Saturday, December 24, 2011

Merry Christmas from Frozen Maine

Marine biologists have to work around the tides. The plus side of that is that we rarely have to be in the field for more than about 4 hours at a stretch. The minus side is that we often have to be in the field really early in the morning or late in the evening, or over weekends or holidays. This year the late fall offered no opportunities to access our seaweed experiment in Lubec, Maine... except for December 22nd - 24th. If we missed the chance, we wouldn't have another one for months, and the whole huge, multi-year experiment would be ruined. So I rescheduled Christmas with my family for later, and rallied a Jewish colleague (Michael Hutson) to help me do the seaweed stuff. It turned out to be a pretty fantastic adventure. We were successful in our scientific objectives, and being in an unusual place at an unusual time we witnessed some special things, documented in Michael's photos.

Frosted seaweeds.
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Frozen mist and waterspouts over the Bay of Fundy,
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Enjoying the view.
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Ready to rock, in our "Mustang" survival suits.
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Slideshow and link to the full set of photos.
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6 comments:

  1. Boris TDecember 24, 2011 at 7:41 PM

    Wow those are some awesome shots. Happy holidays!

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  2. Johnny DouglassDecember 25, 2011 at 5:36 AM

    I especially like the photo of the two warriors in their intertidal zone assault vehicle with the quilted ceiling.

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  3. Lady NotoriousDecember 27, 2011 at 6:48 AM

    These shots are awesome :) Wish you'd gotten a pic of the thermometer while you were out on the rocks. brrrrr!

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  4. FrankDecember 27, 2011 at 8:08 AM

    Beutiful pictures! looks a little cold. Is the suvival gear provided by the college? Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

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  5. James DouglassDecember 27, 2011 at 10:01 AM

    Thanks for the comments, y'all. Our survival suits were borrowed from the college. If we'd had a thermometer on the rocks I think it would have read 20 F. Maybe less. It got down to -1 F that night.

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  6. MorleyDecember 28, 2011 at 8:25 PM

    The mist and waterspout shot is quite freaky - is that the same type of waterspout that is sort of something between a dust devil and a tornado over the water, or something else entirely? I've seen vortices form over water in 50-70 knot winds in BC and Prince William Sound, AK, but never a true waterspout - they give me chills though!

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