Tag Archives: wind

Weekly Census of Race Rocks Fauna

Posted on by

The wind was gusting up to 33 knots from ENE overnight.  In the late morning, the wind settled to around 15 knots from the ENE, and has maintained that throughout the afternoon.  The gale warning for the Juan de Fuca Strait was lifted mid morning.  The barometer dropped slightly from 1018 to 1015 hPa, between overnight to the afternoon.

Two whale watching boats were seen in the reserve at 16:00.

There were a few differences noticed while doing today’s census, compared to last week. There were not as many smaller birds seen today.  The elephant seals are not hanging out near the jetty, where they have been for the past few weeks.  They are now a few hundred metres west, on Middle Rocks.  The harbour seals were easier to spot because they were basking in the sun on the many small islands that make up the ecological reserve.

Here are the results of today’s census:
Steller Sea Lion: 430
California Sea Lion: 359
Harbour Seal: 36
Northern Elephant Seal: 6
Canada Goose: 37
Double Crested Cormorant: 12
Pelagic Cormorant: 41
Gull: 756
Black Turnstone: 1
Savannah Sparrow: 1

Jeff Spears is coming to the Rock to relieve me for a few days, as I head to a meeting in Calgary.

More Wind, Waves and Clear Skies

Posted on by

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.

Ring-necked Steller Sea Lion

Posted on by

The wind blew between 20 to 38 knots from the northeast for most of the day, switching to the east southeast in the evening.  A swell with 1m waves came in from the east.  The barometer climbed from 1023 to 1026 hPa.  The visibility was unlimited, with clear skies.

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

A ring-necked steller sea lion was seen on South Rock, the same place that another one was seen yesterday.  The sea lion has the brand 946R.  It has been seen at Race Rocks since August.  The Sea Lion Disentanglement Project is arranging a visit to rescue the two or three entangled sea lions that have been spotted recently on Race Rocks.

A Mighty Wind’s a Blowin’ for Census Day

Posted on by

The barometer dropped all last night from 1015 hPa to 1002 hPa this morning, before it began to climb again towards 1008 by the end of the day.   The wind started from the northeast, but then switched to blow strongly from the southwest from mid morning onwards. The gusts reached 47 knots in the evening.

There were two whale watching boats seen in the reserve.

Once the fog lifted, the census was a bit easier to do. Then the wind blew up and most of the birds hunkered down on the leeward side of the island. I wasn’t able to positively identify all of the individual species of gull. Next week, I will strive to get an accurate breakdown of the number of glaucous-winged, thayer’s, california, western and heerman’s. There are a lot fewer gulls compared to last week, only 14% of the 3224 that were on the reserve last Thursday.

See the photos below for some of the noteworthy species and sights seen during today’s census.

Here are the results of the census:

Steller Sea Lion: 211

California Sea Lion: 404

Harbour Seal: 7

Northern Elephant Seal: 11

Bald Eagle: 1

Canada Goose: 24

Double Crested Cormorant: 14

Pelagic Cormorant: 56

Gull: 450

Black Oystercatcher: 18

Black Turnstone: 26

Surfbirds: 15

Dunlin: 4

Killdeer: 2

Savannah Sparrow: 2

Fox Sparrow: 1

A rainbow appeared as the fog was burning off this morning. Turbine Rock is in the foreground. The pot of gold is Church Point.

A rainbow appeared as the fog was burning off this morning. West Rock is in the foreground. The pot of gold is Church Point.

A savannah sparrow near the burial mounds by the marine science centre

A savannah sparrow near the burial mounds by the marine science centre

Another view of a savannah sparrow near the burial mounds by the marine science centre

Another view of a savannah sparrow

Black turnstone

Black turnstone

Black turnstone on the boardwalk by the crane

Black turnstones on the boardwalk by the crane

A male elephant seal barks and floats beside the jetty.

A male elephant seal floats and barks beside the jetty.

Sandpiper-like birds: durlin, surfbird and black turnstone

Sandpiper-like birds: dunlin, surfbird and black turnstone. Can you identify them all?

A black turnstone and elephant seal share boat ramp

A black turnstone and elephant seal share the boat ramp

Black oystercatchers on the rocks by the surge channel

Black oystercatchers on the rocks by the surge channel

A steller sea lion with the brand "966R." The "R" signifies that it was branded in Rogue Reef, Oregon. I will add more information when I find out.

A steller sea lion with the brand “966R.” The “R” signifies that it was branded in Rogue Reef, Oregon. I will add more information when I find out.  [Updated information from Pat Gearin with the NOAA: The Steller was branded 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.]

Another view of 966R

Another view of 966R

A branded california sea lion with the brand "U596." The "U" or "C" depending on which way you look at it, means that the sea lion was captured in the Columbia River Area. It was branded in Astoria, Oregon.

A branded california sea lion with the brand “U596.” The “U” or “C” depending on which way you look at it, means that the sea lion was captured in the Columbia River Area. It was branded in Astoria, Oregon.  [Updated information from Matthew Tennis: 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.]

A group of steller and california sea lions get bashed by the waves on the south islands.

A group of steller and california sea lions get bashed by the wind and waves on the south islands.

The wind gusted to 47 knots from the south west during the late afternoon, whipping up big waves. The buoy that marks Rosedale Reef can be seen getting tossed around in the background.

The wind gusts reached 47 knots from the southwest during the late afternoon, whipping up big waves. The buoy that marks Rosedale Rock can be seen getting tossed around in the background.

lighthouse moonrise

The lighthouse with the moon rising behind

Weather Data: Daily Wind Speed , from Environment Canada April to August 2013

Posted on by

This data is  from the Environment Canada Anemometer at the top of the tower. at Race Rocks.  Compare these Wind speeds with that recorded by the Davis Instruments at ground level

Other archived weather data is being made available in the “weather -archive category”

You may copy and paste into an excel spreadsheet in order to do further analysis and graphs.

