Author Archive | Micheline Jenner

Day 8 G’ Day Mate!  (Written on Jan 26, 2013) “G’ day mate!” I greeted the wheelhouse gang as I enter in my Australian flag printed singlet.  Paper cups, serviettes and Australian flag tattoos lift the ship’s patriotic spirits and as the morning progresses the sun bursts through and it feels as though we are […]

Listening vs Looking (Written on Jan 25, 2013) At 00:06:09 we are at 364 nm SW of Kangaroo Island.  Maria and Sacha are documenting the blue tomes at 25 Hz and even southern right whale calls are detected as strong “blobs” of energy near the same 25 Hz frequency levels as the blues.  A slightly […]

 Cetacean Jamboree! (Written on Jan 24, 2013) Reporting for my midnight watch I am very interested to hear that Maria has had a “Cetacean Jamboree” detecting all kinds of cetacean sounds including a mysterious call not unlike Sigourney Weavers’ “Aliens”, dolphins, blues, and a noisy container ship knocking everything out for a half an hour.  […]

Grey, Grey Wednesday! (Written Jan23, 2013)  Lots of darkness all around, we are 38 00.7 S and 123 07.0 at 265.6 nm SE of Esperance.  It’s 4730 m deep, way deep, all over your head basically!  Thus far we have heard sperm whales, sighted a beaked whale (and recorded its calls), seen and heard common […]

Beaked Whales Trilling Good Morning! (Written Jan 22, 2013)  Blackness shrouds Whale Song – the sky, again moonless and clouded over covers a matt black seascape.  Looking down into our side-wash, tiny phosphorescent ostracods and other microscopic nekton and plankton twinkle. This light, apart from our own navigation lights, theirs is the only lightness around.  […]

Ahoy Mr. Albert Ross! (Written Jan 21, 2013)  The sky is again moon-less and inky-black, the scattered clouds through which the stars struggle to sparkle cast a foggy hue as I begin my 12-3am watch.  Monitoring the sonobuoys, Maria and I detect “Man-made” tones emitted by two approaching vessels but otherwise all is quiet and […]