June 23

   Overnight we transited to the 1000m contour west of 90° and began
visual search as we ran west.  At 0800 the Captain told us that strong
currents against our course had left us with only 2 hours of potential
research time if we found whales.  Visual observers continued to survey
until 1700, but no whales were sighted before we turned away from the
1000m contour on the return to Galveston.

   In the meantime, we began to organize the extensive data set collected
on this cruise and pack up gear.  Some highlights:  we tagged a total
of 11 sperm whales.  This is a fewer number than last year, but our
on-animal recording time of 80.5 hours exceeded our dataset from last
year.  The new version-2 Dtags also provide higher resolution and
lower-noise sensor and acoustic sampling.  Our average deployment
duration of almost 8 hours on this cruise is a significant improvement
over previous years.  We conducted four controlled exposure experiments
with a total of 6 whales.  Preliminary estimates of received levels
range from 145-155 dB, but the exact levels need to be analyzed.  One
of the experiments was terminated early (during ramp-up) because of
sightings of sensitive Kogia near the Kondor, but those data should
nonetheless be useful to assess immediate responses to ramp-up.

   Of particular interest this year is our first all-night data sets that
we?ve recorded.    This will help us to round-out our understanding of
diel behavior of sperm whales.  We have more extensive shallow dives
and social behavior than in previous years, which will greatly expand
our coda data set.  Importantly, the new version of Dtag records
undistorted clicks to 48kHz.  This will enable the finest analyses of
the acoustic structure of sperm whales clicks to date.

    These Dtag recordings will be linked to part of the over 376 hours of
high-quality sperm whales recordings from the SEAMAP array.   These
recordings include several hundred codas, and numerous sounds with
unusual characteristics, such as rapid click trains.  Visual observers
logged 4,430 fixes on 810 different surfacings of sperm whales.   All
of this information was integrated and logged in a real-time GIS
display.  This display was very useful for the tagging and playback
coordinators.  John Diebold?s LDEO team praised the new tracking
system.   This tool will be central to our ongoing efforts to track
whales and conduct controlled exposures.

     In addition to these core successes, we also collected 7 tissue
samples on Dtag suction cups.  We collected 13 high-quality photo-id
shots, re-sighted 6 different Stagged whales, and did 23 XBT profiles
in support of our tag deployments.   In the few days he was on board,
Aaron Thode was able to record roughly 24 hours on an autonomous
towed depth-logging recorder synchronized with the SEAMAP array.  We
were able to collect one-and-a-half passes of the Kondor firing its
airguns past the LDEO spar buoy, and John and Emily continue to find
interesting results in the received signals.

   Our team?s spirit and performance was outstanding, and was only matched
by the excellent cooperation we enjoyed with the Ewing science staff
and crew.  Coordination with the Kondor was also very good.  This is
the final daily report for the Dtag cruise SWSS ?03.

Thanks for your interest.

Patrick

June 22

   Visual watches began at 0600 after another successful night of acoustic
tracking.  Whales were sighted at 0700 and the Ewing was brought into
position while the tag team transferred equipment to the Balaena from
the R2.  We launched at 0930, sat out another rainstorm, and were
forced to return at 1130 with no approaches due to lightning.  Rough
storms continued through the day until a brief window at ~1400 when we
tried one last effort with the Balaena.

   The approach with the Balaena was flawless, and the whales did not
react at all to the approach.  Alex Shorter tagged two sperm whales in
rapid succession.  The Kondor moved into position for a CEE.  The first
tag released after 1 hour, but the other tag remained on for over 5
hours.  We accomplished a CEE successfully with the exposure period
from 1730-1930.  The Kondor made a close approach to the whales in our
group.  We did have a few confirmed sightings of the tagged whale, but
as the VHF signal was weak we missed a few surfacings, and we are not
sure exactly what was the range at closest approach.  Both tags were
recovered with skin attached to the suction cups, and Johnson and
Shorter are downloading data now.  There were some distant seismics
during the preexposure condition, but they weren?t as loud as we?ve
heard in recent days.

    As I wrote yesterday, we do not have time to attempt a CEE tomorrow
given our location and the requirement to return to Galveston, Texas
on June 24.  We transferred Yin and Nowacek to the Ewing and the
Kondor is off to the EARS buoys.  Tomorrow we will survey a strip
along the 1000m contour and may attempt some biopsy sampling if we
find whales.  As of 2300, we are at 28 33.6'N 89 10.0'W.

