Immediately after breakfast, Parks Canada’s Investigator, along with its autonomous underwater vehicle, was launched back in the approach to O’Reilly Island, followed by the Canadian Hydrographic Service’s Gannet and Kinglett which were deployed toward their survey blocks. Lead hydrographer Scott Youngblut’s team had also engaged the multibeam on the Laurier very early in the morning so the onboard hydrographers Arthur Wickens and Ryan Battista kept themselves very busy processing the near real-time data throughout the day.

Our terrestrial archeologists were also eager to work today, and were able to grab the extra seats in the helicopter with Youngblut as he headed to one of the unnamed islands in the southern area. Besides the ongoing multibeam work, the hydrographers routinely establish global positioning stations onshore. These are critical to ensuring the positional accuracy of their surveys. While Youngblut set up the GPS station, archeologists Douglas Stenton and Robert Park conducted archeological surveys, located several Inuit tent rings and mapped sites using the ground-based LiDAR. The pilot stayed with them, keeping an eye out for hungry predators. Luckily, they only attracted curious caribou. The ability to share resources and assets between the various agencies aboard is a fundamental element of this project.