Danes to the rescue and (again) a rough end

Here is another blog from leg 4 blogger Arjen Boon:

After some deliberations of Magnus with KC Denmark, our Danish friends flew in with a new pump, which...showed the same problems as the old pump. Going back to their hotel after an evening work, the Danes figured out what could be wrong and came back with joyful news the next day. The pump was repaired (some software comms thing, don't ask me) and that afternoon we set sail towards the east coast of Gotland to do our so desired sampling.



KC Denmark staff together with leg 4 crew members deploying the pump, that now functions properly again

The ride down south was bumpy, but with sunny weather. Arriving at our planned location, we were able to deploy all instruments and take the desired samples.

The next sampling location was planned somewhere in the middle of the Baltic, near Estonia. For a change, this was a ride with the wind in our backs. We made good speed and distance, and sometimes it looked more like surfing than sailing. Also this (corkscrew) movement was not altogether pleasant for some of us, but the spirits were positive and everybody enjoyed the trip. When arriving at our location, the waves were too high to be able to deploy the pump and the trawl. So, water samples were only taken with the good old bucket.
 
It was decided to not to do anymore offshore sampling, but instead to do one last sampling inshore in the shelter of the mainland. We arrived Friday evening after a bumpy ride (what's new...) and indeed in the shelter we could work in quiet waters and all samples were taken.


During the remainder of the night we sailed through the Stockholm archipelago, under a starry night with lightning somewhere in the eastern Baltic, the dark rocky islands glooming in the twilight behind the buoys and lighthouses...In the morning we arrived at sunny Sandhamn where the wind had decided to tease us once more by being virtually absent...

And this was the end of the 'Baltic Expedition 2014' for microplastics in the Baltic Sea. I am happy and proud to have been part of this scientific expedition, onboard a sturdy sailing boat with an interesting and varied scientific crew and under the professional and pleasant guidance and care of Eric, Shanley and Megan. Although the last leg was burden with windy weather (we sailed with two and sometimes even three reefs in the mainsail, and mostly with one foresail), my guess is that the other legs have provided sufficient proper samples to state that this was a successful expedition. It proves that this kind of sampling can well be carried out from a relatively small vessel with a well-trained crew. Usual research vessels are much bigger and heavier and might seem to be more comfortable to be on with bad weather. However, also on such large vessels people become seasick above Beaufort 5 (8.0–10.7 m/s), and equipment handling is equally problematic above Beaufort 6 (10.8–13.8 m/s). It is the larger number and size of equipment (and persons) that can be carried around by thesevessels that makes them profitable, but I am convinced that many pelagic (and maybe even benthic) sampling can be carried out on smaller (and less costly) vessels. I hope this expedition will find a follow-up somewhere next year when the results are available.



Team leg 4!

Leg 4 completed and a new crew for the day

The leg 4 crew happily (!) left the boat this Saturday in Sandhamn after an eventful week. There are more stories to tell and I do not think we heard the last from them yet.

On Sunday we got a new crew on board for the day. Politicians, representativs from gouvernment agencies and sponsors visited us and joined Sea Dragon for a day sail in the Stockholm archipelago. We sampled the water for particles using the pump and also showed some of the trawl samples from the expedition. To symbolize the whole expedition, the weather was very nice at the beginning and then quickly changed to a heavy downpour. It was a successful day despite this, the pump was working and there were lots of discussions and positive comments.


Isabella Lövin, member of the European Parliament, and Matilda Ernkrans, chairman of the Environment and Agriculture Committee in the Swedish Parliament, examins one of the particle filters.

A cunning plan, fawlty equipment and blisters!

Blog by Arjen Boon

Indeed, yesterday and today a cunning plan was set up an carried out! Due to the meteorological constraints, we decided to stay in the northernmost bay of Gotland, or to be precise, Fårö. Instead of doing a large-scale study on the distribution of microparticles, we chose to do a small-scale study on litter in the bay water column and on the beaches of Fårö island. Not only the weather forced us to do this, also the fawlty pump needed repairs. We had to wait until Wednesday evening for the KC Denmark guys to bring us a new pump. They tried to keep us busy with strange assignments such as: 'turn the propellor first twenty times clockwise, then twenty times counter clockwise....'; nobody believed that it would work, and it didn't.

