Maggie Prevenas – NOAA Teacher at Sea Blog

May 15, 2007April 1, 2021

Maggie Prevenas, May 15, 2007

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Maggie Prevenas
Onboard US Coast Guard Ship Healy
April 20 – May 15, 2007

Mission: Bering Sea Ecosystem Survey
Geographic Region: Alaska
Date: May 15, 2007

Science Log

I waited until most people had left the airplane before I gathered up my gear, treasures, and technology equipment. So many people, in such a hurry, and my senses were overloaded; the bright lights and loud sounds of rush hour in a huge international airport shook me to my toes. I continued through the terminal as I had approached my entire journey, one step at a time.

I realized there were only one or two airlines in this terminal so I knew I had to do some investigating. Walking, walking, walking past many, many, many people, gosh that was something! I had to kindly interrupt a Security Guard, an airport cleaning staff, and a sky cap before I even approached the terminal of my last flight.

Los Angeles airport is set up like a big horseshoe with the terminals like nails in the hoof. In the center is the giant Star Wars Air Control Tower that looms over the site like Darth Vader. Everything is concrete, or blacktop, or steel, or glass. The cars, and taxis, and police vehicles zoom around the loop at racecar speeds. No lie, I ran into the same police motorcycle three times as I walked from one end of the terminal complex to the other.

I got into my home terminal and had to check through security once again. Since my breakfast yogurt was ‘safe and under control’ in the wastebasket in Anchorage, I had to purchase my protein and calcium from yet another vendor. I found my gate and a good wall with an outlet and floor space . I sat down, plugged in my computer and stretched out my legs. Leg room would be precious on the flight.

There was a layover of at least an hour until the gate began to fill with excited tourists getting ready to go to the vacation of their dreams. So I worked away on my computer, updating images, and cleaning up photo files. Even though the flight was delayed, then delayed again, and then delayed indefinitely, I wasn’t upset. One step at a time I got here, and one step at a time I’d get home.

I saw a grown woman throw a temper tantrum. I saw another man talk in a mean voice to the airline check-in lady. I saw a baby child take wobbly steps around and around the gate. “Would you please watch HIM!” the mother hissed at the father. The father rolled his eyes and opened his cell phone, attempting to reschedule a flight that may or may not be cancelled due to repair. “What is the hurry?” I thought and then I realized that if I lived there I would be desperate to go to paradise as well.

Finally, whatever had been broken, was fixed. The pilot gave her thumbs up, and I was on a plane bound for my home on an airplane that was full, full, full of people. Five short hours later, I was home, the air full of honey sweet plumeria and humidity. Without rain there are no rainbows.

I saw my husband before he saw me and I choked up, just a hitch. I was home. I was really home. He had kept the house clean, and fed all the animals, had done all the yard work, and managed everything while I had spent 38 days in a galaxy far, far away. For that and him I will be forever grateful.

But there are so many to thank.

My risk-taking principal who believes in his teachers.

My uber substitute student teacher, who taught ME about fighter planes and MY STUDENTS so much more.

My mumma, who gave birth to more than just me. She kept an entire binder of my journals and questions.

My sister, who kept me in the dark, so I wouldn’t slip into a crack.

My daughter, who is a source of constant interest and growth.

My students who delight in learning from me as much as I do from them. Their warm Aloha from the boots they signed always kept my feet and my heart warm.

My Inupiat Eskimo friends, who gave me so much more than I could ever offer. All I had to do was listen with my eyes.

PolarTrec support staffers who make it all look so easy but know that it’s not.

NOAA and the Teacher at Sea program. Now it’s my turn to tell stories and inspire the next generation of marine biologists, waitresses, gardeners, truck drivers, and the homeless not hopeless.

The kind Fed Ex shipper, Ed, who gave me a box, wrapped up half my cold weather gear and offered to take me to the post office because it was too expensive to ship it from there.

All the researchers on the Healy for having so much patience with me and my questions, and tolerating me. But especially the bird men and women, the ice seal team, the algae population explosion experts, the nutrient decoders, the fish stalkers, the lovers of marine mammals when they aren’t studying plankton (a life style). Heck, everyone who had to put up with me and my eternal enthusiasm. Thank you.

