ORVAlguitaGyreVoyage2007.kml normal #sn_sailing1 highlight #sh_sailing10 normal #sn_sailing2 highlight #sh_sailing8 normal #sn_sailing0 highlight #sh_sailing4 normal #sn_sailing3 highlight #sh_sailing13 normal #sn_sailing11 highlight #sh_sailing6 normal #sn_sailing10 highlight #sh_sailing2 normal #sn_sailing8 highlight #sh_sailing1 normal #sn_sailing7 highlight #sh_sailing3 normal #sn_sailing4 highlight #sh_sailing11 normal #sn_sailing highlight #sh_sailing0 normal #sn_sailing9 highlight #sh_sailing7 normal #sn_sailing12 highlight #sh_sailing5 normal #sn_sailing13 highlight #sh_sailing normal #sn_sailing6 highlight #sh_sailing12 normal #sn_sailing5 highlight #sh_sailing9 GyreVoyage2007 1 ORV Alguita Departs from Long Beach California The Voyage has begun!! This evening, just before sunset, ORV Alguita departed from Long Beach, CA for a three week research voyage ending in Hilo, Hawaii. This voyage will take us across over 3,000 miles of the Pacific Ocean to the "Eastern Garbage Patch". During the voyage the ships research team will be hard at work collecting samples to study the growing amount of plastic debris in the Pacific Gyre. The crew will keep us updated, answer our questions, and share their experiences with us as they go! This should be an exciting voyage for both us and the crew!! BON VOYAGE ORV Alguita!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ]]> -117.9350816738579 33.77648818575343 0 56588.7952358207 0 15.18644369047878 #msn_sailing11 -118.1254666666667,33.7602,0 First Day at Sea First Day at Sea
Greetings from ORV Alguita,
Our first day at sea finds us outside the Channel Islands, near the San Juan Seamount. Our noon position was 32degrees 52minutes North Latitude, 120degrees 01minutes West Longitude. All crew are in good shape, no seasickness. Early this afternoon Jake caught a nice bonito, a small tuna and we had it for lunch. Later, Joe caught a larger one, which he released (see photos). The seas have been small and the wind moderate, and we are motor sailing under main and staysail. This message was sent via satellite.
Aloha from captain and crew
Primer Dia de Viaje Saludos desde ORV Alguita,
Hoy nos encontramos afuera de las islas "Channel" y en alta mar. Nuestro posicion a medio dia fue 32 deg 55min N Lat, 120 deg 01min W. Lon. Esta manana atrapados un pez, un atun realtivamente grande y lo cocinamos. Horas mas tarde otro atun mordio el anzuelo pero lo soltamos, porque teniamos suficiente comida con el atun anterior. El viaje hasta hora ha sido muy tranquilo, no hemos tenido fuertes vientos y nadie en la tripulacion se ha sentido mareado. Ahora estamos veleando con la vela principal y foque estay con motores tambien por falta de viento.
Saludos de parte de toda la tripulacion para ustedes. Seguiremos en comunicacion manana.
Un abrazo desde la Alguita
Nota: este mensaje fue escrito sin acentos y utilizamos un satelite para la comunicacion.
]]> -117.9350816700756 33.77648822600978 0 69705.75883594013 0 15.18644368596576 #msn_sailing9 -120.0166666666667,32.86666666666667,0 Day Two Day Two, Activities

Today we took a noon sight of the sun using the sextant. Lorena filtered seawater for 3 hours to get enough for a column to run in her gas chromatography, mass spectrometer back at the University of the Pacific, and we dove and collected a moon jelly to look at in the tank. We are north of point Conception. Our noon position was 34 23 N. 122 01 W. While we were stopped for water filtering, several young fin whales swam close to the boat and gave us a good look.

Aloha from ORV Alguita

Dia Dos, Actividades

Hoy sacamos un altitud del sol a medio dia para confirmar nuestro posicion de 34 23 N. 122 01 W. Lorena Rios filtraba agua por 3 horas en una columna para analizar en su laboratorio. Nadamos y sacamos una medusa "luna" para inspeccionar. Cuando estabamos parados filtrando agua, nos redearon varios ballenas "fin." Fue impresionante.

Aloha del barco Alguita

]]> -118.497038719145 33.4411771281822 0 553327.4980009127 0 0.3152002195702944 #msn_sailing0 -122.0166666666667,34.38333333333333,0 Day 3 September 12, 2007 10:55 PM

Today in the morning we had dolphins accompanying us. Two of them stayed longer than the others, jumping in front of the bow in the beautiful clear blue water. It was a great spectacle.

Hoy en la manana tuvimos dos hermosos acompanantes, dos delfines, que nadaron junto al Alguita. Saltando a la superficie de estas cristalinas aguas. Fue un gran espectaculo.

Question: How fast are you going?