At one magic moment (after threatening the pump to become a cucumber slicer), the pump miraculously started to work again. In the water, Eric and undersigned inspected the working of the pump. For me it was a good excuse to go swimming, after not having taken a shower so far...However, the pump did not seem to be pumping any significant amount of water.

We had more fawlty equipement: also the engine of the small dingy of Sea Dragon refused to continue to work after one good attempt. This forced us to take out the big dingy to play around with.

 

So, the cunning plan was to trawl the bay for microlitter, and to sample the beaches in and nearby the bay for macrolitter. The trawl surveys consisted of two hours sitting in a dingy with 3 to 4 men/women sailing around the bay and  having really important discussions. Getting the catch from the trawl net properly into a jar appeared a challenge though. The beach surveys consisted of controlled observing and sampling specific stretches of beaches, describing the items found and taking sediment samples for later studying in the lab for microlitter. Tuesday only nearby beaches were sampled, but today also the southern beach was sampled. With no alcohol on board, it suddenly seemed very necessary to sample this beach which very conveniantly passed a bar...a beer was well deserved after the long walk, which caused some blisters on the poor researchers' feet. The Fårö beach surveys delivered interesting results. There was the discovery of the until now unknown Fårö freedom fighter (a.k.a. the 'Hose guy'), the remains of an unidentified Fårö culture and leftovers of the last war between Denmark and Sweden.

 

Unfortunately, tomorrow we will be leaving this lively and culturally diverse place for a sampling spot down the East coast of Gotland. This means for half of the crew taking the necessary precautions (pills), and enjoying a good night sleep before again a bumpy ride south.

Gale warning

Months of careful planning diseappears in a second when a comprising low pressure enters the Scandinavian peninsula. Sea Dragon is taking shelter at Fårö on Gotland waiting for conditions when sampling on open sea can be carried out again. The crew seems to be in a good spirit and performs some innovative sampling on land and in the bay.

A rough start

Blog by Arjen Boon



The  fourth and last leg of the Baltic expedition 2014 promises to be quite a windy one! We sailed from posh and noisy Sandhamn Sunday morning, when the sun was shining and the wind was promising us a beautiful sailing and sampling day. And it did...for a short time.

Of course, the weather forecasts did warn us and the sampling plan was adapted accordingly. The first sampling station was nearby, and we succeeded to take both trawl and pump samples (photo 1).

 

Eric, the captain and Magnus, the expedition leader, set up an adapted sampling plan for the rest of the week; the second sampling station was planned just east of Gotland, but it was against wind. The other sampling stations were spread along the Gulf of Finland, and more downwind (from Gotland). With the predicted wind forces and directions, the chances for getting good samples were best to go southwest first, and then east and northeast.

During the evening and night the wind picked up and we were sailing close to the wind in forces of 30 knots, with two reefs in the mainsail and the jib. Later on the wind increased further to 35 knots and the jib was replaced by the staysail and a third reef in the mainsail. During the night and in squalls wind gusts of over 45 knots were measured, and the Sea Dragon was racing off and over ever increasing waves like an experienced surfer off Hawaiian waves. Fortunately for most, this was the 'worst' it got. About half of the crew did not handle well with the rough sea state so early in the expedition and disappeared below decks, or stayed close to the deck hose (photo 2).

After realising that we were not to do any decent sampling with this weather, and the knowledge that it would only get worse on Tuesday, we decided to seek shelter at the northern tip of Gotland, and this is where we are now. A new squall is coming and dinner is being served (photo 3).

Apart from the less than perfect sampling, the last leg of the Baltic expedition is enjoyable so far and far from boring (for the other half of the crew that is...). The weather development for the rest of the week is not likely to leave us much room for expecting all planned stations to be sampled. We are in need of a cunning plan...

 

Leg 3 completed

The pump getting out of the water

After the maintenance work the pump has been working beautiful. We lost one sampling point in the beginning of the week and was hoping to do some damage control later. However the weather did not work with us and the strong winds and high waves resulted in another missed sampling point. Sea Dragon was in her right element tacking in strong head winds and the crew experienced some real sailing. We set some Baltic Sea Expedition records; strongest wind, highest waves, fastest speed, number of people puking, number of pukes by a person, largest puke by a person. The crew was despite this in a good spirit during the whole week and sailing into Stockholm again was a calm and wonderful finish of leg 3.

