R/V Mirai departs Captains Bay, Dutch Harbor AK, 01 September, north bound for the Arctic. Under the command of Captain Masaharu Akamine, Mirai's 39 crew and 36 science personnel will study the effects of climate change in the Arctic over the course of the six week cruise

Onboard R/V Mirai Bering Strait. 36 bottle rosette is deployed on the first of the Bering Strait transect stations. At each of the four stations radioactivity, CTD and water samples are taken. Current measurement moorings are placed at two of the stations.

Bruno Jayme (University of Victoria), Dr. Sanae Chiba (JAMSTEC), Takahiro Sakoda (Chief Officer) and Jo Jenkins (Institute of Ocean Sciences) examine transducer trace for signs of plankton. Jenkins operates a transducer that it is hoped will permit vertical pinpointing of plankton populations to better plan net tow target depths. During the trial, the system is recording in conjunction with plankton net tows to compare whether the recordings accurately indicate plankton populations locations that are actually collected by the net tow.

A 7metre current mooring is prepared for deployment in 90 metre depth. Fitted with an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP), the mooring will collect oceanographic and sub-surface current data for up to two years and then be recovered to download the data for study. R/V Mirai will be deploying several such moorings in various depths over the course of JWACS 2004.

Wednesday 08 Sept, the sun rises over the aft deck of R/V Mirai at Stn CHP, 74 23.9N 162 09.4W as the deck crew prepares to recover the 450 metre mooring string. First snowfall of the cruise.

University of Victoria Masters student Bruno Jayme explains contents of plankton net sample to Third Officer Takeyuki Fukazawa and Chief Officer Takahiro Sakoda. Bruno is collecting plankton samples to assist in his Masters research in population genetics.

A lone polar bear shows little concern for the approaching R/V Mirai. The crew onboard Mirai, some of whom have never seen a "hokkyoku guma", showed far more excitement than this fellow who nonchalantly ignored the intrusion.

We have reached a furthest north for this cruise thus far, 76 15.3N 173 57.2W, at the edge of the polar pack, only 9' short of previous record set in 2002

Brazilian Bruno Jayme selects calanus hyerboreus specimens from plankton net samples. The hyperboreus specimens are key to Bruno's Master's research on population genetics at the University of Victoria, British Columbia

The tethered weather balloon is deployed to an altitude of 1500m for a four hour observation period as R/V Mirai steams south. The balloon is affectionately named Atoto after a whale shaped Japanese confectionary.

Akinori Murata and Shigeto Nishino preparing array of sample bottles to be filled from rosette niskin bottles. Shige is in overall charge of the water sampling program and is a veteran of many Arctic voyages. This is Akinori's first voyage onboard R/V Mirai and to the Arctic.