Wecoma report for 30-31 May (written 10am, 1 June)

After meeting up with Elakha near Cascade Head on 29 May, we deployed SeaSoar, the HTI bio-acoustics sled and the iron sampler at 1E and towed south for our second bigbox survey. All systems are working fine, including the repaired phosphate channel. We completed the survey at 8E around 7pm on 31 May. During the survey the winds were generally southward, but the winds were northward or weak during the previous few days. The surface property maps showed warmer water closer to coast, and the influence of Columbia River water extending right to the coast in the north. The subsurface density structure (e.g., as shown by sigma-t at 25m) was fairly similar to that found during Bigbox 1, indicating that the upwelling jet was not too different between the two surveys. High surface chlorophyll was found over the Bank from lines 4 to 8, with high values now found all the way to the 50m isobath in contrast to Bigbox 1 where freshly upwelled waters near the coast had low chl. The ADCP showed the presence of the southwest flowing jet, continuous from line 1 to 8. At this point in the upwelling season, there appears to be little high chl water leaving the Bank on its southern edge.

After completing Bigbox 2, we towed SeaSoar to the northwest along the 200m isobath skirting the outside edge of the Bank and ending at CP-9. We are presently conducting station work from CP-12 to CP-1, doing CTDs with iron samples from the rosette, MOCNESS zooplankton tows and TAPS (bioacoustics package) profiles. We will report on the status of the moorings along the CP line. We expect to finish the station work by late today (1 June). We will then launch SeaSoar/HTI/Fe sampler and tow north along lines 5, 4 and 3 to provide a spatial context for the profiling measurements being made along those lines by the Thompson. The plan for Wecoma after the Thompson goes into Newport is to conduct some process oriented work off Cascade Head, before making a third Bigbox survey.