NOAA Teacher at Sea
Sue Zupko
Aboard NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow
September 7-19, 2014
Mission: Autumn Bottom Trawl Leg I Geographical Area of Cruise: Atlantic Ocean from Cape May, NJ to Cape Hatteras, NC Date: September 18, 2014
Weather Data from the Bridge Lat 39°10.4’N Lon 0714°18.7W
Present Weather PC
Visibility 10 nm
Wind 153° 5kts
Sea Level Pressure 1015.1
Sea Wave Height 1-2 ft
Temperature: Sea Water 22.3°C
Air 21°
Science and Technology Log
Flags are just one way the ship communicates. There is equipment which ships use to communicate information to other ships. Ships in the area appear on the Bigelow’s radar. The NOAA Corps can even find out their name and what type of ship it is. It’s almost like an email address which lets you know who is sending you the message. We have had naval vessels, sailboats, yachts, container ships, research vessels, cruise ships, etc. appear on radar.
Castle Rock Lighthouse and Sailboat
Empty Container Ship
Columbia University’s Research Vessel
The Bigelow has a protocol (rule) which says if another ship comes within one mile of our perimeter (the radar even shows the big circle like a halo around its position), the officer on duty must make radio contact and ask them to change course. This is especially important if we are trawling or dropping the bongo (plankton net) or CTD. All this information gets logged into the Deck Log which is an official document. It is critical for the officers to keep accurate information and observations during their watch so others know what has been happening and for future reference should the ship have an emergency.
Last night on the fly bridge I noticed that the green and white lights were on. I knew from talking to Ensign Estela that this was the signal at night for “we are trawling”.
Bridge light controls for signals.
Flags, lights, radar, radio, Facebook , web pages and email. These are all methods the Bigelow has used to communicate while I’ve been aboard.
Personal Log
Dave filets a flounder
We were sharing stories on our watch and Dave told of when he sailed in the Pacific for a Sea Semester, sailing as mariners of old did. He had to navigate using the stars. We were able to do that on the flying bridge last night. The Big Dipper was visible and it was clear we were traveling NW. Soon, the ship changed course (direction) and headed right toward Polaris (the North Star) so we knew we were traveling north.
This is our last day of trawling. Tomorrow we steam back to Newport and get in late. People are excited to see their families again. I have to wait until Saturday to return home since my plane leaves early that day. We weren’t sure what time we would get in on Friday and there were no later flights for me. I am looking forward to seeing my family, but sad to be leaving the sea. Fortunately, we only had a couple of “rockin’ an a rollin’ ” days which made me feel a little “off”. When that happened, everyone was so kind. Many people asked if I was feeling better when they saw me after the waves died down. Crackers were a big help.
Atlantic City (courtesy of Wikimedia)
Currently (no pun intended) we are off the Jersey shore and can see Atlantic City. My mother used to live near the shore when she was a little girl and her father had a boat. She loved the ocean. No doubt the shore has changed quite a bit in 75 years. The ocean is a change agent. Man is, too. Our land, climate, and weather often change as a result of the sea–currents, tides, storms all contribute. We help change the ocean, too. Hopefully, we are getting better about it by not dumping pollutants in as much as we once did. Part of NOAA’s mission is to check for pollutants to help keep the marine environment healthy. Yes, the ocean is vast, but man’s lack of understanding of the ocean causes us to do things which are harmful to the ocean environment. I worry about all the plastics wrapping the fresh foods in the supermarkets now. We used to just pick the items we wanted in the meat and produce sections. Now most things are pre-wrapped and much is processed. We need convenience due to our busy lives, but at what cost to our environment and our health? Perhaps we need to visit the farmer’s market more and ask for meat to be in more biodegradable wrappers.
As I sit here enjoying the sun glistening off the ripples caused by a gentle breeze, I realize how much I love the ocean. Its storms and the wildness of it have my respect, but there is a draw to its vastness, the incredible diversity within it, its changeability, and variety of colors. I am so grateful for this opportunity to discover and learn by sailing with NOAA. So far, I know of at least one of my students who is in college for marine biology. I wonder what influence these NOAA experiences will have on my current and future students.
Miscellaneous Information
The ship has a system similar to your car’s odometer. It measures short trips as well as total miles covered. According to the MX420 GPS on the ship on the bridge, the Bigelow has traveled 54,254 nm.
MX420 GPS shows how many miles it has traveled.
Getting ready for processing fish is similar to how fire fighters dress. Jump in the boots, pull up the pants, and you’re ready. We head out to the conveyor belt and sort the fish. Many hands make the work load light. Here we are sorting croakers and weakfish. If one person on the line misses a fish, the next one gets it. Then we consolidate similar species into one container.
After removing a fish’s otolith, they are stored in envelopes and put into this sorting system. The samples are taken back to the lab to determine the age of the fish.
Ready for action to process fish.
Sorting Croakers and Weakfish
Otolith sorting system.
It’s a Win-Win situation. Skilled Fisherman, Steve, catches up on light reading about sharks in the Dry Lab. He then goes out and helps deploy the CTD and Bongo nets. He also taught me to mop floors on the bridge. A skilled fisherman is multi-talented and, as I learned, can do many things very well.
Skilled Fisherman, Steve, enjoys reading about sharks in the dry lab.
Skilled Fisherman, Steve, even taught me how to swab the deck.
Engineer, Kevin Van Lohuizen
Engineers, such as Kevin Van Lohuizen, who is on temporary assignment from the Reuben Lasker, works often in 107° heat. They are responsible for fixing anything mechanical broken on the ship from the washing machine to toilets to generators. They can “do it all”. Thank goodness for the engineers. Kevin earned his Bachelor’s of Marine Engineering Technology from the California Maritime Academy. By the way, Kevin says you should always have a flashlight with you on a ship in case the lights fail.
Rudder in hold.
The rudder is double-actuated which means it can add a little bit of turning ability . The Bigelow‘s rudder, which turns the ship, has a small turning radius similar to a sports car (turns on a dime) rather than the normal rudder’s radius which is more like a truck (turns take forever and need a lot of space). There are two pumps for the rudder, which are switched daily.
What happens to Styrofoam cups when submerged in a bag to 300 m and are brought back up? My students colored Styrofoam cups with Sharpees and we submerged them. I had it in the dry lab and was asked to open the bag in the wet lab. Why do you think that would be? This bag was totally full when submerged. Look at it afterwards.
Remember that a clean ship is a happy ship? At the end of the last watch, everyone starts cleaning, from the Chief Scientist to the lowly Teacher at Sea. We were all handed scrub brushes and a pail of soapy water. The deck hands cleaned the net and the deck. The other watch scrubbed all the buckets (I found them on the fantail at 1:30 am doing this).
Chief Scientst scrubbing floors.
Teacher at Sea scrubbing walls.
Did You Know?
There are over 26,000 species of bony fish, making fish the most speciose vertebrate animal (by number of species).
Question of the Day
What are plankton and why are they important? Plankton are plants and animals which cannot move on their own and rely on currents and wind to move them. Phytoplankton make about 80% of our oxygen and are the basis of the marine food chain. What do you think?
Vocabulary
Planktos in Greek means “wanderer”. Plankton is derived from this.
Something to Think About
Tallest bar shows most of the fish were measured at that length.
Nicole was explaining that the protocols are set up by scientists looking for certain data about catch. She always seems to know when the jaguar will scream, meaning we need a special measurement or to preserve a sample. She had me pull down a monitor and pull up the fish we were processing at the time and had me pull up a bar graph for that species. She showed how for every 1 cm of length of the fish, the protocol was to ask for information. When I measured and it was longer or shorter than the average, we had more processing to do. Once we hit our quota for that protocol, the rest were just measured and added in. So, if my fish ranged from 19-21 cm, I would have to do special measurements or get samples for just three fish within that range. If the range was 15-25, it could be a lot more, depending on the lengths of the fish caught. The more fish sampled the more it falls into a bell curve, similar to our heights. You’ll notice some students are tall, others are short, most fall in between. They don’t need to repeat getting the information on every fish–it would probably be pretty close to the same data.
Challenge Yourself
Carry cloth bags to the grocery store rather than using their plastic or paper bags. In many areas stores charge for each plastic bag. Recycle as much as possible and encourage others to do the same. Yes, it takes a little effort, but if more people did this we would reduce our trash going to landfills or into the ocean.
Sunset from flying bridge of the Bigelow
Animals Seen Today
We saw a lot of the same species all day. We collected Sea Robins, rays, skates, and Croakers by the hundreds, even thousands. I was able to measure a 40 pound ray and several large skates. Earlier this week we had rays which were so big, we had to call out all the deckhands from the watch and several scientists to weigh and measure them using the crane. One was 240 pounds and the other just 192 pounds.
Northern Sea Robin (Prionotus caroliuns)
Bluntnose Stingray Dasyatis say 108 centimeters, 18 kg
Bluntnose Stingray (Dasyatis say)
Giant Roughtail Stingrays (Dasyatis centroura) in the catcher
Huge Roughtail Stingray (Dasyatis centroura)
Listening for Croaker (Micropogonias undulatus) talking
Lobster (Nephropidae)
Nicole measures an Atlantic Angel Shark (Squatina dumeril)
Roughtail Stingray (Dasyatis centroura), picture taken by Dave Vendettouli
NOAA Teacher at Sea Sue Zupko
Aboard NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow
September 7-19, 2014
Mission: Autumn Trawl Leg I Geographical Area of Cruise: Atlantic Ocean from Cape May, NJ to Cape Hatteras, NC Date: September 16, 2014
Weather Data from the Bridge Lat 36°54.2’N Lon 075°40.9’W
Present Weather CLR
Visibility 10 nm
Wind 300° 5-8 kts
Sea Level Pressure 1013.8
Sea Wave Height 1-2 ft
Temperature: Sea Water 24.3°C
Air 22.7°
Science and Technology Log
When on a field trip to Dauphin Island Sea Lab with my 5th grade students, I saw an exhibit about NOAA’s drifter program at the Estuarium. It seemed interesting to follow drifters on the ocean’s currents and learn more about our planet in the process. When I returned home from the trip, I visited the NOAA Adopt a Drifter site to see how my classes could get involved. The requirements include having an international partner with whom to share lessons and information. I was fortunate enough to find Sarah Hills of the TED Istanbul College through internet sites for teachers interested in collaborating. Her 6th grade English classes just began the school year and are studying maps. We both applied in late spring to the program as a team, explained our ideas for sharing information, and were accepted. Not only were we assigned one drifter, but two.
To create ownership for participants, NOAA sent stickers for us to sign and attach to the drifter. I was set to sail at the beginning of September so Mrs. Hills signed for her students. In addition to our friends’ stickers from Turkey, I attached stickers to the drifters signed by crew members, my students, friends, the science crew on board, and the NOAA officers on the Bigelow.
Stickers on Drifter
Sunday we deployed our drifters. They had come in a large cardboard box which had been sitting on the stern of the ship for almost two weeks. The directions were very simple. I just had to write down the identification number, rip off the magnet to turn it on, toss the drifter overboard, and write down the coordinates and time.
Drifters shipped to Bigelow and stowed in shipping box on fantail.
We were working close to the Gulf Stream so the captain had us enter the Gulf Stream so the drifters would catch that strong current and move out to sea. The water was pretty rough in the Gulf Stream, but, oh, the color of the water was a beautiful blue. When deploying (tossing it in the water) the drifter, I was not to remove any of the cardboard since the salt water would soften it and allow the drogue down below to drop down underwater (and it wouldn’t expand on the ship causing serious injury to us). The bosun (chief deckhand) suggested we push it off the fish board on the port stern quarter rather than tossing due to a lack of room.
Drifter…Ready…Set…
Go…
Drifters away!
Drifter in Gulf Stream
Drifter Deployment Team
The captain took pictures for me with my camera and the chief scientist ran the GoPro (a video camera). Must be an important operation when my two head bosses on the ship participate. We also had deckhands, Steve and James, our survey technician, Geoff, and Ensign Estela joining in on the fun.
After deploying the drifters, we watched them float in the Gulf Stream behind us. Where do you think they will end up? Track them and see where they are.
Both drifters came online when tossed in the water. However, one of them turned off shortly after it began its journey. Only time will tell if it turns back on.
I wrote down the necessary data on the form NOAA provided, took a picture of it, and sent it to the Drifter Team back at NOAA. They needed to assign them tracking numbers and put the link to the drifters on the web site.
The drifters last about 400 days. Click here to learn more.
Meet John Galbraith, our Chief Scientist
Chief scientist, John Galbraith, prepares to examine the nets
John is a mild-mannered man. He thinks through his answers and is very thorough to make sure his listener understands what he means. John has worked with NOAA for 23 years. I asked what he would be doing if he didn’t work with NOAA and he said, “Something outside with fish.” Can you guess what his hobbies are? There really is just one. Fishing. He loves fly fishing, trawling, casting, deep-sea fishing, you name it. If it involves fish, he loves it. As a matter of fact, he was so passionate about fish growing up that people always told him he would be a marine scientist. He grew up on Cape Cod in Massachusetts and loved to be outside, especially with fish.
John is passionate about the state of the environment. When I asked why he believes what we are doing with the Autumn Trawl Survey is important, he stated that it is imperative to monitor the health of our ocean through the survey. Data about fish populations (or most environmental science) must be collected over a long period of time, and using the same method, in order to make comparisons. Is what’s happening today different than what was happening 40 years ago with our fish populations? John said, “If we didn’t know what was there 20 years ago, for example, we wouldn’t know if the population of a fish species is more or less abundant.” This is the information we are gathering for scientists to evaluate.
What we are doing directly affects commercial and recreational fishing. He called this “pressure” since fisherman are changing the population of the fish they are catching. So, the surveys are looking to see what impact these pressures have on the fish. The data is used to help make or change rules for fisherman. So, if the population of a species is declining, and the larger fish are the ones needed for reproduction, for example, a rule might be installed saying that fish of a certain size cannot be kept. I found this in Canada when I went fishing this summer for Walleyed Pike. We could only keep four fish a day, and only one of those could be over 18 inches long. This helped preserve the ones who will keep reproducing so the species won’t disappear. Conversely, if there are a huge amount of a species of fish, the rules could change to allow more larger fish to be kept.
John loves his job because he loves seeing the diversity of fish. He spends 50% of his time on the boat to catch fish and the other 50% identifying fish in the lab. People are sent to him when they need a “fish expert”.
John said if he had to name the one tool he couldn’t live without it would be his fish database by Oracle. It is computer software to catalogue fish species. There is even a way to easily create web pages, which he really likes.
Now, related to this is a tool which already exists that he would love, but is very expensive. When we get certain little fish in the net, they are damaged (smushed) badly. He would like unlimited genetic testing of fish to verify the species. It would speed up identification of the fish.
John’s strength in getting the word out about fish is through his passion and willingness to teach others. Cruises such as the one I am on are the perfect opportunity to teach others. I predict a book or magazine article about fish or fish identification to be in his future so he can share his love of fish even more.
John’s advice to young people is to get stronger in math and science when it comes to school. When not at school, get outside and observe the world around you. So there is a tree on your hike. Do you know what kind it is? How tall will it grow? What lives on or in it? Look in the water. What type of fish are there? How is the type of water (pond, stream, lake) related to the fish that live there? Learn about your environment. Catch frogs and turtles and find out about them. John says all types of learning are important. He graduated from Roger Williams University in Rhode Island. Interestingly, several people on this ship graduated from there.
Personal Log
There are several types of doors on a ship. One is what you find in a home with a handle rather than a knob. Then, there are heavy doors with a wheel for certain bulkhead doors going outside. And, my favorite, the big handled doors between compartments inside. These all used to be wheels, and I found them very difficult to manage when on my last cruise.
Difficult for me to open wheel-style doors
New large levers.
Had to throw my weight into this door leading to the exercise room on the Pisces.
Did You Know?
Here is a mariner’s trick the captain was teaching the ensign on watch this morning. Remember these numbers. 6 & 10, 5 & 12. Did you know if you want to estimate a time of arrival (ETA) on a boat, you can calculate it quickly in your head? At 6 knots (kts) it takes 10 minutes to travel 1 nautical mile (nm). At 10 kts it takes 6 minutes to travel 1 nm. And at 5 kts it takes 12 minutes to travel 1 nm and at 12 kts it takes 5 minutes to travel 1 nm.
Question of the Day
How long would it take to travel 1 nm if steaming (traveling) at 20 kts?
Vocabulary
One of John’s favorite words: Congeners–These are things which appear incredibly similar; for fish it means the same genus, but different species. When I was trying to learn the different fish while sorting, I found the Croaker and the Spot to be similar. Both have a spot on their side, but the Spot’s spot is above his pectoral (side) fin and the Croaker’s is on its pectoral fin. The Pigfish, Butterfish, and Scup as well as the different Anchovies are difficult to identify when just learning.
