Our position at 01:48 UTC on 6 June 2005 is 27
11.3347'N 95 22.6523'W.
An early morning storm generated swell, which, when
coupled to the chop from the wind, gave us seas that prevented the safe
launch of the small boats. So we had no small boat operations today.
However, the boats have been thoroughly checked out and are ready to go.
This evening the swell is diminishing.
Sperm whales were tracked during the night by the
acoustics team and throughout the morning by the acoustics and visual teams.
This evening we are again tracking sperm whales with the passive acoustics.
Animals were located in the same general area where first contact was made
on 4 June.
Acoustics tracked both single animals and a group of
4-5. Despite the waves, the visual team had 18 sights. The visual and
acoustic teams are now well coordinated and digitally connected.
A success for the last 24 hours has been the
collection of 3-D acoustic tracking data concurrently with collection of the
fisheries echosounder data. Enough acoustic data were collected to obtain
dive profiles.
Creaks and codas were recorded. Dr. Thode's initial
impression is that some of these may be different from those in the
Mississippi Canyon region.
The recordings are sufficient to allow
post-cruise comparisons. Also recorded were the vocalizations of the group
of spotted dolphins.
Both the 70 kHz and 38 kHz fishery echosounders ran
during the night and the day. A good data base was collected to allow
comparison of the 38 kHz echosounder data with the 3-D tracking dive
profiles. The 38 kHz fishery echosounder showed a scattering layer at about
500-meter depth. In the morning this layer thickened and was observed in the 70
kHz data as well.
When first turned on last evening, the 38 kHz data
showed what appeared to be a large animal diving (see Figure). This event
occurred at a time when sperm whales were nearby and diving.
Both hydrophone arrays now have been fully tested and
are working well. The 3-D tracking software is being debugged. Tests to
resolve the left-right ambiguity and methods for range tracking are being
prepared.
An XBT was taken in the morning at 27 04.9282'N 95
20.1685'W. The depth of the 15C isotherm was 193 meters, indicating we remain in
the waters influenced by the cyclone. We stayed on the northeast side of
this cyclone throughout the day. No 38 kHz ADCP current measurements were
collected today as this instrument was turned off to allow collection of the
38 kHz fisheries echosounder data.
