NOAA Teacher at Sea
Brett Hoyt
Onboard NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown
October 8 – 28, 2006
Mission: Recovery and maintenance of buoy moorings
Geographical Area: Southeast Pacific, off the coast of Chile
Date: October 10, 2006
Weather Data from Bridge
Visibility: 12nm (nautical miles)
Wind direction: 240º
True Wind speed: 11 knots
Sea wave height: 2-3ft
Swell wave height: 4-5 feet
Sea level pressure: 1010 millibars
Sea temperature: 28.7 ºC or about 84 º F
Cloud type: cumulus, stratocumulus
The Cruise Mission
The overall mission of this cruise is to replace two moorings anchored off the northern coast of Chile. First we will retrieve the Stratus 6 buoy, which has been actively sending weather and ocean data for the past year. We then will deploy the Stratus 7 buoy approximately 800 miles from land. This mooring consists of a buoy that contains numerous meteorological sensors that collect data on relative humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction, precipitation, short- and long-wave solar radiation, temperature, salinity, and velocity of the upper ocean and sea surface temperature. The buoy serves as an extremely accurate weather station, one of few such stations in the open ocean.
Secondly, we will replace a tsunami (a potentially dangerous large wave of water) warning buoy belonging to the Chilean Navy Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service. This buoy provides Chile with warning of approaching tsunamis.
The Teacher
Let me introduce myself—I’m Brett Hoyt, a NOAA Teacher at Sea. NOAA’s Teacher at Sea program is open to all teachers K-16 who would like the opportunity to experience first hand working side by side with some of the planet’s top scientists conducting cutting-edge research. If you would like to apply or just know more about the Teacher, go here.
I will be bringing into your classroom the day-to-day happenings that are happening on board the NOAA research ship the RONALD H. BROWN. Please feel free to email me (hoytbk@gmail.com) with any questions you might have about the program, the research, the scientists or any question in general about the ocean. I will try to answer as many as I can. In return, I will from time to time pose questions for you or your class to tackle. I will give hints as to where you might find the answer.
Questions of the Day
Elememtary K-6: How much of the earth is covered by Water? How much is covered by Land? Hint.
Middle school: What chemical compound makes up water? Are the elements solid, liquid, or gas? Hint.
High School: Why is the ocean blue? Are all oceans blue? Why or Why not? Hint.
On my next posting I will be giving you a tour of some of the staff and equipment on board the ship.