Joakim Engström and Megan Evans at the main sail

The crew enjoying the last afternoon on Sea Dragon

The best views from the boom (Nooshin Olsson)

Rough wheather

Today we had an early day, waking up at 4am, as I and my watch team had the pleasure of steering the boat in the early morning hours. We had been anchored close to land during the night, to get protection from the wind, but this morning we headed out to do samplings in the Bothnian Bay. Something we were prevented from doing the day before due to rough weather. After the sampling we headed south to reach the next position. However, the weather turned worse during the day; first heavy rain, and later big waves. Despite that the windy weather made the sampling impossible and made several people seasick, this weather gave us a great chance to see this boat using its full potential, as the boat was heeling over. This was both much fun to some of us, as we did the so-called hiking, sitting on the rails with the legs over board. But when being downstairs, the heeling over made it difficult to walk around, as you constantly were tipping over to the side the boat was leaning to.

Sea Dragon anchoring in Norra Kvarken

Blog by Joakim Engström, KTH Stockholm

It was a beautiful Swedish sunny Saturday the 9th of August when the crew for leg 3 of this Baltic Sea Expedition gathered in the harbour of Sandhamn in the archipelago of Stockholm. We were all excited when approaching this magnificent sailing boat, the Sea Dragon, that was about to be our home for the next seven days. The aim of this trip is to set sail for the northern parts of the Gulf of Bottnia in the Baltic Sea and take samples of the water along the way. The main interest are the plastic particles in the water, and these can be investigated on board with near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) and with microscopy.

The first night was spent on board the Sea Dragon to get to know the routines and the equipment. The morning after we set sail to go to the bay outside Gävle, and there we picked up engineer Bjarne who solved the problems with the pump that had been formed previously. At this point we also started the first successful survey and took up samples with the trawl and also pumped water through the different filters. The weather was kept sunny and we continued sailing up north. This day´s beautiful weather gave time for nice photo-shooting from another boat and some dancing on board.

After hours of sailing we went in to a more stormy weather, gathering some real sailing speed up to 13 knot and all the crew members were really fighting at this point. The strong down wind sailing through the high waves made it quite hard to gather new samples of particles and therefore the Sea Dragon is currently making a stop at Norra Kvarken until 4am to wait for better sampling weather. A night staying anchored is appreciated by the crew members and everybody takes the chance to rest and sleep for a new day of scientific surveys. We are looking forward to tomorrow morning and the freshly baked bread that will be part of the breakfast!

Houston (or Sandhamn) we have a problem…

Disaster struck last week when our most important (and most advanced) sampler broke down. While enjoying nice temperatures on deck in the Swedish subtropical climate, the control unit of the 3-stage sampling pump just gave up. After several attempts to get it started again we had to accept that one part of the electronics had burnt out. Not an easy task to get this fixed in the middle of the Baltic Sea. When we got hold of the company with whom we have designed the sampler on the satellite phone on board, it turns out that the only technician, Barje, who would be able to help us is in China installing another sampler. The only solution not jeopardizing the whole expedition is to call Barje back from China and put him on the first plane back to Denmark, give him a few hours to sleep, let him pick up the new electronics and try to get him to Sandhamn as soon as possible. After a bunch of e-mails, text messages and telephone calls, it is clear that Barje will not be able to make it to Sandhamn in time. The Project Leader Anna Kärrman, who will be the Scientific Officer on the third leg, was waiting in Sandhamn, and together with the Captain we decided that the Sea Dragon will sail out of Sandhamn early Sunday morning not to loose too much time and get Barje on board in Gävle early Monday morning.

I am happy to say that I have just been in touch with the Sea Dragon and they are on their way to the next sampling point with a working sampler. They can continue our journey for a better environment.

 

Barje, the technician from KCDenmark, flown in from China to fix the faulty control unit together with the film team of Folke Rydén Productions (Joakim and Merte) on deck of the Sea Dragon.

Bert van Bavel, Scientific Officer Simrishamn-Sandhamn

The media team

We are fortunate to have a film team on board consisting of the wonderful Metta and Joakim. They like to chat and take pictures a lot. I concluded this morning that it is a dream come true to wake up at 4am to a film lens and questions about the research. The sunrise was also great. Yesterday Folke Rydén met up to film us from another boat while we were doing authentic sailing and research on board.