Scup (Stenotomus chrysops)
Pigfish (Orthopristis chrysoptera)
Butterfish (Peprilus triacanthus)
Dusky Anchovy (lyolepis mitchilli)
Striped Anchovy (Anchoa hepsetus)
However, although these fish appear similar, all are in different genera and some in different families. An example of congeners that we have seen this trip would be the Marbled Puffer, Sphoeroides dorsalis, the Northern Puffer, Sphoeroides maculatus, and the Bandtail Puffer, Sphoeroides spengleri. All have the same genus, Sphoeroides – which implies that they are all very similar looking fishes. In fact, their body shapes are almost identical, but they each have different color patterns.
Something to Think About
If you spend all your time sitting at a computer, will you have more or less opportunity to understand about our environment? Can you see, hear, smell, feel, and taste it?
Challenge Yourself
Follow John’s advice and get outside more than you have been. Exploring the world around you is a great way to Sharpen the Saw, as we say at Weatherly using The Leader in Me program.
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Sue Zupko
Aboard NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow
September 7-19, 2014
Mission: Autumn Bottom Trawl Leg I Geographical Area of Cruise: Atlantic Ocean from Cape May, NJ to Cape Hatteras, NC Date: September 13, 2014
Weather Data from the Bridge Lat 35°38.1’N Lon 074°50’W
Present Weather PC
Visibility 10 nm
Wind 220° 5kts
Sea Level Pressure 1016.6
Sea Wave Height 1-2 ft
Temperature: Sea Water 27.2°C
Air 28.4°
Science and Technology Log
If you want to learn about biodiversity, come on a NOAA Fisheries Cruise. We hear about the numerous fish in the ocean, but nothing really makes it come alive as does seeing it. There are pockets of animals in each of the strata. Different depths have different temperatures, bottom type, plants, etc. Let me explain a bit about my watch and what we are doing.
I was amazed by the diverse sounds. A crow. A jaguar screaming. A frog croak. Sloshing. Thumps. “Fine”. A ringing telephone. A whip cracking. A waterfall. Thunder. A pinball machine. Music playing. Some people singing along. Laughter. Chatter. The list is seemingly endless.
There are platforms we each stand on along the conveyor belt which brings the fish in to be processed from the checker on the deck. The first person in line and pulls out fish which might be harmful such as electric rays and large sharks. Hope she gets the Lionfish as well. Don’t want to be stuck by those spines. As the animals come down the line we sort them based on the instructions of the watch chief who has been outside to see the catch, comparing what we have.
Heath, our watch chief, programming our catch
Heath is my watch chief. So, he suits up in his PFD (life jacket–personal flotation device) and hardhat(helmet) to see what was put in the catcher and then tells us what to leave on the conveyor belt as it goes by. That is usually what is most numerous. Sometimes it’s trash, such as starfish and jellies , other times it’s Loligo squid One night we had a huge amount of scallops so a seemingly endless stream of scallops passed us by. I love eating scallops. It is amazing to view them up close. They have numerous eyes lining the inside of the shell.
Longfin Squid (Loligo pealei)
Atlantic Calico Scallops (Argopecten gibbus)
Starfish (Astropecten) and jellies on the conveyor
Once the animals are sorted by species into containers, they then make their way down the conveyor to Heath. Heath scans the container which makes a telephone ringing sound. He enters/selects the name of the animal on his monitor (crow caws–actually except for animal id every time he does something his “ok” sound is a crow), checks our work to be sure the animals in the container are all the same, weighs the catch of that entire species, and sends the container on its way down the conveyor belt.
There are three processing stations along the conveyor. I have mostly worked with Nicole this week so far. She is a fabulous teacher. Very patient with my inexperience and points out when I do something correctly. That way I will repeat things the correct way. She also suggests better ways when I struggle. Heath explained that we process the containers with the most organisms in them first so no one is stuck at the end of the line doing a large container of animals when others are cleaning up. Some containers might just have one animal. This system works pretty well since everyone seems to finish at the same time.
1 Gallon Container
There are two people at each of the three stations. One person is the fish processor and the other is the recorder. First, the processor scans the container. It buzzes and identifies the container and what the animal is. I was very proud of myself today. I have been assigned to work with Larry now. He left me on my own to process (though he was watching from across the conveyor). When I checked to see how to measure the fish I was working with, it said to measure the width of the carapace. Carapaces are found on turtles or crabs. It is their hard shell. I had a tiny fish. On a rocking ship, it is easy to push a wrong button on a screen and this container had the wrong name on it. Easy fix. Sent it back for reassigning a species and I picked it up when it came by again. “Nice catch on that,” Larry said. Made me feel proud that I recognized how to use the equipment, recognize certain species, and fix the problem. Nicole said if we make a mistake, it can always be fixed. Remember, we learn from mistakes. That’s what we stress in my classroom. Try it. If you fail, learn from the mistake and redo. That works with adults as well.
My favorite sound is the pinball machine that says the weight has been recorded. If the animal needs more processing than just being weighed, there is a sound (a jaguar scream or a whip cracking) to tell the team what to do. Sometimes we need to put the animal in a jar to be preserved. )
Other times we need to take a photograph, or it will ask what the animal’s sex is. We have had a lot of requests for fish to be frozen for study back in the lab. These are bagged and put into a large freezer for the requesting scientist. The most common seems to be getting the otolith, the part of a fish that aids it in orientation, balance, and sound detection. These are tiny in most fish and require a little manila envelope that we put a sticker on identifying it. These special requests from the computer are all preset requests from scientists working in a scientific area back on shore.
In the Chem Lab preserving specimens
Care must be taken with the chemicals
Chemicals preserve the speciman for further research.
The sound of the waterfall is the constant stream of salt water running down a shoot onto the floor. This picks up animals and trash that have dropped and washes them down drains or out the scuppers (small rectangular openings on the bottom of the wall at the floor which opens to the outside) on the sides of the room. The water is very warm and I’ve noticed that the sea water has been warmer than the air temperature. Another sound is the water sloshing around, similar to the sound in a bathtub when you move the water.
Saltwater helps keep the floor clean in the wet lab.
When I began this blog I was sitting on the O2 deck at a small table under the stairs. We kept changing direction at relatively slow speeds. I have learned that we were using the multi-beam sonar to look at the bottom to find an acceptable spot to trawl. I was excited to sit outside to work and gaze out over the ocean. During that time I spotted three pods of dolphins swimming. John Galbraith, our chief scientist, and I discussed last night how if you aren’t spending time observing something you will miss many things. So true. If I wasn’t observing the ocean frequently, what are the odds I would see a whale?
Meet Scientist Nicole Charriere
Nicole with Slender Snipe Eel
Nicole has been my mentor for the past week. She is a sea-going biological technician, sailing about 130 days out of a year. She usually is on scallop surveys, but seems pretty expert in fish, shrimp, and clams as well. Her job on this cruise is to help provide leadership. There are several volunteers on this cruise, me included, and some are novices just learning about fish. She explains about the protocols (a formal set of rules and procedures to be followed during a particular research experiment).
What Nicole likes about her job is she isn’t in an office all the time. Trawls are different every day. No two tows are the same, and there are a huge variety of species. She really enjoys the diversity of people she gets to work with. There are different scientists and crew members to meet each time. She is a scuba diver and knew she wanted a career with NOAA when she graduated college. She had a job on a commercial fishing vessel and was contacted by NOAA. Someone probably noticed her great work and let someone hiring at NOAA know.
There is something very ironic about Nicole working on a fishing vessel. She doesn’t like sea food. She recognizes its importance and that it is important for the world to have a reliable food source, but it isn’t her favorite.
Nicole’s advice to my students is to talk to everyone and learn. Make connections about what you learn. Work hard, since working hard and getting along with people on a team gets you noticed and when a job comes available, guess who gets hired? Not the person who is difficult to work with and is late constantly.
Nicole has an active lifestyle. In addition to scuba diving, she roller blades, plays guitar and keyboard, and plays soft ball and soccer. She knows a lot of people who are still looking for the perfect career for them. Nicole is thrilled to have found her dream job so early in her life. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work with this eloquent, interesting, and fun scientist.
Personal Log
Yeah! The captain put out an all-call and said there were pilot whales off the port side. We had just finished our watch and I headed out to the port side. There they were. I said, “They look like dolphins.” Both are cetaceans, both hunt fish, both are smart, both have a dorsal fin that sticks up out of the water. I believe I saw some earlier. One remained in one place with a huge fin sticking up. I hadn’t seen a dolphin do that before. They might swim in a circle going after a fish, but this behavior was a bit unusual. At the time I just thought how big that dolphin was. Now, upon reflection, I believe that was a Pilot Whale. That was so kind of the captain to announce the whales’ presence. The XO, Chad Cary, told me that Pilot Whales got their name since they are indicators of where the fish were. The fisherman just piloted their boats to where those whales were. Interesting way to get a name. Obviously, I’m pretty excited. Did you say I would see a whale on that poll?
Did You Know?
Deploying CTD
CTD stands for conductivity, sea water temperature, and depth (of where measurements are taken).
According to NOAA, salinity measurements can be used to determine seawater density which is a primary driving force for major ocean currents which help drive the Earth’s climates. This seems analogous (similar) to the causes of wind when air moves from warm air to cold and back again.
Question of the Day
The CTD protocol states that it must stop 5 meters from the bottom to take its measurements. If the CTD descends at 37 m/s, how long will it take for the CTD to get in position to measure its readings and return to the surface if the bottom is 338 m from the surface?
Vocabulary
Salinity: The percentage of salt in the water. Think of it as if you had 1000 grams of water and mixed one gram of salt into it. This would be 1 ppt salinity. Our ocean averages about 35 ppt salinity. Our CTD found that the ocean’s salinity where we tested today was 34 ppt.
Something to Think About
We actually let out 361 m of wire with the CTD, but the bottom was only 338 m. Why did we let out more wire than the distance to the bottom when we dropped the CTD?
Animals Seen Today
Tonguefish (Cynoglossidae) (2)
Balloonfish (Diodon holocanthus)
Longnose Greeneye (Parasudis truculenta)
Flying Fish (Exocoetidae)
Beardfish (Polymixia lowei)
Lancer Stargazer (Kathetostoma albigutta)
Starfish (Astropecten) and jellies on the conveyor
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Sue Zupko
Aboard NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow
September 7-19, 2014
Mission: Autumn Bottom Trawl Leg I Geographical Area of Cruise: Atlantic Ocean from Cape May, NJ to Cape Hatteras, NC Date: September 10, 2014
Weather Data from the Bridge
Lat 37°38’N
Lon 075°15.8W
Present Weather CL
Visibility 10 +nm
Wind 025° 10kts
Sea Level Pressure 1016.2
Sea Wave Height 3-4 ft
Temperature: Sea Water 26.6°C
Air 24.8° C
Science and Technology Log
We are now “on the road again” trawling. The nets were lowered at about 7:30 am. I was surprised by how small our catch has been. The scientists are not at all surprised. They said because of the time of year, many fish are in the estuaries spawning (reproducing). Today we have been on the edge of the continental shelf off the coast of Delaware and Virginia. When we get in closer, the scientists say we will have a lot more fish in our net.
Bathymetric Display
Single beam display in acoustics lab
It is fascinating how they are selecting sites for sampling.The sea floor needs to be fairly flat to pull a net across. We learn what the bottom is like using sonar. A multi-beam sonar on the bottom of the hull is in the center of the ship. There is also a single-beam sonar there. They serve two different purposes. The single-beam looks straight down the water column. It is like a really bright penlight. This shows what is in the water column such as fish and plankton. It also can reach greater depths since its light is stronger. The multi-beam is more like a floodlight. It spreads out over the bottom revealing all the different levels of the ground. These sonar beams bounce off the bottom and send the ship information. The crew watches the sonar information and scouts for a good area to drop our nets. Of course, there are certain areas where samples need to be taken. They are trying to repeat a tow at the same time every year within a strata area. “So what is a strata?” I asked.
Geoff Shook, our survey technician, reads the information on the display
Strata lines are like lines on a topographic map on land. It is called a bathymetric map underwater. The lines on a bathymetric map are called strata lines. These are based on the different depths. The net needs to be pulled within the same strata at the same time each year. As long as a tow is within the strata the habitat is about the same. In order to get accurate population information, they must make at least two tows within a strata. Some of the strata are hundreds of square miles. Strata are the same depth range and habitat. Closer to the continental shelf, the strata are much narrower. Closer to shore, they are much wider. For example, strata 70 is 281 square nautical miles (nm). It is 55-110 m deep and is next to the shelf. However, strata 73 is closer to shore, is 2145 sq. nm, and is 27-55 m deep. Their habitats are different so random samples need to be taken within each.
So, I think of it like a chess board within a strata. If we want a random sample, we could drop a piece of soft clay from about a 1/2 m above the board. Where it hits is where we tow in that strata. Our first tow is at D5. The second piece of clay could fall on H2. So, there is where we would sample.
Then, when the ship is over top of the strata we will sample, it must find a safe area to tow which won’t tangle or break the net. You can’t get a sample with a broken net.
Notice the wires on the spools which haul the nets. On the first one the wire is tightly wrapped. On the second one the wire has a gap. This could lead it to break or more easily tangle. We are doing a deep tow tonight outside of the “normal” range of 366 m deep. However, it will not only give us new information, but will, hopefully, help rewrap the wire on the second spool so it will be tight. Have you ever tangled a loose fishing line on your reel? It is somewhat similar to that so we are trying to prevent this from happening later.
Notice the nice symmetrical lines on this spool
Notice the gap between the wires
So, what have I been doing while waiting for a tow to complete? It depends. One time I told jokes with the scientists. Another I had a snack. Once I ate dinner. Right now, I’m working on my blog. Nap is not an option. I’ll explain that later.
It was a Win-Win Wednesday. We got some great fish by going deep, we explored some very deep water, the wire was rewound properly onto the spool, and we will have a shrimp fest tomorrow.
Meet the Crew
Luke Staiger, 2nd Cook
The old adage “an army runs on its stomach” holds true for a research vessel. Meet Luke Staiger, our 2nd cook. Luke is with the Bigelow on temporary assignment from the Reuben Lasker in San Diego. NOAA members get moved around short term as needed. Luke has been with NOAA for 12 years. He has been cooking since he was a kid. His most important tool is an 8″ all purpose knife. It must be sharp and long-handled. If he could invent the perfect tool for the job, what do you suppose it would be? That’s right, a knife that is comfortable to hold all day.
Luke worked in a buffet restaurant so this is the perfect situation for him since it’s all buffet. He worked his way up to cook after doing other jobs at the restaurant. I’m looking forward to a breakfast that he prepares since cooking breakfast is his favorite.
Luke recognizes how important the work is that NOAA does. We need to preserve our resources, such as water, he says. NOAA keeps an eye on things so we don’t lose sight of what matters. When not on a boat, Luke enjoys fixing up cars, especially adding stereo systems. Luke has an easy going personality and a ready smile, making it pleasant to work with him.
How did he find NOAA? Similar to others that I have interviewed, he looked online. NOAA has good benefits, you get to travel, and the experience is good. His advice to my students is to gain lots of experience in your field, even if it’s just volunteering. You will find work if you do a good job and have a lot of experience.
Personal Log
Remember I said I won’t get a nap during my 20 minutes between tows? It is interesting how our stateroom (cabin/bedroom) works. There are four of us in our stateroom. When I leave to go to work, I cannot go back until the end of my watch. I carry everything with me so it is like the private room for two other women. Then I only have one room mate. We get the room for 12 hours. There are curtains around our beds and we wear earplugs. I hardly know that the other scientist on my watch, Lacey, is even there. All I do is check to see if her curtain is closed. That means, “I’m asleep.”
Did You Know?
Did you know that there is an anchor-cleaning device onboard the ship? It sprays salt water at 150 psi (pounds per square inch). The anchor gets pretty dirty sitting on the ocean floor when we are at anchor. They don’t want all that dirt on the ship in the anchor locker, so it gets cleaned. A clean ship is a happy ship.
Question of the Day
Why would different depths affect which fish live there?
Vocabulary Word
Sonoluminescence. This is short bursts of light from imploding bubbles in water (or in a liquid) when excited (moved around) by sound. A mantis shrimp is capable of sonoluminescence because the high speed of its front legs is capable of creating and rapidly shrinking air bubbles. The bubble looks like a spark underwater with no fire.
Something to Think About
If we don’t preserve our fisheries, which is what NOAA is researching, soon there won’t be any fish.
Challenge Yourself
We used a deep-water protocol, which is between 183 and 366 m. If you are fishing in a strata that is 200 feet deep, would you fall in the deep-water protocol?
Animals Seen Today
Here are pictures of what we saw today in our really deep water trawl.
