Increasing tasks underwater

Many of the skills in science are honed over years and years. Diving is one of those, however ever time we get to a new location we have to slowly ramp up our comfort and add tasks. Today, we went on another dive to make sure our gear and comfort levels were good prior to adding specific tasks. This involved taking cameras and revisiting some particular sites of interest. Above is Steve saying Hi.

Alex was up in the shallows looking at the abundant plankton (Pteropods) within the shallow ice with brash ice on the surface and anchor ice on the seafloor.

When we called it a day, a seal decided to hang out in our hole for a while. We waited for about 10 minutes and it swam away to another breathing hole. A nice way to end the dive!

Less snow means more light

This year there is less snow on the relatively thin ice meaning a lot more light at depth. In previous years, this site has been VERY dark, however now we have a more light to work with. That doesn't mean it is bright underwater but at least much easier to work in.

There seems to be an especially large abundance of the sponge Homaxinella this year at the "Jetty" dive site. This species that can grow quickly here, unlike many of the different and diverse sponges that we find.

For example, this species (Isodictya setifera) is relatively slow growing compared to Homaxinella, however it tends to live for a much longer time.

I'll share more images of todays dive over the next few days. This dive was largely to regain our comfort underwater and make sure the camera gear was working well. All in all a successful dive. The rest of the day was spent prepairing for our first real field trip north, which is a couple days away still.

Check out dive done - ready for science

The last few days have been filled with training and preparation to start the field season in earnest. It is also when the sun has really stopped setting and we only get a few hours of evening glow - The next real sunset will be around 5 months away.

The culmination of the work thus far is our check out /shakedown dive. We start each season with a dive to make sure all of our gear and comfort levels are ok to allow the science to begin. Even though the divers this year (especially my colleagues the dive supervisors Steve and Alex, pictured here) are incredibly experienced, with that experience comes the knowledge to start slow and regain comfort in this alien land. You can see our dive hole from the previous post, now wearing a nice dive hut that is heated and comfortable, out of the wind, and with a variety of extra safety measures, including ladders, emergency oxygen, and a hauling system just in case. Tomorrow, weather willing, we will begin working underwater and slowly add tasks for the next few days, until we are really ready to make significant progress on why we are here. If the weather holds, we will make it out to our main dive site this week.