Best,
Patrick

June 21, 2003

   From 2100-2400 last night we transited down to near the MRC to find any
whales a bit further away from the ongoing seismics.  We didn?t detect
any whale clicks there, so we surveyed back and found whales near the
location we left whales on June 20.  At 0600 we retrieved the tag, with
skin, from the Kondor and transferred Terry Ketler back to the Kondor.

   Weather was bad most of the day - we launched the R2 and got one
approach without success at 0910 before an intense storm forced us back
on the boat.  Later we launched at 1130 and were forced to wait out a
rainstorm next to the Ewing.  After 20 min of drenching, some whales
surfaced nearby and we made two approaches, but all whales slipped
under at more than 20m.  A large lightning storm forced us back on the
boat and weather was bad until 1800.   Since it was too late to conduct
a CEE, we decided to not attempt tagging late in the day in order to
maximize our chances for a CEE tomorrow.

   Given our location, and the long steam we have to make back to
Galveston, it will be impossible for us to attempt a CEE on the 23rd
and arrive in Galveston by the 24th.   We will wait to see what happens
tomorrow, but it seems likely that the permit-transfer of activities on
the Kondor will occur tomorrow night, and the Kondor can move to the
EARS buoys site.   At 2230, we are at 28 36.4'N 88 57.0'W hoping for
good weather tomorrow.

Happy solstice,
Patrick

June 20, 2003

    Acoustic trackers followed whales through the night, but by 0600, we
still had no radio signals from the tag.  The tag was scheduled to
release at 0400, so we began a search pattern to the north-east to the
current was running.  A VHF tracking set was transferred to the Kondor
so they could assist in covering more water.  At 1030 the Ewing
reached the 500m contour and turned south to try to find whales in
time for a CEE.  Kondor did a small loop further north to make sure
tag did not drift with the current.  This was very fortuitous because
the tag had in fact drifted north and the Kondor detected it at over
10nm away and recovered it at ~1600, after a large storm.

    The Ewing meantime turned south and we encountered whales by 1400.  We
launched the small boat with storm clouds on all sides.  We made 5
approaches, but did not have success.  Tonight we rendezvous with the
Kondor and track these whales for an early start tomorrow Dtagging and
hoping for a CEE.  Currently we are at 28 35.9'N 88 59.2'W, and we are
hearing medium to loud seismics.  We will move southwest to try to
find whales a bit further from this known seismic activity, but come
back here by early AM if we don?t find any whales further down.

Best,
Patrick

July 19, 2003

      Acoustics successfully tracked whales through the night and also
heard ongoing seismics faint to loud throughout.  The R2 was
deployed early.  Just as we sighted our first whales, a large
electric rainstorm forced us back to the ship.  After the storm
passed, we redeployed and tagged a whale at 1137 in very rough seas.
 The whale was at the surface with an Stagged whale and a
mother-calf pair.  The tag went on the right hand side and a bad
wave caused the tag to slip around under the animal at attachment.
Unfortunately, this made it impossible to track the whale as no VHF
transmissions were received.

       Our experience on June 14 taught us that it is very difficult to
make a close approach on the tagged whale if we are not receiving
VHF signals.  However, with ongoing distant seismic pulses, we need
to get a close approach for the CEE to be effective. We therefore
attempted to tag different whales in the area, approaching every
whale without success.  Visual and acoustic observers tracked
whales through the day, and the Stagged whale was resighted.  As of
2100, we are at 28 32.5'N 89 07.6'W continuing to follow animals
that we hope includes our tagged whale.

       Tomorrow we will recover the tag early and attempt to Dtag and do a
CEE with this same group.  Through the day, they?ve been moving to
the SW, and the seismic background is growing fainter and fainter.

       We received the message that the Kondor has a separate
authorization to fire its airguns at the EARS buoys location.  Our
understanding is that the hard-drives on the buoys will be full
mid-day on June 23rd.  Thus, any test will need to be made on June
21 or 22, which are days we had planned to attempt CEEs.  We assume
that the Kondor can perform the EARS buoys calibration without
support from the Ewing.  In this case, we will use that day to
conduct baseline tagging or coda playbacks.

