University of Toronto

Eric Brossier — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 08:00:00 GMT

Visiting Minoli Dias, in charge of the Vagabond 2024 Labrador expedition: the coralline algae samples are exceptional! Read the article U of T researcher tracks 1,000 years of sea ice.

Diving in Labrador

Eric Brossier — Sun, 14 Jul 2024 10:00:00 GMT

June 26: family, friends and music on Eric Tabarly pier... Many emotions as I leave the Saint-Pierre and Miquelon archipelago after 3 years full of encounters and discoveries. To soften this big departure, I'm accompanied by 4 friends from the French Islands: Maryline Lecourtois, Rachel Robert, Hoel Chaigne and Vincent Rinaldo. Report, by SPM la 1ère.

Despite tricky conditions (weather, remote location...), Vagabond has been pampered in recent months. The sea was rough as soon as we left the harbour, but we set off calmly. Getting our sea legs was not smooth for all of us!

Logistical stopover in St-John's in Newfounland, where we welcome on board paleoclimatologists Minoli Dias, head of the scientific program, and Natasha Leclerc, assistant and diver. They have already been on board Vagabond to collect coralline algae in Greenland and Nunavut, and it's a pleasure to be reunited for this new project after lengthy preparations (funding, logistics, permits and authorizations...).

July 3, 9pm: Vagabond docks for the night at the village of Hopedale in Labrador. Final preparations and meeting with our community contacts before heading off the next morning to the dive site 20km east of the village.

For the past 10 years, Vagabond and its crew have been collecting coralline algae for Jochen Halfar of the University of Toronto and his colleagues. This usually involves prospecting by studying maps and satellite images first, then using a camera operated from Vagabond's tender. When these searches are fruitful, I dive the site with hammer, chisel and net, usually with a teammate, to try and collect the healthiest and thickest coralline samples possible.

This year there are 4 of us, and the site is already known for record samples. For a week, Vagabond stays at anchor and one dive follows another. The water is cold, visibility sometimes quite poor, but the team is united and the collection exceeds all our ambitions: more than half a ton of coralline is brought up on deck! A considerable amount of sorting is necessary, and Minoli ends up keeping 304 kg of samples, which will be transported all the way to her laboratory in Toronto.

Minoli and Natasha leave Hopedale on July 9, heavily laden but very satisfied, while my Saint-Pierre's crew continues with me for a 4-day crossing to Greenland. Drifting ice pach is blocking the entrance to the fjords, so we have to skirt around them to the north and battle our way through the pack ice to reach the entrance to the Ikersuaq fjord. We reach Narsaq on July 14th!

Article: UTM researcher tracking 1,000 years of sea ice change in hopes of predicting future conditions.

Diving in Labrador

Eric Brossier — Wed, 03 Jul 2024 07:00:00 GMT

Coralline collection led by Minoli Dias and Natasha Leclerc (University of Toronto), from 3 to 10 July 2024, near Hopedale, Labrador.

Vagabond (Labrador2024)

University of Toronto

Diving in Labrador

Diving in Labrador