Dutch Harbor/Unalaska

Photos from my first research cruise to deploy nitrate monitoring instruments into the Bering Sea aboard the NOAA vessel, Miller Freeman. Sept. 17-30.


Bird's eye view of the brilliant colors of the Birch and Aspen around Fairbanks.




Mt. Redoubt volcano, flying from Anchorage to Dutch Harbor.



Beautiful strato volcanoes poking up above the clouds along the Alaska Peninsula. In the foreground is Mt. Shishaldin at 9372 ft, the highest and most active volcano in the Aleutian volcanic arc. The dormant volcano in the distance is Isanotski Peaks at 8025 ft, the second highest peak in the Aleutian arc. Both peaks are on Unimak Island.

Map of Aleutian Island Chain. There are some 300 islands along the chain that extend 1,200 miles from the Alaska Peninsula towards the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. There are 57 volcanos along the chain. They are the westernmost and eastern most points of the US, because some of the islands are across 180 degrees longitude. Amazingly all of the islands use Alaska Standard Time, when several time zones should really be used to reflect the distance covered. Prior to 1983 Alaska had 3 times zones, one for the SE panhandle, one for the central part, and one for the west coast/aleutian chain. I pulled the following from Wikipedia:

The Alaska Time Zone is applied to the territory of the state of Alaska to the east of 169° 30' W. Given that the UTC-9 time corresponds to the solar time at 9 x 15° = 135° W (roughly, Juneau), the westernmost locales where Alaska time gets applied are off by 169° 30' - 135° = 34° 30' from their 'physical' time. This means that when a clock correctly set to Alaskan time, at a location just east of 169° 30' W, shows noon, the 'physical' time is actually just 9:42 am. When UTC-8 is applied in the summer, this effect becomes even more apparent, since the solar time at Fresno, California (~120° W) is used. At a (say) July noon, the physical time at the extreme westerly points of the Alaskan time zone will actually be only 8:42 am.

In Anchorage, visitors from more southerly latitudes are often surprised to see the sun set at 11:41 pm on the summer solstice, but the actual 'physical time' is 9:41 pm. This is due to the fact that at 150° W, Anchorage is a full solar hour behind the legal time zone and observes daylight saving time as well. Some local residents refer to this phenomenon as "double daylight time". In Fairbanks, the same circumstances cause sunset to occur at 12:47 am on the next calendar day. In the winter, even without daylight saving time, another anomaly is that on the winter solstice in Nome, the sunrise is actually after "noon" clock time, at 12:02 pm lasting for about 3 hours before sunset.


360 view of Dutch Harbor/Unalaska. There are two towns here, connected by a bridge. Unalaska is to the far left and far right in this picture. Dutch Harbor is where most of the ship activity is. This is the busiest and most productive fishing harbor in the USA. For the past 18 years this port has had the highest tonnage of fish and shellfish pass thru its docks. In 2006 it was 911 million pounds (455,000 tons). Its value was second in the nation at $165 million dollars.
There is alot of history here. There has been evidence of a human presence dating back 9,000 years. The Russians were the first westerners to arrive in the mid-1700's. The well protected harbor was quickly realized by Russian captains. Around 1765 the Russians established a permanent settlement. Capt. James Cook stopped in 1778. There were 2000 native Aleuts on Unalaska Island at the time. The Russian Orthodox church built a church in 1825 which still stands today.
Unalaska served vessels involved in the fur trade, whaling, and fishing and also as a port for the gold mining activity in Nome and the Yukon River. River boats were built here in the late 1800's to ply the waters of the Yukon River. Strange place to do it, but this was probably the closest deep water port to the mouth of the Yukon where large items could be easily shipped from ports in the lower-48 to build the large river boats.
The US Navy began building a submarine and seaplane base in 1940. The Japanese conducted an air raid on the Navy installation on June 3 and 4, 1942. 42 military and 1 civilian deaths occurred and 50 wounded.


