Jim Jenkins

April 20, 2005March 18, 2021

Jim Jenkins, April 20, 2005

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Jim Jenkins
Onboard NOAA Ship Miller Freeman
April 18 – 30, 2005

Mission: Pollock Survey
Geographical Area: Bering Sea
Date: April 20, 2005

Weather Data

Latitude: 57, 37, 50 North
Longitude: 156, 02, 34
West Visibility: 8 Nautical Miles
Wind Direction: 161 Degrees
Wind Speed: 17 Knots
Sea Wave Height: 4-5 Feet
Swell Wave Height: 4-6 Feet
Sea Water Temperature: 4 Degrees C
Sea Level Pressure: 1001.5
Cloud Cover: Partly Cloudy

Science and Technology Log

You might want to begin by comparing yesterday’s barometric pressure (1002.8 millibars) to today’s pressure (1011.1 millibars). Knowing that a rising barometric pressure is an indication of good weather would give you an idea of the weather that we are enjoying right now. It is bright, sunny and warm for this part of the world. Last night, there was another indication that the weather today would be nice when I looked out the porthole to see a lot of pink in the sky just before I went to bed. Do you remember the saying, “Red sky at night, sailors delight?” Do you think this applies also to reddish shades of pink?

Sarah Thornton sits beside the instrument used to measure nitrate levels in the ocean. (The cylindrical device in the lower right of the photo.)

Tomorrow, the phrase, “Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning,” may apply! Matt Faber, Ordinary Fisherman, on the Miller Freeman is sitting across from me reading the paper as I type. Matt advises that we are expecting a drop in the barometric pressure tomorrow of about 10 millibars to around 1000.00 millibars. What do you think this means about tomorrow’s weather? If you predict that the weather will change dramatically you are correct. In fact, Matt notes that we are expecting high winds tomorrow. Winds are projected to come from the east at 35 knots per hour. Sea wave height will probably be 6 to 8 feet high. This is quite a change from today’s one-foot sea wave height, isn’t it?

I asked Matt about his experiences in rough weather at sea. He told me of a trip in February of this year when the sea wave height was in the 20-30 foot range. (This would make some waves higher than Mountain View School Elementary School!) Matt advises that the best strategy for these conditions is to “hang on,” and “put up a rail on your bed so that you do not fall out of bed at night.” I am taking his advice on these things as well as his advice to visit the ship’s doctor to get some medicine to prevent seasickness!

This is the operations officer Lt Miller. He knows a lot about marine geology. What are your questions about rocks, earthquakes, volcanoes, faults, trenches, tsunamis......? — This is the operations officer Lt Miller. He knows a lot about marine geology. What are your questions about rocks, earthquakes, volcanoes, faults, trenches, tsunamis……?

Visiting the bridge to get the data needed to start my journals to you is becoming a great opportunity. Do you remember the story of seeing a killer whale on my first trip to the bridge to collect data? Well, today I got another surprise! The operations officer, Lt. Mark Miller, called me over to look at a volcano that was spewing smoke. The view through the binoculars was stupendous! Unfortunately, the distance and the conditions did not make it possible to get a good photograph. By the way, the name of the volcano is Shishalden. It is on Unimak Island. This may be a great topic for research for some of you. I am looking forward to having the time to research this myself when I return home.

Today, I have talked with Sarah Thornton, a scientist from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Sarah is here to deploy an instrument that measures the nutrients in seawater that feed all ocean life. In the past, sampling involved traveling to a location, taking a water sample, and then taking it back to the lab for analysis. Sarah’s instrument collects the data as it sits beneath the surface of the ocean. Sarah will come back in 6 months from the time she drops it off to pick it up. The instrument will then have 6 months of data which will be available to lots of people studying food chains in the sea.

This is the library where most of the logs to you are typed. The computer is put away right now so that it does not fall off the table with rolls of the ship. I am writing from "Data Plot" where computers are bolted down. — This is the library where most of the logs to you are typed. The computer is put away so that it does not fall with rolls of the ship. I am writing from “Data Plot” where computers are bolted down.

Sarah’s instrument will be placed below the large yellow doughnut centered mooring that I described on day one. ISUS is the name for Sarah’s instrument. The letters stand for In-Situ (Latin for “In Place) Spectrophotometric Underwater Sensor. The words are complicated, but the idea is not as complicated. Put simply, an ultraviolet light is sent through sea water. Different substances in the water absorb light at very specific frequencies. Nitrate, the primary food for phytoplankton, also absorbs light at a very specific wavelength. This enables data on nitrate level to be recorded. As noted earlier, Sarah will be able to take six months of nitrate level testing back to labs for analysis when she comes back to pick up her instrument next September or October. Scientists can then look at the nitrate levels to see how well fish populations will be fed in the future. Good nitrate levels mean that the fish will be well fed and plentiful. Lower nitrate levels may mean problems for fish and for fishermen.

