Ocean Research Buoy Meets Whale

In April, I was aboard the Research Vessel Wecoma documenting the deployment of scientific buoys. Oceanographers refer to them as "moorings" which are a collection of scientific devices that are connected to a cable and anchored on the sea floor.


The final day of the research cruise the scientific team and ships crew successfully deployed the mooring called Alder. It is equipped with sensors that read wind speed, temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, and barometric pressure above the water line. Below the water line is a downward looking Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler and sensors that read temperature, conductivity, pressure, and dissolved oxygen at various depths.

On our way back to port, we spotted a whale splashing around another mooring. I was able to capture it on video.



You can see photos and more videos on my CMOP blog here.