Best for now,
Patrick

July 18, 2003

     Another very frustrating day of decent weather with no whales in the
Mississippi River Canyon area.  We started acoustics search in the
dead of night and visuals was on at sunrise, but no sperm whales were
detected anywhere in the area of the MRC.  We searched the north and
eastern edges where we had whales previously, but with no luck.  We
did sight two beaked whales.  Thanks to information from the Gyre
that they had whales further to the NE, we ran toward their location
when storms shut down our visual observations.  Finally at 1800 we
began to detect sperm whales within 10 miles of the Gyre.   The Gyre
team graciously passed the whales to us, and began their home-stretch
back to the west.

      Now it is 2300 and we are at 28 41.5N 88 58.0W, and we have whales
acoustically.  Aaron Thode deployed an autonomous recorder off the
back-end of the Seamap array and he should be getting useful data
now.  Unfortunately we are beginning to hear louder and louder
seismics on the Seamap array, so we are concerned about our ability
to conduct an unconfounded experiment tomorrow.

Best,
Patrick

Subject:   Ewing report June 17 (biggs)
     Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2003 04:23:13 -0000 (GMT)
     From: Patrick Miller
       To: "Sea-Mail"

July 17, 2003

    Early AM acoustic and visual watches came up empty as we searched back
toward the Mississippi River Canyon.  Projected rough weather for the
afternoon left us with only a short search path for the AM and we did
not find whales.  A beaked whale was sighted just as the storms rolled
in and visuals rapidly broke down equipment.  Acoustics was swamped by
rain noise most of the day as well.  The weather improved slightly
after 1700, but we made no contacts west of the MRC.  We took the day
to catch up on data back-ups and analyses.  Aaron Thode test-deployed
an autonomous recorder off the Ewing, and Terry Ketler took some
initial footage.

   Tonight we steam back to the Mississippi River Canyon.  It has been
several days since we worked that area and we need to move East toward
whales.  The Gyre reported active seismics from the Neptune off the
Delta, so we restricted to the eastern end of the MRC.  We will work a
few days in and around the MRC before turning west for the home
stretch.  We request the Gyre to leapfrog the MRC as they move west to
give us plenty of scope to find and work with whales in all possible
areas around the MRC.

Best wishes,
Patrick

June 16, 2003

    At daybreak, acoustics informed visuals that they had been tracking a
single whale for a few hours.  Visuals sighted a large male sperm
whale with distinctive humps forward of the dorsal fin.  After several
hours of visual and acoustic tracking the R2 approached this whale for
tagging, but the electric motors failed.  The whale fluked out at 30m.
 Two Ziphius cavirostris were sighted as we made our first attempt at
tagging.

     We returned to the Ewing to repair the electric motors and then
tagged the same whale 15:30.  We then tagged a second large male
sperm whale at 16:05, and did fluke photo-grammetry on both whales
(thanks to N. Jaquet for allometry information).  The Kondor began to
move into position for playback to start at 18:10 at a range of more
than 10km from the previous Ziphius sighting.

    As the prexposure period developed, the weather calmed down to
sea-state 1, and sighting conditions were excellent.  About 15 minutes
after the ramp-up started, visual observers on the Ewing sighted a
Kogia simus 4 km from the Kondor.   Playback was immediately halted
according to the mitigation protocol.  Soon thereafter a pair of
mesoplodont beaked whales were sighted at roughly the same range from
the Kondor.   Grampus, Stenella clymene, and S attenuata were also
sighted throughout the day.

     It appears that both tags detached at roughly the same time from both
whales at roughly 18:30, just about the time the ramp-up started.
Initial inspection of the tag data suggests that at least one of the
tags may have been damaged at depth.  We will know more about the
status of those data tomorrow.  Our acoustic and visual tracks of
both of the tagged sperm whales were excellent, providing a rich
pre-tagging data set.

     We also transferred Terry Ketler and Aaron Thode to the Ewing from
the Kondor, and Aaron got to work right away making recordings for
3-D passive tracking.  At 2400, we are at 28 37.8N 90 07.7W and are
moving back east toward the MRC for tomorrow.