NOAA Teacher at Sea Sue Zupko
Aboard NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow
September 7-19, 2014
Mission: Autumn Bottom Trawl Leg I Geographic Area of Cruise: Atlantic Ocean from Cape May, NJ to Cape Hatteras, NC Date: September 7, 2014
Weather Data from the Bridge Lat 41°31.3’N Lon 071°20.8W
Present Weather PC
Visibility 10 nm
Wind 010° 9kts
Sea Level Pressure 1019.8
Sea Wave Height 1-2 ft
Temperature: Sea Water 22°C Air 28°
Science and Technology Log
Flexibility is the key. Our sail date was changed several times due to mechanical issues. I’m ok with that. It beats getting out in the middle of the ocean and not having things work properly. We weren’t sure exactly when the Bigelow would sail as of Thursday, but were pretty sure it would be today at 10:00 am. NOAA had me fly out to get onboard.
Arrival at airport
What a blessing that was. I was able to get acclimated (used to) to the ship, meet some crew members, and organize my belongings.
Mrs. Zupko beside the Henry B. Bigelow.
That is a big deal since when docked, nothing is moving. Once we got underway, the ship rocks and rolls. Pencils loose in a drawer aren’t a good idea. Where to store the flashlight? Can I find my necklace in the morning? It’s about routine. The locker (my closet) is noisy to open and close and must be kept closed when underway. Try not to forget things since you have to open that door again–and you have to hold the door since it swings and will bang. Someone is always sleeping. Right now my roommate is sleeping so I am thankful I have a quiet keyboard. She has earplugs in and told me I wouldn’t bother her. I also got to pick my berth (bed), which is on the bottom. There will be four of us in the room when everyone arrives tonight–all scientists.
So far I have had no “duties” other than blogging. When we start trawling, I will work noon-midnight. One of the scientists on my watch, Nicole, gave me a tour today and explained what I will be doing. My foul weather gear consists of heavy orange bib coveralls, a heavy yellow jacket with super long sleeves, and big rubber boots which come up to my knees. I brought inserts to go in the boots since I’ll be standing–a lot. Bought some new shoes that are slip-ons so I can get out of my foul weather gear as soon as we are done processing the fish. I learned that we probably will have over 100 trawls on this leg of the Autumn Trawl Survey and we will climb in and out of our gear often.
Let me explain a bit about how things will happen. Over the ship’s intercom, which will be heard everywhere except our staterooms, the galley, and the lounge, there is a (Bing….Bong….) “Attention on the Bigelow. Streaming….” This means the nets are being let out and will be at the bottom about 20 minutes. What can I do for 20 minutes? Help me out and vote on my poll.
The blue trawl doors on the deck will be added to the net.
As the net is let out, blue “trawl doors” attached to the net sink to the bottom, holding the net down and keeping the mouth of the net open. Now, the amount of time it takes to bring the net up varies. The net could have been 24 m down or 350 m down. When they start bringing in the net, the NOAA crew will make an announcement (Bing….Bong….)”Haul back.” They will show me how to find the depth on the equipment so I will be able to judge when to be ready. When the net comes up, the fish will be dumped on a table called a checker. If there are too many, they get dumped on the deck (called a deck tow). I hope it fits in the checker since it will be less work. Imagine picking up all those fish from the deck and putting them in containers.
Once in the checker, they will be fed to a conveyor belt which takes them into the wet lab for processing. We will sort the critters and organic “trash” into buckets by species. (I cringed at the word trash being used for wonderful creatures such as sponges and corals. However, Nicole explained that these are just not our main animals of interest. It is similar to weeds. A weed is any plant you don’t want in a specific flower bed. I love wildflowers, but they don’t always work well in my garden.)
The person in charge (called the “watch” chief) will weigh and label the fish and send the container on. Some fish will be selected for extra information. Others will be released into the sea. Animals that we keep will be for further research.
The work we are doing is very important to monitor the ocean’s health. Health to the ocean, means health to us. If the ocean isn’t healthy, we had better find out why and correct it. It’s like a nurse takes your temperature and looks at your symptoms when you are sick. We are the nurses checking on the sea. Others will analyze the symptoms and come up with a plan to correct any problems. I will give more information on our work later.
Meet the NOAA Crew
Ensign Erick Estela Gomez is originally from Puerto Rico. Most of my dealings when I boarded the ship were with him since he was the OOD, Officer of the Deck, for the weekend. In between his filling in reports and checking on the ship’s systems, we had a chance to talk. He is very personable and has a brilliant smile. Maybe his smile is infectious since he just got engaged to be married and is very happy. Added to his many abilities, he speaks four languages. He explained that he received an Environmental Science degree from the University of Puerto Rico. Most NOAA officers have a science or engineering degree or 60 credit hours in math and science. I need to check my records and see if I have that much. Maybe I could be a NOAA Corps officer.
Ensign Estela’s favorite part of his job is steering the ship. I enjoyed doing that when aboard the Pisces. It is a challenge. While he was off doing a chore, I sat in one of the two tall chairs on the bridge (operations center of ship). When he was done, he explained, very politely, that it is ship’s custom that no one except the captain sit in those chairs. He has been an ensign 1.5 years and said he will not sit in one of those as a sign of respect until he has earned it himself by being appointed to be a captain of a ship. I guess I always figured it was like Captain Kirk leaving Scotty or Spock in charge and they would sit in his chair to give orders. But, Ensign Estela has a lot of respect for earning one’s rank and will sit there when appropriate. So, no cool chair for me on the bridge now.
Ensign Estela paused to really consider what tool he couldn’t live without when doing his job since he uses a lot of important tools. He decided on radar. It can be very foggy and this tool helps avoid collisions (crashes). If he invented a tool, it would be a fog-clearing machine to be able to see smaller vessels (boats) or obstructions.
There are collateral (other) duties for him. He is responsible for inventorying all the equipment on board. Every computer. Every pillow. He also needs to make sure things are in working order. If boots wear out, he needs to order more. That means managing a lot of paper so he needs organization skills. His main duty, however, is navigation officer. He checks the tides and currents and posts all that information on a white board on the bridge. Maintaining charts, ship’s routes, and flags indicating our status are part of his job. I enjoyed learning a bit more from Ensign Estela on plotting the course using triangles. Triangles provide a nice straight edge.
Navigation tools. Numbers on the map in water show depth in feet.
Ensign Estela explaining about mapping to Mrs. Zupko
Ensign Estela plots our ship’s course for day.
His advice to my students, and any young person, is to keep up your math and science. Don’t sit in front of the TV or computer, get outside and do things. It’s obvious he does since he bicycles, fishes, and enjoys salsa dancing for relaxation. We call this Sharpening the Saw.
Personal Log
This is the ships call sign.
This week my students are studying how to communicate across distances on the ocean. How do ships communicate, for example? A ship might not have a radio. Flags work. There is a flag which states what country you are from. There are flags that say you have a net or a diver in the water. There are flags which tell your call sign if you want to speak by radio. There is even a flag for every letter of the alphabet. All these flags are up on the flying bridge, the highest deck on the ship.
Did You Know?
The ship usually uses true north for navigation. However, if that system fails, it uses magnetic north. North is 0°. That is like 90° on a coordinate grid. That is a bit confusing. We use degrees on maps all the time. Just remember that 0°N is used for navigation and wind direction.
Question of the Day
Something to Think About
A tradition on board a ship is to remove one’s hat in the mess hall (dining area) and to not wear foul weather gear there. The mess hall was used during war as the hospital. People died on those tables and it is a sign of respect to remove one’s hat. Hats are often used to show respect. People remove their hats at a ball game to sing the national anthem. Men tip their hats to acknowledge a woman’s presence. People remove their hats in eating establishments. It is good to learn a country’s or culture’s (such as a ship) customs so as not to offend someone. That is also a sign of respect. When visiting churches while a tourist in Russia, I covered my head and wore a skirt, as is their custom. On board ship, once I leave my room for my watch, I shouldn’t return until my watch is over. That means carrying my computer, cameras, notes, jacket, phone, cup, water bottle, etc. with me so I don’t disturb those asleep. It’s just like being quiet in the halls at school. Guess what? They don’t want us talking in these halls either since someone is always sleeping. It is rude to disturb others, whether it be their sleep or learning.
NOAA Teacher at Sea Sue Zupko (soon to be) Aboard NOAA Ship Henry Bigelow
September 7-19, 2014
Mission: Autumn Bottom Trawl Survey Leg I Geographical area of cruise: Cape May, NJ to Cape Hatteras, NC Date: September 4, 2014
Personal Log
I am a teacher of the Gifted and Talented at Weatherly Heights Elementary School in Huntsville, AL. I am so very humbled by the opportunity I have been given to conduct research aboard the Henry B. Bigelow with NOAA scientists. This is my second NOAA cruise. I studied deep-water corals aboard the Pisces in 2011 and thought it was my only chance to do something like that. They told me if I did all my homework, and did all my projects well, that good things would come my way. I say that to my students and this is an example of why one should do one’s homework and try hard. You’d better believe that I did my best. I love to learn so a NOAA research cruise and projects with my students are a perfect fit.
Me on the Pisces, It was cold in this lab.
In preparing for my first entry I asked my students for advice on what to include. They insisted that I include a “shout out” to them and tell how fabulous our school is.
Here are a few highlights. Weatherly has been recycling aluminum cans to help pay for our outdoor classroom since 1998 when I helped write a grant to get a trailer to collect cans and take them to the recycling center. We have made thousands of dollars through the years and have an Alabama Certified Outdoor Classroom now. Students, parents, faculty, and community volunteers help with it and enjoy learning there. We have raised Monarch butterfly larvae, viewed Ladybug larvae under a microscope from the Tulip Poplar tree, grown melons, touched plants in the sensory garden, and myriad other activities.
We piloted a recycling program for our district. Every classroom has a bin to collect clean paper and plastic. It is collected weekly and tons of items have been recycled as a result.
We participate in a plastic bottle cap recycling program. This is an annual contest city-wide and Weatherly counts and recycles thousands of caps to be made into paint buckets rather than taking up room in the landfill. For many years we recycled phone books and were one of the top three recyclers.
In addition to helping the environment, we are a No Place for Hate school. We also study about the ocean. A lot. I am the faculty advisor for our morning announcements. Our quotes of the week this year are about the ocean and we highlight an ocean literacy principle every day. We now know that marine biologist Sylvia Earle pointed out that “With every drop of water you drink, every breath you take, you’re connected to the sea. No matter where on Earth you live. Most of the oxygen in the atmosphere is generated by the sea.”
On my upcoming voyage with NOAA, I will launch two drifters. In order to be selected for this drifter project, a teacher must have an international partner to share lessons with to learn about the ocean. After an extensive search I found the perfect match. Sarah Hills at the TED Istanbul College teaches English. Her students will be studying map reading starting in September when they return to school. We have already decided that our students will plot the course of the drifters and hypothesize where they will be at specific times based on the ocean currents and winds which will carry them.
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These drifters measure ocean salinity, surface water temperature, velocities (speeds) of the current, and air pressure and are important for understanding more about our weather and the ocean. I can’t wait to get our students communicating. Weatherly’s school theme is “A Village of Learners and Leaders.” Outside my classroom on the bulletin board are some wonderful items from Turkey provided by Mrs. Hills and it says, “A Global Village of Learners and Leaders.” In preparation for tracking our drifters, we are currently tracking former hurricanes and researching how the ocean changes our planet. On their exit ticket today, my 5th graders commented that they liked tracking the hurricanes since they will use the same technique to track my journey and the drifters.
I am so excited. I have spoken with the Chief Scientist, John Galbraith, and understand that I will be working side-by-side with scientists on this fisheries cruise. We will drop a trawl net behind our 209 foot long ship and catch marine creatures. Our job will be to sort the fish (and other marine animals) and learn more about them using measurements and other means such as dissection. Computers play a role in our study and my first assignment will be to collect data in the computer. Wonder what program I will use, and is it similar to Excel which we use a lot?
I asked my fourth graders if they thought I might see a whale. They all responded yes in that group. What do you think?
Teachers at Sea need to be flexible, have fortitude, and follow orders. Let me explain. Right now I am waiting to see if my ship will even sail. The engineers have found a problem and are working to make the ship seaworthy for our voyage. Already our cruise date has changed twice. I must be flexible and be ready to leave on a moment’s notice. There are always some changes, it seems, when dealing with the ocean. On my last cruise a tropical depression (storm) formed over us and we couldn’t begin our research for an extra day.
Sailing is not for the faint of heart. I must be able to work long hours in uncomfortable conditions (they say this is having fortitude). They do supply my “foul weather” gear. Wonder if I will smell like fish at the end of my shift.
One handy piece of equipment I will take is ear plugs. The engines are loud and that helps when it is time to sleep. My shift will be either from midnight to noon or noon to midnight. That’s a long time to work. If we have a good catch, we will be working a lot. That is good for weight loss, as long as I don’t overdo with the fabulous food prepared by the stewards (cooks) in the galley (kitchen).
I was in the U.S. Army years ago and learned to follow orders, the third of the 3Fs. There are NOAA officers whose orders I must follow for my safety and the safety of the other scientists. I also must follow the orders of the NOAA Teacher at Sea directors and my chief scientist. Add to that my principal and superintendent in my district. That’s a lot of bosses giving orders.
Lastly, my students requested that I tell everyone our school motto. “We are Weatherly Heights and we…GO THE EXTRA MILE.” Well, pretty soon I can say, “We are the crew and scientists aboard the NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow and we…GO THE EXTRA NAUTICAL MILE.” Can’t wait to see what treasures we will uncover in the ocean.
NOAA Teacher at Sea: Sue Zupko NOAA Ship: Pisces Mission: Extreme Corals 2011; Study deep water coral and its habitat off the east coast of FL Geographical Area of Cruise: SE United States from off Jacksonville, FL to Biscayne Bay, FL Date: June 24, 2011
If you are just beginning this blog, you might wish to go back to post #1 and start reading there.
Before reading this post further, take the quiz.
Life at Sea
Dusk on a limitless ocean
Life at sea is things in miniature—except the view. The ocean seems to stretch on forever. It’s easy to see why people in ancient times thought you would fall off the edge if you got too close. Explorers ventured out to prove them wrong. Mathematicians and astronomers also studied it to try to discover the truth. We’ve come a long way in our understanding of the universe since then, but there is so much more to explore and learn. The ocean is just one of those unexplored and undiscovered places.
ROV Guys departing
After the scientists disembarked in Ft. Lauderdale, I stayed aboard the Pisces to learn about the workings of the ship while it steamed back to its home port of Pascagoula, MS. After all, how often does one get an opportunity like this? I had a tour of engineering, discussions on the bridge, conversations with the crew in the mess, and a lesson on bandwidth. This post is an attempt to describe some everyday things you need to know about going to sea with NOAA.
Safety
Shortly after we boarded, we had a briefing in the conference room. This was mostly to cover safety issues and things to help us understand procedures. Of course, meal time hours were shared. I made a mental note of those hours since I knew I wouldn’t want to miss any meals. The stewards’ reputation for good meals preceded them.
ENS Michael Doig began our briefing by drawing the following on the white board.
I thought this was a clever way to introduce what he would later discuss—our alarm bell and whistle patterns. Mike, a former high school teacher, brought this method of capturing the class’s attention to his work on the Pisces. One of the first things we practiced after the briefing was the “fire” drill. Mike explained that one long bell and whistle meant either fire, collision (I figured we would feel that as well), or security alert. If we heard this, we were to bring our PFD (Personal Floatation Device—life preserver), located under our bunks, to the conference room, which was the mustering (gathering) station for the scientists. Our chief scientist, Andy David, would take a head count and call 101 on the phone to report to the bridge our headcount. Mike explained that fire is one of the big concerns on a ship. It really needs to be taken seriously. You can’t run out to the mailbox to gather as many families do for their emergency spot where everyone knows to go. So, they gather the scientists together since we are more like guests and wouldn’t know the correct procedures to fight a fire. Of course, for the first drill the alarm said the fire was near the conference room so we had to muster on the fantail (back-end of the ship). It was interesting to watch the crew quickly go to their duty stations in full gear to fight the fire.
Oh, no! Ensign Doig poses in fake alarm.
During the course of our trip, I did hear alarms sound on the bridge from different locations. Often it was something someone needed to check on. None turned out to be real emergencies, but were alerts to the crew to check on something. Thank goodness. These were always attended to immediately—not just when the bridge crew finished what they were working on. ENS Doig happened to be on duty when one of these alarms went off and I was on the bridge. Knowing I was going to take a picture, he made a face full of alarm. It’s good to have a sense of humor, especially since they had checked out the possibility of a fire and determined the cause for the alarm wasn’t a fire.
Gumby survival suit
After we finished our fire drill (by the way, when the alarm sounds they always announce whether it is a drill or not), we were told we’d be practicing our abandon ship drill. For this you must bring a hat, long-sleeved shirt, long pants, PFD, and your “Gumby suit” (survival suit) to your muster station. The Gumby suit probably has some long special name, but no one calls it that. It is located in one’s stateroom in an orange bag next to the door. It has handles and even pictures and directions explaining how to put it on. Those who hadn’t donned a suit recently, crew and scientists, had to put it on. Never having been at sea, I, of course, had to put it on. What a pain! One hopes never to have to abandon ship, but it would be difficult to put that on in the water. I am pretty sure I’d have it on within the required minute if we were doing the act of last resort and abandoning ship. Easier putting it on aboard the ship than in the water. The signal to abandon ship is 6 or more short bells and/or whistles followed by one long one.
