And we are done!

We are approaching Reykjavík, after 9 days at sea.  We had a very successful survey, have carried out a total of 61 dives in four areas.  The survey would not have been possible without the excellent work of the crew of the R/V  Bjarni Sæmundsson.

And here is the group of scientists who carried out the dives, and who have ahead many months of data analysis.

On the back: Hjalti Karlsson and Arnthor Kristjansson (technicians and Campod pilots).
On the front: Hlynur Thorleifsson, Steinunn Hilma Ólafsdóttir (cruise leader), Bylgja Jónsdóttir, Marie Dauguet (visiting student), and Julian M. Burgos.

Haldið inn á firði – Into the fjords

Við höfum verið heppin með veður í leiðangrinum þar til í gærkvöldi. Hvassviðri og öldugangur stöðvuðu frekari myndatökur á rannsóknasvæðinu þannig að við náðum ekki að klára síðustu stöðvarnar. Til að nota tímann fórum við inn á Tálknafjörð og Patreksfjörð til að afla grunnupplýsinga um viskerfi botnsins.

During this cruise we had been very lucky with the weather, but last night our luck run out.  Higher winds and waves made impossible for us to use de Campod in offshore locations, and we could not visit our last few sampling stations.  To take advantage of the time we had left, we decided to do some dives in Tálknafjörður and in Patreksjörður, to provide baseline information of the benthic ecosystem.

Sex kafanir voru gerðar innan fjaðanna. Botninn var að mestu leir og sandur. Við sáum hóp af steinbítum og ýmis botndýr.

We carried out six dives in the fjords.  The bottom was mostly mud and sand.  We observed aggregations of Atlantic wolffish, and other benthic organisms.

 

Margrlyttur voru í töluverðu magni og sást það vel þegar myndavélagrindin kom upp úr einni köfun, þakin löngum marglyttu þráðum.

There were also many jellyfish.  This is evident from the entangled tentacles left in our Campod!

 

Austurkantur Víkuráls – The shelf slope at Víkuráll

Í gær fórum við á heldur betur fallegan stað.  Okkur langaði að skoða okkur um neðan við eina fjölsóttustu togslóð hér við land, og skelltum okkur á um 600 m dýpi í austurkanti Víkuráls.  Þar blasti heldur betur við fagurt lífríki.  Ógrynni tegunda sem einnig voru fjölbreyttar að lögun og lit. Mest áberandi voru fjólubláir blómkálskóralar og hvítir vasalaga svampar. Einnig voru þarna ýmsir fiskar, krabbadýr, sæliljur og margt fleira. Myndirnar segja meira en mörg orð….

Yesterday we visited a very beautiful place. We wanted to examine the shelf break east of of Víkurál, next to one of the most important fishing grounds in Iceland.  We dove down to about 600 m, deeper than where the fishery operates.  Here we had information suggesting the presence of high diversity of benthic organisms.  And we did found a beautiful aquatic environment, with numerous species that varied in shape and color. The most prominent were purple cauliflower corals and white vase-like sponges.  There were also various fish, crustaceans, crinoids, and much more. The pictures say more than many words …

Kaldsjávarsvampur – Cold water sponge

Marflækja, svampar, sæfífill, blómkálskóralar og ef vel er að gáð liggur rauða sævesla undir svampi, neðan við marflækjuna á miðri mynd – A basket star, sponges, crinoids, cauliflower coral,  sea anemones, and if you look carefully, you might see an Arctic rockling

Og fleiri myndir…. And more photographs…

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Gestur frá Frakklandi – Guest from France

Með okkur er hún Marie Dauguet, franskur sjóhersnemi í hafmælingum hjá ENSTA Bretagne, frönskum verkfræðiskóla og  rannsóknastofnun í Brest. Hún mun dvelja á Íslandi í 3 mánuði við nám hjá Landhelgisgæslunni. En byrjar dvölina hér hjá okkur þar sem hún kynnir sér rannsóknaaðferðir okkar og lífið um borð í íslensku rannsóknaskipi.

Marie Dauguet

With us here is Marie Dauguet, a French military student in Hydrography from ENSTA Bretagne, a French engineering school and research institute located in Brest. She will spend next three months here in Iceland with the Icelandic Coast Guard, as a part of her study. But she will start here with us, learning about our research methods and life on board Icelandic research vessel.