Best,
Patrick

Subject: Ewing report June 15
     Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 03:14:29 -0000 (GMT)
     From: Patrick Miller

June 15, 2003

     We tracked various sperm whale groups last night listening for a VHF
signal from our tag.  Finally just after dawn, we heard beeps from
the first tag, then from the second.  Both tags were speedily
recovered using the R2, and both had sloughed skin samples.   Both
had remained attached to the animals until the scheduled 16-hr.
release time, so this data set includes an entire night-time interval
following the completion of the CEE.  From an initial survey of the
massive data-set recorded off these two whales, we are reasonably
sure that they were part of the more distant group of animals
relative to the CEE.  The whales conducted deep dives through the
night, and the tags were recovered quite close to the location where
they were deployed on the whales.

    After inspecting video taken June 14, we can report another sighting
of an s-tagged whale not encountered to date by our team.

   Thanks to information provided by the Western Neptune, we know that
they are conducting a survey of lines back-and-forth across the 1000m
contour starting just off the Delta and moving toward the de Soto
canyon.  As there is also the Polar Search operating in de Soto, we
could not move any further east to conduct CEEs.  This is a real hit
as the delta area is where we have been most successful D-tagging in
this area.   We therefore moved west back into the Mississippi River
Canyon area to search for whales.  As none were found by 1400m we
stopped searching for whales and set up to record seismic pulses on
the LDEO spar buoy.

    The received level characterization went extremely well.  The Kondor
passed within 100m of the buoy and the LDEO real-time system provided
analysis data on the received signals.   The Kondor then turned to do
a more distant pass by the spar buoy when visual observers on the
Ewing spotted a mesoplodon of unknown species roughly 3km from the
Kondor.   The air-guns were immediately stopped on the initial
sighing, and upon resighting the recording trial was terminated.

    Emily Chapp and John Diebold of LDEO recorded over 150 transmissions,
at ranges from 4nm to 100m.  A D-tag was also attached to the deployed
buoy.  More detailed analyses are required to confirm the real-time
observations, but levels of 175dB RMS were received at ranges between
750-1000m.   The LDEO system began to clip the direct arrival peak at
this point, so the exact 180 dB RMS contour is likely to be difficult
to identify.  LDEO staff will continue to analyze the received seismic
data in coming days, but we see no immediate information to change our
current mitigation distance of 1.5km.

    After moving 10-20nm to the west, we will begin to search for whales
tonight to get an early start tomorrow.  Weather projections appear to
include a tropical storm watch, so we are concerned about our ability
to operate in the coming days.  Our location as of 2200 is 28 9.7'N 89
23.9'W.

Best,
Patrick

June 14, 2003

      The tag deployed on June 13 was recovered at 0144 with 13.5 hrs of
on-whale data and 11 deep dives between 500-600m.  A small amount of
skin was attached to the suction cups, as it was on the tag deployed
the day before.  At the end of the record, the whale appeared to do
a long bout of resting dives in which it hung motionless at ~20m
depth.  A quick survey of seismic received levels showed the whale
was exposed to ~150dB PP, which is a somewhat higher than any exposure we
obtained last year.

      We moved 20nm from the site of the CEE. No whales but great weather
this morning had us searching till 1100 when the tag-boat was
deployed.  Alex Shorter attached two tags in rapid succession at
1330 and 1338.  Unfortunately the placements were quite low on the
animals, so VHF signals were not received by the tracking team, so
we visually tracked multiple groups of whales and set up the CEE.
The coordination for the CEE was excellent.  The exposure period
went from 1701-1901.  The whales in one group we were following were
~2 nm from the Kondor at CPA, and the other whales in the area were
~6nm.   After we recover the tags we will be able to deduce which
group actually carried the tags and the exposure level received by
the two tagged whales.

      The Western Neptune started a survey roughly 25nm from our location
at ~17:00, which very luckily did not interfere with our
pre-exposure data set.  Our acoustics team recorded clearly audible
seismic pulses from the Neptune at this range.  The exposure period
will be interesting as the whales were exposed to 2 source vessels,
but post-exposure data is confounded by the presence of the other
vessel transmissions.  Mark Johnson spoke with the captain of the
Neptune who relayed plans for their survey.   We will search the
area for the tags tonight and hope to move further to the NE for a
new location tomorrow.  At 2200, our location is 28 37.5'N 88
54.0'W.

Best for tonight!
-Patrick

June 13, 2003

    The tag attached yesterday was recovered off the side of the Ewing at
0203 AM after detaching from the animal at 1240.  This 5-hour data set
contains two deep dives and a long surface interval period containing
numerous codas and other social sounds.  As of this data-set we have
three baseline tag-outs with at least one complete dive.  Another note
from June 12 is that we sighted another whale with a satellite tag.
This whale was sighted at 28.389N 89.681W.