The answer to the quiz is three short bells or whistles is the signal for man overboard. Our mustering station was the conference room for this activity so a head count could be taken.
Get that shot!
When working with a crane or winch and lifting something over the side of the boat, you must wear a hard hat and PFD —even if you’re just watching. My first experience with this was when I stepped out by the door to take a picture of the ROV being launched. The fisherman standing nearby told me I had to get properly dressed. They were just getting ready to launch and I needed to be ready. Oops! I went right in and put on my hard hat and PFD. Stephanie Rogers captured that moment after I was properly attired. I later learned that when entering or leaving a port, you had to wear a hard hat on the bow. Lots of safety rules.
Sliding doors at the far end of the wet lab close automatically.
If there is a fire alarm, some doors automatically close and you must know about it so you won’t stand in the way if they start to close. I think the door would win in a battle for possession of that space. We have similar doors at the school which slam shut during fires. Watch out! In other words, on a ship, just as in school, safety is always on everyone’s mind.
Captain refers to book
On the bridge, someone is always assigned to watch. The captain pulled out his book, COMDTINST M16672.2D: Navigation Rules (COLREGS), to show me the regulation which he had just quoted. I’m telling you, there is a book for everything on the bridge and they use them. Reading makes life so much easier. The Inland Steering section, Rule 5, says the ship “must maintain proper look-out by sight and hearing”. The watch officer cannot risk a collision. There are two radar screens displayed prominently on the helm station. What do you need to watch for? Won’t the radar pick up the boats? Well, no. Large boats usually have a “black box” like airplanes, which have a transponder telling the ship’s name and what type of craft it is.
Game of chicken
Small boats often don’t have this equipment and are a big threat. I found that out the day after we left port. Boaters don’t seem to realize that there might be someone besides them on the water. Even in deep water small fishing boats would cut in front of us. It often seemed like a game of “Chicken”. Victor, an able-bodied seaman (special certification for those with extra training and skill) pointed out that whenever the winds pick up to 15 or 20 knots there are more than a few incidents of boaters getting in trouble and the Coast Guard alerts all ships to be aware and possibly assist in rescue. Besides possibly tipping over, small boats cannot be seen in high swells until a large ship is almost upon them. Many don’t have transponders or radios to contact anyone to communicate problems or questions. Also, they often drink alcohol and drive. Dumb! I asked Victor what the Pisces would do if a small boat got too close. Run ‘em down was not the answer. Trying to radio them, calling to them with a loudspeaker, or blowing the horn usually gets their attention, he told me.
Scott always had interesting socks.
You must wear shoes enclosed on the toes and heels. It’s readily apparent why. The stairs can be treacherous when you are flopping around. In waves you could slide and hurt yourself, walk out of the shoes and twist an ankle, or slip on a wet deck. I found out several reasons for the deck being wet: rain (no kidding), humidity (it’s amazing how quickly water vapor condenses on the deck and makes a pond that sloshes around), swabbing (cleaning), and potable water runoff.
Fresh Water Overflow
The ship makes its own fresh water. If there is too much in the potable (drinking) storage tank, the excess water will exit out a runoff valve onto the deck. I discovered this one morning toward the beginning of the trip. The engineer who explained it to me said that the people on the ship were conserving their water, most likely, and the excess from the tank drained off onto the deck. I heard the captain make the same comment a week later about how the people on this research expedition were doing a good job conserving. That made me feel really good. Those short showers paid off. Fun fact: it takes one gallon of diesel fuel to produce one gallon of fresh water on the ship.
Petey Pelican on handrail
“One hand for yourself, and one for the ship” is how you walk on a ship safely. There are railings everywhere for you to hang on to. It’s a challenge in choppy seas to carry something, such as a laptop, and successfully maneuver down the hall while holding on as well. When the seas were about seven feet high I found it more than a little challenging to stand let alone walk.
Ship Tour
Steep Stairs
Let me explain how a ship is laid out. When I say there are a lot of stairs, I’m not kidding. Before I knew anything about the ship, we took a tour of most of the places we’d be “living” and a few extras. Of course it was all fascinating. We started in the conference room on the deck right across from my stateroom. That deck inside includes staterooms, the lounge and conference room, the dive locker (the ship has three divers who can inspect the propeller, rudder and underwater parts of the hull if there is a problem), and business office. Outside is the rescue boat, a couple of winches, and the bow.
Oxygen tanks at top of stairs on O-2 deck
We climbed some stairs and as we got there the guide told us that this was the O 2 deck. At first I thought he was kidding since right in front of me were two oxygen tanks. I asked for clarification and he said this is the deck with the staterooms of the NOAA officers, bosun, chief engineer, and chief scientist. Hmmm…still didn’t make any sense to me. What does that have to do with oxygen? I kept my thoughts to myself. Later I found a map of the ship. I slept on the O-1 deck, the officers were on the O-2 deck, and the bridge was on the O-3 deck. Hello! It was the level name of the deck and had nothing to do with oxygen. It was just a coincidence. Too funny.
Climbing above the bridge was the “flying bridge” (I wonder if that’s because the flags are there). It houses the radio towers and says, “Danger–Radiation Warning.” We were told to let the bridge know when we were going up there. It’s a great place to try to catch a cell phone signal or watch a sunrise.
Had to throw my weight into this door leading to the exercise room.
Doors
On the Pisces, and I would assume on other ships, there are doors everywhere. I was surprised at how much strength I needed to operate them. When entering the lab from where the ROV was being piloted, which was the center of all the dive activity, I found that I had to “put my hip into it” to push it open. As a matter of fact, I noticed I have a few door-pushing bruises.
There are doors for everything. The fire and watertight doors are to keep you safe from fire and flood. The refrigerator and freezer doors protect food from bacteria and keep them preserved until it’s time to eat. There are doors to the bathroom (yeah), doors for lockers, doors for closets, doors for equipment, medicine cabinet doors, stateroom doors, doors, doors, doors. Almost all doors have a latch at the ceiling behind them so they can be held open. A swinging door is a real safety issue. You either close it right after you use it or go through it, or you latch it open. I found it a pain to have to keep closing my locker door. It would swing with the waves and I didn’t want to have it wake anyone up. The noise bugged me as well. As you can see, I had a bit of trouble with the door leading to the exercise room down below the main deck. The engineers could close it with one hand. I was there for two weeks and, try as I might, it never got any easier.
Wheeled water tight door with wind behind it
Close all watertight doors and fire doors, all the time. Fire or flooding can lead to a rapid death. The engineers and NOAA Corps constantly monitor for this. Although it is a safety thing, opening and shutting doors was one of my biggest challenges on ship. Good thing I have been working out with weights. Opening those doors was often a very difficult—especially if there were a door or window open to the outside at the other end of the room. I brought home several bruises on my hip for throwing my body into the door to get it open. I once remarked that if someone ever opened the door to the ROV lab when I was pushing my way in from the other side, I’d go flying into the room. Not cool since there is a counter right inside the door. Think law of inertia. Push hard against something (heavy door), it moves out of the way (someone opens it), you’re no longer stopped and off you fly (until you run into something). Newton’s law of inertia….
Storage Locker
Exercise
Taking a walk on the ship for aerobic exercise isn’t easy. The whole ship is only 209 feet long. Well, you have to go through doors just about everywhere. The only place I could have done this for any real length was to start near the wet lab, travel around to the right, over the fantail, up the stairs, up to the bow (front of ship), climb stairs to the bridge and turn around. Can’t go farther since there are doors to enter the bridge. When I needed to go just about anywhere inside the ship there were a minimum of two doors to open. To get from my stateroom to the exercise room I had to go through three watertight or fire doors—and three to return. When tired I’d pray for the door to open and someone to step through.
At night, make sure someone knows you are on deck. ENS Doig told us to dial 101 and tell the bridge you’ll be outside in the dark. Even better, take a buddy. I also found it was good to carry a flashlight. If you turn the flashlight off when on deck when you get where you are going, your eyes adjust and it seems almost as bright as day. For this, you must extinguish (turn off) the flashlight.
The Moppets
Politeness Counts
Living on a ship means if you want to make/keep friends, you are nice. People are very close. You can’t even walk two abreast down the hall. If you enter a hallway and someone is half way down, wait for the other person to exit before entering yourself. Same goes for the stairs. If someone is coming down, or going up, don’t start until they pass you. Not only is it polite, it’s just good common sense.
Buddies Jana and Sue
I was fortunate to have the Queen of Politeness, Jana Thoma, as a roommate. She was always thinking of others and expressed thanks for everything they did–often several times. I have thought of myself as pretty polite, but I don’t think I can even compare to Jana. What a great example for me to follow. She was always a patient teacher as she tried to help me learn about cnidarians. Perhaps one of my students will work in her lab someday.
Drink station with juices, water, ice, coffee, etc
If someone drinks the last cup from a pot of coffee, he/she should make a fresh pot for the next folks. Although I am not a coffee drinker, from the way this was stressed by the officers and stewards, it must be very frustrating for someone coming for a warm drink to not have it readily available. They don’t have real long breaks. Remember, they have a lot of doors to slow them down. I think if they found out you took the last cup and didn’t refill the pot, you might be doing the Man Overboard drill as the victim (just kidding).
Clean up after yourself. Seems like common sense. The stewards are not your mother–they are busy working in the kitchen and cleaning. They shouldn’t have to come and bus (clean) the tables. You should take your dishes to the window, put the silverware in the water to soak, and put dishes, cups, bowls, and glasses in the plastic tub. There are two trash cans. One is for paper and plastic and a slop bucket for leftover food. At Tremont food you don’t eat on your plate is called food waste. If you take only what you’ll eat, this bucket has very little in it. They separate the food from the other trash so it won’t get smelly. They cover it with a lid and empty it when folks are all done eating for the day.
Curtains were great for privacy
The ship runs 24 hours a day so someone is probably sleeping at any time. Loved the curtains around the beds. I could get up and not disturb Jana and vice versa. Don’t slam doors. This is not always easy, especially in rough seas. I know I mumbled a couple of times “sorry” when the door slipped from my hands. Locker doors and bathroom doors in staterooms also flop around and make a racket if left open. I got in the habit of keeping these closed so they wouldn’t make noise. Our bathroom door had a neat feature. It had an automatic stay open fixture on it. Unfortunately, it didn’t work in rough seas so we had to prop open. I know if we had told the engineers they would have fixed it, but we kept forgetting to mention it.
The Pisces has an entertainment room for when you or the crew is off duty. There is a selection of DVDs and home theatre chairs to lounge in. My stateroom was right across the hall from this lounge. I never noticed anyone playing the TV too loudly. Movies also would feed into the staterooms. You could put the DVD on a certain channel and go watch while lying in bed. If you put a movie in, the rule was to let it play to the end. Someone might be watching it in their room. I am not sure how many movies can be played at the same time, but it is several. I put one in one time and didn’t get to watch since I had to go do some work. I figure I can watch movies at home, but will probably only be in this situation once.
The walls are really thin between staterooms. Conversations can be heard as can loud TV. Jana and I found that it’s easy to have a not so quiet discussion, especially if telling jokes, and tried to whisper. We did have a lot of fun and had to think of any neighbors who might be sleeping. Laura had hours opposite us and was our neighbor. One rule of politeness is to use headphones when listening to music so as not to disturb others. I used to work the midnight shift and went to school in the morning. Only had a few hours to sleep before going back to work. My upstairs neighbor got a new sound system and literally rocked me awake . I had to go upstairs and remind them that I slept during the day. Headphones would have let me sleep in peace. On a ship this seems to be doubly important because walls are so thin. The one exception to the headphone and music rule is in engineering. When I was exercising it was nice to have some good music playing. This happened a couple of times and it made the walking on the treadmill more enjoyable. I’m glad they were there in the next room working with the music on.
Putting things where they belong makes it easy for those who eat next.
Use paper if not eating during scheduled times. The stewards have to keep the dishes washed and if someone put dirty dishes in the bin, they would have to clean it. I noticed the crew was polite and used disposables after hours.
Conservation
Remember to shut off the water when just lathering up in the shower. This limits water use to about two minutes. I learned to do this during the power outage we had for 5 days in north Alabama after the tornadoes on April 27. My husband and I limited the length of our showers and had warm water for many days. Jana and I both said we loved how the shower on the ship works—it makes short showers possible. It has a knob in the middle to turn the water on and off. The knob on the right adjusts the temperature. When you turn the shower back on after lathering, the temp is the same as when it was shut off. Very neat.
Reuse your cup. One of the scientists said that she loves to bring her coffee cup which has a lid. It’s her way of staying in touch with home when on a ship and she always has a drink nearby. The best part is she is reusing her cup and limiting waste. That’s very smart.
Besides limiting water use and reusing cups, the crew recycles their aluminum cans just as we do at our school. The money is put in a special fund for things such as deaths, births, and celebrations.
Tips
Jana learned on another ship that if you leave the heat lamp on in the head (bathroom), the water from the shower dries on the floor quicker. I would think it would also inhibit mold growth.
It was cold in this lab.
I learned that temperatures vary on a ship. The acoustics lab, filled with computers, is freezing. I used to work in a computer center on the midnight shift. I brought an afghan to wrap up in when sitting at my station and had to wear pants (women didn’t usually wear pants to work in this office back then). However, it wasn’t as cold as the chemical lab where the scientists photographed specimens, cataloged their data, and examined specimens under the microscope. Then, go outside and it would be 82° F (about 28° C). Jason Moeller writes in his blog that it is a lot colder. Check that out. He dresses in many layers–with good reason.
One thing I’ll remember is how bright the stars are. What is really cool about being on a ship at night is that there are no trees to get in the way when viewing the stars. There is very little light pollution too. If I ever get to go to sea again, I’d like an astronomer with me to point out all the constellations. I have a lot of trouble seeing them since there are so many stars which crowd out the major stars in constellations.
Engineering
Watching gauges in engineering.
I didn’t see the engineers very often unless they were fixing something nearby or eating. They stayed below most of the time working on keeping the equipment purring or doing preventive maintenance. Often they were making something using the lathe or other tools. There is always something going on with them in their sauna-like work spaces. I did learn that they watched for a few bad things: squirting fluids, smoke, strange sounds, and changes in their gauges.
The engineers have to be able to fix just about anything. When you’re out at sea on a mission, you don’t just stop and run down to the boat repair shop to get things fixed. They bring the boat repair shop with them. In engineering there are milling machines, lathes, welding equipment, and so much more. I was impressed. At one point I saw Joe Jacovino making a frame to hold a light they were going to be adding outside. Another engineer, Steve Clement, was nominated for an award on the mission for making a part to repair a piece of scientific gear.
Lots of useful machines to help keep the ship operational
I was very interested in engineering. There was so much to learn there. I took more videos than I did photographs there since it was difficult to take notes and juggle all the stuff I had. My students can put together something with all the video I took. It was more as a reference to remind me of the facts that Chief Engineer, Brent Jones, was teaching me.
All in all, it was a fabulous experience. I hope more teachers will apply to learn about the work that NOAA is doing and pass this on to their students. I am looking forward to learning from the other Teachers at Sea. We will have lots of stories and lessons to share.
I took zillions of pictures (well, it seems like it). If you’d like to see some more, click here.
NOAA Teacher at Sea: Sue Zupko NOAA Ship: Pisces Mission: Extreme Corals 2011; Study deep water coral and its habitat off the east coast of FL Geographical Area of Cruise: SE United States from off Mayport, FL to Biscayne Bay, FL Date: June 13, 2011 Time: 14:00 EDT
Weather Data from the Bridge Position: 30.4°N 88.6°W Present weather: 2/8 Cumulus Visibility: 10 n.m. Wind Direction: 192° true Wind Speed: 12.5 kts Surface Water Temperature: 30.9°C Barometric Pressure: 1013.5 mb Water Depth: 10.9 m Salinity: 36.5 PSU Wet/Dry Bulb: 35°/25.5°
This blog runs in chronological order. If you haven’t been following, scroll down to “1 Introduction to my Voyage on the Pisces” and work your way back.
Take the quiz before reading this post.
I think it would be fun to be in the NOAA Corps (listen to the NOAA Corps song, “Forward with NOAA”). To be an officer in the NOAA Corps you need at least a Bachelor’s degree and must be younger than 42 years old so you can give 20 years to the Corps before age 62. An interest in science would be very helpful since that is NOAA’s mission, to support science. Basic officer training is 22 weeks long. However, once assigned to a ship the real training begins. I observed how seasoned officers helped to lead the ensigns, the least experienced and lowest ranking officers, to build upon the training they received in basic training. It’s OJT (on-the-job-training) at its best. There is so much to learn.
