Baltic Expedition (2012): Expedition Diaries
Ghost Mountain
Author: Claus Koch, Dive Coordinator
Date: May 6, 2012
After having had to run from the weather, we spend the night for anchor, just outside Gotland, Sweden.
Strong winds at the Klints bank
Author: Hanna Paulomaki: Marine Scientist, Baltic Project Manager
Date: May 5, 2012
Klints bank is beautiful shallow area right in the middle of the Baltic Sea, next to the Gotland deep. It is one of the very few shallower spots in offshore waters and therefore provides an important area with valuable resources for plenty of creatures, including fish.
Södra Midsjöbanken
Author: Ricardo Aguilar - Research Director
Date: May 4, 2012
Today, we have been researching in and around Södra Midsjöbanken, an underwater hill or bank in the Swedish South part of the Baltic Proper. In the shallowest area the well-known rocks with mussels (Mytilus trossulus) covered by hyrdoids and bryozoans.
Kriegers flak
Author: Hanna Paulomaki: Marine Scientist, Baltic Project Manager
Date: May 3, 2012
I’m happy to be back on the Hanse Explorer and ready to head to the Baltic Proper and northern parts of the Baltic Sea. Our first stop on the way north was Kriegers flak, an offshore bank that is shared between Denmark, Sweden and Germany. This is an area of interest for offshore wind farm.
Copenhagen, Denmark
Author: Gorka Leclercq - Videographer and diver
Date: May 2, 2012
Today we have made landfall in Copenhagen after eleven days of campaign in the Baltic sea, where we have carried out several surveys in the Kattegat area among the countries of Sweden and Denmark.
Haploops!
Author: Carlos Minguell - Photographer and diver
Date: May 1, 2012
Today another sunny day dawned on a calm sea, as has been the case all these late April days. This is always good news, particularly for those who must spend many hours outdoors on board, although it is also good news for me: the sun fills the pictures with brightness and colours that don’t appear in the usual cloudy “Baltic grey” days.
30 april 2012
Author: Jesús Molino - Diver and Deck coordinator
Date: April 30, 2012
We started the day with a ROV at not much depth. Our initial idea was to send the ROV to check whether the area might be worth it, as the ROV can remain at the bottom for as long as necessary. The area was worth it, and how! After a few hours’ filming, we put on our diving suits and jumped off the Hanse Explorer into these cold waters.
The ROV, entangled in a lost fishing net
Author: Xavier Pastor - Baltic Sea Expedition leader
Date: April 29, 2012
Last night our ROV was confronted with what is the worst enemy of the underwater robots: the lost fishing nets. While carrying a night operation, we detected an abandoned trawling net that was stuck on the sea bottom. While trying to avoid it, the ROV was caught in several of the ropes around the fishing gear. We started then a careful process of disentanglement maneuvering the robot propellers. But with no result. As the minutes were passing, the robot was hopelessly being paralyzed as in a spider web.
Seals and snake pipe!
Author: Claus Koch, Dive Coordinator
Date: April 28, 2012
After leaving Helsingborg yesterday we spend most of the night making way to Djüpa Rännan West, about 5 miles out side the Göteborg Archipelago. With a depth of just over a hundred meters, it is one of the deepest places in Kattegat.
The Sound of Sweden
Author: Andrzej Bialas - Baltic Sea Project Policy Advisor
Date: April 27, 2012
After exploring the Ven Island area yesterday we have arrived and docked in Helsingborg, Sweden today. Helsingborg is a city located between Sweden and Denmark in a narrow passage between the two countries’ shorelines called “The Sound”. The city which is often referred to as the Pearl of the Sound is home to some 130 000 people. Oceana’s presence here on this day is no coincidence. We have been invited to take part in a special event – 10th anniversary of the inauguration of the Dunker culture center. The house, beautifully located in city’s port area, was designed by the world famous Danish architect Kim Utzon.