Answer: We have had very little wind, so the sails are not enough and we are running one of our two engines to make 6 knots. We are currently off San Francisco. Our noon position was 36 09N, 122 19 W. We transferred fuel from our bladder tanks on deck today, 140 gallons of diesel. We have used about 200 gallons so far.

Question: What type of data will you be collecting?

Answer: We will find pieces or fragments of plastic objects and complete objects made of plastic floating near the surface. We will classify them based on their size, color and later at the lab at the University of the Pacific, Dr. Rios will analize them to determine the type of plastic we found. Also, we are taking water samples along with the plastic samples. This is the first time water samples for Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) have been taken inside the North Pacific Gyre. The idea is to compare the contamination found on the plastics with the contaminants found in the water samples.

Que tipo de data va a resultar de sus estudios?

Podemos encontrar plasticos en fragmentos o piezas completas de plasticos. Los clasificaremos de acuerdo a su tamano. color y posteriormente en el lab de la UOP los analizaremos para saber que tipo de plastico estamos encontrando. Asimismo, estamos tomando muestras de agua de mar y plasticos que nos encontremos. Este es el primer muestreo en agua de mar dentro del Gyro del Pacifico. La idea es poder contrastar la contaminacion encontrada en los plasticos con los resultados que encontremos en el agua de mar.

Todos los analisis analiticos los haremos en la Universidad del Pacifico , haremos extracciones e identificaciones y cuantificaciones, usando cromatografia de gases unidos a un espectrometro de masas.

PD.Este mensaje fue escrito sin acentos.

]]> -118.497038719145 33.4411771281822 0 553327.4980009156 0 0.3152002195703088 #msn_sailing7 -122.3166666666667,36.15,0 Day 4, Debris! Sept 13, 2007
Today, over 100 miles west of San Francisco Bay, during very calm sea conditions, the calmest so far on our trip, we began to encounter plastic trash. First was a very yellowed piece of styrofoam (expanded polystyrene), about the size of a briefcase, with no fouling organisms attached. When we picked it up, it had a tern standing on it. If we took a knife and opened a small cut, the yellow styrofoam was bright white underneath. This presents a mystery, since we would expect yellow, aged styrofoam in the ocean to have lots of barnacles attached. One theory is that, being so light, the styrofoam is blown upside down on a regular basis and the sun bleaches out the incipient life forms on the exposed side. The second piece of debris we found was a smaller, bright white piece of styrofoam, also with no fouling organisms. The third piece, in the same local area, was a liter water or soda bottle with barnacles attached. It had about 100 cc of water inside which acted as a ballast to keep the cap end under water, so the barnacles could grow.
The last debris item was perhaps the most troubling, as it represents the farthest from land we have found mylar balloons. Someone had had a birthday party, and released a pair of them, never thinking that they might choke one of the beautiful dolphins that continue to accompany us. We onboard are enjoying our ship to shore educational blog produced by ORV Alguita Vessel Support Coordinator, Holly Gray. The blog is located at http://www.ship2shore.blogspot.com/. Our noon position today was 37 14 N, 125 10W.
Hoy fue un dia especial para nosotros, la tripulacion, que por primera vez viene a estas partes del oceano y empezamos a encontrar basura plastica. Recogimos dos trozos de poliestireno, uno amarillo y otro blanco, asimismo, nos encontramos una botella de agua o soda, pero lo mas impresionante, por llamarlo asi, fue el encuetro de dos globos de "feliz cumpleanos", esto comprueba una vez mas lo peligroso de la basura plastica representa para la salud de los oceanos y del planeta entero. Nos seguimos encontrando delfines que nada tan tranquilamente en estas aguas que estamos contaminando con el uso del plastico.
Aloha from ORV Alguita
]]> -118.497038719145 33.4411771281822 0 1721183.409956207 0 0.315200219570277 #msn_sailing2 -125.1666666666667,37.23333333333333,0 Day 8, The Garbage Patch September 17, 2007
Today was our first day sampling inside the Eastern Garbage Patch. We sampled the area around 37 33N, 136 W. Our neuston (surface) trawls pulled up great quantities of plastic fragments, a small fishing float, a toy tire, and Japanese oyster farm spacers, along with several pre-production plastic pellets. The film crew took the dingy and filmed under water. They picked up a life jacket encrusted with barnacles. We have had an autopilot failure, so we are having to steer by hand until we get it fixed. That takes a crew member away from the research, but at least everyone will learn how to handle the ship.
Aloha from ORV Alguita
]]> -118.497038719145 33.4411771281822 0 1721183.409956207 0 0.315200219570277 #msn_sailing5 -136,37.55,0 Day 9, Second Day in the Eastern Garbage Patch September 18, 2007

It is after nightfall and we are preparing for a night dive in misty rain and 1026 millibars of atmospheric pressure. During the day we collected debris, like a hard hat and a jar with food inside (very unappetizing). We also trawled for debris and along with disturbing amounts of plastic fragments and line, got an interesting squid, whose identity is a mystery. Maybe you know what species it is. We have successfully replaced the malfunctioning hydraulic pump on the auto- pilot, which is the cause for much rejoicing.