Today many remnants of WW II military activity can seen; gun emplacements, tunnels, trenches, magazines, bunkhouses and other buildings. There is no longer an active military presence here. The main activity is fishing and crabbing. The full-time population is about 4,500 but this number can nearly triple from August to May when commercial fishing is busiest.


View of Pyramid Mtn from the dock that the Miller Freeman was tied up to. I hiked up this Mtn one afternoon before the ship left. It took about 2.5 hours to get from the dock to the top. Beautiful views from atop. I picked blueberries on my way down.


Fireweed gone to their autumn color.


Alpine tundra plants gone to autumn color.


Grass above the alpine tundra. Strange?


View of Dutch Harbor in background and Unalaska in foreground. You can see the bridge that connects the two islands. The airport is at the base of the large hill in the center background.


360 view atop Pyramid Mtn


Captains Bay. The Miller Freeman is tied up at the dock in the center of the photo.


High bush blueberries


Purple hands.


We left the dock on Tues. the 18th and spent the day just outside the harbor waiting for a storm further north to blow our of the area we were headed for.
Table Top and Sugarloaf Mtn from left to right. Both are inactive volcanoes.


Looking to the northeast up the Aleutian Chain.


Beautiful sheer cliffs. These islands are all volcanic in origin. The Aleutian Chain being the meeting point of the Pacific oceanic plate and the North American continental plate.


Beautiful hanging valley. A glacier formed this U-shaped valley.


Another glacial valley.


Yet another hanging valley along the same stretch of coastline as the previous 2 photos, all within 2 miles.

Ship/Mooring Photos

The research vessel Miller Freeman. It is based out of Seattle but does a great deal of work in Alaskan waters. It is 200 feet long at the water line. It has a crew of about 25 and room for 11 science members. It can cruise at about 11 knots. The ship was commissioned in 1974 and is soon to be retired from NOAA service.

Back deck of the Freeman


Crude drawing of the route we made.



Tiny village of St. George on St. George Island, one of the Pribilof Islands. The other larger island is St. Paul.

Pulled this info. from a State of Alaska website:

St. George was discovered in 1786 by Gavrill Pribilof of the Russian Lebedov Lastochkin Company while looking for the famed northern fur seal breeding grounds. The island was named Sveti Georgiy, and its larger neighbor to the north was originally called St. Peter and St. Paul Island. The Russian American Company enslaved Aleut hunters from Siberia, Unalaska and Atka and relocated them to St. George and St. Paul to harvest the fur seal. Between 1870 and 1910, the U.S. Government leased the Pribilof Islands to private companies, who provided housing, food and medical care to the Aleuts in exchange for work in the fur seal plant. In 1910, the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries took control of the Islands, but poverty conditions ensued due to over-harvesting of the seals. During World War II, residents were moved to Funter Bay in Southeast Alaska as part of the areawide evacuation. Unlike other Aleutian residents, they were confined in an abandoned cannery and mine camp at Funter Bay. In 1979, the Pribilof Aleuts received $8.5 million in partial compensation for the unfair and unjust treatment they were subjected to under federal administration between 1870 and 1946. In 1983, the U.S. government ended the commercial seal harvest and withdrew from the Islands, providing $20 million to help develop and diversify the local economy - $8 million for St. George and $12 million for St. Paul. The City was incorporated in 1983. Today, residents are working to develop commercial fisheries and tourism.

Culture:
St. George's population is predominantly Aleut and Eskimo. The Pribilof Island seal population and the community's dependence on it has been a major influence on the local culture. More than a million fur seals congregate on the islands every summer.

Economy:
The federally-controlled fur seal industry had dominated the economy of the Pribilofs until 1983; the two communities remain closely tied. Most employment is in government positions and commercial fishing. 11 residents hold commercial fishing permits for halibut. The St. George Aquaculture Assoc. has begun salmon and shellfish programs. Puffin Seafoods and Snopac Products operate in St. George. Villagers harvest 500 fur seals each year for subsistence purposes. Halibut, reindeer, marine invertebrates, plants and berries also contribute to the local diet.

