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Journals 2007/2008
Kimberly Pratt
Alvarado Elementary School, Union City, California
August 25, 2007
Oh Canada!
Latitude: 41° 43.60' N
Longitude: 65° 51.80' W
Sea Depth: 126 m
Wind Speed: 6.5
Sea Temp: 14.8
Location: Gulf of Maine - Canadian Waters
Greetings!
Much has happened today! First of all we deployed our Surface Velocity Program (SVP) drifter buoy, which measures surface current and temperature. After decorating it, we unwrapped it and tossed it into the water. It will be tracked utilizing a NOAA website (address to follow) for approximately one year. Ironically, shortly after deploying the buoy, 6-7 pilot whales came swimming up near the ship. We were all excited to see the whales and at one point they were about 20 meters off our stern and grouped closely together. Globicephala malaena, pilot whales are black with a light gray anchor shaped area on their chest. They grow up to 7 meters (23') long, and occasionally are in bays and sounds; sometimes, an entire school will beach themselves on shore. Essentially, they look like black cigars with rounded dorsal fins. It was wonderful to see them. Later in the day, I got a call from the bridge announcing that we had entered Canada! We entered Canada in the Gulf of Maine, and interestingly, often when it is not a closed zone to fishing, many fishing boats line up right near the border to continue to fish in the United States but catch Canadian fish that stealthily come across the border. Those sneaky fish! We know that we are in Canadian waters by our latitude and longitude, and we do need permission from the Canadian government to do our research here. It is still foggy outside and it may remain that way until we go inland on Monday or Tuesday.
Ref: Weiss, Howard M. Marine Animals of Southern New England and New York, 1995, State Geological and Natural History Survey of Connecticut. Connecticut.
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Deployment of buoy |
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Pilot whale |
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