Tag Archives: desalinator

New Desalinator and New Adult Female Elephant Seal

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Wind: 1-44 knots from NE yesterday to W this evening as the wind increased
Sea State: up to 3 m waves breaking on west side of the island
Visibility: 5-10 NM
Sky: overcast with rain and a few sunny patches today
Temperature: 6-11 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 413.70 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

It was a flurry of activity on the island yesterday. A big change from having no human visitors for a week and a half. Greg brought seven other people on the boat Second Nature. Three volunteers from the college (Lawrence, Sandra and Vincent) came to help with some maintenance and clean up tasks. John and Mike, from Pacific Coast Fire Equipment, were here to do the yearly inspection of the fire extinguishers. Warren and Ric spent almost six hours doing the electrical and plumbing hook ups and tests of the new desalinator. The desalinator room is very cramped quarters with thick concrete walls and only a six foot high ceiling inside. As Race Rocks legend goes, the building was originally constructed as a fallout shelter for Cold War fears of nuclear attack. It apparently contained emergency supplies and two bunks for the lighthouse keeper and assistant keeper. There was no space for their families. In 1975, the building was converted to a water filtration plant.

The non-human activity was busy too, with the arrival of a new adult female elephant seal. She showed up soon after the boat, staying on the boat ramp for a while before coming up to the middle of the island. The alpha male chased her around, they barked a lot, then she settled in the grassy area between the desalinator shed and the flagpole, where she still is this evening. Now there are two suspected pregnant seals hanging out in the centre of the island near the mother, pup and alpha male. The two other males appear to be keeping their distance. One is near the jetty. The other is behind the house by the compost bins.

The desalinator is running well after a total of nine hours of use. This evening, I was delighted to see that it had pumped 600 L of fresh water into the tank. Combined with the 500 L from yesterday, the desalinator has produced more fresh water than has been used since my shift began on December 21. At this rate, the 4,500 L fresh water tank should be filled up in about a week. At that point, the desalinator will be run regularly, but for shorter amounts of time. It’s an energy intensive way to produce water which consists of a reverse osmosis system and secondary UV filter. The temporary method of getting fresh water while the desalinator was out of commission was also very energy intensive. It consisted of filling up a 1,000 fresh water tank at the college, boating it to the island, and pumping it up to the tank from the boat. The water usage is planned to increase a little bit in the near future, due to some much needed pressure washing of the exteriors of the buildings, to prevent them from being overtaken by algae.

See the photos below for some recent views on the island.

Stormy Sunday

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Wind: 3-52 knots swinging around from SW yesterday in every direction to NW this evening
Sea State: up to 4 m waves
Visibility: 5-15 NM
Sky: overcast with rain and some sunny patches
Temperature: 5-8 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 413.65 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

It has continued be very windy over the past two days, whipping up big waves from the west. Today, the wind reached a top speed of 54 knots or 100 km/h, which on the Beaufort Wind Scale is force 10, corresponding to a storm. The two higher forces on the scale are 11 (56-62 knots violent storm) and 12 (64-71 knots hurricane). See the photos and videos below for some windy and wavy views.

The wind cleared off the South Seal Rocks of its usual inhabitants of steller sea lions. They were floating in sea lion rafts and surfing the waves for most of the day. When the wind died down a bit in the late afternoon, I walked in the intertidal zone which at low tide connects the main island with the closest of the South Seal Rocks. I hadn’t been able to walk around there in the past two weeks I have been here, due to the hauled out sea lions. It was great to see the main island from the perspective of a sea lion. On my walk around, I found some intertidal trash, some of which has been there for a while. See the photos below for some of my finds.

On Monday, there is a planned visit from some electricians and technicians to do some work on the desalinator and energy system. These will be the first visitors in a week and a half. If all goes according to plan, the desalinator will be operational by early afternoon and pumping water into the tank.

During my time here in the past two weeks, I have used 800 L of water, according to the gauge on the water tank as well as the three consumed drinking water jugs. While I’m conscious of my water use, I still do all the normal tasks like cooking, drinking lots of tea, washing dishes, showering and doing laundry. As a comparison, the 2018 average day per capita water use in Vancouver, BC was 444 L. I’m doing all right!

Video: A panoramic view of the whole island and waves as seen from helicopter pad. The sound is quite loud due to the strong wind.

Video: Watching hail on the window from the comfort of inside the house, while the elephant seal neighbours brave the elements outside. It hailed three times today.

A whole flock of Pelicans!

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Weather

  • Visibility: 10 Miles
  • Wind: 20-25 knts NW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: 1-2 meter waves with white caps

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Not too many ecotour boats around today.
  • Spotted the HMCS Calgary leaving Pedder Bay and heading out towards the open ocean

Technical

  • Yesterday Kyle and Guy visited the island to go over all the energy and support systems. They identified some issues with the desalination pump, and the solar panel grid. There will be a technician coming soon to fix those.