We took the dingy out and cruised around looking for things. We found jellyfish that looked like plastic and plastic that looked like jellyfish. It gets harder and harder to tell the difference between the two.]]> -118.497038719145 33.4411771281822 0 4478866.729062409 0 0.3152002195702833 #msn_sailing4 -137.3666666666667,38.2,0 Day 10
September 19, 2007 Last night's dive was begun in calm conditions, but before it was over the wind was blowing 15-20 knots. The sea anchor held us on position very well and it was no problem to dive with the boat nearby. We saw lantern fish, miniature squid, ctenophores, and colonial creatures that looked like transparent worms. In general though, there was very little visible life in the water. The creatures were few and far between, reminding us that the Gyre is the oceanic equivalent of a terrrestrial desert. After we finished our dive around 2300, we had bright lights on deck to organize our dive gear and we were visited by a storm petrel attracted by the lights. It landed on deck and even came inside the cabin before we picked it up and released it. We believe it was a Madeiran Storm Petrel, Oceanodroma castro, but we are sending along two photos for the experts to make a positive identification. We then set sail with main and genoa jib and have been making an average of 6 knots for the last 24 hours. Our noon position on 9-18 was 38 12 N, 137 22 W. Our noon position on 9-19 was 38 13 N, 139 15 W. Aloha from ORV Alguita Los cuatro busos anoche empezaron en calma, pero cuando terminaron con el buceo, el viento venia del noreste a 15-20 knots. Tenemos una paracaida para ancla de 6 metros diam. que sirvio muy bien para mantener nuestro posicion con relacion a los busos. Durante el buceo, vimos calamar chico, peces con lanternas y ctenophora, pero en realidad hubo poco que ver, recordandonos que esta zona corresponde a los desiertos terrestres. Las luces del barco trajeron un ave y mandamos dos fotos para ver si ustedes pueden identificarlo. Saludos de Alguita, y gracias por sus preguntas.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 1)Hola, soy Javiera de 6º basico de la Escuela Villa Centinela Sur que trabaja con el profesor Luis Pinto. Mi pregunta es para que necesita filtrar agua la profesora Lorena Rios? y si es agua solo de la superficie del mar. Gracias. Centro AquaSendas, CHILE Hola Javiera, Necesito filtrar el agua de mar para retener en un filtro especial llamado GF/F, los solidos total suspedidos en el agua de mar y de esa manera analizarlos y ver si en estos solidos tenemos retencion de contaminantes organicos. A su vez, analizare el agua de mar para ver si es posible la deteccion de estos mismos contaminantes organicos en el agua de mar o en las particulas que se hayan pasado del filtro. El agua que estamos muestreando es superficial. Tambien estamos atrapando microplastico con una red a la vez que tomamos muestra de agua y poder correlacionar la contaminacion si la encontramos en alguna de las fases, solidos, agua o microplastico.
2)Hola, soy Escarlet, estoy en 4º basico de la Escuela Caleta Lenga. El profesor Luis me conto que un grupo de cientificos estan en un pequeño barco en el mar. Mi pregunta es donde duermen? y que comen? De donde sacan agua para beber?. Gracias AquaSendas, CHILE
Hola Escarlet, el Alguita es un catamaran que tiene un tamano de 25 toneladas, 16 m de largo con un mastil de 21 m. Podemos acomodarnos comodamente 6 personas en total, incluyendo al Capitan Moore. Cada uno tenemos una cama, el espacio es reducido pero aceptable, contamos con dos banos y dos regaderas, una cocineta y un pequeno comedor. En la popa, se pueden tomar las muestras. el espacio es de unos 7 m de ancho y 4 m de largo. Se pueden tomar a la vez muestras con una manta y una red mediana de 28 cm por 45 cm. y el sistema de filtracion de agua de mar. La comida es deliciosa, ya que nuestro Capitan es totalmente internacional y con muy buen gusto para la cocina. El conoce mucho de la cocina mexicana, asi que por mi parte estoy encantada. Se que los demas participantes tambien estan contentos con la comida. El Alguita tiene su propio sistema de filtracion osmotica y produce agua dulce con el agua de mar, dado que este sistema permite el paso del agua pero retiene las sales. Steve Vogel at Cabrillo Marine Aquarium wants to know the approximate size of the squid so he can help us identify it. The squid was about 16cm in length.]]> -118.497038719145 33.4411771281822 0 4478866.729062409 0 0.3152002195702833 #msn_sailing -139.25,38.21666666666667,0 Day11, Deepest Plastic Trawl Ever
September 20, 2007 Today we conducted the deepest trawl ever looking for plastic debris. We used paired bongo nets, and let out enough cable for them to reach a depth of 100 meters. The bongo net looks like a pair of bongo drums, one meter in diameter each, but instead of a skin stretched over the mouth, a net extends behind each drum.
