Cruise JC030
Wednesday 7th January 2009
Day 13 (I think) at Sea:
Every day some new fact comes to light - some new obstacle which threatens the gravest obstruction. I suppose this is the reason which makes the game so well worth playing.
Robert Falcon Scott
JDAY 007
Weather: Flat calm!! nice and smooth!!
Distance Travelled Today: 131.91 Miles
Total Distance Travelled: 1932 Miles
Activity: CTDing
Sea Temperature:0.8•C
Air Temperature:-2•C
Day 13
Lucky 13! Well! What a busy day! Many of you will have noticed the late posting of the blog yesterday! More pressing issues took priority! During the morning Sheldon noticed that the workstation he uses to process data had frozen. When we rebooted the system it did not want to work. All manner of things had gone – or had appeared to have gone wrong with the system! Lots of frustration was expended during the hours it took to get it working again!
Our technicians at base were especially helpful and helped research the problem that we had. they also spoke to some of the IT group back at the National Oceanography Centre who had originally setup the machine! After a number of hours of frustration I noticed a minor fault and corrected it – the system was soon back online and we were able to breathe a sigh of relief!
One of the highlights of the day was the bridge phoning me up and reporting a large group of whales. Unfortunately the weather was, for better words - appallingly horrid! Driving snow and bitter winds made photographing the whales a little tricky. I made my way up towards the lifeboats and had just spotted a humpback breaching (jumping out of the water) when I slipped and nearly ended up on the floor!
By the time I had the camera ready the humpback was back under the water. I watched the group for sometime and observed what would appear to have been several whales including a mother and calf congregated around the base of an iceberg. There were a number of flukes (whale tail fins) which confirmed that they were humpbacks due to their distinct fins.
Humpbacks are by far one of my favourite whales! I spent quite a bit of time photographing them in Newfoundland earlier this year and I believe that they truly are as unique as their markings! When I get to South America I am going on a cruise around the Magellan Straits to photograph Humpbacks involved in Chile’s conservation program. Hopefully, we will see lots of Humpbacks which I’ll put on the website for you guys to see!
Once we had left the humpbacks behind us we continued into the blizzard. Once inside everyone started to download their pictures and see what they got – unfortunately owing to the distance and weather conditions not many of the pictures came out. Loïc got a long distance shot of a humpback breaching. I got one or two images shown below that show the mother and calf.
However, for many of the people who saw whales breaching for the first time it is the experience that counts!! I know this! I remember the first time I saw a humpback breach – its amazing something that big can lift itself clean out of the water!
Ok, I will probably talk about whales quite a bit as we see more and more of them so some terminology which we
Whale Behaviour Terms
Breach - When the whale leaps out of the water. They often times will twist as their out of the water and then they land on their side.
Above: Boooooommmmmm! A breach!
Flipper Slapping - When the whale is at the surface of the water slapping it's flippers up and down.
Fluking - When the whale raises it's flukes out of the water.
Above: Fluking in NFL
Lobtailing - When the whale is at the surface of the water slapping it's flukes up and down.
Logging - When whales rest motionless at the surface of the water, they resemble logs which is how this behavior got it's name.
Rolling - Occassionally whales will roll at the surface exposing their belly and pectoral fins.
Above: Whale rolling in the Bay of Biscay
Spyhopping - When the whale raises it's head out of the water to see what's going on at the surface.
Above: Whale spyhopping
Tail Breach - This is very similar to a breach, but this time the whale raises it's flukes first and quickly slams it back down into the water.
Whale anatomy phrases
Whale Anatomy
Baleen - Baleen whales (such as Humpbacks, Fin, Right, etc.) have baleen plates instead of teeth. Baleen is made of the same material as hair and fingernails. Whales can't swallow the salt water any more than people can, so they use the baleen plates as a strainer to flush out the salt water while trapping the food inside.
Blowhole - The holes found on the top of the whale's head which allows it to breath. Baleen whales have two blowholes side by side while toothed whales have a single blowhole.
Blubber - The thick layer of fat beneath the skin.
Collosities - Patches of thick, tough skin which grows in unique patterns. Right Whales can be identified by the pattern on their heads.
Dorsal Fin - A single fin found on the whale's back. Some dorsal fins may have scarring or other marks on it which help biologists to identify certain individuals.
Flukes - The whale's tail is known as it's flukes. Humpback Whales can be identified by the underside of their flukes. Each whale has a unique pattern that can range from all white to all black.
Pectoral Fin - Pectoral fins (also know as flippers) that are found along each side of the whales body.
Pleats - Some species of baleen whales have throat grooves known as pleats. As their mouths fill up with water and food, the pleats expand like an accordian.
Rostrum - The top of the whale's head.
Tubercle - Small knob-like bumps found on the heads of Humpback Whales. Each bump contains a single hair, but the purpose of this hair is still not known.
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And a bit on humpbacks….
The humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is a Baleen whale. One of the larger rorqual species, adults range in length from 12–16 metres (40–50 ft) and weigh approximately 36,000 kilograms (79,000 lb).
The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with unusually long pectoral fins and a knobbly head. It is an acrobatic animal, often breaching and slapping the water. Males produce a complex whale song, which lasts for 10 to 20 minutes and is repeated for hours at a time. The purpose of the song is not yet clear, although it appears to have a role in mating.
Found in oceans and seas around the world, humpback whales typically migrate up to 25,000 kilometres each year.
Humpbacks feed only in summer, in polar waters, and migrate to tropical or sub-tropical waters to breed and give birth in the winter. During the winter, humpbacks fast and live off their fat reserves. The species' diet consists mostly of krill and small fish. Humpbacks have a diverse repertoire of feeding methods, including the bubble net feeding technique.
Like other large whales, the humpback was and is a target for the whaling industry. Due to over-hunting, its population fell by an estimated 90% before a whaling moratorium was introduced in 1966. Stocks of the species have since partially recovered; however, entanglement in fishing gear, collisions with ships, and noise pollution also remain concerns. There are at least 80,000 humpback whales worldwide. Once hunted to the brink of extinction, humpbacks are now sought out by whale-watchers, particularly off parts of Australia and the United States.
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Later in the day we deployed the CTD in blizzard like conditions. A few snowballs were produced and I got hit :-s
In the evening I helped Dave with his laptop over a few beers and showed him how to do a few tasks which he was unsure of.
Also, I got a nice email from Loics mother – here it is
Hello
Je suis la maman de Loïc, Je vous remercie de tenir ce journal de bord, mon mari et moi sommes très heureux de lire ce blog tous les jours avec des explications sur la nature de votre travail au bout du monde , les photos sont superbes même celle de Loîc en train de faire la grimace.
Vous avez froid mais nous aussi en haute-savoie nous avons - 6° dans notre village et nous avons des bergs dans notre rivière...
Dites bonjour à tout le monde
Au plaisir de vous lire
ask Loïc a translation if you don't speak french
Bye bye |
In English!
I am Loïc’s mum. I thank you for writing this blog. My husband and myself are very pleased to read it every day with the explanation about what you are doing at the end of the world! The pictures are stunning even the ones where Loïc is making funny faces!You are cold but so are we. In the Alps the temperature is -6 and we have icebergs in our rivers!
Say hi to everyone!!
Bye!! |
Part 1 Birds
More about each bird when I get 5!!!
Above: Mother and calf
Above: Mother and calf
Above: whale blowing
Above: young calf breaking the surface
Above: young calf breaking the surface
Above: Mother and calf
Above: braving the weather for a pic!!
Above: Andy at work
About: No points for guessing what Mark's thinking
About: Always one....
Above: Your next!!
Above: Incoming!! Snow falling off the ship
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