Facilities:
A piped water and sewer system was constructed by NOAA during the 1950s. Four wells provide water for the community and the harbor, with 250,000 gallons of storage. All 60 residences are connected to the system and are plumbed. Funds have been requested to replace the failing 45-year-old water storage tank and distribution mains. Sewage outfall discharges into the harbor. The City provides refuse collection services. NOAA is completing a federal hazardous waste clean-up on the island, and will close the existing landfill.

Transportation:
St. George is accessible only by air and sea. There are two airstrips, one owned by the City, and a newly-constructed State-owned airport with a 5,000' long by 150' wide gravel runway. Scheduled flights are provided to St. Paul and the mainland. Most freight and supplies are delivered by ship from Anchorage on a monthly or bimonthly schedule; cargo from Seattle arrives five or six times a year. There are three docks; one operated by the village corporation. An inner harbor and dock were recently completed in Zapadni Bay, 5 miles from the City.

Climate:
The climate of St. George is controlled by the cold waters of the Bering Sea. The maritime location results in cool weather year round, and a narrow range of mean temperatures varying from 24 to 52. Average precipitation is 23 inches, with 57 inches of snowfall. Cloudy, foggy weather is common during summer months.
We came here to install a water temperature meter on a pier on the other side of the island. But the swell was too strong for a small boat to land on shore. We sat here on the north side of the island twice during the trip to hide from a storm that was lashing the south side of the island and the waters to the south.

Cliffs on St. George Island

Sun-lit hills on St. George. We sat here, off shore, twice during the trip to hide from severe south winds and swell.

A few photos to show how moorings are put together, deployed and recovered.

To keep the mooring from floating to the surface it must be anchored. 2-4 rail car wheels are used for that purpose, depending on how many instruments are deployed.

The anchor goes in first and then the release (yellow tubular instrument) is just above it. When the mooring is recovered a radio signal is sent to the release and the hook attached to the chain lets go. The release is recovered with the rest of the instruments as it is an expensive piece of equipment.

Here are lengths of chain with instruments attached, strung out on the deck and awaiting deployment. Instruments on these moorings are measuring sea temperature, fluorine concentration, nitrate concentration, and salinity at different depths. The yellow steel buoys are placed along the length of the mooring to keep the mooring line/chain taught and in as straight of a line as possible. The buoys also bring the instruments to the surface when the release mechanism lets go of the anchor. Two buoys are placed at the top of the mooring and are the ones seen when the mooring is released.

A section of chain and instruments are hoisted up with one reel line. The other reel line is attached to the chain holding the anchor over the end of the ship. Once the hoisted section of chain is attached it is raised enough to take all the weight off the line holding up the anchor so that line can be taken off and used to hoist up the next section of chain and instruments.

Here are the two reels used to reel in/out the line attached to the mooring chain.


The cage to the far right has an instrument I came on this cruise to deploy. 4 of these nitrate concentration analysers were deployed at 3 different sites. 3 were also recovered from 3 of those sites. 2 of these sites will be visited in March, 2008 for recovery of the instruments and deployment of ones that have been re-calibrated and have a new battery. One instrument will stay in for a year because sea-ice will prevent us from getting to it in the spring.




Pictures of a mooring recovery.
Once the mooring is released, the officers on the ship's bridge look for the floating buoys. The ship then sails near the buoy's. Reel line is held over the side of the ship with a crane. Once the buoys pass by the line, it is released from the end of the crane and the buoys are caught when the line cinches tight.

Reeling in the mooring.

Bringing up the top buoys.
The method of recovery is the same as the deployment, only backwards; a section is brought up with one reel, the other reel line is attached to a section below, the first section is lowered to take the tension off and that section is taken off the mooring line/chain, the next section is brought up by the other reel, etc.......
The work is pretty smooth in calm waters. Things got a little interesting when we had 12 foot swells bobbing the back end of the ship up and down and swinging the mooring line back and forth. Up to 4 tag lines would be used then to try and keep the mooring line and the instruments under control.