 

So far so good!

Up to this time we have carried out 44 dives!  Of these, 32 were carried out in the south area, five in the Atlantic wolffish spawning area, and seven in the northern area.  The weather forecast for tomorrow is good, so we hope to finish most of our sampling stations off the Westfjords.  By the way, you can follow our vessel, Bjarni Sæmundsson, here.

Bilun – Technical problem

Jæja, smá bilun.  Sambandið við myndavélagrindina rofnaði og ekki augljós ástæða…..

Well, we had a “small” problem. We lost connection to the Campod with no obvious reason…

 

 

Podið – The pod

Heilinn í kerfinu er “podið”. Þar fara fram öll samskipti milli skips og myndavélabúnaðar. Það var lítið annað að gera en að opna “heilann” og hefja aðgerð!

The “brain” of the system is the pod.  All communications between the ship and the cameras go through this.  There was little to do other than opening the “brain” and doing an operation.

Arnþór tæknimaður var pollrólegur við aðgerðina ….

Our technician Arnþór, easy as ever, starts the operation….

 

 

 

…og eftir nákvæma skoðun var vandamálið greint: Spennuborð bilað.

…and after a very careful examination, the problem was discovered: a broken power-board.

 

 

 

Það var eins og jólin þegar við opnuðum varahlutatöskuna og fundum pakka með vara spennuborði!!!  Annars værum við á heimleið….

It felt like Christmas when we opened the box with the reserves and found a package with spare power-board!!! Otherwise, we would be heading home…

 

 

Kórall – Coral

Í gær rákumst við á kórala!  Fallega glókórala (Madrepora oculata) og postulínskórala (Lophelia pertusa) og ægisdrekkur (Acesta excavata) sem eru stórar samlokur sem skarta skær appelsínugulum öngum og eru gjarnan á kóralsvæðum.

Yesterday, we found corals!  Beautiful Madrepora oculata and Lophelia pertusa, along with the bright orange bivalve Acesta excavata, which is often found next to cold water corals.

Skær appelsínugular ægisdrekkur, postulinskórall og svampur Bright orange Acesta excavata, Lophelia pertusa coral and sponge

Kóralarnir voru á 510 m dýpi í kantinum út af Jökultungu en kóralar hafa ekki áður verið myndaðir á þessum slóðum. Mikið hefur hins vegar verið myndað af kóral í kantinum úti fyrir suðurstönd landsins í fyrri kortlagningar leiðöngrum.

The corals were seen at 510 m depth in the slope off an area called Jökultunga. This is the first time we film corals in this area. A lot of corals have been filmed in the slope off the south coast of Iceland in our previous surveys.

Glókórall en í forgrunni eru gulir og hvítir svampar sem mynda skán á botninum  –  Madrepora oculata, with yellow and white sponges forming a crusts on the substrate

Karfi og kórall – Redfish and coral

Fleiri myndir – more images

Today we carried out eleven dives, in a variety of seabottom settings.  Here are a few images showing some of the organisms we observed.

Parastichopus tremulus sæbjúga

 

Blálanga Blueling Molva dypterygia

Glersvampur Glass sponge

Fyrstu myndir – first images

Today we carried out six dives towards the south of the first study area.   Three of the dives where on the slope, and the other three on the shelf itself.

Blaðlaga svampar

Ekki mikið fyrir myndavélar þessi karfi

Sæbjúga

How do we work?

Myndavélarnar eru á grind sem er tengd við ljósleiðarakapal og berst myndefnið því beint til okkar um borð.

Our main tool is the Campod.  The Campod is a three-legged towed platform equipped with high-definition video and still cameras, lights, a forward looking sonar, and a positioning system.  Images are transmitted to the ship with a fibre optics cable.

Myndavélagrindin

When we reach a sampling station, the Campod is lowered until it is about one meter above the sea bottom, and then it is allowed to drift at a speed of 1 to 1.5 knots.  In each station we carry out a 600 m transect.  During the transect, we watch and record video in real time and take photographs.  In addition, if we see something interesting, we land the Campod on the seafloor and zoom in to get more details.