    The tagging team was ready to go at 0800 this morning as the weather
was relatively calm this morning.  After transferring a visual
observer (Irene Brigga) to the Kondor, we used the directional
hydrophone off the R2 to track a diving sperm whale in rapidly
worsening conditions.  Alex Shorter successfully attached a Dtag at
0945 to a sperm whale with a well-marked dorsal fin.  The tag was
attached with electric motors on.  After getting a fluke-shot of this
whale, we attempted to approach other sperm whales for tagging, but
conditions by then were too rough to continue to attempt tagging.

    For most of the day, conditions were too rough for the mitigation team
on the Kondor to see a marine mammal within the safety zone, so we
tracked the tagged whale hoping the winds would drop.  Finally by
1745, we agreed that conditions were acceptable to conduct a CEE.  The
ramp-up started at 1826, and full level was obtained at 1856.  The
range to the tagged whale was roughly 10km.   At ~8km range from the
Kondor, the Ewing towed array recorded zero-peak rls of roughly 151dB.
 The CEE exposure period was limited to one hour as daylight was
rapidly drawing to a close and visual mitigation would no longer be
possible.

    At the current time of 2100, the tag is still attached to the sperm
whale, and we are tracking using the VHF transmitter on the tag and
passive acoustics using the towed Seamap array.  Our current position
is 28 23.0'N 89 38.2'W, and our plan is to steam roughly 15nm to the
east after recovering the tag to search for a new group of whales for
an early start tomorrow morning.

Best wishes,
Patrick

June 12, 2003

All,

    Acoustics kept us with whales through the night again, but wind had
increased and sea conditions worsened such that we could not attempt
to tag.  Visuals and acoustics teams continued to track and observe
whales through the day at 28 17.4'N 89 42.2'W.

    By 1645 conditions had improved enough to launch the R2, and we the
tag-team attached a version-2 Dtag on a whale at 1750.  The Ewing and
Kondor coordinated their movements, but it was too late in the day to
conduct a CEE.

   We approached several other groups to tag without success, and by the
end of daylight, the tagged-whale was seen surfacing with several other
whales during the evening "social hour" that is commonly observed in
sperm whales.  Acoustics recorded a large number of codas and social
sounds from several social groups at the end of the day.  Now we are
doing a nighttime track of the tagged whale relying on the VHF
transmitter and acoustics.  At 2300 we were at 28 24.2'N 89 41.9'W and
conditions appear to be worsening again.  The VHF tracking is
relocating to its rough-weather station on the bridge of the Ewing.

   Coordination and cooperation between the various teams and ships' crews
continues to be excellent.  We continue to hope for good weather in the
morning so we can attempt to Dtag early enough in the day to conduct a
CEE.

Best for now,
Patrick

June 11, 2003

   After another successful night of tracking, acoustics passed off two
whales to the visual team at sunrise.  Visuals tracked whales and got
us into position to launch the tag boat, but conditions were too rough
(sea-state 5) to attempt to tag.  Visuals and acoustics were able to
stay with the whales and at 1630 conditions had improved enough to
launch the tag-boat, today the R2 due to the rough seas.  We attached a
Dtag to a sperm whale at ~17:25, at 28.1389N 89.419W at which time the
Kondor began to move into position for a dry-run playback.

   The tag remained on for a little over an hour, collecting data for an
entire dive to a 600m layer.  The data from the new tag are excellent.
Very clean acoustics, now sampled at 96kHz, 16 bits.  Several coda
exchanges were recorded during the whale's ascent.  The data
compression algorithm on the tag reduced the data by 3.4x, greatly
increasing the potential longevity of the tag.

   Dan Engelhaupt as playback coordinator was able to communicate well
with the Kondor and the vessel positions for the test "playback" seemed
quite good.  We are now confident that systems are in place for CEEs as
we start getting the tags out starting tomorrow AM.  We will transfer
one of our visual observers to the Kondor tomorrow to fill out their
roster.  Now at 2300 we are at 28 13.4 N 89 31.1 W tracking whales
acoustically again for an early start planned tomorrow if the weather
remains calm.