I assumed that ISUS would be placed close to the surface where the sun’s rays were able to penetrate to start photosynthesis. I was a little surprised to learn that the instruments are typically placed at a depth of only thirteen meters. Can you think of a reason for this depth? If you guessed that they placed at this depth to avoid problems with ice, boat traffic and weather, you are exactly right.

Light penetration in the Bering Sea may be common at 40 meter depths under some conditions. Sediment in the water or a lot of phytoplankton in the water may lessen light penetration, however. And there is measurable amount of light at 100 meters in some parts of the Bering Sea. Do you think the 13 meter depth of the instrument is logical in light of all you know?

Personal Log

I am going to send a photo of my stateroom today. It occurs to me that you might find this interesting. The room is about 12 feet X 12 feet. It is divided diagonally into two smaller rooms. Each room has a bunk bed and two lockers. A shower and bathroom are in one corner of the room. I am lucky to have a good roommate.

Later today, I am going to go down to the gymnasium for a run. I have had little physical exercise since I got on the ship. I do not want to come home and have you guys run circles around me on our Tuesday runs.

Remember to let me know what you want to learn about, while I am on the ship. This is a great opportunity for you to impact your own education. Please take advantage of this. Question for the day: A major tsunami, or seismic wave, hit the coast of the United States more that forty years ago. Can you find the exact year and place?

April 19, 2005March 18, 2021

Jim Jenkins, April 19, 2005

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Jim Jenkins
Onboard NOAA Ship Miller Freeman
April 18 – 30, 2005

Mission: Pollock Survey
Geographical Area: Bering Sea
Date: April 19, 2005

Mr. Jenkins holding a temperature sensor.

Weather Data

Latitude: 55, 36, 50 North
Longitude: 155, 51, 00 West
Visibility: 10 Nautical Miles
Wind Direction: 164
Wind Speed: 18 Knots
Sea Wave Height: 1-2 Feet
Sea Swell Height: 2-3 Feet
Sea Water Temperature: 5 Degrees C
Sea Level Pressure: 1002.8
Cloud Cover: Cloudy

Science and Technology Log

The better part of the morning was spent putting temperature and pressure sensors in metal cages. I will send a photo with the subject line, “Metal Cages” so that you will have a good idea of the construction of these devices. The sensors mounted in metal cages are suspended from moorings at 3 feet intervals to give scientists a good indication of the temperatures at various depths in the ocean. Data collected from similar sensors has been collected for a long time and will continue to be collected well into the future. Scientists can look at the data collected over the years to draw conclusions about the patterns noted. For example, should temperatures continue to rise over the years, scientists might look for a reason for this rise in temperature. You have heard of the idea of “Global Warming.” Data collected in this project can be used to monitor the severity of this problem.

Today has been mainly a day of transit, the term used by NOAA folks to refer to travel to a work location. The down time gave me the opportunity to interview my roommate, Chris Garsha, an engineer with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, California. Chris and Lisa Munger, a doctoral student from the University of California at San Diego, are here to place instruments in the sea which will monitor whale calls. Chris and Lisa are great people. They provided a lot of good information which I will share with you now. Also, they volunteered to e-mail you with more information about whales when they return home to California. I gave them my card so that they would have your school address. First, I will give you the address of a web site that both Chris and Lisa recommended.

The site has sounds of whales which have been recorded by the instruments that Chris and Lisa are here to deploy. I know that you will enjoy this.

Do you remember studying sound waves in class? I think that you will remember that a wavelength is measured from crest to crest, or from trough to trough. Chris and Lisa use this idea when recording sounds of whales. They measure the frequency of whale sounds in Hertz (Hz). 1 Hertz (Hz) would be 1 wavelength per second. 40 Hz would be 40 wavelengths per second. 1 Kilohertz (kHz) would be 1,000 wavelengths per second. 40 kHz would be 40,000 cycles, or wavelengths per second. I hope that I have explained this clearly, please let me know if this is not the case.

Chris and Lisa are going to put an instrument in the water which will be attached the top to a huge yellow ball which will float just beneath the surface of the sea. The bottom of their instrument will be attached to one of the railway wheels we mentioned yesterday so that it will be in the same place when they come back to pick up their instrument in 6 months.

The instrument that Chris and Lisa are going to put into the sea has three tubes. One of the tubes is for power. The power is provided by the same D cell batteries that you use in your flashlight at home. Only in this case, the power is provided by 192 batteries!!!

A second tube contains a data logger to record whale sounds and associated electronics. This tube contains sixteen 80-gigabyte discs. This represents the computing power of sixteen lap top computers.

The third tube contains a hydrophone. This is a device that initially picks up the pressure caused in the water by whale’s sound. The pressure of the sound causes oil inside the hydrophone to move. This movement or pressure is picked up by electronics inside the tube and recorded.

As I noted earlier, Chris and Lisa are coming back in 6 months to pick up their instrument and analyze the sounds. Some of the sounds will be converted to spectrograms so that they can analyze the sounds visually. Loud sounds will show up on the computer screen in shades of red. Softer sounds will show in shades of blue.

