28 July 2016 – Danish survey successfully completed
By Jonas Teilmann & Signe Sveegaard (Cruise Leaders)
On 24 July, the Danish ship survey on RV Aurora was successfully completed. The weather had not been kind in the early part of the survey so the northern areas had limited coverage but the last week was mostly very good conditions and the southern areas were covered much more comprehensively.
For example, on the penultimate day, 23 July, surveying took place in the Great Belt from 05:00 to 22:00 and all effort was in Beaufort 0-1. There were more than 250 sightings of harbour porpoise, so a VERY busy day.
During the whole 3 weeks, we travelled a total distance of 2,605 nm during the SCANS-III survey and an additional 187 nm during method comparision surveying in the Great Belt, totalling 2,792 nm – the distance from Nordkapp in Norway to Gibraltar. The total distance spent searching was 1273.3 nm; 50% of this was in sea conditions of Beaufort 0 or 1, 20% was in Beaufort 2 and most of the rest in Beaufort “2.5”. The total number of sightings is still being finalised during data validation – but it is many hundreds.
The success of any cruise relies on many things but especially an enthusiastic and dedicated crew. Our team of observers did a fantastic job.
But they are glad to be back after a successful cruise!