On February 17 the Miller Freeman departed Kodiak, Alaska in route to
Shielikof Strait to begin Cruise MF-9801 by deploying four subsurface moorings.
After completing the mooring operations, the Line Eight CTDs (7) with selected
bongo tows were executed. Moving south to Pavlof Bay, an attempt to recover
the 1997 CRAB mooring failed. The mooring appeared to have lost it's flotation
and was laying on the bottom. Dragging attempts for the mooring failed
to recover the equipment. The 1998 Pavlof Bay mooring was not deployed.
It will be redesigned and deployed later in the year.
Upon reaching Unimak Pass, CTD and bongo stations at Lines A and D were
completed.
Leaving Unimak Pass the Miller Freeman headed toward mooring site #2.
Approximetly 40 miles south of site #2 ice flows were visable. The ship
worked through the ice until it became solid at 13.5 miles south of mooring
site #2. Working our way south we completed CTDs/bongos on the line between
sites #2 and #3. A day later, with southern winds picking up we were able
to reach mooring site #2 and complete the mooring recoveries (3), mooring
deployments (4) and the CTD/bongo grid around the site. The northern CTD
station of the grid was on the ice edge.
Arriving at mooring site #3, dragging began for the remainder of mooring
F-97BSM-3. The mooring was recovered on the second attempt. All the instruments
were recovered with the exception of one MTR that was dislodged by the
grapple hook during the recovery. The University of Alaska's Sediment Trap
was deployed and CTD/bongo stations were completed at site #3, following
the CTD line south toward mooring 6, we then completed the CTD at mooring
site #6. At that time the Miller Freeman headed toward Dutch Harbor arriving
there on February 27th.
The possibility of completing the operations at mooring site #4 and
Nunivak Island were eliminated due the southern extent of the sea-ice in
the northern Bering Sea.
The order of cruise operations is listed in the attachment.