The Coast Guard women and men of the Healy, I was never afraid because I knew you’d keep me safe. Look for an increase in enlistment from Hawaii in about 5 years…

And thank you, for following my mission. I hope you will continue to check back as I will continue to post and share what I am doing with what I heard when I listened with my eyes.

May 14, 2007April 1, 2021

Maggie Prevenas, May 14, 2007

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Maggie Prevenas
Onboard US Coast Guard Ship Healy
April 20 – May 15, 2007

Mission: Bering Sea Ecosystem Survey
Geographic Region: Alaska
Date: May 14, 2007

Science Log

Monday arrived cold and snowy. I peeped out of the warm hotel room and looked at the snow blusters that swirled and danced across the gravel. I had a number of things to mail, and the USPO was right across the road. Guess I better start my day.

It wasn’t planned, but I made three separate trips to the post office that day. I needed to mail a beautiful large map of Alaska to Hawaii. I needed to mail the squished decorated styrofoam cups back to my new friends from St. Paul in the Pribilof Islands, and I needed to send my cold weather gear back to VECO in Fairbanks, Alaska.

In between the trips to the PO, I was drawn to the edge of the bay as it licks the main drive that curls around the mountains of the island. I heard it before I saw it, the musical sound that cold ocean water makes when colliding with smooth round stones. I knew that sound. It was the same sound as the beach at Yaquina Head outside of Newport along the Oregon coast. I closed my eyes and felt the snow sting my face. The smell was the same too. Rich and fecund, the north Pacific.

I stumbled along the stony beach, watching my feet, watching the stones, measuring the bull kelp from holdfast to shorn bald bulb. I decided to take some beach memories home to Hawaii, a discarded plastic ice cream bucket held my treasures until I tucked them in my pregnant duffels, still wet and cold.

By this time the air was a white whizzy chaos. I could not see the mountains. Rumor had it that if you couldn’t see the mountains, the plane wouldn’t land. The weather forecast told of snow showers, especially towards evening. I thought I might try to hang out at the airport in hopes I could fly standby with an earlier flight.

Luck was with me and I got the last back seat of that tiny plane. Three hours later, I was in Anchorage, an airport in the throes of remodeling. I slipped off the plane into another dimension, in which I had to give up two perfectly good containers of yogurt to the TSA. Yes, those are really dangerous, those cups of yogurt. I had forgotten about the horror of terrorists when I was in the Bering Sea.

Somehow my white pure world of Bering Sea memories was about to collide with reality. I would have yet one more gentle midnight flight. On board Alaskan airlines, I flew south, to a megalopolis named Los Angeles. Little did I know, as I munched my warm pumpkin scone, a rude reintroduction to civilization was about to say, ‘Hey wake up!’

May 13, 2007April 1, 2021

Maggie Prevenas, May 13, 2007

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Maggie Prevenas
Onboard US Coast Guard Ship Healy
April 20 – May 15, 2007

Mission: Bering Sea Ecosystem Survey
Geographic Region: Alaska
Date: May 13, 2007

Science Log

It took Robyn and me quite a while to get off the boat. I was waiting around to send my cold weather gear via parcel pick-up. Robyn had a great idea that we could take our time and say our goodbye to our friends, eat one last lunch, and then take a taxi into town.

So we hugged and hugged all our Bering Sea Shipmates and called a taxi to the hotel. Just as our taxi arrived, the Alaska Maritime Shipper did as well, so we departed the Healy and took on a new residence at the Grand Aleutian Hotel in town.

After we hauled out duffels to our rooms, we took time talking to our loved ones still at home, a long shower, and then rendezvoused for supper with whoever was in the dining room. All the food was delicious! We had fresh green salads again, and so much more.

I went back to my room, sprawled across the huge bed. As soon as I closed my eyes, I found the sleep of a person transforming from sea to cement.

I woke in Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day was created by a mother who wanted to recognize the sorrow of mothers who were losing their sons in war. I pondered that sorrow as I shared my last meal with Robyn. I had a different kind of sorrow today, it was a bittersweet feeling for sure.