Purple Barrel Sponge
I didn’t realize that NOAA did anything other than forecasting the weather. I have the NOAA weather page on my favorites on all my computers. After applying to be a Teacher at Sea, I realized that NOAA does so much more than the weather. According to NOAA’s home web page, “The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a scientific agency providing information and data about life on earth, our oceans, atmosphere, and the Nation’s living marine resources. NOAA’s programs range from marine sanctuaries, environmental satellites, global climate change, and ocean exploration initiatives to climate, weather, and water services.” The ocean creates weather. Without the ocean, there wouldn’t be hurricanes. The water cycle begins and ends with the ocean. It didn’t occur to me that NOAA actually works with fish, coral, and the environment in general, not just the weather. I have decided that Teacher at Sea is an incorrect term for me. Learner at Sea makes more sense. Although I will take what I learned here on the Pisces back to my classrooms and to my colleagues, I have been a learner first. Lindsey, one of the NOAA officers on the bridge, said I’ll probably be glad to be home since I’m constantly taking in information while on the ship. Nah! I’m a professional student at heart. I even considered calling myself the Sponge at Sea since everyone has been so generous in sharing their thoughts and information with me, and I just soak it in.
Figuring Distance
While on the bridge, I asked questions about so many things, but only touched on the surface of what they know. It was interesting learning how to use a compass to see how far we were from land. This compass is a ‘V’ shaped tool with the legs of the ‘V’ hinged at the top which adjusts the distance between the points at the bottom of the ‘V’. There is also a compass used to tell which way is north. Same name, but different tools. I used it to measure how far it was from 29° N latitude to 30° N latitude. 1 minute = 1 nautical mile and 60 minutes = 1°. Therefore, 60 miles = 1° latitude. I put one of the points on each of the latitude lines to get the measurement. Then, went to where our present position and put one point on it. The other point was then 60 miles. I “walked” the compass across the map to the nearest point of land and counted my “steps”. I tried again later and found I could do it. That was fun. I love math.
Retiring the Colors
I am interested in flags. When in Mayport, FL at the naval base, I was moved by the striking of the colors and the playing of taps on the base. The sailors on the naval vessel next to us, and the NOAA crew, stood at attention as the sun was setting and they slowly lowered the flag into a waiting seaman’s arms. Both ships were sitting side by side and with great ceremony each proceeded to fold their ship’s flag. When I was in the Army, this was my favorite service to perform. It always brings a swell of emotion to hear taps played and see people showing respect to our country’s flag by standing at attention.
Mast with call sign flags on left
I noted that the flag on the back of the ship only flies while in port. When we left the dock, we again struck the colors and hoisted (put up) a smaller flag over the flying bridge.
Flag Cabinet
There is a cabinet on the bridge with an assortment of flags. I asked what they all meant. My gaze was directed to the side of the cabinet to help answer my question.
International Flag Chart
Posted on the side of the cabinet is a chart which explains what the flags stand for. The Pisces’ call sign is WTDL. A call sign is used to communicate who you are. It’s easier than going through a long explanation on a radio or over long distances. Airplanes, ham radio operators, ships, etc. all have call signs to identify themselves. In addition, the ship can use its flags. Each letter in the call sign has a specific flag as you can see in the picture above. These flags are flown from the mast at the top of the ship to communicate information.
Tugboat
Flags are used to communicate on a ship, but ships use lights and shapes to communicate as well. When a ship has restricted ability to move, the ship displays vertically (up to down) from the mast a black ball, diamond, and black ball. At night a white light between two red lights vertically lets everyone know the ship has limited movement for some reason, such as an ROV underwater or engine trouble. Don’t forget that the ship has a red light on its port (left) side and a green light on its starboard (right) side. These lights help other boaters know whether the other boat is coming or going.
Studying Vectors-More Math
What do the NOAA Corps personnel “do” on the ship? The Corps members, who are the ship’s officers, are lead by the captain, in this case CDR Jeremy Adams. The captain is ultimately responsible for everything which happens on the ship. An analogy would be he is the processor on a computer. Just as a computer assigns tasks or jobs to the peripheral equipment, the captain is the person responsible for delegating jobs. Some of the jobs the Corps are responsible for knowing include navigation, recovering fishing equipment (the Pisces supports scientists who are learning about diverse fish populations so they must fish for them), currents and how they affect the ship, working oceanographic sampling equipment (such as the CTD), underwater cameras and sonar devices, etc. Of course, he has heads of departments, such as the steward (food), bosun (deck), and engineer (workings of the ship) who do the daily delegating within each department.
CDR Adams refers to a book for me
Here are some specifics I noticed aboard the Pisces. The captain decides who is qualified to be in charge on the bridge (officer of the deck). These responsibilities include, but are not limited to: steering, looking for safety hazards, responding to alarms, communicating directions and information to the ship’s personnel, and so much more. Think about it. He is responsible for the safety of the people on the ship, the safety and working of the ship, the support of the scientists and their missions, and all the paperwork which shows these things have been done. To be designated an OOD, you must demonstrate a cool head under pressure, a knowledge of the workings of the ship, and an understanding of the ocean systems themselves. It takes a lot of practice as I’ll explain later.
Ship's Bell
Oh, yes. One of the responsibilities of the noon watch was to ring the bell and announce the time. I hoped to watch this and ring the bell myself. I would think about it daily, but would either be busy or forget about it. I wanted to see the bell rung from the bridge and the announcement made that it was “12:00 aboard the Pisces.”
Ensign Schill announces time
Another announcement they made was, “The following is a test of the ship’s alarm. Please disregard.” One of my favorites was, “The ship’s store will be open in 10 minutes in the lounge.” I needed a few things.
Let’s look at some interesting things. First, drills. As I have mentioned, the ship is running 24 hours a day, so someone is always sleeping. Our first drill was at 4:00 in the afternoon. Drills are run weekly. The second week, the drill was at midnight. I wore earplugs on the ship so strange noises wouldn’t disturb me. Well, I did hear the fire alarm through my earplugs. I had just gotten to sleep. The captain later explained another reason for having a midnight drill besides not always waking up the day sleepers. Emergencies don’t always happen in the day. You must be prepared for emergencies whenever they occur. I hadn’t thought of that. At night on the bridge, they use red light so their eyes stay adjusted to the darkness while on watch. Writing with red light is a bit different from with white lights so practicing at night helps the bridge crew practice this.
Sunset
Weather Report
One of my opportunities as a Teacher at Sea was to report the weather with my blog posts. I have participated in The Globe Program at my schools in the past where students monitor weather and share observations with scientists around the world. I have always been interested in the weather. It was a natural fit for me to get to go to the bridge and learn more about it from the crew. The most interesting was the dry/wet bulb thermometers located just outside the bridge’s watertight doors on either side.
Dry/Wet Bulbs
The bulb on the left is just the regular air temperature. The bulb on the right has a wick which surrounds the bulb and trails off into a water reservoir underneath. This measures the temperature of the water as it evaporates. When the dry and wet bulb temperatures are close together, it means it is humid (there is a lot of water vapor in the air). What happens when there is a lot of water vapor? Think about a glass of water sitting on the table. Have you noticed it gets beads of water on it if you have ice cubes inside? What happens when water vapor hits something cold? Yep, it condenses and turns to a liquid. No, the water from the glass isn’t leaking through the glass. The water vapor in the air condenses on the glass. Make sure you use a coaster under a glass sitting on a wooden table. That condensation will not make your parents happy because it will leave a water ring. Isn’t science great? So, if the dry/wet bulb temperatures are real close and there is a lot of water vapor in the air floating up to the cold air above, what might happen next? If you suggest that clouds will form, you are correct again. That probably means it will rain soon. We rarely had dry/wet bulb temperatures close together. What was the weather like during my time on the Pisces off the coast of Florida? If you said gorgeous for the most part, you are correct. We had lovely weather except for June 1, the first day of hurricane season, when a tropical disturbance formed right over us. We had thunder, lightning, and rain for a short time and we had to postpone launching the ROV for a while. I thought the boat would rock terribly, but it wasn’t bad at all. Yeah!
Man Overboard
Ryan in Rescue Boat Recovery
Having someone fall overboard would be awful at any time. It would be much more difficult to find someone at night than during the day. It’s hazardous to run a man overboard drill during the day. I’d hate to have them do it at night. During our man overboard drill, everyone went to their assigned positions. Three people went out on the rescue boat. One was the driver, one was a rescue swimmer, and one kept his eye on the person who was in the water. I didn’t see them get on the rescue boat since I was at my muster station in the conference room, which is on the starboard side of the O-1 deck and the rescue boat launches off the port side. The rescuers got in the boat and those assigned to the winch which was to lower the boat, mostly the fishermen, lowered the boat into the water. Now, I can only imagine, but most people aren’t going to fall overboard in nice calm seas. There are railings in the way. I would bet that if someone fell over it was because they were jostled over during violent seas–perhaps while working recovering fishing nets or equipment.
The Victim is Rescued
Going down in that rescue boat from the O-1 deck would be scary to me. The crew on deck had someone watching the rescue boat on both sides of the deck, someone watching the victim from both sides, people with medical training standing by to administer first aid, and those on the bridge were driving based on where the victim and rescue boat were.
Rescue Boat Returns
Wouldn’t be good to run over either, nor to leave them behind. Everyone worked as a team. I was able to witness the drill with special permission once I checked in at my muster station to make sure I wasn’t the victim. Also, they probably want to keep us out of the way:) From my observation, everyone was professional and treated this as if our dummy they threw over was a real victim. Just as we practice fire and tornado drills at school and expect students and teachers to treat it seriously in case there ever is a real emergency so everyone will be prepared, so did the crew. As I watched, I noted the concern on the faces of the fishermen as they retrieved the boat from the water. There was a leader in charge who told people where they needed to stand on the rescue boat and who should get off when. The last person off was someone light, but strong. He was responsible for attaching equipment and had to be light to make it easier for those maneuvering the rescue boat up to the deck and back to its cradle.
Ship’s Control
Sue Driving?
I waited until I knew the captain would be on the bridge for my driving lesson. CDR Adams said he would be happy to let me give it a try. I still joked that because of the autopilot I could say I was driving and just stand on the bridge. He was serious so I went up on Monday morning during his watch. He wasn’t there. Hopes dashed, I mentioned it to the officers on duty who had switched schedules since the captain had other responsibilities to attend to. “No problem. We’ll let you steer.” At last, my chance. The OOD, LT Lindsay Kurelja, alerted the captain and engineering, that I would be steering. Seems that if you slow way down or the ride gets rocky the crew calls and to check on what’s happening.
Close Monitoring
The steering lesson began. Can’t do anything without instructions. “Although it looks like a sports car steering wheel, if you turn it quickly in either direction the boat will list (roll) heavily.” The cooks won’t like that kind of surprise. Others might fall out of bed. How about those guys on deck painting? Whoops! “So, be sure to watch the rudder angle indicator gauge and don’t let it move left or right more than 5°.” “Focus forward. If you look left or right your natural tendency is to move your arms in that direction as well.” “Got it? Ready?’
ENS Michael Doig reduced speed to 60% from 128 rpm (revolutions per minute) to 72 rpm. Hey, don’t they think I can handle this? Apparently not! These are smart folks. When I took the helm, I watched the rudder angle indicator like a hawk. No matter what I did, the ship kept going one direction or another. Zig zag all the way. I’d correct, but not enough. Then it would be too far to the right and I’d have to correct left. You have to wait a while before the ship responds to the wheel turning. They stood right over me to make sure I wasn’t messing up. After all, even though I was driving, they were responsible and no one wants the soup all over the kitchen:) I found it very nerve-wracking to have the ship’s course in my hands, literally.
Concentrating on driving
When I finished and they turned the auto pilot back on, Lindsay said that I only went “62 miles” off course. I don’t think that is physically possible since we were just going about 9 knots and I only drove a couple of minutes. I’m hoping she was exaggerating. She congratulated me and said I did very well for a first time. I think she was just being polite. All I know is it didn’t feel the way my car feels when driving it. However, it was interesting to experience driving the ship. I was grateful to have trained professionals watching over me. We might have ended up in New Zealand or something.
Lots of interesting boats in Pascagoula
When we arrived at the port in Pascagoula later that afternoon, I was told that we would be docking in front of another NOAA ship already at dock but before a bridge. It reminded me of parallel parking, which many people consider the most difficult skill in driving and some people avoid like the plague. One of the crew members groaned and said it would take forever since it was difficult to do. We had no idea who was going to be bringing the ship in. Well, to her credit, LT Tracy Hamburger piloted the vessel flawlessly and we were at the dock very shortly. The crew was happy to be at their home port so they could get off the ship and relax for a while. I, on the other hand, was happy to stay on the ship and get last-minute pictures, clean my room, pack, and blog. For awhile I thought I was alone on the Pisces and wondered about security. Not long after my ponderings, a security guard came walking by. That made me feel more comfortable. I also found that many folks returned to the ship later because they live on the ship. Interesting home.
Sailboats near Ft. Lauderdale
I am grateful to NOAA for giving me this opportunity to learn about NOAA and the science missions they support. The Pisces has a wonderful crew who were always willing to help me learn.
NOAA Teacher at Sea: Sue Zupko NOAA Ship: Pisces Mission: Extreme Corals 2011; Study deep water coral and its habitat off the east coast of FL Geographical Area of Cruise: SE United States from off Mayport, FL to Biscayne Bay, FL Date: June 11, 2011 Time: 1400 EDT
Weather Data from the Bridge Position: 25.5°N 080,0°W Present weather: 5/8 SC AC Visibility: 10 n.m. Wind Direction: 034°true Wind Speed: 12 kts Surface Wave Height: 1-2 ft Swell Wave Direction: – Swell Wave Height: 2-3 ft Surface Water Temperature: 28.3°C Barometric Pressure: 1011.1 mb Water Depth: 49 m Salinity: 36.5 PSU Dry/Wet Bulb: 30.0°/26.5°
This blog runs in chronological order. If you haven’t been following, scroll down to “1 Introduction to my Voyage on the Pisces” and work your way back.
Take the quiz before reading this post.
One of the first questions I asked when informed that I had been selected as a Teacher at Sea was, “Can I use Skype with my students?” Well, no. There isn’t enough bandwidth. I really had no idea what that term meant. After discussing this with my chief scientist, he asked the “Powers-that-be” (I really don’t know whom he asked) if we might be able to Skype. We received permission to communicate with some classes. Oh, was I excited. Now, we needed to find the classes. My school would be out for the summer by the time I came onto the Pisces. However, my Robotics Club mentors are very flexible and generous. Mr. Chua, who also helps teach me about computers in my class, offered up his dining room for the Robotics Club to use to Skype. This was very appealing to me since the kids would see a real robot in use. Of course, the mentors enjoyed it immensely and asked lots of questions themselves. We also had a high school class from Cary, NC signed up. My niece, Debra Zupko, read the email telling the family to read my blog. She asked if her 4th grade class could Skype with and and jumped on the opportunity when I said yes. Her class communicates with the Jason Project and is interested in oceanography. Before departure, I practiced a Skype conference call between me, the ROV crew, and two scientists. The results were mixed. We weren’t sure with our limited bandwidth (there came that term again) if we’d be able to do this conference call from the ship. So, we decided to contact each class individually and do a one on one call like you normally do with Skype.
Bob works with wires
I brought my webcam and computer. Good thing. The scientist who was going to bring this equipment did not come at the last minute and I didn’t know until I was on board. I’m so grateful I took my equipment as a backup. The Electronic Technician (ET), Bob, informed me when I checked in that we could practice with Skype before our scheduled meeting times. All electronic gear has to be scanned and approved before anyone can use it with the ship’s equipment. How horrible it would be to infect the computers on the ship with something.
I emailed the teachers we would be Skyping with and set up practice times. The first group I spoke with was Mrs. Zupko’s 4th grade class in New York. She has to check out the equipment from the library so it wasn’t a simple process as it is in my classroom where all the gear is ready to go. I practiced from my stateroom. They got to see what our room is like and looked out the window at the ocean. The oohs and aahs from the classroom helped me know this was a cool way to practice.
Mike communicates with the bridge
So, what is bandwidth? A good analogy was used by the Survey Technician, Mike, that bandwidth is like a highway. Highways have two directions. I am talking about the internet highway here. All emails, blogs, watching the news, playing online, facebook, twitter, streaming movies, ship’s data, communication, etc. goes on this highway. When it gets too crowded, it’s like a traffic jam and some things won’t move. This is when you have to be mindful of others and be polite. On ship you aren’t allowed to Skype normally (remember, we had special permission and I’ll explain that later), watch movies online such as with Netflix, work on Facebook for hours, play online games, or other things which take up a lot of bandwidth. Email doesn’t use much so it’s a good way to communicate. One thing the crew is allowed to use, during non-business hours, which sucks up bandwidth is the phoneline called Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP). This is how people keep in contact with family. Folks up north, such as in Alaska, don’t have access to these things very often because of where the satellite is and the ship can’t easily communicate. So, email, but don’t plan to have immediate access. You might have to wait until the satellite comes in sight and the server can send out the messages.
Back to the bandwidth highway. All the NOAA ships have to share the highway to and from the satellite. They are usually allocated 128 KB of bandwidth. We might have purchased some extra bandwidth from the satellite company or used bandwidth allocated to a ship which is in getting repaired or something. However they did this, we were allocated enough to Skype with the students and for this I am grateful. Opening that up was like letting us use the carpool lane. There is less traffic there and it is less susceptible to traffic jams.
When the high school class was speaking with us, we were actually launching the ROV. I had the computer set up by the window and held my webcam out the window so they could see that was happening in real time. Then, they got to speak with the scientists while the ROV was diving to the bottom. Later, they saw footage from the bottom. They asked some great questions of the scientists. Perhaps one of these students will have their interest piqued and become a scientist or ROV engineer. Maybe a teacher:)
Dave uses the joystick to pilot the ROV on the surface
The Robotics Club was very interested in the ROV. Dave Murfin, taking a break from piloting the ROV and on his way to lunch, graciously sat down and answered some questions. I learned from Scott Mau, another ROV pilot, about creating underwater ROVs. Bet we could use our YMCA to run them. We also have access to some swimming pools.
Back on the bandwidth highway. I asked Kevin Stierhoff about some pictures we were processing for the website. I used the incorrect term and said upload when I should have said download. These always seemed like synonyms to me. If you have a desire to understand the difference, read on. On the highway there is coming to your computer and going from the computer. If you are uploading something, you are copying it from your computer. While on the ship, these data travel on a highway to a satellite then on to Silver Spring, MD where the internet service provider is. The server then sends it to where you want it to go. To download, something is going into your computer. It comes from somewhere else through Silver Spring to the satellite to your computer on the ship. The lane for the bandwidth going to the ship is about three times wider than what is going out. Skype is really bad on our highway since it travels in both directions, and it really hogs the lane. It’s like one of those homes being moved on the road taking up a lane and a half or more and going slowly. Everyone has to slow down or get off the road to make room.
FYI, I asked one of the engineers who helped build the Pisces the total length of the electrical cables are on the ship. “Long.” He did then give me a number. Over 200,000 feet. How many miles long is that?
NOAA Teacher at Sea: Sue Zupko NOAA Ship: Pisces Mission: Extreme Corals 2011; Study deep water coral and its habitat off the east coast of FL Geographical Area of Cruise: SE United States from off Mayport, FL to Biscayne Bay, FL Date: June 10, 2011 Time: 09:30 EDT
Weather Data from the Bridge Position: 26.0°N 79.5°W Present weather: 5/8 Alto Cumulus Visibility: 10 n.m. Wind Direction: 066°true Wind Speed: 16 kts Surface Wave Height: 4 ft Swell Wave Direction: 120° true Swell Wave Height: 4 ft Surface Water Temperature:28.5 °C Barometric Pressure: 1011.8 mb Water Depth: 307 m Salinity: 36.187 PSU Wet/Dry Bulb: 28°/24.8°
This blog runs in chronological order. If you haven’t been following, scroll down to “1 Introduction to my Voyage on the Pisces” and work your way back.
Take the quiz before reading this post.
This octocoral is a sea fan
Are all cnidarians corals or are all corals cnidarians? Definitely, all corals are cnidarians (pronounced nye-dare-ee-ans). Hydroids, corals, jellyfish and sea anemones are all cnidarians, so all cnidarians are not corals. Part of our mission is to study deep-water corals in the Gulf Stream. My berth (room) mate, Jana Thoma, is working on her doctoral dissertation (thesis) on corals. She gave me an elaborate chart explaining all the branches of cnidarians the first day because I couldn’t remember the difference between hexacorals and octocorals. So, do you know what these are? If not, you are in good company. Octocorals are like octopi (octopuses?) (octopodes?) . As I’m writing this the scientists in the room are discussing the proper plural form of the word. Checking the internet we have found the answer is…all are correct. Back to the coral/octopus example. An octopus has eight tentacles (or arms). An octocoral has eight tentacles. Cousins? I think not, but the prefix octo- in Greek means eight and they both have eight tentacles. The octocorals are usually soft. Sea fans, sea pens, and soft corals are all examples of octocorals. Originally people thought these were plants because they look and act like plants waving in the current. Jana is helping me write this, and it’s obvious I’m still having trouble. So, here is a quote from Jana to help us all better understand corals.
Stichopathes sp
“Uh…great, this is for posterity. Okay.” So, when most people hear the term coral they think of hard corals like brain coral, staghorn, or elkhorn coral that are known to build shallow-water reefs. However, I study those corals that bend and flex in the water current – like sea fans or gorgonians. As with all rules, there are exceptions and confusion ensues (follows). Hexacorals are those animals that have six, or multiples of six tentacles; examples include hard corals, black corals, and anemones (that sometimes house clown fish). Octocorals have……that’s right, eight tentacles; examples include gorgonians (sea fans), soft corals, sea pens, and the strange blue coral. Last major group of “corals” are…stay with me folks… lace corals, which are actually hydrozoans and more closely related to the Portuguese Man o’War (the colonial jelly-fish like animal that partially floats on the surface and has long tentacles dangling in the water).” (Jana Thoma, doctoral candidate, University of Louisiana Lafayette )
Oculina varicosa
So, if I’m understanding this correctly, the hard corals, such as the Oculina varicosa, more often than not are the primary reef building animals. They can provide an exposed hard surface for the sea fans to attach to. This hard surface can also be covered with sediment that can be home to other sessile (sedentary like a couch potato that can’t ever get up) cnidarians. Jana is nodding to this last statement. Yeah! Further, the living portions of corals are made of polyps, the hard skeletons are calcium carbonate and are formed by the polyps. One sea fan is not a single polyp, but perhaps thousands. All stacked up like an elaborate apartment building, they create a beautiful sea fan (or things which look like a sea fan).
What do scientists do when they have a few minutes not looking through a microscope or classifying new species? At my request, they create songs about what they study. Here is one, written today by Stephanie Rogers, Chuck Messing, and Jana Thoma:
Marine Snow (set to the tune of “Let it Snow”)
Oh, the sea is quite inspectable
Where the light is not detectable
And since we’ve got funds to go
Marine snow, marine snow, marine snow
Oh, the ocean’s gently rolling
And the crew is out aft trolling
The fish are goin’ to an’ fro,
Marine snow, marine snow, marine snow.
When we finally get to depths,
Oh, the critters swimming around
And I start to hold my breath
When we collect from the mound.
The R-O-V is slowly flying
And the scientists are sighing
Since we can’t collect no mo’
Marine snow, marine snow, marine snow.
Anemone
Just a reminder, marine snow is the detritus and plankton floating along in the current. Most cnidarians are filter feeders, meaning they grab particles passing by.
We have visited several deep-water coral sites to check on their health and condition. I know we visited places where we expected to find colonies of Oculina and Lophelia. The first few we visited were in and near a new Marine Protected Area (MPA), others have been in or near a Habitat Area of Particular Concern (HAPC) established in the 1990s and in a giant HAPC established last year. The soft bottom areas reminded me of the surface of the moon. However when we reached the coral mounds the abundance and variety of life was amazing. You can see where we went on the NOAA Shiptracker.
Protected reef
The difference between the protected and non-protected areas was striking. In the areas protected for over 20 years I almost felt like I was watching a National Geographic documentary, with lots of beautiful fish, interesting coral, and unusual creatures like the sea cucumber. While there was still life in the non-protected areas, the corals were in much worse condition and there were fewer fish. Corals are the architects and builders of elaborate reef habitats that provide habitat and shelter for a huge diversity of life. Coral reefs are complex ecosystems. Many reef species are important fishery resources, or the food for important commercial species; some are sources of compounds with medical uses, others help us understand basic biological, ecological and physiological processes. Reefs offer protection to coastlines from erosion by waves and currents. Coral reefs are very important. I think I prefer the ones which look alive and healthy because of protections. We will all benefit as a result even if we do not see the evidence on a daily basis.
Hydroid
What did C3PO say to R2D2?
Hi, Droid!
Jana’s purpose for being on this cruise was to collect samples of the coral gathered from the bottom. These samples would undergo testing and DNA analysis later in the lab. It’s a challenging process. Salt water was refrigerated in clear plastic containers to help keep the samples cold and avoid necrosis (death) of the polyps. Identification tags were prepared. The numbers help them catalog the specimens they collect. John Reed uses the following system: 10-VI-11-201 means the specimen was gathered on the 10th day of June 2011 and 201 is a the category of specimen–in this case a dugong rib. Every scientist has their own way of cataloging their specimens and this is just one example.
Cnidarians have nematocysts with either sticky, spiraling, hooking, or some other form of “harpoons” which sting and/or capture their prey. If you happen to get in contact with these nematocysts, you might suffer an adverse reaction (like it might hurt or itch). So, grab the vinegar and pour it on. Jana tells me urine is a traditional home remedy that she says she has heard of (she won’t tell me if she has experimented with this or not). The chemicals in these liquids often help ease the sting from contact with nematocysts.
Retrieving a sample from the ROV arm
When the ROV brought up a coral sample in its manipulator arm, the biologists were prepared. Wearing latex or nitrile gloves, like what doctors and nurses snap on with a flourish in the movies, they are ready to catch the coral before it hits the deck and gets contaminated. Cameras at the ready, the specimen is put on a black background with the prepared tag and a ruler to show its size and a photograph is taken. Parts of the specimen are put in different containers. Animals are preserved in different chemicals which have different purposes. Formalin fixes tissues, but can degrade deposits of calcium, and can be used for future morphological (the study of shape or form of an organism). Ethanol can be used to slow down the process of decay. Acetone does an even better job, however, its use is limited because it is more difficult to obtain and isn’t what people normally use. Additionally, you can freeze the specimen, which slows down decay. This is when they use the cold sea water, put the specimen in that, and place it in a very cold (-80°C) freezer. Sometimes it is kept dry and frozen. On the Pisces I saw them use all of these methods to preserve the specimens. The specimens which must be kept frozen will be packaged in dry ice for the journey back to the lab. Andy David, our lead scientist, has developed a strategy for getting people to the airport to catch planes or rent a car for their journey home. After dropping other scientists off to get their cars, he will stop at the grocery store and pick up some dry ice. We literally had a meeting to discuss needs and time schedules to be as efficient as possible.
Oculina varicosa with mucus
I also learned that when they are stressed, corals ooze mucus. Every creature gets stressed. When I’m stressed I eat. Others can’t eat when they are upset. I witnessed the oozing coral when it was brought into the lab.
I felt the scientists were often speaking a foreign language. Guess what–they were. Latin. I learned that in scientific classification different endings mean different things. Phylums end in -a such as Porifera (sponges), Mollusca (sea shells) or Cnidaria (coral, anemones, jellies). Classes end in -da, -iae, -ta, -ea, or -oa. When writing the genus and species of an animal, you capitalize the genus, but not the species name, and italicize both.
Last, what do you do when you discover a new species? You get to name it. We found a couple I want to share.
NOAA Teacher at Sea: Sue Zupko NOAA Ship: Pisces Mission: Extreme Corals 2011; Study deep water coral and its habitat off the east coast of FL Geographical Area of Cruise: SE United States from off Mayport, FL to Biscayne Bay, FL Date: June 9, 2011 Time: 1900
Weather Data from the Bridge Position: 25.4°N 79.5°W Present weather: overcast Visibility: 10 n.m. Wind Direction: 075°true Wind Speed: 20 kts Surface Wave Height: 4 ft Swell Wave Direction: 100° true Swell Wave Height: 4 ft Surface Water Temperature:28.5 °C Barometric Pressure: 1011.8 mb Water Depth: 308 m Salinity: 36.5 PSU Wet/Dry Bulb: 28°/24.8°
This blog runs in chronological order. If you haven’t been following, scroll down to “1 Introduction to my Voyage on the Pisces” and work your way back.
Take this quiz before reading this post.
Waiting to lift the grab
When I started my journey as a Teacher at Sea, I wondered what scientific research the ship I would be placed on would be doing. Would it be marine mammals in Alaska or Hawaii, hydrography (bottom mapping), a fishery study, buoy placement, or something I’d never heard of. When I was told I was placed on the Pisces and we’d be using an ROV (remotely operated vehicle), I only knew we’d be using the vehicle to go to the bottom and look at corals since it is too deep to scuba dive. I had no real concept of what else would be going on. I did know my students liked the idea of the ROV since I am the Robotics Club advisor at Weatherly Heights Elementary.
Benthic Van Veer Grab
We have three missions on the Pisces. One is to look at the bottom through the eyes of the camera lens to see what is actually happening with the coral and its habitat. Another purpose was to update existing maps. The third mission was the most difficult for me to get a grasp of just because it sounds so strange. Benthic grabbing. Benthos means bottom in Greek. Like the soil on land, sediment lying on the bottom of the sea is full of creatures and information needed to fully understand the health of the corals and their habitat. You don’t see the most of the animals living in soil usually either. In soil on land and in the sea sediment, the animals living inside are called infauna, and provide food and nutrients to the epifauna (those living above the surface). What effect has man had on this foundation of the coral reef? What diversity of life is there and how plentiful are they? What size are the lithogenic (of rock origin) particles? It all means something and needs to be studied.
Sandy bottom for grab
According to Dr. Jeff Hyland, NOAA NCCOS (National Centers for Coastal Ocean Sciences), “People may wonder why scientists want to study the seemingly ‘barren’ sand (or muddy sand) layer that covers vast stretches of the ocean floor. One good reason is because this important habitat is not barren at all! The unconsolidated (loose) bottom that occupies the majority of the sea floor can be teaming with life. The types of animals found can include polycheate worms, mollusks, crustaceans, and fish. Some are large enough to see with the naked eye, but many are so small that you would need to use a microscope to see them. “
James, Steve, and Jeff harvest their grab
The crew of scientists using the Van Veen grab equipment include: Dr. Jeff Hyland, James Daugomah, and Steve Roth (Grab Guys) of NOAA’s NCCOS Laboratory in Charleston, SC. Ocean floor mapping is done prior to an ROV dive to help pinpoint the choicest spots for investigation. After the ROV records the video from its dive, the “Grab Guys” go to work. The science team confers and selects the best spots for study. The beginning spot is relayed to the bridge, which then “makes it so” by taking the ship to those coordinates.
So, now what? Every group on deck must wear hard hats and PFDs (life jackets—Personal Floatation Devices) since the winch will be used and they will be working near the side rail of the ship. The fishermen (deck hands), scientists (both observers and the Grab Guys), and anyone who happens to be nearby must wear this equipment. Safety first.
The fishermen and Grab Guys prepare for the sampling by dragging the 300 pound Van Veen grab close to the side. It sits on a specially constructed table made of 2×4 wood and is painted grey.
Benthic cleaning equipment
Nearby, Steve sets up a smaller table with a sink in it, plus several buckets, a large spoon, and two rectangular plastic tubs nearby. I really wondered what that was all about.
The winch hook is attached to the Van Veer grab and everyone stands ready. When the bridge radios to the fishermen that the ship is over the drop site, they spring into action. The winch operator waits for the signal from the lead fisherman that all is ready and is told by hand signals to raise it up. As the winch lifts up the grab, those working the equipment help steady it over the deck and release it when it’s over the side. The grab is lowered to the bottom as the winch operator monitors the amount of cable deployed. The idea is that when the grab hits the bottom the release bar will pop and close the “grab jaws”. If the grab isn’t going fast enough or lands on an angle it won’t close. Plus, it might not go deep enough into the sediment to get a good sample.
Watching the pulley for movement
It takes longer than you would think for that grab to hit bottom. Remember, patience is a virtue. The equipment drops 80 meters per minute. Yesterday we were dropping to 320 meters. All eyes are targeted on the winch’s pulley. When the grab hits the bottom, it causes the pulley on the winch cable to swing, meaning that the grab has made contact. Everyone crosses their fingers that the grab not only closed, but also got a large enough sample for an accurate test. The winch driver begins to retrieve the gear. It’s just like doing a science fair project. You must repeat your experiment and have the right amount of sample so your repeated experiments are as similar as possible when you repeat your procedure. They must make three grabs which bring up the correct amount of sediment. Often trial and error comes into play. The current not only made things difficult for the ROV operations, it made the grab go down at an angle so it wouldn’t close (grab or fire) a few times. They had to keep dropping until it worked correctly. At one point the bottom was 370 meters and we had let out 425 meters of cable. That meant that the wind and the current were really strong and pulling the grab out at an angle.
The winch pulley movedCleaning the mud off
Once the grab gets a sample, they scoop out sediment with a spoon and put it in a blue bin. This is carried over to a sieve bucket and is half submerged and swished around in the sink to get the mud off. This is repeated until all the sediment particles are clean.
Jeff records important information
The samples are scooped out of the sieve bucket and placed in containers which will be processed back at the laboratory. In general, they are looking for sediment size (grain size), infauna (living organisms from the sediment), and chemicals from man. The containers have been labeled with what tests need to be run. Jeff is recording the numbers on the containers and whether that sediment should be tested for metals, toxicology, total carbon, organics, and sediment size.