We are anchoring in the bay of Gävle this morning while Bjarne from Denmark is doing maintenance on the pump 

Joakim in the mast

Metta och Joakim filming when Bjarne does maintenance on the pump

Third crew on board

After a steaming hot day in Sandhamn the discussion topics on deck last night seemd to be endless. Sea sickness, sleeping schedules, sailing strategies, Spotify lists with boat theme, ..... Relax team 3, we have 6 more fun nights ahead of us. The vibe on Sea Dragon was almost as high as on land yesterday where the noisy (and somewhat cracy) race party kept on until late at night.

Team leg 3 has started the week-long journey north into bay of bothnia!

Losing a bet to the Captain…

I know - never challenge the Captain. But as the Scientific Officer on board I thought I might have a chance. During the sampling we picked up some ‘macro’ plastics. It was a beach air mattress (a li-lo according to deck mate Megan…) and a piece of white plastic and they were named ‘catch of the day’ by the crew. In the evening we analyzed the macro plastics with our micro NIR-camera to identify what kind of plastics we had found. My guess was a plastic used in large quantities with a density lower than water so it would float. I chose polyethylene. Our Captain, Eric, went for a PVC like plastic, just because he was out of options. The NIR spectra of ‘the catch of the day’ measured in the evening were to my surprise very similar to our reference of PVC. All three were PVC like plastics probably with a large percentage of plasticizers (DEHP). We will check this in more detail in the lab. The Captain got his reward (an ice cream) when we sailed into Sandhamn.

 

 

Our Captain Eric (in the middle) together the Project Leader Anna (to the left) and crew members getting ready for another sampling round.

Bert van Bavel, Scientific Officer Simrishamn-Sandhamn

Introducing the trawl

Jessika Hagberg (Örebro University) and Louise Hedenskog (Thorén Business School, Örebro) throw the manta trawl in the water between Sweden and Germany in the southern part of the Baltic Sea. This excercise is repeated twice a day and trawling takes an hour each time most days of the expedition.



The manta trawl is filtering the water surface and particles of 0.33 mm or larger will end up in the collecting bag of the 3 m long net. The trawl is kept in position next to the vessel using a spinnaker pole and the speed is kept to between 0.5 and 1.5 m/s.

The trawl content is then rinsed down on a sieve and transfered into a jar. Although the water looks clean we usually find small plastic particles of different colors. Unfortunately not only plastic particles stay in the net; plankton, small fish and lady bugs (!) will keep the lab staff busy preparing the samples for analysis the next coming months.



An extreme example of a trawl sample containing biological material

The trawl is our trusty sampling device at the moment as the particle pump is giving the leg 2 crew a hard time. Good news is that the error has been identified and help is on its way! 

Good news, bad news

We sailed off from Simrishamn leaving a beautiful sunset. Since then the sea has been calm as a lake (as in the Swedish name for the Baltic Sea). When we where getting ready for the first sampling I think most of the crew was excited for some action. For the first trawl the Manta went in by a ten point throw by Bert and Jonas and the rest helped get organized for the remaining sampling using the pump and the bucket. When the pump was in the water we where thrilled to get 15 minutes for a swim off the boat. It was absolutely fantastic!!! We jumped into 25 C, soft, brackish water. Luckily everyone was able to get up although there was no ladder on the boat.

Unfortunately we were not not as lucky with the pump. Suddenly the monitor controlling the pump went black and we had to stop sampling with our brand new, high tech pump. Fingers crossed we can fix it tomorrow. With the trawling we got some pieces of plastic and the water sampling was fool proof (I managed to throw a bucket into the water and pull it back up).

During dinner we made a big catch that the Captain spotted. There were some arguments of what it is called, a raft, a lilo, or some sort of floating device. Whatever you call it it was the catch of the day, a big piece of bright pink plastic in the middle of the Baltic Sea.

Now we hope for some more wind and some luck with the monitor.

Ingrid Ericson Jogsten, Örebro University

First samples in the lab!!

The first samples from the expedition arrived in the lab today. From a first and careful inspection it definitely looks interesting with anthropogenic material. Can´t wait until we will put the filters under the hyperspectral imaging camera!

And we´re off again

After a short stop in Simrishamn with media interviews and lunch with Kimo Baltic it was time for the fantastic team 1 to hand over the watch to team 2. We wish them fair winds and a safe voyage to Sandhamn.

Leg 2 crew in Simrishamn just before departure

Leg 1 completed

Örebro university researcher Helena Nilsson reflects over the first leg, four days and three nights between Gothenburg and Simrishamn. 

