Journals 2007/2008

Kimberly Pratt
Alvarado Elementary School, Union City, California

"Atlantic Northeast Shelf Ecosystem Monitoring Project NOAA, R/V Delaware II" August 15 - 29, 2007

Journal Index: August 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22            23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 Podcasts Additional Resources

August 23, 2007
Major life today!

Latitude: 40° 50.07' N
Longitude: 67° 27.12' W
Sea Depth: 83m
Wind Speed: 25
Sea Temp: 15.9
Location: On Georges Bank
Time: 1856

Greetings! How exciting! After my 0300 station (3AM), went back to bed and awoke at 0600 (6AM), walked out to the stern and saw 6-7 pilot whales! They were feeding in a group and unlike other pilot whales I have seen, their dorsals were a little bit pointier than what I had expected. What a wonderful way to start the day. Next, we did a station that came up with wonderful, fatty krill! Krill, which are known as euphausiids, are what baleen whales eat and as you can see, can be quite meaty! Yum! We did catch additional krill later in the day, smaller in size, which I will be bringing back to California. We also caught Calanus, which are very oily copepods, and is the food for the northern right whales. After that we saw many birds, such as storm petrels, and seagulls. The bridge reported common dolphin sightings today, but unfortunately, by the time I got up there they were gone. The weather right now is typical California ocean weather. Overcast, a little cold, darker seas, so I feel right at home, and am dressing a little bit warmer. Right now we are on George's Bank, and off to our east, was the location of the Perfect Storm! Luckily, we are having calm seas, and nice weather so no such drama for us! Things are going really well, having a blast with the crew and officers!

Enjoy the excellent pictures of the krill!

Krill. View full version pop-ups: left - right.