In order to close the choke collar on the bongo nets at that depth, we used our heaviest fishing poles and attached the end of the line to the closure. The monofilament fishing line exerted less drag on the closure, so that it would not close before the end of the trawl. After one-half hour, the fisherman pulled in like they had a marlin and closed the choke collar on the bongo nets and we pulled in the cable with the winch. There appeared to be a couple of small plastic pieces in the collection bag, along with the zooplankton. Because the bongo collects down deep, we are able to run the Manta Trawl at the same time. While we were trawling, a black footed albatross flew over the Manta, a beautiful soaring scavenger of the deep ocean.
Our noon position today was 38 41 N, 142 02 W. A question for you, how many meters of cable did we have to let out at an angle of 45 degrees with the surface to reach a depth of 100 meters?
Aloha from ORV Alguita
Hoy hicimos la draga mas profunda para plastico que aun se ha hecho. Usamos una draga que se llama bongo. Parece al instrumento, pero con un diametro de un metro cada lado y una red atras de cada cilindro. Usamos canas de pesca para cerar el collar, porque la linea delgada no jalo demaciado, y no cerro el collar antes de la media hora que la jalamos. Despues de una media hora, regresamos la red con la grua y las canas de pesca, y encontramos un pedacito chiquito de plastico intermezclado con el zooplankton que atrapamos. Al mismo tiempo estabamos dragando con la manta, porque esa red trabaja la superficie, y volo encima un albatros negro. Nuestro posicion medio dia, 38 41 N, 142 02 W. Estamos en el centro del giro, con una prescion atmosferica de 1030 milibars. Una pregunta, cuanto cabo tuvimos que soltar a un angulo de la superficie de 45 grados para llegar a una profundidad de cien metros?
Saludos desde ORV Alguita
]]> -118.497038719145 33.4411771281822 0 4478866.729062409 0 0.3152002195702833 #msn_sailing6 -142.0333333333333,38.68333333333333,0 Day 13, Ghost Net September 22, 2007
According to Dr. Curtis Ebbesmeyer, the ocean is constantly knitting. She weaves things together, in general sewing similar materials with a gentle "rock and weave" stitch. Today, we discovered a hundred pound ball of mixed fabric and thread for "King Neptune's quilt." We had reached "the calm," the center of the largest, stable high pressure system in the world, and we were spotting and netting off the bow- all sorts of pieces of plastic debris that had floated to the surface. We spotted a small ghost net and threw a buoy over to mark the area, but, on turning the boat and going back, we couldn't relocate it after a 1/2 hour search. The next net we saw was considerably larger, at about 100 pounds out of the water. Bloggers: Dr. Lorena M. Rios Mendoza, Dr. Joseph Goodman, Captain Charles Moore From Dr. Joeseph Goodman, Ship's Physician The Ghost Net: When I was swimming toward the ghost net in the clam of the ocean I could see it right on the surface, but as I viewed the net up close, my wave action from just swimming near the ghostnet, caused the net to sink fast. It took about 10 mintues for this large collection of waste, mostly from fisherman to return to the surface. How much more is down there that we cannot see? We carry three solar powered satellite position transmitting buoys onboard from Airborne Technologies. I called Tim Veenstra at Airborne and received permission to deploy one of his valuable floating position transmitters. It was tied to the ghostnet and released at 36 37.208 N, 144 55.417 W. In the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spends 2 million US dollars per year to remove 60 tons of derelict fishing nets and gear in an effort to save the critically endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal, over 200 of which have become entangled since records were kept. By the use of tracking buoys like the one we deployed, NOAA plots the location of congregations of these killers of 100 thousand marine mammals per year in the North Pacific, and coordinates retrieval efforts. Our noon position was 36 38 N, 144 34 W.
From Dr. Lorena Rios Septiembre 22, 2007 Hoy al igual que cada dia hubo algo especial, hoy encontramos una red o varias redes de las llamadas "gost nets" o redes fantasmas porque no necesitan al pescador. Bueno lo importante e impresionante es que encontramos toda esta serie de redes enredadas que simulaban un arrecife artificial en medio del Giro del Pacifico. Para todos fue impactante este encuentro y tambien preocupante, porque tenemos que hacer algo para no seguir danando a la naturaleza. Tambien encontramos mucho macroplastico y en los muestreos de arrastre con la malla llamada manta estamos encontrando altas concentraciones de microplastico. Hoy tambien nos sucedio un hecho incredible, vimos una pequena red con cuerdas, ola marcamos con dos boyas y cuando nos disponiamos a sacarlas del oceano, no las encontramos!, buscamos y buscamos y nada. Se lanzaron tres nadadores y nada no encontramos nada. La pregunta aqui es, tan rapido se puede mezclar el plastico en la subsuperficie del mar? Estara el mar sumergiendo la basura plastica?.