Bird Notes

  • I saw a whole flock of Pelicans fly over the island – about 15-20 in number.

March 21 – Scaffolding and a Turkey Vulture

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Light rain and partially cloudy in the early morning; sunny for the rest of the day
Wind: W 6-27 knots
Air Temperature: Low 8.4°C, High 11.4°C
Ocean Temperature: 8.8°C

The visiting group of students toured the island and helped run the desalinator. In the afternoon they did a leadership initiative of setting up two levels of scaffolding and scrubbing the algae from the west wall of the Marine Science Centre. They did an amazing job of looking out for everyone’s safety and cleaning the walls.

A turkey vulture was seen in the early afternoon hovering by the Eco-Guardian’s house. It flew north towards Bentinck Island. They are rarely seen here at this time of year. Occasionally they pass through in the fall, on their southern migration routes.

There were two eco tour boat seen in the reserve today.

March 13 – Finding Nests and Making Water

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Cloudy with sunny breaks
Wind: 2-14 knots, NE in morning SE in afternoon
Air temperature: Low 8.7°C, High 11.3°C
Ocean temperature: 9.0°C

A bazaar of 27 pigeon guillemots spent the morning on the wharf, nearby rocks and occasionally gathering in the water to float through Middle Channel. They appeared to be checking out nesting sites on the rocks between the wharf and helicopter pad. They like nesting in the crevices and under the blasted rocks on the northwest side of Great Race.

The visiting students helped unroll the fire hoses to pump salt water into the cistern, which is underground between the lighthouse and the Ecoguardian’s house. The water from the cistern is pumped through the desalinator. This afternoon, the desalinator ran for eight hours, producing about 700 litres of fresh water.

There were three eco tour boats and two recreational boats in the ecological reserve today.

Peregrine, Eagles and Wind

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The wind gusts reached 39 knots from the west this morning.  The general wind trend throughout the day was between 11 and 32 knots from the west, with slight fluctuations to the north and south.  The barometer generally went down from 1001 hPa to 997 hPa, with a few dips upwards as the sun broke through the clouds.

The approaching Arctic blast of cold weather will bring a chance that the thermometer might drop from 7oC to below 0oC tonight for the first time in a while.  Heating coils and warm thoughts have been deployed around the buildings to prevent pipes from freezing.

There was one whale watching boat seen in the reserve at 12:30.  A couple boats gathered to view humpback whales to the east of the reserve in the mid afternoon.

There were a couple of bald eagles around for most of the day, one adult and one juvenile. At 10:00 in the morning, a peregrine falcon was chasing after the juvenile eagle over the north of Great Race and Middle Channel.  The size difference of the eagle and peregrine took me by surprise.  I had never seen the much smaller peregrine next to a bald eagle. This might be the same peregrine that Pam Birley has seen over the past week.  It had dark chest feathers, which indicates it is a juvenile peregrine falcon.

The desalinator worked hard today to make about 800 litres of fresh water.  With a maximum output of 1.5 litres per minute, the desalinator is a very energy intensive way to create water.  Although, when the water is heated and added to a mix of leaves, spices and herbs, it makes great tea.  A necessity for Race Rocks.

More Wind, Waves and Clear Skies

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The wind blew between 23 to 37 knots from the east for most of the day.  A swell with 1m waves continued from the east.  The barometer dropped from 1027 to 1019 hPa.  The visibility was unlimited, with clear skies.

There weren’t any boats seen in the reserve today.

Only one elephant seal was seen today by the jetty, where upwards of 16 have been spotted there in the last few weeks.

I received some information from Pat Gearin at NOAA about three of the branded steller sea lions seen within the past several days.  All three were branded as pups in Rogue Reef, Oregon.  I have reposted the photos below.


833R was branded in July 2009 as a pup when he weighed 32kg and was 110cm long.  Since then he has been seen in June 2011 at Patrick’s Point, CA; and June 2014 in Tatoosh West, WA.
946R was branded in July 2011 as a pup when she weighed 29.9kg and was 108cm long.  Since then she has been seen in December 2011 at Pachena, BC; June through September 2012 in Rogue Reef, OR; and in July 2013 at Jagged Island, WA.
872R was branded in July 2011 as a pup when she weighed 30.8kg and was 107cm long.  Since then she has been seen 16 times between Pachena, BC and Tatoosh West, WA.

The desalinator ran today for 8.5 hours, creating about 600L of fresh water.  The solar panels were producing 1.2kw of electricity this afternoon.  The windows on the Ecoguardian’s house were cleaned inside and out.  More cleaning and installation was done in the basements of the two houses to ready the spaces for the composting drums and collection units for the new composting toilets.

One elephant seal lies on the boat ramp, with waves crashing ashore.

