Wednesday 5 November 2014

Trinity Bay Recovery

Our two gliders in Trinity Bay were recovered yesterday. They had spent 35 days traversing the bay, measuring temperature, salinity and oxygen. Our thanks to the crew of fishing vessel Gracie's Adventure for the recovery effort.

Glider waiting to be picked up
Photo credit: Robin Matthews 

Recovery offshore of Heart's Content
Photo credit: Robin Matthews

Hauling the glider into the skiff. The guy with the pole is doing underwater filming.
Photo credit: Robin Matthews

Glider recovered, the skiff heads back to the parent ship
Photo credit: Robin Matthews

Hoisting the glider aboard Gracie's Adventure
Photo credit: Armin Strobel

 Down she comes
Photo credit: Robin Matthews

  The gliders arrive back in Heart's Content
Photo credit: Armin Strobel

Thursday 2 October 2014

Trinity Bay Mission 2014

On Tuesday we deployed two of our 1000m gliders in Trinity Bay to start a new multi-week mission. We transported the gliders by fishing vessel out of Heart's Content and deployed them off Winterton. We thank the crew of Gracie's Adventure for their help.

Mike Hakomaki radios in to get clearance to deploy

Mike and Sam Banton swing the glider out over the side on its cart 
and let it slide into the water

Mike pulls the cart back aboard while the glider drifts free of the skiff

Photo credits: Robin Matthews

Tuesday 30 September 2014

TriBay 2014 Map

View track:
Blue glider
Green glider

Mission Complete: Nov 4th 2014









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Tuesday 16 September 2014

Hudson cruise highlights (July 2014)

Additional photos taken during the July 2014 cruise of the CCGS Hudson. 
See previous posts for other trip photos.

Beautiful pre-departure weather in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Photo credit: Robin Matthews

Fog, fog and more fog
Photo credit: Robin Matthews


Descending in the Hudson's zodiac (better than most theme park rides). Photo credits: Dave Herbert

Iceberg seen en-route to St. John's. Note the smaller bergy bits floating in the foreground
Photo credit: Robin Matthews

St. John's with Signal Hill on the right
Photo credit: Robin Matthews

A very close encounter with a whale

When the fog finally did lift we were treated to some nice sunsets
Photo credit: Tara Howatt 

Sunset and a whale
Photo credit: Tara Howatt

Sailing into Halifax
Photo credit: Robin Matthews

Arrival at the the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth
Photo credit: Robin Matthews

Monday 25 August 2014

Glider Recovery

Our two 1000m gliders were recovered on Friday August 22nd, bringing the Summer 2014 Labrador Current mission to a close.

 The fishing boat we chartered from Twillingate, Newfoundland.

The crew and myself (far right).
The guy to my left is off of the hit Discovery Channel show Cold Water Cowboys. 

Recovering a glider with Mike Hakomaki (left).

Photo credits: Robin Matthews

Thursday 24 July 2014

Follow the gliders

You can now follow the progress of the three gliders down the Labrador Shelf in Google Earth on our map page.

Sunday 20 July 2014

Oxygen Measurements

On the cruise we collected water samples and performed Winkler titrations to determine oxygen concentrations. This is one step in the process to calibrate the oxygen sensors on the gliders.


Rosette coming back on the boat with bottles containing water from specified depths. 
Photo credit: Robin Matthews


Taking water samples from the Niskin bottles. 
Photo credit: Tara Howatt


Titration set up and BOB the software program. 
Photo credit: Robin Matthews



Making sure the tubes are free of bubbles. 
Photo credit: Robin Matthews


Wednesday 16 July 2014

Glider release!

Our three gliders were deployed from the Hudson's zodiac on July 4th and 5th. Before their release, short test dives were conducted with each while they were attached to the zodiac by a line. Once complete, the tether was removed and the gliders dove off on their multi-month traversals of the Labrador Sea.

Carrying a glider aboard the zodiac. Credit: Dave Herbert

Heading off to the launch site. Credit: Sarah Marcil

In goes a glider. Credit: Dave Herbert

Credit: John Loch

The gliders proved a great curiosity to seabirds.  
Credit: Tara Howatt

Credit: Robin Matthews

Interesting refraction effect. Credit: Robin Matthews 

Time for a test dive. Look closely and you can see the tether. 
Credit: Robin Matthews 

A glider surfaces after a successful test dive.
Credit: Robin Matthews 

Tether removed, a glider dives to a seabird send-off. 
Credit: Robin Matthews 

Wednesday 9 July 2014

Our gliders


There are three VITALS gliders. Two from Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) and one from McGill. One is a shallow (200m) glider and two are deep (1000m) gliders. The MUN 1000m glider incorporates a thruster for extra forward power.

All three measure temperature and salinity. The MUN and McGill 1000m gliders also measure dissolved oxygen. Additionally the McGill glider can profile current velocity.

Tuesday 8 July 2014

What are gliders?



Gliders are autonomous underwater vehicles. They dive and climb in the water column and are propelled forward as they do so. When they return to the surface they get a GPS fix on their position and can be remotely commanded to change course. 

There a few different types of gliders out there. We use Slocum gliders built by Teledyne Webb Research. They can be recognised by their colour - bright yellow.

Saturday 5 July 2014

LabSea 2014 Map

View track:
Yellow glider
Green glider
Red glider

Mission Complete: Aug 22nd 2014









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Monday 30 June 2014

The Gliders Board the Hudson

After a weekend of preparing the glider's are all set to begin their voyage.
Here are the glider's getting rinsed after ballasting

The gliders on board and secured to the deck.

Sunset on board the Hudson in Bedford Basin

The Hudson this morning at Bedford Basin

Feeling patriotic