After eating we left for the airport and said our goodbyes. Was it coincidence that the next chief scientists arrived on the same plane that Robyn was about to depart on? The science continues in the Bering Sea, a mission passed on as surely as any relay racer passes on their baton. Goodbye Robyn! Good life and happy memories. As we hugged goodbye our life changing experience spent on the Healy was realized and acknowledged.

The afternoon was spent with one of my Healy roommates. She rented a car and we bravely went where we had never been before. We found the ‘wild herd’ of horses that roams the Dutch Harbor mountains. After our hike, we were very tired and accepted the warmth and rest our rooms afforded.

Tomorrow would bring a new day, a new week, and a return to civilization. Was I ready?

May 9, 2007April 1, 2021

Maggie Prevenas, May 9, 2007

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Maggie Prevenas
Onboard US Coast Guard Ship Healy
April 20 – May 15, 2007

Mission: Bering Sea Ecosystem Survey
Geographic Region: Alaska
Date: May 9, 2007

Science Log

I had learned from Dr. Michael Cameron, that we were about to pass through the most concentrated seal soup of the entire mission around 9:30 yesterday evening. He said that there were so many seals in that region, that the helo opps (helicopter observations) had to take turns recording their seals, waiting for one to finish until the other could sight verbally.

So what do YOU see? There are two walrus here.

So I rambled up the three ladders to the bridge, and as I have for so many days this cruise, screwed the binocular eye cradles into my eye sockets and swooped back and forth across the magnified ice vista.

I LOVED to go up to the bridge and observe.

What did I see? Lots and lots of seals! There were spotted seals, and ribbon seals, and even a bearded seal pup or two. The Coast Guard crew assigned to watch those few hours were taking the ‘Seal Avoidance Mission’ seriously, much to my relief.

And then what?

Not so much large ice cakes anymore. There were smaller pieces honeycombed with holes and meltpools.

The concentration of small pieces jumbled together became thicker, and thicker.

And the ice melted away. Behind us.

May 8, 2007April 1, 2021

Maggie Prevenas, May 8, 2007

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Maggie Prevenas
Onboard US Coast Guard Ship Healy
April 20 – May 15, 2007

Mission: Bering Sea Ecosystem Survey
Geographic Region: Alaska
Date: May 8, 2007

Science Log

During this scientific mission to the ice pack of the Bering Sea, I have met many new creatures. Let me introduce you to yet one more.

**Dr. David Hyrenbach**

Scientific name: *Hyrenbachia daveediosus PhD***

Where does Dr. David live? Dr. David lives in Greenlake, slightly north of down-town Seattle. In the summertime he migrates down to central California to rendezvous with black-footed albatross. During the school year he forages around the University of Washington.

Dr. David Hyrenbach has spent two years coordinating the BEST research mission.

How many Hyrenbachs are there? Just him. He is an only child, however, there are close species in Spain and in France.

What are Dr. David’s identifying characteristics? David is an exemplary teacher. He is able to take complex ideas and explain them to others. He hangs out with Carleton, the walrus puppet. He is often seen carrying binoculars and on Sundays he wears his green penguin shirt.

What does he eat? David totally enjoys curry and coffee. He consumes bananas and his favorite vegetable is bok choy with tofu and soy sauce. Mahi mahi is one of his favorite fish to eat.

Dr. David dons the MS 900 survival suit prior to his flight in the helicopter.

How was Dr. David educated? He went to high school in Spain. At 17, he was a YFU (Youth for Understanding) exchange student in Saint Paul, Minnesota. After that, he went to the University of California San Diego and earned a Bachelor’s degree and PhD in ecology and oceanography. Then he went to the Duke University Marine Laboratory in North Carolina. In 2005, he returned to the west coast to the University of Washington.

How old is he? Dr. David has lived 37 years; longer than a ribbon seal. His main predators are mosquitoes, viruses, and possibly zombies. There seems to be little interaction between him and cigarettes or any tobacco products.

Dr. David Hyrenbach wears the albatross hat.