A surface mooring had to be taken in on this trip. They are only used in the summer months because sea-ice would rip this buoy off the mooring line if left in over winter. The subsurface moorings must be below the sea-ice so as to be safe from getting damaged from the sea-ice. Thus the top of the mooring is usually 20 meters below the surface.
Some instruments on top of the surface buoy had to be taken off so they would not be damaged when taken aboard. One of the NOAA officers did this task because the technician that would normally do it got very sick last time and asked for volunteers! In these swells the buoy was moving all over the place.



Hanging out on the buoy

Surface buoy on board. A string of instruments were down below it, just like on other moorings.

Last photos before Bering Sea trip

These are the latest photos as of Sept. 14th. I am flying to Dutch Harbor, Alaska tomorrow. I am headed out on a NOAA ship, the Miller Freeman, into the Bering Sea. We will head from Dutch Harbor and go towards St. Matthew Island and head north of there a ways as well, somewhere between St. Matthew and St. Lawrence Is. I'll be out for 2 weeks.

View from south side upstairs window.

Morning of Sept. 13

View from driveway. The birch are at peak color right now. Really beautiful. The hills around my place are completely yellow.

The wood stove arrived on the 13th so I hooked it up today, the 14th and fired it up! It is a Blaze King, Princess model. It will burn for 12-14 hours with spruce. It'll be nice to load it up at nite and still have coals in the morning and then coals again at the end of the day. This view is from the SW corner of the cabin, looking at the kitchen area. I have my cook stove plumbed for LP so it is ready to use when I get back from the Bering Sea.

Looking from the front door.

Upstairs in nearly completely insulated except for a couple of small spots. I ran out of insulation and have not taken the time to finish it. I had more pressing concerns, like getting the from door installed so I could lock the place up while I am gone. The windows for the gable ends did not come in in time so I'll put those in when I get back. The porch door will be put in in October as well. For now a sheet of plywood serves to keep the squirrels out!

Door is in!! The black plastic makes it look like it has an eye patch. Very happy to be where I am with the place. When I get back it should only take me a day or two to roughly move in so I can start sleeping here in a heated space. My camper has a heater but the thing is so poorly insulated it is a real waste of fuel to think of sleeping there anymore, unless we have warm temps when I get back, which is unlikely.
There is no electricity at the cabin site yet. I have a coleman latern that will suffice until David and I can get power to the place, stringing a temporary line from the airplane site. With a wood burning stove that burns forever and a propane cook stove to cook with, I am set!!!

More Building photos

Putting up trusses. I built them and David and I put them up in a day with some help from a friend from Pogo Gold Mine, Mike Hayes.

Salvaged roof tin. A company here in Fairbanks that sells new steel roofing material salvaged this stuff. It is galvanized and like new after being on a roof for 40 years. I have forgotten to ask what building they came from. So I had to cut this stuff with a skil saw and old blades. It went well but took about two hours to cut the pieces for the top two sides then another 2 hours for the 2 steep sides and then again for the little "wings". There were holes every 4 feet and I was able to use those holes to fasten the steel down. It all worked very well and looks very cool. This steel is the wavy corrogated style that is difficult to find.


Trusses up, August 31



After the trusses were up I was able to sheet half of one of the top sides.



Absolutely beautiful days to put on the roof. It took me about 3 days to completely finish the roof. Every day was sunny and mid-60's, low 70s. Sept. 1-4

The stove pipe went in during the roofing process.



End of day, Sept. 4th


I had to go work for a few days, so this is at the end of the day on Sept. 8th.



I really like how the roof lines turned out, especially on the West side, this side. On the east side I kept the "wings" short so my porch roof could start as high as possible so that the lower end of the pitch can be at least 8 feet above the floor of the porch, allowing as much of a view as possible from my kitchen window and porch door window.



Framed gable end. Sept. 9th



Sheeted gable ends, Sept. 10th. South end. The windows are in on the first floor.



Insulating upstairs, Sept. 10.



View from upstairs north window.