Human hearing is in the 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz range. This will give meaning to some of the things I am about to tell you. For example, Baleen whales (Right Whales or Fin Whales) make lower frequency sounds in the 10 Hz to 10 kHz range. Would you be able to hear a Fin Whale making a sound at its lowest frequency? I look forward to your answer to this question.

Toothed whales (Dolphins, Porpoises, Killer Whales, Sperm Whales and Beaked Whales) make sounds at higher frequencies. This helps Chris and Lisa to tell a toothed whale from a baleen whale just by listening to their sound.

Did you know some whales make different sounds for different reasons? For example, a Killer Whale whistles at a lower frequency for social reasons of communication. Higher frequency clicks are used for echolocation, just like the Little Brown Bats which live in caves there in Virginia.

Chris and Lisa are scheduled to put their instrument into the water shortly. Please let me know if you would like an update on its deployment?

Personal Log

Your teacher had an old man’s day, retiring at noon for a two-hour nap. Some seasickness had persisted so I decided to see it I could sleep it off. Well it worked! After not eating all day, I had a delicious dinner that ended with my all time comfort food, banana cream pie. I feel great!

I must confess that a dose of Dramamine taken just after getting up may have helped the situation. You may find humor in the fact that I chose the Less Drowsy Formula because I did not want to waste time sleeping while I was here!

Question for the day

Today’s seawater temperature is 5 degrees Celsius. Can you convert this to degrees Fahrenheit?

April 18, 2005March 18, 2021

Jim Jenkins, April 18, 2005

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Jim Jenkins
Onboard NOAA Ship Miller Freeman
April 18 – 30, 2005

Mission: Pollock Survey
Geographical Area: Bering Sea
Date: April 18, 2005

Mr. Jenkins with NOAA Ship MILLER FREEMAN in the background.

Weather Data

Science and Technology Log

I arrived in Kodiak on the afternoon of April 15. The first few days in Kodiak were spent helping scientists and deck hands load equipment and assemble moorings. The sensors are used to gather information about currents, salinity (saltiness), water temperature, weather, and ocean organism populations. Some of the moorings are so large that a crane needed to move them about the deck for assembly.

One of these moorings will ride on the surface of the ocean on a doughnut shaped center about the size of a monster truck tire. A 12-foot high triangular tower made of metal is attached to the top of doughnut like piece with bolts. This part of the mooring collects weather data. A second triangular metal tower is bolted to the bottom of the center piece. This section is made of different types of metal which enables collection of data on salinity. Three 110-pound metal triangles attached in the center of this section hold the mooring down in the water. The whole apparatus is anchored to the bottom of the ocean using old railway wheels. What do you think of this form of recycling? I am sending photos of the mooring as well as the wheels used to anchor the mooring. Please take a careful look at the photos. I know that you will have excellent questions as usual. Be certain that I will post replies to your questions quickly.

Above is the mooring. Ms. Thornton’s instrument to determine nitrate level will be placed beneath this.

Most of this cruise will be involved with the study of conditions above a relatively shallow shelf in the Bering Sea. Water depths in this section of the sea are less than 100 meters. Your knowledge of the food chain will enable you to see that study of this productive zone is not an accident. The relative shallowness of the water enables the sun’s rays to penetrate to provide food for plant plankton or, phytoplankton, which make their food by photosynthesis. Animal plankton, or zooplankton, eat the phytoplankton starting the food chain which provides nutrition for all ocean organisms as well as you and me!

Walleye Pollock are the most harvested fish in the Bering Sea. Each year, about 1,000,000 metric tons of this fish are caught and sent to food processing factories. Can you tell me how many pounds make up a metric ton? This may require a little research as well as your math skills, but I am sure that you can do this. I look forward to your answer.

You may have eaten Walleye Pollok and not known it! Much of the fish caught is processed into fish filets or fish sticks. You probably have eaten Walleye Pollock if you have had a fish sandwich at a restaurant. Some of the walleye harvest is made into a paste. This paste is added to crab products in the artificial crab that you may have enjoyed. Does this make you want to look at food packages and do other research regarding the source of your food? Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed your taste of the bounty of the Bering Sea!

I needed to go up to the bridge yesterday to get the data which begins this journal. A Killer Whale came to the surface right in front of the ship while I was recording the data. Awesome!

Personal Log

Kodiak was one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. I particularly enjoyed hikes along the beaches, through the spruce forests and on the hillsides. A box of rocks was put into the mail to all of you on Saturday. The rocks came from a gorgeous cobble beach called Mayflower Beach. I think you will enjoy the way the sea smoothed your rock to leave the wonderfully sculpted pieces which you will soon have. I hope you enjoy these treasures of nature!

A sculpin was one of the fish caught on a fishing trip yesterday. I remember how interested all of you were in the report on sculpin done by Alison. A photo was taken before releasing the fish. I am sending a copy of the photo.

I have proven that it is possible for a human being to become seasick on a 215 boat in 4-foot seas (Very Big Grin)! Anyway, I am peachy now and look forward to your replies. I miss you guys!