Tag Archives: desalinator

Full Power Restored

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Wind: yesterday 0-34 knots from N to W, today 18-36 knots from W
Sea State: yesterday calm in morning changing up to 1m chop, today chop up to 1 m
Visibility: yesterday 5-10 NM, today 10-15NM
Sky: yesterday overcast and rain, today clear changing to rain in evening
Temperature: yesterday 5-8 °C, today 6-7 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 413.81 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

After twenty-five days with backup power, there is now full power on the island. The replacement part for the generator head was installed today. Thanks goes to the team who spent six hours on the island today, hauling the 450 lbs unit from the boat to the generator room, doing the installation and other needed upgrades. It was a busy day here for Greg, Alex, Lawrence, Stephane from Frontier Power, Ric and his apprentice Stephane. Lots of other staff at Pearson College made it possible for this fix and temporary power to be successful.

With full power restored, there is now enough power to more quickly top up the batteries and operate all the equipment on the island without draining the batteries too much. A few important pieces are now running again: the desalinator, Ocean Networks Canada’s CODAR, UVIC’s Davis weather station and both live cameras.

There are still four male elephant seals and three pups on the island. There was some fighting amongst the males last night, evident by the fresh cuts on the backs of three of the males and near the eye of the youngest female pup.

The number of sea lions on the rocks has decreased in the past two days. It could be related to the strong west winds that blow into some of their favourite haul out spots.

There was one tour boat seen in the ecological reserve today.

DND was conducting demolition training on nearby Bentinck Island today.

Fourth Elephant Seal Pup

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Wind: yesterday 1-21 knots varying directions mostly N, today 0-24 knots swinging around N to N
Sea State: yesterday rippled, today up to 2 m swell
Visibility: 10-15 NM
Sky: both days mixture of sun, clouds and rain
Temperature: yesterday 7 to 9 °C, today 8 to 9 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 413.25 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

The elephant seal harem has a new addition. In the early afternoon yesterday, another pup was born. Since December 29, there have been four births, which is a record for an elephant seal pupping season on Race Rocks. Unfortunately, only about half of pups tend to survive, due to aggression from other elephant seals, learning to nurse, weaning and predation.

There were three visitors yesterday to do some maintenance on the desalinator: Greg, Warren and Cole. Warren and Cole got a once in lifetime opportunity to see the elephant seal birth. They were walking from the desalinator building to the main house, when Warren noticed the pregnant seal had more flippers than usual. Within less than a minute, the female slid up a grassy incline and out popped the pup. It seems like she used gravity to her advantage. All the humans went into the house, so as not to disturb the seals. The new mother vocalized with the pup and the pup wriggled around. The pup appeared larger than the other three at birth. Perhaps it is a male, as male pups tend to be larger than female pups.

What followed next was difficult to watch. Just ten minutes after the pup was born, it was attacked by another mother. The elephant seal mother that gave birth to the third pup, tossed around and bit the new pup, drawing blood between the eyes and on the head. After a few attacks and several minutes passing, the new mother appeared to intervene and put itself between the aggressive seal and her pup. The mother that gave birth to the second pup also appeared to intervene, by approaching and also putting itself in the middle. Out of the five adults in the harem, the third mother was the only one that showed aggression towards the new pup.

Today, Alex and Greg visited for a couple hours in the middle of the day to problem solve a power issue that presented itself yesterday. It’s great to have a lot of people on land supporting the various off grid systems on Race Rocks.

Here are a few photos from the past two days of the flora and fauna on Race Rocks:

Another Elephant Seal Birth

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Wind: yesterday 2-19 knots NE, today 1-46 knots NE shifting to W
Sea State: yesterday 3 m waves from NE, today 2 m waves from W
Visibility: 10 NM
Sky: both days overcast with patches of sun and rain
Temperature: 6-8 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 413.54 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

Yesterday morning in the rain, I started pressure washing the slime covered stairs up to the door of the lighthouse. They were getting a bit treacherous on a wet and windy day. A second tank of water later, it was sunny and the 18 stairs as well as entryway were clean.

The past two nights have been louder than usual, with the elephant seal bellows and barks dominating the soundscape of waves, wind and sea lion barks. I was surprised to not see a new pup yesterday morning, after all the carrying on outside my windows all night. This morning, the light brought a delightful sight of a new pup. Once again, the eagles, black turnstones and gulls all made quick work of getting rid of the placenta and umbilical cord. The new mother had arrived at Race Rocks on January 3. The other pup looks huge compared the new pup. It’s amazing how much weight the older pup has gained in two weeks. The three females appeared to be at odds with each other for most of the day, with lots of bellowing and chomping. If the remaining pregnant female sticks to the pattern, she should give birth on Tuesday, which is nine days after she arrived on the island.

See the photos and videos below for some sights and sounds of the past two days.

Video from yesterday afternoon of a chorus of elephant seal bellowing:

Video of the new pup inching towards its mother:

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.