NOAA Teacher at Sea
Christopher Tait
Aboard NOAA Ship Reuben Lasker
March 21 – April 7, 2017
Mission: Spring Coastal Pelagic Species Survey
Geographic Area: Pacific Ocean from San Diego, CA to San Francisco, CA
Date: Saturday, March 18, 2017
Weather Data
Current weather at home in Wingdale, New York is 39F and we just had 3 snow days in a week after 24 inches of snow.
Science and Technology Log
I will be joining the team aboard the Reuben Lasker to do the Spring Coastal Pelagic Species Survey. The goal of the survey is to determine the distributions and abundances of the planktivorous (plankton eating) fish such as Pacific sardine (Sardinops sagax), Northern anchovy (Engraulis mordax), jack mackerel (Trachurus symmetricus), and the Pacific mackerel (Scomber japonicus) in the California Current between San Diego and Cape Mendocino, California. This will be achieved using multi-frequency acoustic backscatter (sonar), sampling the fish with trawls, sampling spawned fish eggs in the water column, aerial surveys using UAS (unmanned aircraft system), sampling plankton, and measuring the abiotic environment such as temperature, salinity, oxygen levels.
Personal Log
February 1st I walked into work, opened up my email and saw a message from NOAA. I opened the message and saw “On behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Teacher at Sea Selection Committee, we are pleased to inform you that you were selected to participate in NOAA’s Teacher at Sea (TAS) Program – 2017 Field Season!” I couldn’t believe what an opportunity to learn from scientists and to enrich the classroom experience for my students! I teach AP Environmental Science at New Fairfield High School, in Connecticut, Biology at Western Connecticut State University, and teach field research and study the community structure of fish in Candlewood Lake, CT with Project CLEAR supported by the Candlewood Lake Authority and EdAdvance.
Growing up my family would go to Cape Cod, Massachusetts to visit my uncle. I remember always feeling this sense of awe about the ocean as my uncle would drive us around to his favorite beach spots, as I would learn about the amazing way the sea shaped the culture in this place. I went back after finishing up graduate school in Earth and Planetary Science and writing countless papers using NOAA resources. I went to Woods Hole to see this hub of marine research and the NOAA ships sitting in their docks. I remember wondering “what do they do when out to sea?”
A couple of weeks after I got my acceptance message and medical clearance, I got a research cruise placement on the Reuben Lasker out of San Diego, California! With three weeks to prepare, I did everything I could to cover my bases at home, school and prepare for the experience of a lifetime. I don’t think I have the words right now to express the gratitude I feel toward NOAA to have a program that allows a teacher to embed within their scientific community for a moment to experience what happens on those ships and bring my students behind the scenes of world class science. I look forward to going to San Diego soon and meeting everyone from NOAA that I have been corresponding with!