Continue reading →

Strong Wind, DND, Coast Guard, Elephant seals, and Oystercatchers

Posted on by
30 knot winds at North Race

30 knot winds at North Race

The wind since Sunday evening has been very strong and even reached over 50 knots on Monday just before midnight. The photo shows North Race during a 30 knot wind. As the wind carries the water in the photo, it also sprayed the house windows which now are in sorely need of a clean.

 

During the winds, the Coast Guard paid a vist.

Coast Guard Helicopter passing by

Coast Guard helicopter passing by a quick visit to the island, hovering over the helicopter pad for several seconds without landing and then taking off again. It looked like it was having trouble with its stability in the wind.

Another noise-maker for the past two weeks have been the blasts on DND. There have been as many as 5 or 6 per day on severals days since my arrival June 24.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Juvenile female elephant seal

Juvenile female elephant seal

A new female visitor came to the island Wednesday night. I noticed a juvenile elephant seal

Tuesday evening resting near the fire hose box. She was gone the following day but returned at around 22:30 when I ran into her with Chunk and Misery in the shallow water near the jetty while taking a water sample. Something that has been interesting upon her arrival is that Chunk and Misery have both changed their regular resting spots. Possibly just a coincidence, Misery has always been the one closest to the female.

Parent oystercatcher with chick

Parent oystercatcher with chick

On a bird note, the new oystercatchers have left the nest. The two have been exploring the jetty and surrounding area accompanied by two adults who become very vocal when any danger is in sight. The eggs on the opposite side of the island have yet to hatch.

 

Weather past week

Posted on by

On Dec 25th Easterly winds were gusting over 40 knots pushing swells into and over the jetty.  Zeke is seen below just above the jetty near the crane pad. The Pelicans pictured below were hovering in winds around 30 knots.

Since Dec 25th atmospheric pressure has climbed steadily reaching a high point of 1030 hPa yesterday, Jan 1.  For the past several days we have had sustained NE winds between 10 and 20 knots which demonstrates the potential for harnessing wind energy at Race Rocks, particularly in the winter months when there is less solar radiation to charge the batteries.  Pearson College is in the process of sourcing a wind generator for the island with the goal of further reducing and eventually eliminating dependance on fossil fuel electric generation in the Ecological Reserve.

 

Waves as an Abiotic Factor at Race Rocks

Posted on by


This file is extracted from a report of the analysis of the data by Rick Birch of ASL from the ADCP deployment at Site 2.
Below is the wave height spectra for site 2. During the time of deployment, two significant storm events occured. The results show up very well in the graphs
This provides a sample of the type of data we logged when we used an ADCP deployed in the spring of 2006:Wave Data from ADCP Deployment at Site 2.

Below is an interesting set of data that documents the behaviour of waves arriving from two directions at the same time.

 Wave Energy as an Abiotic Factor Determining the Distribution of Organisms at Race Rocks

When one is on the island during a storm, the impact of wave energy is certainly obvious. The docks are awash making it impossible to launch a boat and further providing a great deal of force on the organisms living in the upper intertidal zone.<bulletlist>

  • Waves bring debris that can impact directly on mussels and goose-neck barnacles, however the adaptations of those animals as well as the intertidal algae have ensured that they remain clinging (for the most part) to the rocky substrate.
  • The energy flow of many species of marine algae involves wave energy depositing them on shore.
  • Wave energy also brings  rocks and other aggregates onto the shore.
  • The evolution of shorelines and shoreline ecosystems is also the result of wave energy.
  • Waves carry salt water sea spray far inland as well. This restricts the kind of plants which can survive near shorelines. Certain plants survive only with the benefit of salt spray however, such as the Romanzoffia tracyi.
  • One of our concerns with all Ecological reserves with shoreline borders is that any spill at sea of oil or chemicals which can wash up on shorelines could have consequences for the ecosystems of ecological reserves far inland.
  • Rarely do abiotic factors act alone. A good example at Race Rocks is that they cause “surge or swell” which causes water to reach higher  levels on the shore.
  • Another good example is wind energy and currents combine to form standing waves in current channels at Race Rocks.

See the other posts on this website about waves:

 

Ocean Wave Model ForecastsWaveModel

Times Colonist Article on Wind buoy deployed at RR

Posted on by

Sidney firm deploys world’s first wind buoy :
Times Colonist,October 28, 2009
http://www.timescolonist.com/technology/Sidney+firm+deploys+world+first+wind+buoy/2153639/story.html

Sidney’s AXYS Technologies has deployed the world’s first offshore wind resource assessment buoy near Race Rocks in order to test the machine prior to its commercial launch.

The WindSentinel was launched this week to compare wind data collected on the moving buoy to wind data collected from a station on Race Rocks about a half kilometre away.

The WindSentinel is designed to assist offshore wind farm developers in determining the available wind resource at potential wind farm sites. It is the world’s first wind resource assessment buoy capable of accurately measuring wind data at heights of conventional offshore wind turbines.

AXYS said wind farm developers have had to construct permanent offshore meteorological towers to do that work at an estimated cost of about $10 million. By contrast, a basic WindSentinel model is approximately $1 million.

The test site was chosen to thoroughly assess the buoy’s capabilities as the waters at Race Rocks see currents of between five and six knots, waves measuring between two and four metres high and winds up to 50 knots.

The results of the study are to be released in early 2010.

“The WindSentinel allows developers to collect crucial wind resource assessment data more accurately, more quickly and less expensively than every other available option,” said AXYS spokesman Dennis Stacey.
© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist