Danny Baza Blas

A ship's morale is often times based on food quality Current ship status : latitude: 71.40N; longitude: 150.54W; temp: 32F; speed: 4.7k; winds: 32k; water depth: 1450m Yesterday (Day 18) was Labor Day on the ship, meaning the science team and Healy crew labored all day, dropping our coring instruments into the Arctic Ocean from morning to dusk. Today we are experiencing rough seas again, and because of the sea situation, our science--meaning coring--is taking a brief pause. Teacher On-Board Today is the first day of school in San Diego Unified School District . Steve Walters (Mission Bay High School, San Diego) will have a brief respite from coring operations today due to rough seas . Yesterday, Steve's Labor Day did not include barbecue or relaxation; coring was the order for Steve's day. Danny Blas (Lincoln High School, San Diego) did not write a blog post yesterday in observation of Labor Day; however, did conduct video interviews with the entire Healy Fo...

The Healy is one of many cutters in the Coast Guard http://goo.gl/DhWdYJ Current status: latitude: 70.13N; longitude: 138.39W; temp: 38F; visibility: cloudy; sea depth: 414m; current speed: 2.4k The U.S. Coast Guard, the owner of the ship we have been living on the past two weeks, is an institution of dedicated people. The crew serving on this ship have been hospitable and highly professional. As a high school teacher in San Diego , I know my students--many of whom are seniors--are considering their options for next year. As young adults, many seniors are looking forward to their next stage of life, be it college, work, trade school, or the military. However, I have rarely heard a student at Lincoln High speak of the Coast Guard. They talk about their plans for the Army, Marines, or Navy, but rarely the Coast Guard. Having been exposed to the people serving on the Healy, I began thinking that some of my students would probably be interested in knowing more about careers i...

The view from the bow of our icebreaker USCG Healy (Master Chief Sullivan) Ship's current status: visibility: low, foggy; temp: 37F; latitude: 70.39 N; longitude: 137.30 W The third straight day of sunshine and more vitamin D for a crew with good morale. Very little coring today (relative to previous days of core, core, and more coring). We are transiting west, towards an area with very shallow waters and geologic features called pingos , which are mounds "of earth-covered ice found in the Arctic and subarctic that can reach up to 70 metres (230 ft) in height and up to 600 m (2,000 ft) in diameter." What we seem to be more interested in, however, are pingo-ish, underwater hills that "form when methane hydrate (a frozen mixture of gas and seawater) decomposes beneath the seafloor, releasing gas that squeezes deep sediments up onto the seafloor like toothpaste from a tube," according to Charlie Paull and William Ussler, MBARI geologists. Our goal i...

Polar bears are enjoying the "abundance" of Arctic sea ice this year According to many people in-the-know, Arctic sea ice is relatively abundant this year. Towards the end of July 2013, " Arctic sea ice actually expanded by 20,000 square kilometers ," according to Jason Samenow of the Washington Post. This is not to say Arctic sea ice is healthy as it has ever been; quite the opposite . In a NOAA report , 2012 was one of the warmest since climate records have been kept. The Arctic, according to the report, is warming faster than other places on Earth. This year's better-than-expected sea ice seems to be really welcome news to polar bears, however. During this cruise, I have personally made visual contact with five polar bears. While others on the cruise--mainly Martin Reedy, Arctic wildlife observer for U.S. Fish and Wildlife, whose job is to count these beautiful creatures--have probably seen double what I have. Polar bears are lovely; polar bears...

Current position: 71.31N latitude 131.22W longitude; Temp. 27F; conditions: sunny View from Healy's Aloft Con camera (click to enlarge) Day 13 was the greatest polar bear sighting day ever (more on that on another post). This guy, who I named "Jasper," came within 100 meters of our ship. Every other step Jasper took, his nose was aimed our way, getting himself a waft of our taco Tuesday lunch. The Inupiaq People of Barrow Gabriel Tegoseak is a native Inupiaq Alaskan from Barrow, Alaska, who is part of this expedition serving as the community observer. Gabe's responsibilities on this cruise are to observe the condition of the animals--whales, polar bears, seals, walrus--the Inupiaq subsist upon. In addition to animal sightings, making note of the condition of the ice, which is critical to the lives of these animals, is part of the community observer's job. Gabe recently gave a well-attended talk on the culture of his people, which included an audience ...

Day 12 gave the science team mellow seas and above freezing temperatures on the Arctic. Our current location is: 71.20N latitude 126.45W longitude; speed 12.8 knots; temp 31.38 F Today was a full day of coring activities, which are now completed. We are currently underway, headed west, and I just read an email that we have full internet connectivity.  The crew aboard this mission are a creative and talented bunch. Here are some pictures taken by a member of the science team. The following images were shot by Akash Kataria (pictured): by Sarah Kaye 1. One of the cores on a multi-core coring instrument; the multi-core attempt to capture the interface of the ocean water and the ocean floor, and often times living creatures are captured alive in the coring process 2. Gabriel Tegoseak and Brendan Reilly enjoying "Ice Liberty" on Saturday, August 24, 2013; the seafloor is over 1000 meters below th...

Today, like yesterday, is a transit day. We're headed east on the Beaufort Sea. Our current location is 71.24 N latitude, 126.45 W longitude, well out of satellite reach of internet connectivity. Pretty much we are unconnected to the greater outside world. The above image was from yesterday's ice liberty. In this image are the two teachers from San Diego Unified School District, representing their respective schools--Danny Blas (your blogger) of Lincoln High School and Steve Walters of Mission Bay High School. In the background is our huge icebreaker ship, the USCGC Healy. For many on-board, Sunday is a laundry day; for some a reading day; for others a afternoon nap day. We have the team trivia competition on the mess deck tonight at 7pm, so that's something to look forward to. Other than team trivia, it's not a day filled with much excitement; however, anytime I'm on a ship, like the Healy, it's pretty exciting.  If you would like to ma...