Steve holding organics sample
A special insert is placed in the grab to measure an exact amount of sediment to determine the amount of the infauna. This sample is cleaned and put in a large container with formalin mixed with rose bengal. The rose bengal had been premixed by Dr. Hyland the first day so that when added to the sediment it will turn the living organisms a pink color, making them easier to find.
After the sediment samples are put in the smaller bottles, the top is screwed on, sealed with electrical tape to make sure it doesn’t open, and stored in the refrigerator or freezer. All these benthic samples will be sent to Barry Vittor, a company specializing in sediment analysis.
I have a new appreciation for the sediment in the ocean. I’ve learned that sediment on the north side of a coral mound in the Gulf Stream usually has less nutrients since the current flows from south to north. The coral and other plankton-consuming animals eat a lot of the food flowing in the current over the mound so the water on the north side contains less food and can support less infauna. I hope my students enjoy learning about the benthos as much as I have. Perhaps with the data we collected, scientists will be able to help determine what we need to do to preserve the corals of the reefs.
NOAA Teacher at Sea: Sue Zupko NOAA Ship: Pisces Mission: Extreme Corals 2011; Study deep water coral and its habitat off the east coast of FL Geographical Area of Cruise: SE United States from off Mayport, FL to St. Lucie, FL Date: June 8, 2011 Time: 1900
Weather Data from the Bridge Position: 25.3°N 79.6°W Present weather: 3/8 Alto Cumulus Visibility: 10 n.m. Wind Direction: 065°true Wind Speed: 10 kts Surface Wave Height: 3 ft Swell Wave Direction: 110° Swell Wave Height: 3 ft Surface Water Temperature: 28.4° Barometric Pressure: 1013.2 mb Water Depth: 363 m Salinity: 36.28 PSU Wet/Dry Bulb: 27.7/24.8
This blog runs in chronological order. If you haven’t been following, scroll down to “1 Introduction to my Voyage on the Pisces” and work your way back.
Take this quiz before reading this post.
Straining bucket
Dr. Diego Figueroa and I went fishing over the side of the ship this evening with a straining bucket to try to catch zooplankton (animals which cannot swim against the current–free floating). We had no plankton net so we had to improvise.
Diego pours water into the bottom of the bucket
Diego, a zooplankton expert, got a plastic container like you’d use to store food in the fridge, and we headed to the lab with what we hoped would be a good catch. He got a cup of salt water from the special faucet in the ship’s science lab and poured it into the bottom of the bucket. As he poured the water, he had the plastic container at the top of the it to retrieve our catch.
Diego examines our catch
We then examined the container to see what the naked eye could find.
Wow! Our first specimen was a shrimp. It’s huge. Well, huge in comparison to the other zooplankton. We still saw it best under the microscope. He left that in to container to pull out later and caught some copepods with an eye dropper.
Calanus copepod
Eureka! There were at least six Calanus copepods. Cope– is Greek for oar or handle and pod– means foot or limb. These are very common off the coast of Florida and about 80% of all the zooplankton on the planet are some type of copepod. He explained that the Calanus has five rows of legs that flap downward (like the doggie paddle that most of of use when learning to swim) in order to move around. The Calanus eats phytoplankton (algae), making it a primary consumer. It has five pairs of mouth parts. The hairy seta (the plural is called setae) act like a sieve when it eats. This is so interesting. The Calanus opens its mouth parts and gathers water molecules toward its body. Then, it pulls its mouth parts in and squeezes the water out. What’s left is a scrumptious meal of diatoms. The grazing copepod we watched was a female. Her tail is shaped differently than the male’s tail.
The shrimp is at least 20 times bigger than the Calanus. Diego hasn’t studied the shrimp like he has the copepods. That’s because the shrimp are one of the bigger zooplankton and large ones make up only about 5% of all zooplankton. He says that there are more copepods in the world than all the insects combined. That makes sense since the earth’s surface is 71% water.
Jellyfish in snow
When the ROV was flying through the ocean, we always saw snow in the water. I used to scuba dive a lot and I never really noticed the snow. If it was deep, they weren’t there. Andy David explained that we see them so well since we’re shining light on them. These are mostly zooplankton in the water. In addition, there is a bunch of decaying organic matter called detritus flying along.
Hyperiid
Further examination of the water yielded a Microsetella rosea, a hyperiid,and a Chaetognath (arrow worm). The Microsetella is a detritis-eating filter feeder, but it is only about 1/5 the size of the Calanus. Well, with micro in its name, small had to figure into it somehow. Since it’s small, it eats smaller things.
Arrow worm
The arrow worm is like something from a horror movie because it attacks its prey viciously (it’s a carnivore and is a voracious predator). I asked what all the other floating bits were in the water. Detritus. It’s the snow we kept seeing.
Shrimp
Diego has a special camera which attaches to the microscope. We would examine the zooplankton in the petri dish and then he would take off the microscope eyepiece and insert his camera. Then, through the viewfinder, he would try to find the zooplankton resting somewhere. Apparently, they don’t rest much, but he still got photographs.
Diego hunting for zooplankton
I really enjoyed this mini lab. Diego taught me things about plankton in general and I now better understand this amazing world of particulates in the ocean a bit better. Jana and I had gone on deck last night to see what it was like in the pitch black. We discovered it isn’t totally dark, though your eyes do have to adjust. The moon kept peeking from between clouds off the starboard (right) side and lights shone from portholes below deck. These lights reflected off the waves and were so fascinating to watch. I’ve only had a beachside view of the ocean at night so this was a real treat. Jana and I watched for bioluminescence in the water, a sign of some plankton. We found little sparkles of green in the wave and hypothesized these were zooplankton. After explaining what we had seen to Diego, he confirmed that these were zooplankton rather than phytoplankton. Zooplankton have little sparkles in turning water while phytoplankton will cover a large area and just glow. Too interesting.
Special thanks to Diego for sharing his knowledge with me after a long day and to Jana for helping get some pictures of this.
And the answer to the quiz above….Copepods. They are so small you don’t notice them, but there are almost as many copepods as there are grains of sand on the beach. It’s hard to fathom that many creatures swimming around. Diego said that they eat the phytoplankton so fast that often there are more zooplankton than phytoplankton.
NOAA Teacher at Sea: Sue Zupko NOAA Ship: Pisces Mission: Extreme Corals 2011; Study deep water coral and its habitat off the east coast of FL Geographical Area of Cruise: SE United States from off Mayport, FL to St. Lucie, FL Date: June 7, 2011 Time: 10:00 EDT
Weather Data from the Bridge Position: 27.3°N 79.6°W Present weather: 4/8 Alto cumulus Visibility: 10 n.m. Wind Direction: 082° Wind Speed: 4 kts Surfacel Wave Height: 2-3 ft Swell Wave Direction: 100° true Swell Wave Height: 2-3 ft Surface Water Temperature: 27.1° Barometric Pressure: 1014.5mb Water Depth: 80m Salinity: 36.56 PSU Wet/Dry Bulb: 27.2/24
This blog runs in chronological order. If you haven’t been following, scroll down to “1 Introduction to my Voyage on the Pisces” and work your way back.
The first ROV we used on the Pisces for our Extreme Corals 2011 expedition is a custom designed craft called The Arc. The crew, led by Dr. John Butler at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, has been developing The Arc since 2007 and launched it in January of 2011. The Arc is ideal for monitoring fisheries, improving species identification, and developing new methods of studying fisheries. It can withstand pressures and dive to 1000 meters (actually it dives to 600 meters since that is how long the tether is). When on land, it weights 264 kg (580 pounds). It has a rectangular prism shape with a length of 190 cm (75 in), width of 117 cm (46 in), and a height of 84 cm (33 in). Just for fun, do this math quiz.
The pilot sits on the ship and tells The Arc what to do. It’s like playing a video game. The pilot and his navigator coordinate movements, watching the computer screen with the ship’s and The Arc’s positions clearly showing. The navigator is in constant communication with the officers on the bridge of the Pisces using a walkie-talkie to relay messages and information between the ship’s pilot and the ROV’s pilot. The bridge also has a navigation screen to monitor the position of the ship relative to the ROV. The fishermen on the deck running the winch also have walkie-talkies so they can be told when to adjust the length of the cable to the ROV. Communication is very important.
Front of ROV
The ROV is pretty neat. It has headlights similar to robots from old Sci-Fi movies so it appears creature-like, but without the spindly legs. Bright lights are needed because that’s about the only light that is available at great depths. There are four LED lights with 2600 lumens each. A 100 watt incandescent light bulb in your lamp has about 1750 lumens. How many lumens total does the ROV produce? Again, doing the math it would be 2600×4=10,400 lumens for the ROV. This is roughly twice as much as your four lightbulbs at home. Looking at the pictures from the bottom of the sea where it is normally dark and the tiny amount of light reaching the bottom makes everything look dark blue or black (see my earlier post on light in the ocean) we can see the colors almost as they would appear in a tidal pool.
The ROV has many instruments to measure data and take photographs of what it “sees.” It has a CTD ( measures Conductivity, from which we calculate salinity, Temperature, and Depth) as well as an oxygen sensor. The best part is the laser beam system which measures things like a ruler. With the help of the high definition camera, we were able to see the fish and invertebrates we were studying. Using the laser beams, we could not only measure their size, but how far away they were.
Cancer borealis
Note the red dots parallel to each other. The top two red ones are always 20 cm apart and in this picture the two on the bottom are 40 cm apart. The green light helps measure the distance to the crab. Apparently this crab is about 20 cm across. The lasers are fabulous for helping to keep things in perspective.
ROV Tether
Dave Murfin, one of the ROV crew, was commenting to me about this picture after reading my blog. He said the pink stuff was the foam jacket used for floatation cut off from an old ROV cable, and he thought it looked ugly. However, given a new perspective of it, he thinks it looks cool. The pink foam helps protect the tether on deck and if it scrapes across rocks on the ocean floor. These ROV engineers added the large floats for the last 40 meters of the tether to keep it off the bottom and avoid becoming tangled in the coral and rocky habitats we are studying.
Spool of ROV tether
The tether for The Arc is wrapped on a spool for easy retrieval and transport. It is 610 meters long and has three fiber optic cables in the center surrounded by insulation. Around that are copper wires to conduct power from the ship, which is why they need a cable. If it ran on a battery, like a submarine, it could be on the bottom alone and the scientists would have to wait for it to return to see what data was stored inside. By using a tether, the scientists have much more control and can move the ship to study something of interest. Although technology is rapidly advancing, it is not quite possible yet to create a vehicle which would do everything the scientists need. Therefore, we continue to use the tether with the ROVs.
So, what do belts and suspenders have to do with the ROV? Well, there is an old saying that you don’t rely on just one thing; you always have a backup. If the belt on your pants doesn’t work, you have the suspenders to hold them up. The Arc is a new system. It is the belt and the system with 700+ dives to its credit is the spare (suspenders), just in case. Technology. It can be fabulous, but very frustrating when it gives you problems. As a teacher, I have to plan for technology to be down as well. I can’t have my whole lesson plan revolving around technology. What if the internet is down that day? Well, the students could get pretty wild without a back up plan. As my mom used to say, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” What if the basket dropped? You are out of luck.
As I mentioned before in my blog, these men and women are dedicated professionals. They have lots of experience with this equipment and know the unexpected can happen. If you forecast about the unexpected, you can be prepared. I have always known that duct tape is a useful tool. Bungee cords are useful. Redundant cables, nuts, bolts, and spare parts are all on board. Having the spare ROV was just good planning and good sense. We have still been able to work our mission with some modifications. Bravo to this bunch for continuing to make things happen despite the unexpected happening. Because of them, we have some wonderful video and photographs to see what is happening on the coral reefs we have been studying.
Scott Mau searches for necessary cables
And the answer to the poll at the beginning of this post is…less than 2 knots. They really prefer currents less than 0.5 knots. This week we’ve launched in currents which were 3.5 knots. Sometimes it caused problems, sometimes not. Here are some pictures from the bottom.
Purple barrel spongeSea Fan OctocoralBlack coral "forest", Stichopathes
Everyone keeps asking me if I have driven the ROV. I asked the ROV crew about it and they all just smiled. Although it looks like a video game, the ROV is not a toy and not to be given to a novice to control. Considering I can’t get down the stream on Wii Fit without crashing into the side of the stream, they sure don’t want me at the helm of this incredible piece of technology. With the ROV, there is no opportunity for a second chance if you crash and burn. Therefore, I’ll leave the driving to them.
Teamwork. Kevin is piloting the ROV with the help of John and Dave.
NOAA Teacher at Sea: Sue Zupko NOAA Ship: Pisces Mission: Extreme Corals 2011; explore the ocean bottom to map and study health of corals and their habitat Geographical Area of Cruise: SE United States deep water from off Mayport, FL to St. Lucie, FL Date: June 4, 2011
Weather Data from the Bridge Position: 29.1° N 80.1°W Time: 11:00 EDT Wind Speed: calm Visibility: 10 n.m. Surface Water Temperature: 27.6°C Air Temperature:27.6°C Relative Humidity: 72% Barometric Pressure:1018.4 mb Water Depth: 85.81 m Salinity: 36.55 PSU
When the strong current from the Gulf Stream stretched the tether of the ROV and broke one of the three fiber optic cables inside, it was time to come up with a new plan. What do you do in the middle of the ocean if the main gear is not functioning? Plan B. Well, Plan B was using the spare fiber optic in the tether. The spare one then broke as a result of being rubbed, most likely, by the sharp end of the original broken fiber during the next dive. Now we had to go to Plan C . Fortunately the ROV crew is experienced, and, like Boy Scouts, were prepared. They brought a spare ROV and tethers from their lab in La Jolla (pronounced La Hoya), CA just in case. The ship is running the sonar gear back and forth over the area we plan to dive tomorrow, mapping out the bottom, looking for coral mounds. This process is called “mowing the lawn” since you run the beams back and forth to get complete coverage of the bottom, and it looks like the lines on the lawn left by the mower. Think of the beam as having the shape of a flashlight’s beam shining on the floor. Another interesting feature is that the acoustic beam can also read what fish are present. It needs to have a swim bladder for the signal to bounce back. When it does, based on the sound, an experienced acoustician can read what fish the signal represents. Sharks don’t have a swim bladder like most fish do so their signals are a bit more difficult to read.
I was just up on the bridge and it seems we hit “pay dirt” (like gold miners). The captain had been explaining to me a symbol shown on the Electronic Chart Display System (ECS). It looks like a graphic math problem showing the intersection of lines, in this case one line running on a 110° angle with three lines parallel to each other intersecting it. The line in the middle is a bit longer than the other two. I asked how he knew what that symbol meant. Apparently, there is a book for everything on the bridge. He whipped out his handy-dandy book entitled, Chart No. 1. It is a key to reading nautical charts (maps). He searched for the correct page with bottom obstructions of all types and showed me that symbol and what it means. Whenever I have a question, the bridge crew whips out a book of some type to let me see the answer. It’s really interesting. The Pisces is a really modern ship with the latest electronic navigation and scientific features. The other day I asked about navigating without power. There is a book for that. Bowditch American Practical Navigator has everything you need to know about crossing the ocean without electronics. As it says on my classroom door, “Reading makes life a lot easier.” Turns out that symbol is a shipwreck.
Laura Kracker looks at maps
But I digress. Back to the pay dirt (we struck gold). Laura Kracker, our geographer started getting excited. “Look at this! Look at this! Write down these coordinates.”
She went running back to the acoustics lab (where they use sound echos to map the ocean floor and the presence of fish) to mark the location along the transect (lines we’re running) because we apparently were over coral mounds. Using information gathered by others in years past as a guide, they were mowing the lawn with the sonar to find interesting habitat to study with the ROV. As the ship went back and forth along the planned transect to develop a much better map than existed, Laura would radio the bridge about any changes to the courseto pinpoint the best areas for us to study over the next couple of days.
ROV crew swtiches gear from one ROV to the other
Everyone was very excited. So, although the ROV had to be switched out, which took a lot of work, we made good use of the time on the ship. After a whole day of mapping, it’s now late at night and the map looks gorgeous. This is important work and many cruises are devoted entirely to mapping. Andy David, our lead scientist, says this acoustic mapping is useful to many people and will allow more precise coral surveys for years to come.
NOAA Teacher at Sea: Sue Zupko NOAA Ship: Pisces Mission: Study deep water coral off the east coast of FL Geographical Area of Cruise: SE United States from off Mayport, FL to Biscayne Bay, FL Date: June 3, 2011
Weather Data from the Bridge Position: 29.1°N 80.1°W Wind Speed: Light and variable Wind Direction: 112 true Visibility: 10 n.m. Surface Water Temperature: 28.6° Air Temperature:28.2° Barometric Pressure:1015.3 Water Depth: 82 m Salinity: 36.5 Wet/Dry Bulb: 28.2/24.5
Big Eye
Before reading further, vote on the survey above.