A domani,
-Patrick

June 10, 2003

   We woke up after another successful overnight acoustic tracking of
whales to rough seas of sea state 4-5.  Despite these harsh conditions,
we attempted several approaches using the Balaena in the morning, but
without success. In addition to very difficult sighting and acoustic
conditions, the whales were traveling directly into the weather making
the tag-pole very difficult to control during approaches.  The Kondor
continued to successfully coordinate its movement with the Ewing in
preparation for a CEE, but we didn?t have a chance to get our first
test in today.

     In hope of finding better weather, we steamed 40 miles east toward
the Mississippi River Canyon and found better weather, but no whales
during daylight.  At 2000, we found whales acoustically and currently
have them at 28 13.3?N 89 13.10W at 2300.  In the hope that weather
will hold, we will attempt to track these whales overnight and deploy
the tag boat at 0700 to tag tomorrow.

Best wishes,
Patrick
 

June 9, 2003

    Today was a logistical success in many ways.  The Ewing and Kondor had
a rendezvous in the early AM and planned activities for the day.
Johnson, Diebold, and Miller transited to the Kondor for a brief
planning meeting for the calibration day while visual and acoustic
teams continued to look for marine mammals.  The EARS buoys were
deployed just minutes before the visual team on the Ewing had a
confirmed sighting of mesoplodont beaked whales.   According to the
protocol developed for mitigation of potential harm to sensitive
beaked whales, we moved 30km away from the sighting to reattempt a
calibration run with the LDEO spar buoy.

   Then, as the Kondor was re-joining the Ewing in the new location and
preparations were under way for the spar-buoy only calibration, Ewing
visual observers had another confirmed sighting of mesoplodon.   Visual
sighting conditions today were excellent.  In total, we had 6 sightings
of mesoplodont beaked whales, 2 sightings of kogia simus, 6 sightings
of stenella, and a long track of widely-dispersed sperm whales.
Realizing that we did not have time in the day to attempt to move to a
third location, the Kondor and Ewing moved along parallel tracks in
search of sperm whales, which were rapidly found.  The tag-team
attempted quite late in the day to attach tags in 2 approaches using
the Balaena, but with no success.  The Ewing and Kondor closely
coordinated movement during the tagging approaches, and communications
between the vessels appears to be good.

    Though we did not get the calibration done, we did demonstrate our
ability to successfully carry out our mitigation protocol.  The Ewing
and Kondor teams are learning to work together in a coordinated
fashion.  Also, Dan Engelhaupt was transferred from the Gyre to serve
as playback coordinator on the Ewing.  As of 2300, we are acoustically
tracking whales at 27 38.5?N 89 57.3?W.  We will follow these animals
or move to the MRC tonight.  Tomorrow we hope to place some tags and
carry out a CEE, starting with a target range of 6-10nm.

Best for now,
Patrick

Subject: Ewing report June 8
    Date:Mon, 9 Jun 2003 03:54:18 -0000 (GMT)
     From:Patrick Miller

June 8, 2003

    Acoustics was able to locate several whales during the night, and
calmer seas allowed us to have full visual observations and launch the
tag-boat early for our final day of baseline tagging before rendezvous
with the Kondor.  The whales were traveling west all day in relatively
shallow water.  We started at 28.31N 89.52W and ended at 28.32N
89.73W.

    Our tagging efforts through the day were frustrated by last-minutes
reactions by the whales to approach by the tag-boat, R2.  This type of
reaction was observed also in 2002, when we had more success using
Bruce Mate's diesel tag-boat.  So far with the R2, we have had a total
of 11 approaches with only one tag-out.  This success rate is quite
low for us, so we are going to switch to the WHOI tag-boat Balaena
which has quieter 4-stroke engines.  It is a smaller boat, though, so
we will probably go back to the R2 in rough weather.  On the
bright-side, the new GIS tracking system is working very successfully
and the tag-boat has enjoyed better-than-ever support from the Ewing
via the tagging coordinator, Amy Beier.

   Our plan for tomorrow is to rendezvous with the Kondor and have an
early planning meeting at 0600 to plan the day?s calibration at 27 40'N
90 22'W.  EARS and spar buoys will be deployed and Kondor will make at
least two passes with real-time data collected by the LDEO spar-buoy.
We also hope to transfer Dan Engelhaupt from the Gyre to the Ewing
tomorrow if they are able to pass close to the planned calibration
location.