Do you know what is really cool about Dr. David Hyrenbach? He owns an albatross hat that his mother has made for him. It comes in very handy when he has to pick up other species at the airport.

He moves about the city by bus or by flex car. He really likes the flex cars because they are mostly hybrid cars and are gentle on gasoline.

He enjoys silly walks, especially when he launches from the curb.

Dr. David likes to hang out at the arboretum. He frequents Freemont, where there is a large troll statue that is of great interest to him.

Dr. David has a commensal relationship with Chorbiken, the beanie baby.

Why do we know so little about Dr. David Hyrenbach? Dr. David is an elusive being. He is always running around. The only place he sits is in his office. The best way to find him is by e-mail.

Take the Dr. David Hyrenbach quiz! Write the number of the question with the letter of the best answer on any ‘Ask the Team’ comment form. Make sure to include your name ? Thanks!

Which of the following is true?

a. David drives his big SUV smoking a cigarette on his way to work. b. David works at a circus training chickens to play the piano c. David thinks the Bering Sea is boring d. None of the above

Which of the following animals is David’s favorite?

a. cockroach b. centipede c. Black footed albatross d. mosquito

What would David order from the following menu?

a. seal steak b. steak tartar c. spoiled milk d. mahi-mahi

What does Dr. David like to do more than anything else in the whole wide world?

a. Make money b. Teach the next generation to be stewards of their environment c. Smoke cigarettes d. Super glue his fingers together

Why has David spent two years coordinating the BEST (Bering Sea Ecosystem Study) program?

a. So he can make money to buy cigarettes b. To understand how the Bering Sea Ecosystem will respond to global warming. c. To find the Seattle Seahawk. d. To put on MS 900 survival suits

May 8, 2007April 1, 2021

Maggie Prevenas, May 8, 2007

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Maggie Prevenas
Onboard US Coast Guard Ship Healy
April 20 – May 15, 2007

Mission: Bering Sea Ecosystem Survey
Geographic Region: Alaska
Date: May 8, 2007

Science Log

I’ve been feeling a little sad these past few days because the Healy 0701 mission is coming to a close. There’s been so much data taken, so many measurements done, and more than a few hypotheses tested. So WHAT has been learned?

The CTD was lowered and fired over 200 times in rough water

This research here, this Bering Sea Ecosystem Study, has been some of the first research done with SEASONAL ice during this time of the year. SEASONAL ice is ice that melts and then reforms each year. The algae blooms occur because the seasonal ice melts, creating a stable freshwater layer, a place for the algae to grow. The algae take up nutrients, which act as a fertilizer, and explode in numbers. The nutrients are quickly used up. The bloom for that year is over.

Rob tested the water for iron, getting baseline data to see if it is a limiting factor in Bering Sea productivity.

In areas of the Bering Sea that we visited that were really shallow, like around Nunivak Island, the ice has melted and the nutrients have been used. The bloom is over.

Nancy Kachel collected many samples from the CTD during this research mission.

What has been a surprise to some of the scientists is that the very productive algae blooms occur at the ice edge, not so much under the ice.

When phytoplankton reproduce very quickly they can actually turn the color of the seawater green. Photo from Ray Sambrotto. — When phytoplankton reproduce very quickly they can actually turn the color of the seawater green.

The algae need sunlight, and the sunlight just doesn’t seem to penetrate ice. Algae explode in large numbers when the ice, under which they have been growing, melts away.

Although this seems to be a small observation, it is actually HUGE! Or at least it was for me. Look at areas of the Arctic that do not have the seasonal ice. The flow of energy in that ecosystem is different. The energy transfer from sunlight through the high Arctic permanent ice to the algae that populate the Arctic Ocean is different. Same thing with the Antarctic permanent ice.

This is one of the deepest drops that the CTD made. Over 3000 meters!

If the Arctic or Antarctic holds more seasonal ice, i.e. starts melting, the model of how energy is transferred in the polar region will change. Knowing how seasonal ice acts as a medium to facilitate algal blooms will be very important. Right now is a critical time to research this key component.

I learned a huge amount about ice. I made ice observations many, many times. The scientists on this mission to help them interpret their data will use that information.

