Category: Jacob Tanenbaum 2007

NOAA Teacher At Sea: Jacob Tanenbaum
NOAA Ship MILLER FREEMAN
Mission: Fisheries Oceanography Coordinated Investigations
Day 10: May 28, 2007

Last night we stopped survey operations and sailed for the Coast Guard Station in Kodiak, Alaska. We went through a part of the island called Whale Pass.

We saw whales blowing in the distance, sea otters drifting with the tide and a spectacular Alaska sunset that seemed to go on forever.

We pulled into port and found another NOAA Ship, called the Fairweather. They were on the pier right next to us. Lieutenant Sean set me up with a tour. Imet ENS Matthew Glazewski who took time from a busy morning to give me a tour. What an amazing ship! They do work mapping the bottom of the sea with allkinds of interesting sonar equipment. I as glad I had a chance to go on board.

This morning, I said some sad goodbyes to the crew on the FREEMAN and left the ship along with the science crew. The scientists departed by plane forSeattle while NOAA Ship MILLER FREEMAN prepared to leave later in the afternoon for a transit south. The crew are leaving for warmer waters off the west coast of the USA. They will spend a few days in transit, a few in port and then pick up more scientists for studies along the west coast of the USA. The crew have had a long spring in the cold Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. I think they all will be grateful for some bright sunny warm days. I wish them pleasant journeys and thank each and every one of them for all their support and hospitality and for a wonderful 10 days.

Today I had a day on Kodiak Island while I wait for my flight out tomorrow. What an amazing day. I tried to rent a car in the airport and was unsuccessful.

I was sad at first, and then set out to make the best of it by exploring on foot. I started with some lunch. What a treat! For Memorial Day, Kodiak had something called a Crab Festival. There were rides, treats, and of course, Alaska King Crab. Take a look a lunch today!

I next set off on a long hike through the areas near the town of Kodiak. Lieutenant Sean had given me a list and guide to the town, and using that, I visited the harbors near town, and then a park just outside of town where I was able to hike through spruce trees covered with moss, and then find isolated beaches full of birds, including eagles.

Next, I decided to hike to the top of a mountain overlooking Kodiak, again, following Lieutenant Sean’s recommendation. I found myself on top of a peak overlooking one of the most beautiful views I have seen on the trip so far. In fact, I took almost 500 photos today and had a very hard time selecting what to show you on the blog. I’ll put more on the gallery when I get back to New York, so you can see more soon.

On the way down, the weather started to grow cold. Suddenly the clouds opened up and rain began pouring down. I still had miles to go to get back to town and shelter. And I thought they called this DRY land! Fortunately, I was “rescued” by the Kelly family, who were driving down the gravel road I was walking along. They offered me a ride and then asked if I would like to join them for dinner. When we got to their beautiful house in Kodiak, we found that one of their friends had left a treat for us. Fresh red salmon, caught just down the road. What a feast!

I was also amazed when they brought fresh vegetables out to make salad. I found out that the vegetables are brought to the island by barge from the west coast. We had a great time learning about each other’s home towns. Thank you to the Kellys, and thank you to everyone who made this such a spectacular voyage.

Tomorrow I’ll be traveling, but will check the blog on Wednesday when I get back into the New York area, so please write comments. I’ll see you all in school soon.

If you could travel anywhere you wanted to, where would you decide to go? Why?

The low pressure system over our heads just will not let up. The seas are a little flatter today and I could sleep last night without feeling like I was going to wind up on the floor. In any ship, the sections at either end, the bow (front) or stern (back) move up and down the most with the heavy seas. I’m way up in the bow. My cabin really moves. What does a cabin look like on a research ship? Well here is mine. Tomorrow we will take a tour of the entire ship.

I am also including some unique views of the ship while out at sea. As you can see from the photos, the weather just does not want change.

Science Log:

The work on the survey continues. The ship is moving in a kind of search pattern around the northern section of the Gulf of Alaska. We are looking for Pollock larvae and we are finding many. We are also finding lots of other cool creatures in our nets. Here are a few:

We are still waiting to hear more data from Excalibur, though it has returned some. Keep watching the drifter site for more information. In the mean time, here are some intersting creatures from today’s catch. You can double click the photos to make them larger.

This segmented worm usually stays near the bottom. When it is ready to lay eggs, it swims up into the water and scatters its eggs in the water as it goes. We must have caught this one as it moved up off the bottom to lay eggs. Can you see the eggs in the photos?

These are crab zoea. They will become like the crabs we think of later in their lives. The long spines may prevent preditors from eating them.

 

This little copepod hasn’t been eating crabbie paddies! You can see its dinner both before and after it has been eaten in this photo.