Student Questions: Hi! My name is Leana and I am from George Washington high school on Guam. I am taking a marine biology class and we are currently learning about the effects of plastic in the ocean. The results of your manta trawl is scary. I just wanted to ask a quick question. What do you think our chances are of getting the plastic out of the ocean?
Leana, this is a very good question and I believe if we all do our part, we can eventually arrive at a solution. The most important thing now is to learn about what damage plastic waste is doing to our ocean and to our world in general. Information is a decisive factor in solving these types of problems, and students like you can contribute to their eventual solution. We need to put pressure on governments, so that they, along with industry, centers of higher education, like the current hub of marine debris research, the University of Hawaii, Hilo, and non-profit organizations like Algalita Marine Research Foundation can unite to keep our planet healthy. Unfortunately, we cannot remove the uncountable plastic fragments mixed up in the ocean, and only if we stop putting plastic in, will the ocean spit them all out.
Que posibilidades hay de que podamos sacar el plastico del mar?
Leana esta es una muy Buena pregunta y personalmente creo que si, si todos ponemos un granite de arena este problema puede llegar a tener solucion. Lo mas importante por ahora es saber cual es el dano que esta produciendo la basura plastica en los oceanos y en el planeta entero. La informacion es un factor decisivo en la solucion a este tipo de problemas y estudiantes como tu pueden aportar mucho a que esto se haga realida. Tenemos que poner presion en nuestros gobernantes para que junto con las industrias apoyados por universidades, y organizaciones no gubernamentales como AMRF unamos esfuerzos en mantener sano nuestro planeta. Desgraciadamente, no podemos sacar los innumerables pedazos de plastico que estan intermezcladas en todo el oceano. Y solo si paramos de ponerle plastico, puede el oceano escupirlos todos.
Kriszel from George.Washington high school, Guam asked "What do you expect to accomplish through your efforts in studying plastic in the ocean?How would the information you discover help contribute to future studies?"
The results that we obtain will serve as a guide for governments to study the plastic debris problem and develop legislation to limit the use of products that harm us and Mother Nature.
Que pretenden lograr con sus estudios de plastico en el oceano? Como pueden sus estudios contriuir a estudios en el futuro?
Primeramente mantener la informacion a todos niveles de la poblacion, para que juntos hagamos un cambio en nuestros habitos de mal uso del plastico. Despues empezar a encontrar alternatives que nos ayuden a todos y buscar formas mas amigables con nuestra naturaleza.
Firstly, we hope to inform all levels of our population so that we can all work together to change our bad habits and poor use of plastics. Secondly, we will begin looking for alternatives that will allow all of us to develop products and ways of life that are more nature friendly.
Los resultados que obtengamos sirven de guia a los gobiernos para poner restricciones a las industrias y a la poblacion en general de no hacer uso de productos que causan dana a los humanos y a la Madre Naturaleza.
]]> -118.497038719145 33.4411771281822 0 4478866.729062409 0 0.3152002195702833 #msn_sailing12 -144.9236166666667,36.62013333333334,0 Day 14, Styrofoam Cube September 23, 2007 This morning we hauled up a large hunk of styrofoam sporting a six-foot-long tail of rope completely covered in pelagic barnacles. Some of the barnacles were bigger than any we'd seen on this trip so far--in one case nearly the size of golf ball--leading us to wonder at just how long this foamberg has been floating free to acumulate such growth. At least a couple of years, since a resourceful fisherman made a float of discarded, expanded polystyrene, that had perhaps been part of a floating dock. This afternoon we received a request from Dave Foley, ghostnet tracker extraordinaire at NOAA to obtain phytoplankton samples from an area experiencing a bloom associated with marine debris. It seems that the "jumbo jet" of phytoplankton, buoyant diatoms known as Rhizoselenia that are up to 1mm in diameter may be associated with marine debris. Currently there is a bloom not far from our route at 31 20 N, 153 40 W. We have programmed this waypoint into our navigational system and are looking at the best winds to sail there. Our fuel is limited, so we need to travel using our sail (wind) power. Aloha from ORV Alguita Septiembre 23, 2007. Esta manana agarramos un cubo grande de fomi agarrado a una cuerda de unos 2.5 metros cubierta completamente cubierta de bernaculos palagicos. Algunos de estos bernaculos son realmente grandes, son los mas grandes que hemos encontrado a traves de varios viajes- en algunos casos su tamano es como