Post Date: 15 April 2008
Gulf of Alaska
Posted By: Erin Moreland

Survey Preparations

Kym Yano tests a sighting bar in the 65HH Dolphin helicopter.

Our skipper made the decision to wait out 20 foot seas by anchoring in a protected area before heading into the Bering Sea. The calm reprieve gave us time to set up the helicopter for our seal surveys. We will be using the USCG 65HH Dolphin (a workhorse for search-and-rescue crews). We fitted the four potential observation windows (co-pilot, right and left cabin, and aft swimmers seat) with sightings bars that allow us to estimate the distance to each seal. A sighting bar is just a Plexiglas strip with horizontal lines in ten degree increments (red on the Plexiglas and blue on the helicopter window). An angle to a seal is defined by lining up the red and blue bars. Distances to the seal are determined by triangulating the position of the seal using the Pythagorean Theorem with known altitude of the aircraft and angle from the observers' eyes to the seal on the ice.

The USCG designed and built a camera housing that will be mounted to the outside of the helicopter during our surveys. We use the camera to photograph seals that pass directly under the helicopter and so are not visible to the observers. The camera will fire every two seconds and each survey will generate approximately 2000 geo-referenced images. Data collected from the images will be used to confirm assumptions made during data analysis and to classify ice seal habitat. A high pressure system is moving into the area bringing good weather and a smooth ride to the ice. We expect to begin our surveys in a couple of days.

 

Making pizza.

Post Date: 14 April 2008
Gulf of Alaska
Posted By: Erin Moreland

Feeling Welcome on the Polar Sea

The Coast Guard has welcomed us into all aspects of ship life including morale activities, attending quarters daily, and even room inspections. Saturday morning all staterooms were inspected, though we weren't clear about what was expected and so did not quite meet USGC standards. They went easy on us though, and we'll be much better prepared next week.

The junior officers aboard invited us to help them make pizza in the galley for Morale Night. It was a lot of fun and a nice way to get to know some friendly faces around the ship. All together we made 55 pizzas and an additional five dessert pizzas including peanut butter and jelly, s'mores, and three frosted sugar cookie pizzas with fruit on top. We ended up throwing in five emergency pre-made pepperoni pizzas at the last minute in fear of running out of food! There are regular activities scheduled throughout the cruise to help keep morale up. In addition to pizza night, the crew plays bingo for silly prizes and watches movies in the helicopter hanger. We're looking forward to spending more time with crew of the Polar Sea.

 

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