The shell fish here are called thecosomate pteropods. Theco means shell and somate means body. ptero means wing and pod means foot. So they look like
shelled winged feet when they move. They eat phytoplankton (tiny plants).

The long white creatures are larvaceans. They move their tails to make a current that moves food into their bodies. Look how many different kinds of
creatures there are in these samples we are bringing up!

The ship was pointed at 51 degrees and moving at 355 degrees because the wind was blowing against the side of the ship.

Yes, Morgan, we do experiments 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Work continues today as always. Toby, I’ll be back next week.

Marty. Great to hear from you. I will say hello to all. Thanks for the great information.

Hello to Mrs. Bolte’s Class, Amanda and Ms. Stern’s Class. Great to hear from you all.

Mrs. Freeley’s Class, we catch only baby fish, but have seen many other kinds besides Pollock. The scientists, however, are mainly interested in Pollock.
We eat lots of different kinds of fish. Last night, we had halibut. Tonight, we are having shrimp. And I’m hungry.

We do take showers, but you have to hang on when the ship moves or you wind up leaving the shower a little before you planed on it.

How do we sleep? In a “rack,” which is ship-talk for a bed. It is kind of fun in high seas to lay flat on your rack and look at your feet going way up
above your head as the ship rolls over the waves. It takes a little getting used to. There is a picture of my cabin on the blog today for you. There are no
animals on the ship this year.

Thanks to all for writing.

NOAA Teacher At Sea: Jacob Tanenbaum

NOAA Ship MILLER FREEMAN

Mission: Fisheries Oceanography Coordinated Investigations

Day 6: May 24, 2007

Weather Data from the Bridge:

Visibility: 3 Miles

Wind Speed: 23 Kts.Sea Wave Height: 6 Feet

Water Temperature: 4.2 Degrees Celsius

Air Temperature: 6.6 Degrees Celsius

Pressure: MbsScience LogLast night around 2:00 AM Alaska Time, we reached the point in the cruise where we were in the right position to deploy our drifter buoy. We stood
on the back deck and gently lowered it over the side of the ship and watched it disappear into the Alaska night. Bon Voyage, Excalibur! Click here for the video. We heard from the buoy several times overnight
and now are having trouble reaching the website. I will download data as soon as I can.

It was wonderful to see Excalibur in the water. I’m proud of each and every student in Mrs. O’Brien’s Class who worked so hard to put this buoy
together. I can’t wait to get back and see the data from the buoy with you.

Another gale has blown in and we are again facing winds above 30 kts. And heavy seas. The work has been tough but we have been able to continue.
Well, you have seen how the nets work, you have seen how the lab works. Today I would like to show you some of the incredible creatures that have
come up in our tiny nets. The little bowl of reddish liquid you see here holds an incredible array of creatures which make up the plankton
community in the Gulf of Alaska. Lets meet a few. We will need a microscope to do it. All of the pictures you see here were taken with a camera
mounted to a microscope. But first, will the real Sheldon Plankton from Sponge Bob, please stand up…

This is what Sheldon Plankton really looks like. He is a copepod. And he eats phytoplankton (plants), not crabby patties.

This is a baby crab. The female carries the eggs. When they hatch, the float around for a few weeks eating phytoplankton. They go through 3 major
stages. This is the last one. At this stage, the crab settles to the bottom and starts to begin life as a bottom dweller. At each stage, these
creatures shed a shell, swell with water, form a new shell and then expel the water they absorbed before they grew the new shell. They use the extra
space to for real grow before they have to shed again.

This is a pollock larvae. That may be the yolk sack from the egg under its mouth! It absorbs the yolk and then must begin to look for food on its own. You
are seeing this pollocks first real meal.

The don’t have fins quite yet. They are not really able to swim against the current. Right now, since it is too young to swim, it is considered
plankton. Look how large they eyes are. Why do you think they need such large eyes?

This is what shrimp look like, when they first hatch. Shrimp like this look red to us, but in deeper water, where there is less sunlight, the red looks
black, not red. What great camouflage!

Another pollock larvae. You can clearly see the eye and mouth. This pollock does not have a yolk sack, so it has been eating on its own. Do you see the
food in its stomach? I wonder what it has been eating. Take a guess and write a comment. There are no real fins at all on this fish, yet. See how small the
stomach is? These fish have to find food and find it fast. They cannot store energy in their bodies yet.

Several different types of zooplankton gather around some phytoplankton. Here is the beginning of the food web. The algae in this photo serve as food for
many little creatures in the sea. The copepods and other small creatures eat the tiny phytoplankton, and in turn are eaten by small fish.

This is a a creature called a hyperiid amphipod. It is related to a sand flea. They live in plankton. These particular ones will borrow into the surface of
jellyfish and ride around on them. They are tiny hitchhikers. They have plates on their abdomen are where the babies stay when they are young.