Danny Baza Blas

Two Scripps researchers discuss UN Climate-Change Report, saying there is no question that changes in the climate are occurring. Is it anthropogenic or natural? Listen to the radio report. from KPBS: http://kpbs.us/1bSMKoI

Today is the last day of coring operations for this cruise! It's a significant day because three weeks of science have come to an end. Now we're cleaning up the ship and compartments, and preparing to disembark in a few days. This morning many of us on-board saw land for the first time in three weeks. Barrow was in sight on the starboard side, and what a great feeling it was to see good ole land. During this cruise, the Coast Guard team, or "Coasties" as they are known affectionately, were highly professional and extraordinarily helpful to all of us on the science team. One of the cooler happenings is to discover individuals with exceptional talent on-board. One such exceptional persons on-board Healy is Command Master Chief Sullivan, who's official work is to be the "liaison between the ship's enlisted crewmembers and the command." Master Chief Sullivan is an outstanding photographer, who also owns impeccable knowledge of the U.S. Coast G...

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...

London's Arsenal defeats arch-rival Spurs 1-0 today Sang Tan/Associated Press Today, the 18th day of our science cruise, was a fantastic day. Reason #1: Arsenal extend the winning streak to four with a big-time win against arch rival Tottenham Hotspur 1-0, with Olivier Giroud, my fantasy soccer team captain, scoring the winner! Reason #2: The storm is over! All day yesterday and evening our boat was rocking to-and-fro, atop some of the roughest seas we've experienced during the past two-and-a-half weeks. The rough seas are over for now; however, there's word circulating on the ship that another storm is on the way. Today was another day of coring for sediments; a typical coring day. The science team and the Healy crew are working well together, with this coring thing becoming "old hat." Last night, during the rough seas and storms, the helicopter hangar hosted the first-ever music/karaoke night on the Healy (during this cruise to be more exact). You...

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...

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 ...

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...

Day 10. That's our fun day.  We had "Ice Liberty," Science Team Cook Day, bingo, and movie night in the hangar. Pictures and videos from this day will be forthcoming; however, since our Internet connection to the outside world has kinda went kaput, there's nothing to show at the moment (until we get in range of our satellite again). Today was a no-science day, thanks to our principal investigators, Lloyd Keigwin and Neal Driscoll. We've been working really well on the science the past nine days, so we finally had a chance to catch on sleep, relax and recreate. Thanks co-PIs! Ice liberty, ahhhh. As you can imagine, we stopped our gigantic ship next to a humungous piece of ice real estate, and we ran around like little children, and played. Responsibly, of course.  The ship's leadership, CAPT John Reeves and CDR Greg Stanclik, did a stupendous job preparing all-hands for the this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The way in which ice liber...

Green arrow is our current station; white arrow is next station Where Are We? This is Day 9 of our Arctic Expedition. The Google Maps image to the left will give you a good idea of where we are currently (click the image to enlarge). We are currently in Canadian waters after leaving Alaskan waters yesterday. The green arrow on the image indicates the point where we are currently coring for sediments, while the white arrow points to the area where we will be headed next, Amundsen Gulf, part of the Northwest Territories, Canada . ICE We are finally surrounded by ice! As of yesterday after dinner, our icebreaker ship has finally found ice to break. I will be posting a video later today describing our surroundings, in addition to our first sighting of a polar bear mommy, and her cub. Our Current Status Click to enlarge As you can see it's cold . The temperature is 21 degrees. Brrrr. Today's video will be posted very soon. As we continue eastward, we will lose I...

This blog post was written from the upper most observation deck (Aloft Conn), which is the 08 Deck, above the bridge. The Beaufort Gyre source: http://goo.gl/7scLp6 This is what it looks like from the Aloft Conn (D. Blas) Today (Monday) is purely a transit day. We are making our way east from Barrow, AK to the Beaufort Sea, where we will begin sampling around the Beaufort Gyre. When we finally arrive to our desired location, the science team and the Healy crew will begin the deployment of the core sampling tools to collect sediments. Our expectation is to arrive to our location between 8-10pm. Not much new to report at this time, other than rougher oceans than the previous days. Signing off from the Aloft Conn. Your blogger, Danny Blas (D. Blas)

Day Three, August 17, 2013 of Healy Mission 13-02 was an exceptional day for the science team and the crew of USCG Healy. We finally raised our anchors, after three days on the ship, and began movement on the Arctic Ocean. The earlier parts of the day were spent unpacking and setting-up all the equipment that will be dropped into the ocean to collect data and sediment samples. Saturday was also the day we practiced: (1.) man-over-board, and (2) abandon ship drills. "Better safe than sorry" is what mom taught us. Saturday was movie night, which was hosted by ENS Follmer, MSO in the helicopter hangar. There was one movie, The Grey and a Weather Channel documentary on USCGC Healy titled Breaking Ice . Saturday was a good day.  Check out the video about Day 3 on USCGC Healy as we begin our journey around the Arctic Ocean, collecting the things we need. And finally, expect more blog posts about the science our science team is working on. Currently we...

Barrow, Alaska, very cold desert is the most northerly point in the United States  http://goo.gl/R1K8Ym Day one of the Arctic mission objective was--pretty much--getting onto the ship, the United States Coast Guard ice breaker  USCGC Healy . If you read my previous blog post, you already know the trip from San Diego, CA to Barrow, AK was a long one; however, the ending of Day One was worth it. I'll get to that in a moment. When the Alaskan Airlines flight landed in Barrow, we were met by a convoy of pickup trucks and vans, which collected the members of the science team, and delivered us to the Search and Rescue Hangar (SAR). (Take a peek of the SAR in the video below.) The first order of the day at SAR?: order lunch! And we did, and it was surprisingly good. It never occurred to me that good pizza could be had in Barrow, a very cold place with zero paved roads. (Another person on the science team, Mackenzie, who will be a senior a...