NOAA Teacher at Sea
Patti Connor
Onboard NOAA Ship Albatross IV
July 31 – August 11, 2006
Mission: Sea Scallop Survey
Geographical Area: Northwest Atlantic
Date: August 8, 2006
Data: (collected very early morning, 3AM)
Air temperature = 18 C0 (65 F0 )
Water temperature = 18.9 C0 (68 F0)
Weather = rain
Depth of trawl = 98 meters (remember, a meter and a yard are pretty close)
Water salinity = 31.28 ppm
Wind speed = 18 knots
Science and Technology Log
We have been very busy collecting samples of scallops and fish. We are weighing and measuring the scallops. Some of the dredge amounts are huge so we collect all the scallops and take a sub-sample and weigh and measure those. Another sample of scallops is cleaned, measured and frozen to determine the age of the scallops which is done at a lab on shore. We collect cancer crabs and starfish and count them as they eat scallops and we want to see the amount of predation. We are covering all 24 hours so there is a day watch from noon to midnight, and there is a night watch (mine) from midnight to noon. When you eat a scallop, you are eating the abductor muscle. This muscle can be quite large in a Sea Scallop which allows it to “swim” across the ocean floor and not creep along like a clam does.
Personal Log
Two days ago the weather was warm and sunny. I was lucky enough to see whales. I have never seen a whale out of captivity before and it was beautiful to see. This morning there were very heavy rains and lightning. It didn’t take long for that weather front to move on. I am tired as my body is still adjusting to the work schedule. The work is also very physical as much of what we are sampling ends up back in the ocean. We are collecting, shoveling, measuring and cleaning all the time. A few more day and we’ll be back to port at Woods Hole. I will be returning to finish teaching summer school on Monday. I can’t wait to be in the classroom and see my students again.
Answer to last log: The picture was the internal structures of a scallop, a two-shelled mollusk. The black dots were eyes. I read that the eyes are fairly complex structures with retinas, lenses, and a large nerve fiber.
