Danny Baza Blas

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...

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...

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...

Click to enlarge current position [Today's video (below) "In Transit" includes appearances by: Martin Reedy, Akash Kataria, Lloyd Keigwin, Neal Driscoll, Woody Sutherland, Steve Walters, Chris Griner] The image to the left displays our current position (latitude and longitude) as well as the current temperature, wind speed, and barometric pressure. Our current position is on the Beaufort Sea at a point near where the Mackenzie River empties into the Beaufort Sea. Click here to see a map . The ship, the crew, and the science team are engaged in full-bore instrument deployment at the moment. The gravity core , multi-core , and piston core instruments have been in-and-out of the water all morning and afternoon. Marti Jeglinski 's team are busy taking the cores, labeling and storing the cores. Brendan Reilly has been scanning the cores, using an assortment of instruments, to determine the contents of the cores. Brendan does this without opening the core...

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...

Day two was an opportunity to get to know the ship better, its crew, and some of the protocols related to having a successful time on board USCGC Healy. Day two had me visiting sick bay because prior to my departure flight from San Diego to Barrow, I "tweaked" my knee, and it became inflamed and was quite painful. Doc, who happens to be Chamorro (just like me, from the island of Guam) hooked me up with an ice bag and some anti-inflammatory and pain reduction meds. Today I awoke almost pain free. Pictured to the left is USCGC Healy source: http://goo.gl/6ZOBDw Today the science crew members are busy setting up and staging the instruments which will be deployed from the rear of the vessel, using the A-frame to lower it into the ocean. A science crew, pictured to the left, sending sensing instruments into the water: source: http://goo.gl/g2WH51 I hear we will be headed to sea this afternoon. In the meantime, I'll be recording videos to edit for the next blo...

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...

USCG Healy is an icebreaker ship, home-ported at Seattle, WA Hey readers. I just landed on the ship on which I'll be part of the science team, collecting sediment samples in the Arctic Ocean. I'll be onboard the USCG Healy, which is an icebreaker ship, operated by the United State Coast Guard. The mission will take three-and-a-half weeks, and I'll be absent the first week of school. The flight from San Diego to Barrow, AK was a long one! I departed San Diego on Wednesday, August 14th at 7:00pm, and arrived in Barrow at 11:30am on Thursday, August 15th. You don't have to be a mathematician to know it was a long, long flight, with a long, long layover in Anchorage, AK. (16.5 hours total)!