el de una pelota de golf- esto nos lleva a preguntar que tanto tiempo habra estado flotando libremente en el oceano que ha podido acumular todos estos organismos y permitirles su crecimiento. Pensamos que por lo menos deben haber sido un par de anos, porque este puedo haber sido un artefacrto hecho por algun pescador y lo deshusaron. El poliestireno expandible puede haber sido parte de alguna plataforma flotante. Este cubo fue hayado en la siguiente posicion latitud 35o 00.037 N 145o 51.414 W. Esta tarde recibimos la peticion por parte de Dave Foley, la persona encargada del seguimiento de las redes fantasmas por parte de la NOAA, acerca de tomar muestras de fitoplacton cerca de una area que esta experimentando un crecimiento ("bloom') asociado con la basura marina. Al parecer esta pluma de fitoplacton, diatomeas flotantes conocidas como Rhizoselenia que no son mas grandes de un mm en diametro, pudieran estar asociadas con los desechos marinos. Actualmente hay un crecimiento acelerado no mas alla de nuestra ruta a 31 20N, 153 40 W. Hemos programado nuestro sistema de navegacion hacia ese punto y al mismo tiempo estamos buscando vientos fuertes para poder velear. Nuestro combustible es limitado, asi que tendremos que usar la fuerza del viento y nuestras velas para avanzar hacia nuestro objetivo. Nuestro posicion medio dia fue 34 53 N, 145 52 W. Saludos, Aloha desde ORV Alguita. Note to Holly: Left off our email yesterday was our noon position: 34 53 N, 145 52 W-- Holly GrayORV Alguita Vessel Support Coordinatorvesselsupport@algalita.org424.212.9679]]> -118.497038719145 33.4411771281822 0 4987759.900444641 0 0.315200219570285 #msn_sailing3 -145.8569,35.00061666666667,0 Day 15, The Rings of the Gyre September 24, 2007 When we look at the surface pressure of the atmosphere in our area of the eastern north Pacific, which we receive daily from http://weather.noaa.gov/fax/ptreyes.shtml, we see a series of gyrating concentric circles that define the subtropical high known as the north Pacific gyre. These circles define areas in which the atmospheric pressure is uniform. We are coming to view these areas as rings of trash with different characteristics. The direction of the winds that drive our sails follows the rings in a clockwise rotation. When we were in the center ring, it was very hard to sail. Not only were the winds light, but they changed direction frequently as they spiraled down from the peak of the mountain of air above us. We mostly had to motor to get to the second band. The plastic in our trawls was in general made up of smaller fragments, indicating that they had been trapped inside the ring for a long time, breaking apart. We are now in the second ring of high pressure and are suprised by how much larger the fragments are that we are pulling up, both by hand net from the bow, and in our trawls. We theorize that the debris being hauled into the gyre goes through a disintegration process as it spirals to the center, where it may revolve for decades. See sample from 9-22 vs sample from 9-24.
9-22
9-24
Since we have been moving to an area of high concentration of debris, predicted by Dave Foley and his group, we have seen debris more frequently. We even saw a large log today, about 4 meters long and 0.5 meter in diameter, covered in barnacles. The filmakers were out in the dingy, and couldn't go over a wave without pulling up a plastic oil can or bottle, piece of rope or large plastic fragment. Tomorrow will be a travel day, downwind to the west under spinnaker, in order to arrive at the sampling site for phytoplankton that are blooming where debris accumulations may exist.
Aloha from ORV Alguita Septiembre 24 del 2007. Cuando hemos revisado a la presion superficial de la atmosfera en nuestra area de muestreo en el Noreste del Pacifico, el cual recivimos de http://weather.noaa.gov/fax/ptreyes.shtml, se ve una serie de giros erraticos en circulos concentricos que definen lo que conocemos en el Giro del Pacifico Norte como alto subtropical. Estos circulos definen areas en la cual la presion atmosferica es uniforme. Estamos comenzando a ver estas areas como anillos de basura con diferentes caracteristicas. La direccion de los vientos que dirigen nuestro velero sigue estos anillos en una rotacion en direccion a las manecillas del reloj. Sin embargo, cuando estuvimos en el centro del anillo fue muy dificil velear. No solo porque los vientos son ligeros sino porque tambien cambian de direccion frecuentemente como una espiral hacia abajo del pico de la montana arriba de nosotros. Ahora estamos en el segundo anillo de alta presion y nos ha sorprendido las altas concentraciones de fragmentos grandes que estan siendo empujados hacia el centro, tanto a mano usando una red de cono, como en nuestros sistemas de arrastre con red. Estamos teorizando que la basura esta siendo jalada hacia dentro del giro y aqui se esta llevando el proceso de una desintegracion. manteniendo un movimiento de espiral hacia el centro del giro, donde se puede mezclar por decadas. Vean