring – … Read More
Lake Tahoe’s Nearshore Network and Protecting Water Clarity
Renowned for its cobalt blue colour and clarity, at 1,900 m elevation, Lake Tahoe is North America’s largest alpine lake. It straddles the California-Nevada border and on all sides rise the peaked Sierra Nevada mountains. Over two million people visit the Tahoe region annually; Frank Sinatra once owned a casino on Lake Tahoe’s shore. It’s little surprise then, that when … Read More
Fin-ished? Citizen scientists cast CTDs as part of an investigation of salmon mortality in British Columbia’s Salish Sea
In 2014, the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project (SSMSP) began, launching over thirty scientific studies into the lifecycle of Coho and Chinook Salmon of the Salish Sea. These West Coast fisheries collapsed over twenty years ago, and have not since recovered. At the close of this five-year program, researchers hope to understand why salmon mortality is so high. Their aim … Read More
Ice Shelves, Ice Islands and Measuring Change in the High Arctic
In Canada’s High Arctic, within the fiords of Ellesmere Island, there are lakes that float upon the Arctic Ocean. Called epishelf lakes, they are glacially-fed bodies of freshwater that sit atop a steep halocline. The lakes exist only where the ice shelves, filling the mouths of the fiords, act as dams, holding the water from flowing into the ocean. In … Read More
Go Big or Go Home: Instrumenting the Nearshore
Leaning over the side of the 22-foot boat and pulling up the first line of temperature sensors, oceanographer Jamie MacMahan described the state of the line as the worst bio-fouling he had ever seen. It was slimy and smelly. One down, 34 more to go. This was only a pilot project, but MacMahan’s mantra of ‘Go big or go home’ … Read More