Amazingly, in April 2011 a WHOI mooring with a McLane steel buoy that was deployed in 2001 suddenly surfaced in the Southern Ocean west of the Antarctic Peninsula. Originally part of a six mooring deployment, the sixth ‘ghost mooring’ failed to respond to the acoustic anchor release and was presumed lost in 2002. Somehow in 2011 the mooring surfaced with enough battery power to turn on and broadcast its location. After a decade in the punishing waters along the 745 mile long peninsula in Marguerite Bay, the McLane steel flotation remained sound and was recovered. All instruments were still attached and had recorded data far longer than the one year originally planned. Read the full article.
