Daily Logs

Day One

1600    (17 July 2009)  Load ship, calibrate SeaBird CTD for oxygen, depart dock at midnight
  
0800    Approach Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River, 23 psu

0900    Collect series of salinities from 23 to as low as possible, 3 psu, for nutrient gradient

1130    Arrive station A’1, strong oxycline near bottom at 8 m, 0.5 mg/L

1230     Depart for next series of A’ transects

1600     Depart from end of A’ line to head to A7, southern end of A trans

1800     Jenn and Sam see a shark 
             Very low oxygen across most of the trans A, mostly less than 0.5 mg/L

2100    Blue crabs, Callinectes similis, both ovigerous females and males swimming at surface
           of the water avoiding low oxyen near the bottom 0.1 – 0.2 mg/L

2300     Nearshore station mixed; depart trans A to trans B, inshore end

Day Two

0100     New day, new transect, low oxygen
             Several jellyfish, Quinquecira quenqueloculina (?) in subsurface water
             Some blue crabs, C. similis, at the surface

0200     A bit farther SE on trans B. Lots of sea nettles in the water. Smaller portunid crab at the surface.
            Low oxygen below.
            Small shark at B4; paired unidentifiable fish.

0400     Large needlefish at surface, B6.

0700      Low oxygen out to B9, almost 40 m
             Thunderstorms as cold front approaches

0730     Out to B10, 50 m, just on edge of low oxygen, 1.92 mg/L
             Close it off at 57 m

0800     Start on SE end of trans C, working towards shore
             Hypoxia not as extensive in deeper waters on trans C.

1500     Within 25 m contour, hypoxia on trans C, 0.9 at C7

1600     *Station C6C* and successful box coring at C6B, Jenn for foraminiferans and Ling for diatoms

1900     Station C4 with close to anoxia. Successful box coring Jenn has samples for foraminiferans
            at a station not normally this low in dissolved oxygen
            Crew change for scientists

2100     Nearshore, north end of trans C in 5 m, normal oxygen. Headed to D’1

2300     End of day, low oxygen 

Day 3

0000    Happy Birthday Melissa, wish you were here!
             Headed offshore on trans D’

0200    Severely low oxygen on many trans D’ stations, 0.2 mg/L from 15 m to 30 m.  Benthic eel,
            portunid crabs, and penaeid shrimp swimming at surface

0300    Still headed south, hypoxia now deeper than 30 m

0400    Out of hypoxia in 45 m water, headed west to trans D

0700    Station D5 on south end of trans D barely above 2 mg/L

0900    Arrival of Canadian Broadcast Corporation, Jackie Corkery, producer, documentary series,
            film and sound crew, for the coastal ocean portion of a 4-part series on the ocean.
            Landed at D3 via the R/V Acadiana

0930    Just in time to film box coring.  All other stations on trans D until beach station
            below 0.5 mg/L, several with hydrogen sulfide in the bottom water

1500    Close off trans D in 5 m with 4.6 mg/L
            Headed to E1 off Marsh Island

1800    Start nearshore on trans E

1900    Canadian Broadcast Corporation crew departs on the R/V Acadiana

2100    Little hypoxia so far on trans E, box coring on trans E, repeat E2A from 2008

2335    No hypoxia on trans E but consistent with SEAMAP contours from couple weeks earlier  

Day 4

0000    Headed west to offshore end of trans F, normal bimonthly transect

0100    Looking similar to trans D, well-mixed down to 12 to 15 m
            Could this year be similar to 1998 when persistent winds from the SW pushed
            low oxygen mass to east in deeper water?

0250    Continuing trans F with bottom oxygen levels of approx. 4.5 mg/L
            Marine forecast was wrong, sustained winds to 20 kn, seas up to 4 to 5 ft

0400    Continue with no low oxygen and high winds and seas

0600    Very thin lens of low oxygen at F2 and F1 off the Atchafalaya area

0800    F0 just near the Atchafalaya Bay/Gulf intersection
            [N.B. hypoxia in Atchafalaya Bay earlier:
                16 July 2009:  Dr. Brian Roberts, LUMCON, reported extremely low oxygen concentrations within
                Atchafalaya Bay below 1 mg/L, including F0. Several supersaturated surface waters.]

1030    Begin trans G through day to G6. Calms down for day crew. Only one station below 2 mg/L

1800    Head west to offshore end of trans H in 30 m

2000    Begin trans H on offshore end in 35 m. 

2200    Seas rough up for night crew, 17 kn from south, 4 to 5 ft 

Day 5

0130    End trans H on inshore end in 8 m, no hypoxia, as low as 2.4 mg/L
             Depart trans H and head to inshore end of trans I, still rough, mixing shallower waters

0300    Trans I seems to be well-mixed as well. No wonder, persistent 17-20 kn winds
            with 6 ft swells. Again, a gift from the sea goddess for the night crew.

0700    Well mixed nearer shore, but thin layer of hypoxia begins in 20 m out to 30 m

1245    Into deeper water on trans I (31 m) and out of hypoxic zone
            Transit to offshore end of trans J

1500    Offshore end of trans J in 3 mg/L

1830    No low oxygen so far on trans J, seas calm down for night shift, finally!

2100    Sta J4, no low oxygen, box coring for forams and diatoms, 3 for 3, plus one to grow on.

2400    Finished with trans J, no hypoxia, headed west to trans K, inshore end

Day 6

0130    Begin inshore end of trans K in 6 m depth off Cameron LA