NOAA Teacher at Sea
Heidi Wigman
Aboard NOAA Ship Pisces
May 27 – June 10, 2015
Mission: Reef Fish Surveys on the U.S. Continental Shelf
Geographical Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico (29°30.456’N 87°47.246’W)
Date: May 29, 2015
Weather: 80°, wind SE @ 8-13 knots , 95% precipitation, waves 2-3 @ 3 sec.
Science and Technology Log
During my time aboard the Pisces, I wanted to focus on the use of mathematics in the day-to-day shipboard operations, and during science ops. I have been lucky to find math everywhere – even down to the amount of pressure it takes to open a water-safe door (which is a lot). As the officers navigate the Pisces through the Gulf of Mexico, special attention needs to be on the vast number on oil rigs in the area, as well as getting the scientists to the designated drop points. As a course is charted through the water, environmental effects (current and wind) can alter its final outcome. Basically, this is where trigonometry comes in to play – a real-life application, and answer, to the notorious “when am I ever going to use this?”
Suppose that the Pisces is traveling at a cruising speed of 15 m/sec, due East, to get to the spot of deployment for a camera rig. The ocean current is traveling in a Southern direction at 10 m/sec. These values are the “component vectors” that, when added, are going to give a resultant vector, and will have both magnitude and direction. If you think of the two forces acting upon each other as the legs of a right triangle, and the resultant vector as the hypotenuse, then using the Pythagorean Theorem will allow you to compute the resultant velocity. Use a trig function (invTAN) to find the angle at which the Pisces needs to travel to get to its drop point.
Personal Log
Time goes by slowly at sea – and that’s a good thing for me! I miss my family and friends, but this is an experience that I am enjoying each minute of. Thanks Pisces crew for being awesome!
Coming next . . . Bandit Reels, CTDs and AUVs – oh my!
Looks like you are embracing the experience!!
this i one of the days that you get to have math without us =…( hope you come back soon we all miss you