GOC12 - Leg 3

1

GOC 2012: Mar 10

What an amazing trip we’ve had, in no small part due to the crew and the Doc Ricketts pilots on the Western Flyer.

2

GOC 2012: Mar 09

By late afternoon yesterday, we’d made our way about 250 kilometers south from the Delfin Basin, into the Guaymas Basin to the east of the Baja California town of Santa Rosalia. The wind was howling again….

3

GOC 2012: Mar 08

Today we’re transiting south to the Guaymas Basin, so most of our day was spent in the lab processing and organizing samples before the next Doc Ricketts dive.

4

GOC 2012: Mar 07

We began slurping up urchins visible on the surface with a suction sampler, then dropping them one by one into seven of the respiration chambers in the benthic respirometer system (BRS).

5

GOC 2012: Mar 06

Today started off with a flurry of excitement as the benthic respirometer system (BRS) we deployed yesterday was released from the seafloor shortly after 6:00 a.m.

6

GOC 2012: Mar 05

El Norte had blown itself out, and we looked forward to light winds and calm seas. What we didn’t realize was that the rough, stormy conditions were now beneath us.

7

GOC 2012: Mar 04

We dove to 970 meters (3,200 feet) and observed the seabed for a while, identifying the local fauna, looking for odd animals rarely seen in California waters.

8

GOC 2012: Mar 03

The winds in the Sea of Cortez can be unpredictable and change rapidly, but when an “El Norte” blows, it usually lasts several days.

9

GOC 2012: Mar 02

The second day of our leg began just as the sun snuck above the eastern horizon. We prepared the benthic respirometer system (BRS) for deployment on the back deck.

10

GOC 2012: Mar 01

Eight MBARI scientists and two Mexican collaborators arrived in La Paz over the past few days to prepare for Leg 3 of the Gulf of California cruise on the R/V Western Flyer.