 I´ve had the pleasure of sailing (motoring a lot actually…) on Sea Dragon for the last 4 days to investigate the plastic pollution in the Baltic Sea. Although the research and plastic pollution is my main focus on this trip I would like you give my opinion on the interior design. This boat is a Mecca for all fans of compact living. Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA, would go green from envy if he saw all the great storage solutions onboard. So. I want to show you the best bits of this gorgeous, bohochic and somewhat retro 72-ft home.

Deck- Sea Dragon has two separate hot tubs. One of them stationary, the other can be placed wherever desired (the dingy). Fills up easily with the long fresh water hose. The large fridge can cool at least 100 bottles of beer which facilitates the party life onboard. The wireless speaker system all around the deck can be used to call people whenever needed. It also holds a 29.5 meter flagpole. The whole boat is white and light grey with some nice accents such as the ropes in different colors to make the deck more attractive. Whenever approaching a harbor the crew usually wants some people to hang out even more colorful accents such as bright orange buoys to make the arrival in harbor even more spectacular. Eric and Shanley also like to yell a lot of commands loudly when docking just to make everyone nearby hear that we are arriving.

Accent colors with the portable hot tub in the back.



Stationary hot tub

Laboratory/storage for fruit and vegetables- Small but cosy laboratory with all (if you have very little demands in your life as a chemist) things you need for top notch science onboard. The lab can also be used as a bedroom which is familiar to most PhD-studens.

 

Kitchen- This is the ultimate conversation kitchen. The host and hostess can chat to the guests at the same time as cooking. Open planned solution with a large shaped sitting area/dining table provides plenty of space for up to 14 guests. Also ideal for very small children as nothing can fall off the table. The daylight comes in through the beautiful roof top windows. The industrial styled stainless steel gas stove has built-in earthquake movement sensors. There are some stripper’s poles, both horizontal and vertical, in the kitchen which I will not even comment on. One can only reflect that another room might be a better place for those poles.

Bedrooms- There are 5 bedrooms for 14 people. 2 bedrooms have queens sized beds. Kind of. The bunks are in a nice clear blue colour that goes very well with the wooden details. Although the mattresses (or fabric actually) are not very thick and spongy the bunks are very comfortable and will send even insomniacs to sleep by the constant rocking motion (and exhausting pulling ropes and grinding).

 

Walk in closet/Sauna/Tank-check room- The walk in closet holds foul weather gear but can very easily be transformed into a sauna that fits 4 normal sized people.

Bathrooms- In the front of the ship there are two very convenient bathrooms. The toilets onboard are also called heads for some illogical and ancient reason. Those bathrooms gives you the chance to maximize your time by providing the opportunity to shower, poo and pee at the same time. Great for the stressed out adventurers seeking the next adrenaline rush on deck.

Motion pictures from the sea

A preview from the sailing expedition and Professor Magnus Engwall at the helm.

The expedition has started!

Fair winds and an excited crew, Baltic Sea Expedition has finally started. Sea Dragon and her crew is on their way to Simrishamn. Here are two messages from the crew:

We have now done 2 sampling stops, the trawling and pumping yesterday (Monday) was very rough as it was in the midst of a torrential downpour with 30+ knots of wind - the pump ended up not pumping a whole lot of liquid as it kept bouncing out of the waves and sucking air, but did get some stuff on the filters still.  Just passing Malmo tonight. -Captain Eric Loss

My first impression is that the journey is exciting, fun, instructive, demanding and fair. No matter your previous experience everyone helps each other with the work on the boat. There is a shift schedule that rotates. Even though I have never set foot on a sailboat, I got to take the helm, hoist the sails, perform routine checks, cook, and work the night shift. The same rules apply to everyone on the boat. At first glance, there is not so much trash in the sea, one of the crew saw a shoe floating by, but at the first trawling we got quite a lot of plastic and at the second we got about a third of the first trawling. So there is plastic in the sea that you can not see from the surface. -Louise Hedenskog, Örebro

Open boat at The West Coast Maritime Week (Västerhavsveckan) in Gothenburg.

Örebro University together with Pangaea Exploration and sailing vessel Sea Dragon participated in  The West Coast Maritime Week, Gothenburg Sweden, as a part of the ongoing research voyage `Baltic Sea Expedition´.

Graffiti artist DISK portrays the subject `Plastics in the sea´.