One elephant seal lies on the boat ramp, with waves crashing ashore.

The car carrier Seven Seas Highway and another cargo ship pass within a few kilometres of Race Rocks.

The car carrier Seven Seas Highway and another cargo ship pass within a few kilometres southeast of Race Rocks Ecological Reserve.

The Sun is Shining

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The wind dissipated over night. After 8:00am, the wind was calm, only blowing 3 to 5 knots from the southwest. The barometer rose to a high of 1030 hPa at noon, then slowly fell to about 1027 hPa. The temperature reached a high of 12.6oC

There were five visitors that came from Pearson College, on the boat Second Nature. Courtney brought two folks from Cullen Water to install the repaired desalinator pump. Tristan and Robin, volunteers from Wales, helped carry the many boxes that contain the new composting toilets. Each house will have the toilets installed soon.

There were two whale watching boats in the reserve this afternoon. Four halibut fishing boats were spotted to the west of the reserve for most of the afternoon. Many large boats passed within a few kilometres of the southern boundary of the reserve, including a submarine, tankers and HMCS Edmonton.

The harbour seals were difficult to spot for the census yesterday. With the sun and warm weather today, they were hauled out on the rocks to catch some rays. 32 were seen today, compared with only 7 yesterday.

Three branded sea lions were seen on South Seal Rocks, just south of the engine room. I have let Pat Gearin at NOAA know about the sightings and he will let me know where else they have been.

There are updates about the two branded sea lions spotted yesterday.

Pat Gearin wrote to me with the details about the Steller that was branded 966R as a pup at Rogue Reef, Oregon in July 2011.  It is a male and so far we have 9 resights from this individual, all from BC.  In 2011, he was sighted at Pachena Point once, and in 2012 he was sighted at Carmanah 8 times.

Matthew Tennis wrote that U596 was branded on August 15, 2014 in Astoria. At that time he weighed ~193 kg. He was seen in Astoria for a few days following the branding and again in the middle of October. This is the first resight for this animal outside of Astoria. They have high site fidelity and being a relatively young animal, it is very possible he will be seen at Race Rocks for years to come.

Maintenance tasks were performed today: moving propane tanks, pressure washing the algae and bird poop off the exterior of the houses, dismantling the old toilets, picking up garbage that has washed ashore and running generator and new and improved desalinator.

Sealions from west of 140W at Race Rocks.

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It was another day of mixed weather at Race Rocks. Gentle breezes less than five knots, tended north to northeast all day. While the sea surface appeared calm, there was a big sea running that caused spectacular waves on the west side of the islands. The barometer rose until noon and then started to slip back down. Although it looks like rain coming on the horizon now, it was a fairly dry day while apparently pouring down over on the American side.

In spite of many Humpback Whales in sight from Great Race, the season must be winding down, as there were only five whale-watching boats observed within the Ecological Reserve and only one sports fisher stopped by for a look at the seals and sealions.

The interesting, new (to me), Steller’s Sealion brand of the day comes from almost as far away as yesterday’s George Island animal whose branding location was indicated by the ‘Y.’ Today’s ‘T’ stands for Marmot Island which is just off the southeast end of Kodiak Island. So both of these animals are from the western Alaskan Stellers Sealion population, west of 140 degrees west. The western population is considered to be endangered due to its inexplicably, declining numbers. How interesting that these guys are hanging out here, where there is a lots of food right now, far from home.

This branded Stellers Sealion was born on Marmot Island just off Kodiak Island, Alaska. He was branded as a pup, July 4, 2010.

This branded Stellers Sealion was born on Marmot Island just off Kodiak Island, Alaska. He was branded as a pup, July 4, 2010.

Second Nature, with Courtney at the helm, brought out the chimney specialists who cleaned and inspected the chimneys in both houses. A young Frenchman from Lille who is volunteering at Pearson College came along as well. I did some more trouble-shooting with the desalinator and called an expert for help. I strung the fire-hoses and fired up the Briggs & Stratton and pumped seawater into the cistern. The hoses are getting a nice fresh water rinse over-night.

Misery breaks the water line

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All camera and weather systems are up and running again; apologies for the interruption in service. The outage was caused by a major problem from one of our male elephant seals. Yesterday night, our friend Misery moved overtop of the waterline connected to the science house used for cleaning camera 5. The line broke off of the spigot and caused about 5000 litres of fresh water to drain, emptying the tank overnight. I’ve been running the desalinator continuously to make up the lost water. I have bypassed the hybrid energy system and am running the island straight off of the generators to preserve the batteries and to save fuel. Unfortunately, this method sometimes produces dirty power and can wreak havoc on the computer systems running here. Garry and I managed to restart the systems this morning and things seem to be running smoothly for the moment. ‘adam’, ’14:50:59 ,