NOAA Teacher at Sea
Ragupathy Kannan
Aboard NOAA Ship Gordon Gunter
August 15-30, 2019
Mission: Summer Ecosystem Monitoring
Geographic Area of Cruise: Northeast U.S. Atlantic Ocean
Date: August 26, 2019
Weather Data from the Bridge
Latitude: 41.27688
Longitude: -67.03071
Water temperature: 18.4°C
Wind Speed: 14.8 knots
Wind Direction: 41°
Air temperature: 18.6°C
Atmospheric pressure: 1021 millibars
Sky: Cloudy
Science and Technology Log
We entered Canadian waters up north in the Gulf of Maine, and sure enough, the waters are cooler, the sea choppier, and the wind gustier than before. And the organisms are beginning to show a difference too. Our Chief Scientist Harvey Walsh showed me a much longer arrow worm (Chaetognatha) from the plankton samples than we had encountered before (see photo below). And there are more krill (small planktonic crustaceans) now.
So far in my blogs, I have focused on sampling of biological organisms like plankton. But recall that in an ecosystem monitoring survey like ours, we need to measure the abiotic (non-biological) aspects too because the word Ecosystem covers a community of organisms along with their biotic and abiotic environment.
In today’s blog, I will highlight the ways various important abiotic components are measured. You will learn about the interdisciplinary nature of science. (Feel free to pass this blog on to physics, chemistry, and engineering majors you know—it may open up some career paths they may not have explored!). I will come back to biotic factors in my next blog (seabirds and marine mammals!).
CTD
The CTD is a device that measures Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth. We lower a heavy contraption called a Rosette (named due to its shape, see photo below) into the water. It has bottles called Niskin bottles that can be activated from a computer to open at specific depths and collect water samples. Water samples are collected from various depths. Electrical conductivity measurements give an idea of salinity in the water, and that in turn with water temperature determines water density. The density of water has important implications for ocean circulation and therefore global climate. In addition, dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) is also measured in labs later to give an idea of acidity across the depths. The increased CO2 in the air in recent decades has in turn increased the ocean’s acidity to the point that many shelled organisms are not able to make healthy shells anymore. (CO2 dissolves in water to form carbonic acid). Addressing the issue of increasing ocean acidity and the resulting mass extinction of shell-building organisms has become a pressing subject of study. See the photos below of CTD being deployed and the real-time data on salinity and temperature transmitted by the CTD during my voyage.
EK-80
The ship is equipped with a highly sensitive sonar device called EK-80 that was designed to detect schools of fish in the water. (See photo of it attached to the hull of our ship, below). It works by sending sound waves into the water. They bounce off objects and return. The device detects these echos and generates an image. It also reflects off the sea bottom, thus giving the depth of the water. See below an impressive image generated by our EK-80, provided kindly to me by our amicable Electronics Technician, Stephen.
The Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP)
Scientists use this instrument to measure how fast water is moving across an entire water column. An ADCP is attached to the bottom of our ship (see photo below) to take constant current measurements as we move. How does it work? The ADCP measures water currents with sound, using a principle of sound waves called the Doppler effect. A sound wave has a higher frequency as it approaches you than when it moves away. You hear the Doppler effect in action when a car speeds past with a building of sound that fades when the car passes. The ADCP works by transmitting “pings” of sound at a constant frequency into the water. (The pings are inaudible to humans and marine mammals.) As the sound waves travel, they bounce off particles suspended in the moving water, and reflect back to the instrument. Due to the Doppler effect, sound waves bounced back from a particle moving away from the profiler have a slightly lowered frequency when they return. Particles moving toward the instrument send back higher frequency waves. The difference in frequency between the waves the profiler sends out and the waves it receives is called the Doppler shift. The instrument uses this shift to calculate how fast the particle and the water around it are moving. (From whoi.edu)
The University of Hawaii monitors ocean currents data from ADCPs mounted in various NOAA ships to understand global current patterns and their changes.
Hyperpro
Hyperpro is short for Hyperspectral profiler, a device that ground truths what satellites in outer space are detecting in terms of light reflectivity from the ocean. What reflects from the water indicates what’s in the water. Human eyes see blue waters when there isn’t much colloidal (particulate) suspensions, green when there is algae, and brown when there is dirt suspended in the water. But a hyperpro detects a lot more light wavelengths than the human eye can. It also compares data from satellites with what’s locally measured while actually in the water, and therefore helps scientists calibrate the satellite data for accuracy and reliability. After all, satellites process light that has traversed through layers of atmosphere in addition to the ocean, whereas the hyperpro is actually there.
Career Corner
Three enterprising undergraduate volunteers.
Volunteers get free room and board in the ship in addition to invaluable, potentially career–making experience.
David Bianco-Caron is doing his B.A. in Marine Science from Boston University (BU). His undergraduate research project at the Finnerty Lab in BU involves a comb-jelly (Ctenophore) native to the West Atlantic but which has become an introduced exotic in the East Atlantic. David studies a cnidarian parasite of the comb-jelly in an attempt to outline factors that could limit the comb-jelly. The project has implications in possible biological control.
