Our position at 01:48 UTC on 6 June 2005 is 27 11.3347'N 95 22.6523'W.

An early morning storm generated swell, which, when coupled to the chop from the wind, gave us seas that prevented the safe launch of the small boats. So we had no small boat operations today. However, the boats have been thoroughly checked out and are ready to go. This evening the swell is diminishing.

Sperm whales were tracked during the night by the acoustics team and throughout the morning by the acoustics and visual teams. This evening we are again tracking sperm whales with the passive acoustics. Animals were located in the same general area where first contact was made on 4 June.

Acoustics tracked both single animals and a group of 4-5. Despite the waves, the visual team had 18 sights. The visual and acoustic teams are now well coordinated and digitally connected.

A success for the last 24 hours has been the collection of 3-D acoustic tracking data concurrently with collection of the fisheries echosounder data. Enough acoustic data were collected to obtain dive profiles.

Creaks and codas were recorded. Dr. Thode's initial impression is that some of these may be different from those in the Mississippi Canyon region.

The  recordings are sufficient to allow post-cruise comparisons. Also recorded were the vocalizations of the group of spotted dolphins.

Both the 70 kHz and 38 kHz fishery echosounders ran during the night and the day. A good data base was collected to allow comparison of the 38 kHz echosounder data with the 3-D tracking dive profiles. The 38 kHz fishery echosounder showed a scattering layer at about 500-meter depth. In the morning this layer thickened and was observed in the 70 kHz data as well.

When first turned on last evening, the 38 kHz data showed what appeared to be a large animal diving (see Figure). This event occurred at a time when sperm whales were nearby and diving.

Both hydrophone arrays now have been fully tested and are working well. The 3-D tracking software is being debugged. Tests to resolve the left-right ambiguity and methods for range tracking are being prepared.

An XBT was taken in the morning at 27 04.9282'N 95 20.1685'W. The depth of the 15C isotherm was 193 meters, indicating we remain in the waters influenced by the cyclone. We stayed on the northeast side of this cyclone throughout the day. No 38 kHz ADCP current measurements were collected today as this instrument was turned off to allow collection of the 38 kHz fisheries echosounder data.

Ann