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ECOHAB-PNW Mooring Report - 2003 Sue Geier Introduction The ECOHAB PNW: Ecology and Oceanography of Toxic Pseudo-nitzschia in the Pacific Northwest Coastal Ocean (ECOHAB) project was funded jointly by the National Science Foundation Division of Ocean Sciences and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Coastal Ocean Program. One of the many components of this project was to design and maintain three surface moorings to collect time series data of water properties and currents and in situ meteorological events in the Juan de Fuca eddy region. In January 2003, Dr. Barbara Hickey, Bill Fredericks, Jim Johnson and Sue Geier from the University of Washington drove to the Institute of Ocean Sciences (IOS) to meet with Dr. Richard Thomson, Tom Juhasz, and several other members of Dr. Thomson's group to discuss the moorings, their placement, equipment and responsibilities of both teams. In general, Dr. Thomson's group designed the moorings with scientific input from Dr. Hickey while Dr. Hickey's group provided most of the equipment. The moorings were designed to measure water properties and currents with a meteorological logger to measure wind speed and direction and a photosynthetically active radiation sensor attached on a tower above the water. After much collaboration between the University of Washington team headed by Dr. Hickey, the Institute of Ocean Sciences team headed by Dr. Richard Thomson, The US Coast Guard, the Canadian Coast Guard and the US Olympic National Marine Sanctuary three positions for the surface moorings were agreed on. See the Quick Summary for details below. Deployment Cruise: 2003-12 The deployment cruise, 2003-12, on the Canadian Coast Guard Offshore Research and Survey Vessel John P. Tully (Tully) was scheduled for early May. On May 2 Bill Fredericks and Jim Johnson from the University of Washington (UW) and Nick Adams from the Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) drove the equipment for all the surface moorings to IOS, prepared it for deployment and loaded it on the Tully. After all the UW and NWFSC equipment was prepped and loaded Mr. Fredericks and Mr. Adams returned to the UW and NWFSC on May 5. The Tully left the dock at Patricia Bay, Vancouver Island, B.C. on May 5, 2003 with Jim Johnson serving as Dr. Hickey's representative on the cruise. Tom Juhasz from IOS was the Chief Scientist under the direction of Dr. Rick Thompson. Dr. Hickey's ECOHAB moorings were successfully deployed on May 9, 10 and 11, 2003. The Tully returned to Patricia Bay May 12, 2003 and Jim Johnson returned to Seattle. Moorings were equipped with an ARGOS satellite transmitter so that their positions could be checked from shore. The satellite positions were checked daily for all three moorings. The moorings were also equipped with Coast Guard approved lights. The lights are amber. The flash pattern for all of the moorings is the same, 5 second quick flash 20, defined as 5, 1 second flashes followed by 15 seconds of dark, then repeated. The light at EH1, in Canadian waters, was required to be visible for 5 miles or greater, while those at EH2 and EH3, in US waters, were required to have a visibility of greater than 1 mile but less than 3 miles. Mooring Subsurface Deployment Cruise: W0306A A subsurface mooring with an Enviro Tech Aqua Monitor and watch buoy was deployed from the Wecoma on June 30, 2003 during the ECOHAB PNW spring water property survey cruise W0306A. This was the EH2 subsurface mooring. Mooring EH1 Light Replaced: W0308C During the ECOHAB PNW fall water property survey cruise, W0308C, on the Wecoma it was discovered that the light on the EH1 mooring was no longer visible. The Coast Guard was alerted and arrangements were made for Bill Fredericks to get a new light battery. On September 9, Bill drove to Seiku, WA, spent the night and was picked up by a small boat the next morning and transported to the Wecoma. The marine technician from the Wecoma, Daryl Swenson, accompanied Bill to the EH1 buoy where Bill replaced the battery on September 10. He was then taken back to shore and returned to Seattle. Mooring Recovery Cruise: 2003-33 Sue Geier and Jim Johnson served as representatives from Dr. Hickey's group on the mooring recovery cruise, 2003-33 scheduled for September 30 through October 13, 2003 on the Tully. Ms. Geier and Mr. Johnson drove to IOS to join the first leg of the cruise on Sept. 30, 2003 arriving that evening. Shortly thereafter the Tully left the dock. Tom Juhasz from IOS was the Chief Scientist under the direction of Dr. Rick Thompson. All 4 moorings were successfully recovered on Oct. 1 through Oct. 3. All instruments were downloaded onboard the Tully immediately upon recovery. After breakfast on Oct. 4 Jim Johnson and Sue Geier were let off in a small boat at Ucluelet. There they taxied to Tofino airport, rented a car and returned to IOS where they picked up their UW vehicle and returned to Seattle. Acknowledgements We would like to thank the captain and crew of the R/V Wecoma for their support and extra effort deploying the subsurface mooring during the W0306A cruise and again during the W0308C cruise when the buoy's light battery was replaced. We thank the crew and officers of CCGS J.P. Tully and the IOS/OSAP/UW mooring team of Tom Juhasz, Dave Spears and Jim Johnson for their work deploying and recovering the surface moorings. This research was supported through the Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms program by National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration/Coastal Ocean Program Award No. NA17OP2789 and National Science Foundation Award No. 0234587. Mooring recovery and deployment on the Tully was made possible by Canadian support to Rick Thomson at IOS. Mooring Summary A summary of the deployment and recovery times and positions for each mooring is shown in the table below followed by tables showing the instrumentation on each array. ECOHAB 2003 Moorings Quick Summary
Instrumentation
Below are tables showing the instrumentation on each array. EH1-2003 Juan de Fuca Strait Mooring Summary Position: 48-29.30N, 124-41.99W Depth: 255m Deployed: May 11, 2003 11:32 (+7) Recovered: October 1, 2003 17:55 (+7)
Abbreviations for variables measured are: EH2-2003 Washington Coast Mooring Summary Position: 47-36.02N, 124-46.05W Depth: 89m Deployed: May 10, 2003 13:41 (+7) Recovered: October 2, 2003 08:51 (+7)
EH2-2003 Washington Coast Subsurface Mooring Summary Position: 47-36.02N, 124-46.06W Depth: 89m Deployed: May 10, 2003 13:41 (+7) Recovered: October 2, 2003 08:56 (+7)
EH3-2003 Eddy Mooring Summary Position: 48-17.81N, 125-27.53W Depth: 126.75m Deployed: May 9, 2003 17:58 (+7) Recovered: October 3, 2003 08:05 (+7)
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