Jessica Lindsay finishes a B.S. in Marine Biology later this year and plans to get her Small Vessels operating license next year. This is her 2nd year volunteering in a NOAA ship. She received a NOAA Hollings Scholarship which provides up to $9500 for two years (https://www.noaa.gov/office-education/hollings-scholarship). It entailed 10 weeks of summer research in a lab. She studies how ocean acidification affects shelf clams.
Jonathan Maurer is a University of Maine senior working on a B.S. in Climate Science. He studies stable isotopes of oxygen in ocean waters to understand ocean circulation. The project has implications on how oceanic upwelling has been affected by climate change. He intends to go to graduate school to study glaciers and ocean atmosphere interactions.
See my previous blog for information on how to become a volunteer aboard a NOAA research ship.
I also had the pleasure of interviewing our Executive Officer (XO), LCDR Claire Surrey-Marsden. Claire’s smiling face and friendly personality lights up the ship every day.
Claire is a Lieutenant Commander in the NOAA Corps:
The NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps is made up of 321 professionals trained in engineering, earth sciences, oceanography, meteorology, fisheries science, and other related disciplines. Corps officers operate NOAA’s ships, fly aircraft, manage research projects, conduct diving operations, and serve in staff positions throughout NOAA. Learn more: https://www.omao.noaa.gov/learn/noaa-commissioned-officer-corps
Q. Thanks for your time, Claire. You’re the XO of this ship. What exactly is your role?
A. The Executive Officer is basically the administrator on board. We help with staffing, we manage all the crew, we have a million dollar budget for this ship every year that we have to manage. Everything from food to charts to publications, all these get managed by one central budget. I’m kind of the paper work person on board.
Q. What’s your background?
A. I have a marine biology degree from Florida Tech. I’ve done marine mammal work most of my career. I joined NOAA in 2007, before that I was a biologist for Florida Fish and Wildlife [FFW].
Q. I heard you have done necropsies of marine mammals?
A. I was a manatee biologist for FFW for 3 years, we also dealt with lots of whales and dolphins that washed up on shore. I’ve also done marine mammal work in my NOAA career. Worked with Southwest Fisheries Science Center on Grey Whales and dolphins, and worked with Right Whale management with the maritime industry and the coast guard.
Q. About a 100 college students, maybe even more are following my blog now. What’s your advice to them, for someone interested in marine biology/NOAA Corps, what should they be doing at this stage?
A. Great question. Volunteer! Find all the opportunities you can to volunteer, even if it’s unpaid. Getting your face out there, letting people see how good a worker you are, how interested and willing you are, sometimes you will be there right when there is a job opening. Even if it seems like a menial task, just volunteer, get that experience.
Q. NOAA accepts volunteers for ships every summer?
A. Yes, ecomonitoring and other programs takes students out for 2-3 weeks, but there are other opportunities like the local zoo. Even stuff that isn’t related to what you’re doing. Getting that work experience is crucial.
Q. What’s the most challenging part of your job as an XO in a ship like this?
A. Living on a small boat in the middle of the ocean can be challenging for people working together harmoniously. Just making sure everyone is happy and content and getting fulfillment for their job.
At the end of the interview, Claire handed me a stack of brochures describing the NOAA Corps and how you can become part of it. Please stop by my office (Math-Science 222) for a copy.
Personal Log
The seas have become decidedly choppier the past few days. It’s a challenge to stay on your feet! The decks lurch unexpectedly. Things get tossed around if not properly anchored. I have fallen just once (touchwood!) and was lucky to get away with just a scratch. I’ve had to take photo backups of my precious field notes lest they get blown away. They came close to that once already.
The ship has a mini library with a decent collection of novels and magazines plus a lounge (with the ubiquitous snacks!). I found a copy of John Grisham’s The Whistler, and this has become my daily bed time reading book.
Interesting animals seen lately
I started this blog with a photo of an exceptionally long arrow worm. The cold waters have brought some other welcome creatures. I created a virtual stampede yesterday in the flying bridge when I yelled Holy Mola! Everyone made a mad dash to my side to look over the railings at a spectacular Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola) floating by. The name Mola comes from the Latin word meaning millstone, owing to its resemblance to a large flat and round rock. I have been looking for this animal for days! Measuring up to 6 feet long and weighing between 250 and 1000 kg, this is the heaviest bony fish in the world. The fish we saw was calmly floating flat on the surface, lazily waving a massive fin at us as though saying good bye. It was obviously basking. Since it is often infested with parasites like worms, basking helps it attract birds that prey on the worms.
Another animal that almost always creates a stir is the dolphin. Schools of dolphins (of up to 3 species) never cease to amuse us. They show up unexpectedly and swim at top speed, arcing in and out of the water, often riding our bow. Sometimes, flocks of shearwaters circling around a spot alert us to potential dolphin congregations. Dolphins drive fish to the surface that are then preyed upon by these birds. My colleague Allison Black captured this wonderful photo of Common Dolphins frolicking by our ship in perfect golden evening light.
Did You Know?
Molas (Ocean Sunfish) are among the most prolific vertebrates on earth, with females producing up to 300,000,000 eggs at a time (oceansunfish.org).
Parting shot
NOAA does multiple concurrent missions, some focused on fisheries, some on oceanography, and some hydrography. It has a ship tracker that tracks all its ships around the world. Our ET Stephen Allen kindly shared this image of our ship’s location (marked as GU) plus the locations of two other NOAA ships.