la muestra tomada en Sept. 22 contra la muestra tomada en Sept. 24. Dado que nos hemos movido a una area de alta concentracion de basura plastica, ya anteriormente predicha por Dave Foley y su grupo, estamos encontrando frecuentemente mas desechos plasticos en fragmentos. Incluso este medio dia pudimos ver un leno grande de unos 4 metros de largo y unos 0.5 metros de diametro, totalmente cubierto de barnaculos. Los filmadores salieron en nuestro dingy y no pudieron pasar las olas sin dejar de ver plastico flotando, ellos agarraron una lata de plastico de aceite o una botella, trozos de cuerdas o fragmentos grandes de plasticos. Manana viajaremos todo el dia, abajo de la vela de popa (spinnaker) para llegar a la zona de muestreo solicitada para fitoplacton que esta en acelerado crecimiento donde la acumulacion de basura plastica ya existe. Aloha desde el ORV Alguita NOTA: este mensaje fue escrito sin acentos.]]> -118.497038719145 33.4411771281822 0 4987759.900444641 0 0.3152002195702849 #msn_sailing8 -146.7666666666667,32.76666666666667,0 Day 16 http://ship2shore.blogspot.com/2007/09/september-25-2007.html September 25, 2007 It's Thomas Morton here. This morning at a little before noon we hit the middle of the 149th meridian and 32nd parallel and sailed right into the biggest field of plastic debris we've seen this entire trip. For the better part of an hour we were completely surrounded by a steady stream of garbage, ranging from fairly large fragments to fully formed buckets, water and motor oil bottles, and smaller ghost nets just below the surface. You honestly couldn't turn away for more than 20 seconds without missing something jaw-dropping float on by--although sometimes it was more like 5 or 10. It's safe to say that by 12:30 we'd seen more crap pass the ship than we'd seen over the entirety of any previous day out here. For a while I wasn't sure we'd ever see the end of it, which I can't say for sure we have even an hour later as I write this. Ever since I first read about the patch, this is what I've pictured in my mind. In fact, up until this morning I'd say probably the greatest effect of this whole voyage has been to condition my mind to step away from its sensationalistic preconceptions and come to terms with the awful and unglamorous reality of plastic inundation. After spending two weeks focusing on the more-or-less invisible, to be brought face to face with the sea of endless flotsam I'd envisioned was far more affecting than I feel it would have been, had we just come straight to this right away instead of crossing in from the north. For all the flippancy with which I've been blabbing on about "Garbage Island" in the weeks leading up to this journey, this certainly puts a big, plastic cork in my pie-hole. Our noon position was 32 24 N., 149 24 W. Soy Tomas Morton, esta manana un poco antes del medio dia arribamos al 149o. meridiano con el 32o. paralelo y veleamos justo dentro de la area mas grande de basura plastica que hayamos visto en todo este viaje. Durante toda una hora estuvimos completamente sumergidos en una corriente estacionaria de basura. Basura que hiba desde fragmentos medianos a grandes hasta cubetas completas, enteras y botellas de agua y aceite, inclusive una pequena red fantasma justo debajo de la superficies. Uno no podia, honestamente ni voltearse por unos 20 segundos sin perderse de algun desecho flotante, aunque habia veces que ni siquiera 5 o 10 segundos de distraccion se nos permitia. Con toda seguridad se puede decir que a las 12:30 pudimos ver mas desperdicios pasar por doquier por debajo o por los lados de la Alguita y esta ha sido la experiencia mas desagradable de todos los dias anteriores que hemos estado en la zona. Por lo pronto, no estoy tan seguro de si hemos visto el final de esto, por heyo no estoy seguro si una hora despues, cuando estube escribiendo esto, aun seguian pasado desperdicios plasticos. Aun cuando la primera vez que lei acerca del parche, esta habia sido la vision que tenia en mi mente. De hecho, hasta esta manana diria que probablemente ha sido la primera etapa del efecto mas grande para condicionar mi mente un paso mas alla de esta sensacionalista preconcepcion y llegar a los terminos de esta horrorosa y nada elegante realidad de la inundacion del plastico. Despues de estar dos semanas enfocado en mas o menos invisible desperdicio, de pronto nos encontramos cara a cara con un mar que parece no terminar con la basura flotante que habia imaginado, sin embargo, esto es mas grotesco de lo que definitivamente habia pensado. Asi que me pregunto que habria pasado si hubieramos llegado justo a este punto en vez de llegar del norte. Por toda esta frivolidad con la cual habia hablando acerca de la "Isla del Parche" en estas semanas principalmente para este viaje, este hecho, ciertamente me ha puesto un gran tapon de plastico en la boca. Nuestro posicion de mediodia fue 32 24 N., 149 24 W. NOTA: este mensaje fue escrito sin acentos. -118.497038719145 33.4411771281822 0 4987759.900444641 0 0.3152002195702849 #msn_sailing1 -149.4,32.4,0 Day 18, A turn to the left speeds things up... September 27, 2007