Best wishes,
-Patrick

Subject:  Ewing report June 7
     Date: Sun, 8 Jun 2003 03:44:17 -0000 (GMT)
     From: Patrick Miller

June 7, 2003

Dear All,

   After traveling West through the night, we redeployed the hydrophone
arrays at 0700 and soon found whales at 28 17.5' N 89 14.0' W. By noon
the weather had calmed to the point that the visual team could return
to work and they further tested the new whale and ship-tracking system.
  We tracked whales successfully throughout the afternoon with the new
tracking system that integrates visual and acoustic data and vessel
position on one display.  Kudos to Matt Grund, Valeria Teloni, Marilena
Quero and colleagues at SACLANTEN center in Italy for developing this
new system that will significantly improve our ability to conduct CEEs.

    We have had contact with the Kondor and are ready to rendezvous
tomorrow.  Depending on weather and whales tomorrow, we may do one
more day of baseline tagging with a control dry-run with the Kondor
to identify outstanding issues.  Then move to no-whale area for EARS
buoys and calibrations on June 9.  We will contact Kondor at 0700 with
update tomorrow morning.  Rendezvous with Gyre to transfer Engelhaupt
is also an option.  Weather continues to look pretty iffy as we are
surrounded by low pressure cells, but we may have a nice window in the
next few days.

Best,
Patrick

Subject: Ewing report for June 6
    Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2003 01:09:34 -0000 (GMT)
    From: Patrick Miller

June 6, 2003

Dear All,

   The acoustics team located several whales through the night, but by
first light, conditions were too rough for tagging or even for visual
observations.  After tracking those whales for some time, we started an
acoustic survey moving west out of deSoto canyon, with several XBT
drops on course to delta area by tonight.  Goal was to locate positions
of whale groups for CEEs with industry source vessel.  Weather
deteriorated badly through the day, and we had to recover the array at
~1700.  We continue to move west along the 1000m contour hoping seas
will calm down in time for us to work tomorrow.
Best,
Patrick

Dear All,

    The acoustics team successfully tracked whales through the night and we got early visual observations on whales at first light.  The whales had moved East throughout the night and we found ourselves well up the de Soto canyon.    This is an excellent location for baseline data collection as there is no seismic or drilling activity in this area. Many whales were seen spread out in several clusters, including 2 calf sightings.  None of the animals appeared to be large animals such as Deep-Dan, but some whales were aggregated quite loosely and were somewhat larger.

    The tag boat was launched and a Dtag was applied using suction cups to a fairly large whale at 10:06 AM at 29 13.0N, 87 12.64W.  We were set to tag another whale, but a strong squall came through forcing us to return to the Ewing.  In the afternoon, we approached an animal associated with our tagged whale that had a Stag in the left side.

    Our tag detached at 14:56, after 5.5 dives and rose to the surface over 42 minutes.  Depth layers of the dives were consistent in the 500-600m range.  We lost contact with the group of whales in deteriorating conditions while we were recovering the tag.  John Diebold deployed an XBT at the tag-recovery position.  At 10pm, we are searching at 29 15.5N, 86 55.5W.  We are turning west and will search in that direction.  If the weather tomorrow is not suitable for tagging, we plan to move closer to the Delta area.

Best,
Patrick

Subject:  Ewing Report for June 4, 2003
   Date:   Thu, 5 Jun 2003 02:16:26 +0000 (GMT)
  From:    Patrick Miller

We left the dock last night at 20:00, research permit in hand.  After a late  night of installing gear, we arrived at the 1000m contour at 6AM and deployed  the SeaMap array.  Visual and acoustic teams went over protocols and equipment  training as we surveyed west.  We found whales at 10Am at 29 4N 87 58W, and  conducted visual and acoustic tracking throughout the day.  A calf was seen in  one group.  Grund, Teloni and Quero are making excellent progress with the new  whale and vessel tracking program to improve CEE capabilities.  Communication  between the different teams and with the ship's crew has been outstanding.

After much prep and testing of visual, acoustic and VHF tracking systems, the  tag-team deployed in the R2, but too late in the day to have an attempt at  tagging.  At 9pm, we had a large number of whales close to the Ewing (29 13.6N;  87 41.9W) and acoustics recorded a number of coda exchanges.  Our plan is to  track these whales through the night and attempt tagging first thing in the  morning.

We will move West after working with this group and plan to rendezvous with  the Kondor on June 7.

best wishes,
Patrick