December 2012: We participated in some field whale disentangle training sponsored by the NOAA Whale Entanglement Team. All practicing our response and technique skills.
Beth throwing grapnel hook:
Murray throwing grapnel hook:
Krueger throwing grapnel hook:
September 3, 2012: Mahalo Mark!
And beyond…
August-September 2012: We worked with the Jupiter Research Foundation Amateur Radio Club, (JRFARC) to engineer a high frequency (HF) radio system which could operate autonomously from a Wave Glider (WG). Aside from making modifications to the WG keel and finding a tall “whip” antenna that wouldn’t break when in high seas, we had to develop a payload to carry the radio system and tune it as best we could to initiate transmissions while at sea.
We started by tuning from the ramp:
Joe trying to determine best signal:
Joe not really sure:
Joe thinks he’s got it!:
Mark and Murray making final antenna height adjustment:
Karpo in the water:
In the end, our autonomous seafaring HF radio equipped Wave Glider from Puako, Hawaii was able to be heard via Morse code not only in CA but in Europe! Again a first!
2011- 2012 Whale Season: While any of you staying closely tuned into our web site, noticed we were not as consistent with our broadcast as in past years, we appreciate your patience as we develop this cell technology, as once fully developed, it will allow for real time transmission of whales or monitoring of the marine environment virtually along any coastline world wide.
Joe looking ahead:
April-May 2012: We were also able to do some field excursions with Univ. of Hawaii, Cornell Univ. and the local community allowing for some great whale encounters!
Whale ID:
UH deployment of Ecological Acoustic Recorder:
December 2011: Our engineers decided we should listen to whales in STEREO!!!
Beth suiting up:
Rigging:
Murray and Mark working on Cetabuoy:
November 2011: May Maru was able to accommodate our full team from California as well as our WG, Cetabuoy and Tupelo!
Everybody enjoyed the new vessel and Bruce quickly learned the ropes of being crew!
October 2011: Shortly after receipt of our new boat we added two new Wave Gliders to our fleet: Arche and Karpo. These two have a few more sensors than the original WG’s such as a weather station, speed sensor and AIS (Automatic Identification System for large vessels).
This 2011-2012 whale season we are developing new cell phone transmission technology to operate off of both our Wave Gliders as well as off our newly designed Cetabuoy.
July 2011: Jupiter has just bought a beautiful new vessel, the MAY MARU.: a 32′ x 10.5′ aluminum vessel with a walk around cabin with a fly bridge, a large working deck with a heavy duty davit and twin Yamaha 300hp outboards. We are excited about the extended range and abilities the MAY MARU will offer to our expanding research projects.
Jupiter’s Wave Glider “Io” performing sea trials of our newest communications system transmitting live whales songs via cell towers! Initial trials were a huge success with only a few software glitches to work out. We hope to have this operational for the 2011-2012 whale season!
…more testing and listening…
Roger trying to view computer data…
Tupelo keeping hydrophone cable organized…
Jupiter’s Wave Glider “Io” performing sea trials testing hydrophone transmission.
Our CetaBuoy “Puako 8” moored 1nm due west of Puako Boat Ramp with the hydrophone attached to the sub surface buoy stand-off at minus 55 feet with a “break away” to prevent any whale entanglement.
Murray working on our electronics board….
Jupiter’s marine biologist and trained crew have long been involved in the Sanctuary’s whale disentanglement efforts. On January 4th 2010 we assisted with a very ill and entangled whale off of the Kohala Coast. Unfortunately the fate of this whale was never known.
Humpback Whale Sanctuary Manager Justin Viezbicke doing a refresher whale disentanglement training with Jupiter staff Beth and Murray along with other boaters in the community.