I was reminded on this voyage that colors change at depth in the ocean. If you were swimming at 60 feet, you wouldn’t see reds. Jana said she cut her leg while diving a few years ago at 60 feet. She watched the blood coming from the cut and it was black to her eye. Knowing it was probably wise to come to the surface with a cut like that in the open ocean, she started ascending (coming up). At 30 feet she stopped to look at her cut. The blood was green. Is Jana a Vulcan? As she rose to the surface, she continued to watch her blood flow from the cut. At the surface, finally, the blood was red.
Light is interesting. The white light we see has all the colors coming from it. When you think of the rainbow, red has the longest wavelength, and the lowest energy. When your friend is wearing a red shirt, you are actually seeing the red wavelengths reflecting (bouncing) back to hit your eye. So, your mind sees red. It doesn’t mean you’re angry (Get it? That’s a joke). However, in water, particles, such as detritus and plankton,and the water itself, get in the way and block or absorb the wavelengths. Since red has low energy, it gets interfered with quickly. The shorter, higher-energy blue wavelengths can reach down farther. Now, think back to our Big Eye example. He’s red. However, at depth he looks black and is camouflaged against the background of dark rocks and shadows.
Try this at home. Take a red or blue transparent bottle. I have a red water bottle that I can see through. Put a blue object behind it such as an internet cable or a shirt. What color does the object appear to be now? I’ll bet a really dark purple or a black. You might try a blue transparency over a red picture. One of my students, Kaci, was creating a PowerPoint slide show. His background was patriotic with red, white, and blue stripes. He wanted to pick a contrasting color to continue the patriotic theme of red, white, or blue. As a solution, he chose a transparent rectangle as a background to dark blue letters. The colors turned out a bit strange in the background and he had to fiddle with his transparency a bit. That is similar to the fish color being distorted by the water when there is little light at depth.
When the ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) shines its light on the fish, we see the real color of the Big Eye. There is very little distance for the water and particles in the water to distort the red color. The LED (Light Emitting Diode) headlights on the ROV have a powerful beam so we can see the real color of the fish.
NOAA Teacher at Sea: Sue Zupko NOAA Ship: Pisces Mission: Extreme Corals 2011; explore the ocean bottom to map and study health of corals and their habitat Geographical Area of Cruise: SE United States deep water from off Mayport, FL to Biscayne Bay, FL Date: June 4, 2011
Weather Data from the Bridge Wind Speed: 2.4 knots Wind Direction: 29.45° Visibility: 10 n.m. Surface Water Temperature: 28.6°C Air Temperature:29.6°C Relative Humidity: 60% Barometric Pressure:1017.80mb Water Depth: 251.75 m Salinity: 36.35 PSU Dry/Wet Bulb: 26/23.5
While speaking with Captain Jeremy Adams this morning, I mentioned that today, June 4, is my grandson, Wyatt’s, birthday. He happily stated that the good ship, Pisces, was born June 4, 2009. Wyatt is one year older than this ship. Happy birthday, Pisces and Wyatt.
NOAA Teacher at Sea: Sue Zupko NOAA Ship: Pisces Mission: Study deep water coral, Lophelia Pertusa, in the Gulf Stream Geographical Area of Cruise: SE United States near Gulf Stream from off Mayport, FL to Key Biscayne, FL Date: June 3, 2011 Time: 16:33 EDT
Weather Data from the Bridge Wind Speed: 2.4 knots Visibility: 10 n.m. Surface Water Temperature: 28.6°C Air Temperature:29.6°C Relative Humidity: 60% Barometric Pressure:1017.80mb Water Depth: 251.75 m Salinity: 36.35 PSU
If this is your first visit to my Teacher at Sea blog, you might want to scroll down to the bottom to follow the story of the voyage of the Pisces.
We’re here. At 245 meters, we have 100% sediment on the bottom. We have seen a lot of Cancer Crabs, eels, Spider Crabs, and Hermit Crabs. When we first reached our survey site, we found a soft bottom which looks like the surface of the moon with small craters. There wasn’t a lot of visible life, either. After we flew a bit further the ground cover changed to coral rubble (old, dead broken coral). There were more fish and worms visible. Finally, success! We found a mound of live Lophelia pertusa. Mounds are formed by Lophelia rubble covered with some sediment, then more Lophelia rubble. Live Lophelia then grow all over the mound. The mound we found had Lophelia of all sizes covering it. What a find! According to John Reed, one of our coral experts, the mound we observed is the shallowest Lophelia mound that has been recorded in this part of the Atlantic.
It took over three hours to reach our dive site once the ROV was launched. Again, patience is a virtue.
Kevin Stierhoff, Captain Jeremy Adams, and Chief Scientist Andy David discuss the mission.Big Eye
NOAA Teacher at Sea: Sue Zupko NOAA Ship: Pisces Mission: Study deep water coral, Lophelia Pertusa, in the Gulf Stream Geographical Area of Cruise: SE United States in Gulf Stream from off Mayport, FL to south of St. Lucie Inlet, FL Date: June 3, 2011 Time: 15:33 EDT
Weather Data from the Bridge Wind Speed: 2.59 knots Visibility: 10 n.m. Surface Water Temperature: 28.25°C Air Temperature:28.9°C Relative Humidity: 61% Barometric Pressure:1018.20mb Water Depth: 280.94 m Salinity: 36.33 PSU
Hello from the Pisces “flight” deck. I am sitting next to the pilots of the ROV. John Butler is currently flying the ROV at a depth of 243 meters. We are drifting with the ship as it makes its way to our survey site. The ROV has been in the water since around 9:00 this morning EDT and we have finished our lunch and are waiting to get to our drop site. Why is the ROV flying along at 243 meters when our survey site is at 300 meters? When the ROV first launched, the current was 3.5 knots above and below the surface. The ship’s crew on the bridge calculated how long it would take for us to arrive at the dive site given the currents. Once we started flying the ROV at depth, we found the counterweight acted as an anchor and the current slowed down above and below the surface. Accordingly, the ROV slowed down and it’s taking a lot longer to get to our dive site than originally calculated.
Jellyfish found on the way to the sea floor
What are we seeing on the video feed from the ROV? Lots of marine snow–detritus, zooplankton, and other small particles, plus a few interesting creatures– jellies, salps, several squid, arrow worms, and some hydrozoa. It really is surreal watching the video of our journey to the bottom of the sea.
Crew Members holding the ROV, helped by a winch
What are we expecting to find? Lophelia pertusa. Lophelia is a ture hard, or stony, coral from the phylum Cnidaria, class Anthozoa (meaning it is a polyp), class Anthozoa (starts as a larva swimming around and then becomes attached to something, or sessile). We want to find out how many there are, their health, their size, and what is living amongst them. Lophelia are white when they are alive, unlike shallow water corals that most people are familiar with which have colors from the algae which live with them. If the Lophelia is not white, it’s either sick or dead.
NOAA Teacher at Sea: Sue Zupko NOAA Ship: Pisces Mission: Study deep water coral along the east coast of Florida Geographical Area of Cruise: SE United States in deep water from off Mayport, FL to south of Key Biscayne, FL Date: June 2, 2011 Time: 14:33
Weather Data from the Bridge Position:30.4N 80.2W Visibility: 10 n.m. Surface Water Temperature: 27.33° Air Temperature: 27.5° Relative Humidity: 66% Barometric Pressure: 1017.8 Water Depth: 71.53 Salinity: 36.44
The Pisces has embarked on an exploratory cruise. Many cruises run like clockwork to accomplish their missions. We have a schedule, but recognize that things don’t always work that way. I do not have a set time I must be somewhere–except perhaps meals:) Even then, I can grab a bowl of cereal or make a sandwich if I am not available due to conflicts. Just an aside here, I try not to miss the great meals served in the galley. So, we are, in a manner of speaking, charting the unknown, going where no man (or woman) might have gone before.
Good things come to those who wait. I know we’re going to have some good things come to us. Let’s see. A computer broke in transit and we waited for parts before departure. Well, it was a holiday and the parts didn’t get shipped on time to arrive early on Tuesday and we would have had to wait another day. We left without that computer working. I’m thinking it was a backup computer. You must have backup equipment for the backup equipment when out at sea. We left about 2 1/2 hours later than planned. Gotta be flexible when working with technology and the ocean.
Next, the ROV worked fabulous on our test drive in shallow water. We then ran over to our first deep water site and launched the ROV. Oh, no!! First dive started then aborted due to a thunderstorm which brought lightning strikes close to the ship. Fast current (although we planned for it) and the tether got a kink in it. The ROV and peripheral equipment is very delicate. The ocean, even on a good day, is a harsh environment. You have to plan for problems to occur. Well, problems happened. We lost video even though the ROV was still running perfectly. The whole point of the ROV is to take video and photographs. If the video fiber is not functioning, no point in continuing. We had to abort the mission and repair the tether cable which houses the fiber optic, data wire, and power cables.
The ROV crew is fabulous. They work long hours as a well-oiled machine. Problem solving seems to come naturally to them. They figured out the problem and within about 12 hours had the tether fixed. A morning dive was planned. Things didn’t line up exactly as planned so we launched later than scheduled. Remember, patience is a virtue. Every time we plan to launch, we must dress in our life jackets and hard helmets, gather everyone who has a part in that, and wait. Well, right after getting in the water, an electrical leak was detected. Back up came the ROV. Now, many things on a ship, except meals and the crew watch schedules, do not come as scheduled. Again, ocean and technology. Plan on delays. Patience is a virtue and I’m trying to be a virtuous woman.
Although frustrated, the science and ROV teams have done very well being patient. They are always ready for a dive–even hours before it happens. The scientists can’t do their jobs until the ROV runs so that has to be frustrating for them. You wouldn’t know it, however, from their attitudes. It reminds me of the 90/10 principle. We can’t control 10% of what happens to us. Equipment breaks. Weather gets stormy. Currents are too strong. People get sick. We can control the other 90% which is our attitude toward these challenges. Andy David, our chief scientist, didn’t jump up and down and scream and yell when things didn’t go according to schedule. What would that accomplish? Although probably frustrated by the forces of nature working on us, mail service, or the equipment issues due to nature, Andy was very cool and supportive. He found other jobs we could be doing while we waited. He wasn’t the only one. The ROV crew just jumped in and worked out bugs and kinks.
Even the Captain has to relax.
The scientists worked on research, papers, etc. Some of us worked on the blog, downloading pictures from our dive and cataloguing information, etc. It was a good time to go fishing off the stern. Someone sighted Mahi and the poles came out. Fresh fish is good. One has to find time to relax and when there are limiting factors in the mission you can’t do anything about, take a break.
Remember the last quiz? Were you patient waiting to find out what it is? Here is an enlargement of the photo.
ROV Tether
That’s right. It is the tether for the ROV. It was good being patient to find out the answer.
The first creature I saw when I boarded the Pisces was the Laughing Gull. Almost everyone who answered this survey said Sea Gull would be the first creature I would see. Good job! The gulls were flying all over the harbor. Ironically, this is the picture I chose to use in my first entry to this blog. Later that day I saw Dolphins, Mullet, a Brown Pelican, Sargassum, a Loggerhead Sea Turtle, Flying Fish, and Moon Jellies. Still waiting on a whale and the Lophelia. We have only been out a short time. Gull landing at dusk
New survey. What do you think these are?
NOAA Teacher at Sea: Sue Zupko NOAA Ship: Pisces Mission: Study deep water coral, Lophelia, in the Gulf Stream Geographical Area of Cruise: SE United States in Gulf Stream from off Mayport, FL to south of St. Lucie Inlet, FL Date: May 31, 2011 Weather Data from the Bridge Clouds: Partly Cloudy Wind Speed: 8 knots Wind Direction: 020 Visibility:10 nautical miles (n.m.) Swells: 3-4′ Barometric Pressure: 1018.4mb Salinity: 126.9 Dry/Wet Bulb: 26.8/24
I am finally here on the Pisces. The weather is perfect. Puffy clouds, nice breeze. I love being in the harbor. There are ships all around us and there is always something going on. We are berthed (parked) literally next to a missile cruiser. Instead of having a gangway (walkway) directly onto our ship, we must climb up some metal stairs (no kidding–you have to be able to pull yourself up about two feet to get started), board this cruiser, then cut across to another gangway to go to the Pisces.
Gangway
Although we have shown ID at the gate, and the entrance to the pier, we must show it again to get onto this ship. There are a lot of guards. The gangway is not the easiest thing to walk on even though there are railings on both sides. The floor has slats that stick up and are easy to trip on. I really had to watch my step. Try carrying heavy gear while maneuvering on this. We had to unload our cars and trucks and carry just about everything across these two gangways. Thank goodness one of the crew was there to help me. Would have been a struggle to get my duffel up those first few steps.
What is this?
What is this? Vote using the survey on what this is a picture of. It is an important object on our ship.
This is an eye wash. Scientists often use chemicals in their work and if something splashes, they can step on a pedal and it opens up the top of this “waffle iron” and water eye-width apart rinses the chemical from their eyes. It’s a handy safety device.
As a novice to sailing, I must rely on what the crew has told me to bring. In case of having to abandon ship (that’s a comforting thought), I need a hat, long sleeved shirt, and long pants. Seems like a good way to cover up and protect myself from the sun. They say it might be cool on board so I’m bringing a sweatshirt and windbreaker. When I say I’m going on a cruise, people instantly think of a big cruise liner with a pool and a huge auditorium. NOAA Ship Pisces is 209 feet (63.8 m) long. Sounds big until you think that that’s about the length of a hockey rink, 3/4 of a football field, or a bit more than four school buses. No need for a swim suit or good clothes. Not going swimming and the galley (dining room) is strictly casual. The stateroom (bedroom) is small so don’t bring a big suitcase. I bought a rolling duffel bag so it would collapse yet still roll in an airport.
In a way this will be like going to camp with a few differences. For our fifth grade it would be like going to the Great Smokey Mountain Institute at Tremont in Tennessee. Tremont has bunk beds as does the Pisces. I’ll be sharing a room with one female scientist rather than 40 girls and chaperones. At Tremont you bring your own bedding. On the ship, it’s provided. At least I won’t have to carry my sleeping bag though they did suggest bringing my favorite pillow. At Tremont the staff feeds you great food. I’ve heard you eat well on the Pisces and to make sure to work out. At Tremont you study nature in the woods and streams. On the Pisces, I’ll be surrounded by the ocean and will study nature above and below the surface. In both places you must be prepared for a variety of weather conditions. How to do that with one little suitcase? I drove to Tremont and took lots of things in my van. I must be more prudent packing for the Pisces since space is limited. In both places it’s fun and exciting to learn new things and do scientific research.
My most important gear besides my clothes will be my camera and video equipment. I have to carry those items on the plane rather than putting them in my duffel. I want to bring back lots of pictures and video for my students to better understand the work we’ll be doing. They can use this information in their technology projects. My students made some interesting videos this year. One was a “public service announcement” for the school to recycle old phone books rather than throwing them away. Our school earned money in a recycling contest and we want to make sure to repeat that next school year. Two other videos students created teach about the “seven habits“, a program our school uses to help inspire kids to be leaders and take responsibility for their lives. Every year we have at least one video about the service dogs we raise for Canine Companions for Independence. So, with a ton of video about corals and life aboard a ship, I can only imagine what they will choose to do. Be sure to check back to see some of the projects they’ve developed as a result of this trip.
I have a rare opportunity and a responsibility to teach others about our world. Having been selected as a NOAA Teacher at Sea, I will be sailing aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ShipPisces as a scientist. Andy David, the chief scientist on our expedition, who works for NOAA’s Fisheries Service, has assigned and will be assigning me duties. Already I’ve participated in editing press materials, setting up a blog, pre-cruise meetings, and finding groups to Skype with from the ship. On board ship some of my duties will include photographing and videotaping our activities. Yeah! My students will have lots of material from which to create projects. I will be able to teach them about public access to information and my role in that from my blogging responsibilities. Having raised service dogs, I am already familiar with many aspects of public access, but it has usually been wheelchair access to buildings. Internet access for the blind hadn’t occurred to me. Learning, always learning.
I teach grades 3-5 in a pull-out program for the gifted and talented. Last week my 3rd grade students got to Skype with Andy David and asked him questions about the purpose of our cruise, what we would find there, how we would solve problems, how the ship is powered, and so much more. The students seem very interested in sharks, dolphins, whales, and turtles. Those species aren’t exactly what we are focusing on in our study of the deep water coral, Lophelia. Andy said that we would probably see all those marine creatures. That hadn’t occurred to me; they weren’t on my radar since these species haven’t been mentioned in other blogs or information pages from this study. They will be serendipitous meetings, and, although I didn’t think it possible, my excitement level has increased. I found a great web site about Lophelia. Check it out. It has easy reading, maps, pictures, and games.
Keep checking back for more on this exciting adventure. I will post my blog entries as often as bandwidth will allow after we depart on May 31, 2011 to help you better understand about our mission and what we found. We will return June 11, 2011. Until then, I will talk about things I plan to take and why.