This afternoon we sampled the second phytoplankton bloom area for NOAA. While filtering water through a microfilter, and simultaneously manta trawling, we noticed a ghost net floating by. 'we immediately through our red marker buoy, hauled in the manta and turned around to try to relocate the ghost net. Although we were only a few hundred yards away from the buoy when we turned around, with the wind blowing 15-20 knots, we were unable to relocate the net. After finishing the plankton sampling, we made sail and are now close reaching under mainsail and genoa jib, bound for Hilo Hawaii, where we plan to arrive on the morning of October 1. We have turned left from our westward route and are now heading south. This affords an angle to the steady, strong northeast trade winds that our hybrid reasearch vessel finds particularly favorable. Before we made this course change, we were broad reaching downwind, and a particularly violent swell caused our mast to lurch and snap off the masthead light tower. We had to take the bosuns chair up to the top and cut it free. The sound of the engines are a distant memory as we sail along at 8-9 knots and charge our battery banks with a kilowatt of BP solar panels. We are making our own drinking water with a 12 volt reverse osmosis desalinization system using solar energy. The view of ORV Alguita attached to this log was taken before the panels were added to a roof built above the after deck. Alguita is now the only hybrid research vessel doing major studies on the high seas. Hopefully, more vessels will eventually follow suit and become more energy efficient. We look forward to the day when we pull into port and call for the vegetable oil tanker truck to come down to the dock and top off our fuel tanks. Our noon position was 29 36 N, 153 24 W. Given the favorable winds and point of sail that keep us making between 8-9 knots, we believe our ETA Hilo will be the morning of Oct. 1.
Aloha from ORV Alguita
Septiembre 27 del 2007.
Esta tarde muestreamos la segunda muestra dentro del area de crecimietno acelerado (bloom) de fitoplancton para la NOAA. Mientras estabamos filtrando el agua atraves de un microfiltro y al mismo tiempo teniamos la manta filtrando dentro del mar, cuando nos dimos cuentra de una red fantasma (ghost net) que estaba flotando a un lado de nosotros. Inmediatamente marcamos el area enviando nuestra boya roja, tomamos la manta de regreso al barco y regresamos a localizar la red fantasma. Aunque estuvimos a solo unos cuantos metros de la boya, cuando dimos la vuelta con un viento soplando de 15-20 nudos, increiblemente fuimos incapaces de relocalizar la red. Despues de terminar la coleccion de muestra de placton, comenzamos a velear, usando la vela principal y foque genovesa y ahora estamos mas cerca de nuestro punto final, Hilo Hawaii. Nuestro plan de arrivo es en la manana de octubre primero. Dimos una vuelta a la izquierda de nuestra ruta hacia el oeste y ahora navegamos hacia el sur. Esto soporta un angulo estacionario, con vientos fuertes al norte que para nuestro barco hibrido de investigacion es bastante favorable. Antes de hacer este cambio de curso, estuvimos bajo fuertes vientos y sobre todo un fuerte oleaje que provoco que nuestro mastil perdiera la luz de su torre al desprenderse el bulbo. Tube que ponerme la silla para escalar, subir y cortar el bulbo para su total desprendimiento. El sonido de las maquinas son una recuerdo pasado ya que vamos veleando entre 8 y 9 nudos y con la carga de nuestro banco de baterias con un kilowatage de BP paneles solares. Estamos produciendo nuestra agua para tomar usando la energia solar alamacenada en una pila de 12 voltios y un sistema desalinizador usando osmosis reversa. Una fotografia de una vista desde lo alto del mastil , antes de poner los paneles solares en la parte de arriva sobre la popa, del del ORV Alguita se esta anexando a este correo. El Alguita es el unico barco hybrido de investigacion que por ahora, estra haciendo grandes estudios en alta mar. Esperamos que mas barcos eventualmente sigan nuestro camino de usar mas eficientemente la enegia. Ahora, miramos hacia el pasado, a el dia en que llenamos nuestros tanques de combustible de aceite vegetal, en el puerto.
Aloha desde el ORV Alguita.
Nuestra posicion fue 29 36 N, 153 24 W. Con vientos favorables y las velas en tal punto que permiten una velociada de 8 a 9 nudos, por lo que creemos que nuestra ETA Hilo sera en la manana del primero de octubre.
NOTA: este mensaje fue escrito sin acentos.
]]> -118.497038719145 33.4411771281822 0 4987759.900444641 0 0.3152002195702849 #msn_sailing13 -153.4,29.6,0 Day 21, ORV Alguita arrives in Hilo! September 30, 2007 ORV Alguita has arrived safely in Hilo, Hawaii after a very successful voyage! ]]> -155.0678235830203 19.72475106529884 0 8742.434380808092 0 -1.347061846384145 relativeToGround #msn_sailing10 -155.0785814424112,19.73078597366547,0