The science community has named this an International Polar Year (IPY). What I am doing, in trailing along with scientists, is acting to translate and understand the Bering Sea Ecosystem Study, and to act to educate others about cutting edge scientific research of climactic change. I think I can begin to start telling you the story.

May 6, 2007April 1, 2021

Maggie Prevenas, Week 4 in Review, May 6, 2007

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Maggie Prevenas
Onboard US Coast Guard Ship Healy
April 20 – May 15, 2007

Mission: Bering Sea Ecosystem Survey
Geographic Region: Alaska
Date: May 6, 2007

Science Log: Week in Review

Monday, April 30: The ice is here so ice observations take place every two hours. I had a feeling today was going to be a wildlife bonanza and it was. We saw lots of ribbon and spotted seals and birds. As always the time up in the bridge turned into hours.

I learned how to filter seawater and replace filter papers in Dr. Ray Sambrottos Lab. He is measuring the productivity of the Bering Sea. — I learned how to filter seawater and replace filter papers in Dr. Ray Sambrotto’s Lab. He is measuring the productivity of the Bering Sea.

After lunch I concentrated on getting my presentation to Dr. Ray to edit for the webinar on Thursday. Robyn and I worked out the times for the last webinar and got some images together for the Thursday show. David Hyrenbach as always came through with a good baseline Powerpoint for others to work off.

The ship is tracing a path we have gone before. It is tracing the path through the most productive areas we’ve been to. Much of that area is not under ice. Needless to say, I noticed that there was very little ice algae growth on the ice. The researches say the productivity is in the water, not on the ice. I am sure there will be some new conclusions brought forward.

Tuesday, May 1: Learn to Burn. First it was ‘learn to return,’ our survival safety class. Now it is ‘learn to burn?’

Well, the Healy works hard to be ‘green.’ There are only certain amount of resources available for a big 422 foot ship going out to sea for a whole month. Conservation of resources is a necessity.

We have been told how to conserve water when we take showers and wash and brush our teeth. We sort our trash into burnable, recyclable, and food compost. We only wash full loads of laundry.

The majority of the trash we are able to burn. However, not EVERYONE can burn. One has to be trained to burn. The two scientists that burned on the first leg of this trip, left on Saturday. The large pile of burnables present in the science conference room spurred Robyn and I to volunteer for a job that nobody wanted to do.

Steven Elliot, our coast guard science liason, took time out to teach us the specifics of burning. Lucky for us, two Coasties came in while we were being trained and put a bag of trash in the incinerator that was WAY too big. One of the ship engineers came down to the incinerator room and scolded them. We watched with eyes large, and vowed never to make the engineers angry at our burning ways.

Robyn and I were very happy to finish burning the bags of trash.

It took the bulk of the afternoon to burn the many bags of burnable trash the science conference room had to offer. We collected bags from the science lab too. When we left the incinerator room it was 90 some degrees. Robyn named us the ‘Fire and Ice’ team. We observe the ice and we burn the trash.

Wednesday, May 2: The cups that the students from St. Paul decorated have been sent down to the deep and back up. They will be so excited to see the results. I will be sending them from Dutch when I get there next Monday.

St. Paul students will be happy to get their teeny weeny cups back.

The scientists have been named as chefs for the Morale Night Dinner on Saturday. It was decided we would cook with a Mexican theme, since it was the fifth of May. I wanted to make a piñata. After all who doesn’t like a piñata? We used paper mache and bright green gloves to try and make a hard ball. No go. It collapsed. So I talked with some guys who have made piñatas in the past and tried to follow their guidelines.

Our first attempt at making a pinyata out of paper mache failed. — Our first attempt at making a piñata failed.

The trick was NOT to use paper mache, but duct tape and cardboard to fashion a hollow container. I chose to make a diatom using cardboard and discarded egg dividers. At 7 pm, Janet Scannell, our dinner coordinator, told me the piñata was out. I was disappointed. After all that work, no piñata. I cleaned up my mess and focused on Thursdays IPY webinar.

The ice is back. As a loose loose pack. Still lots of open water amid the flows. Skimming the waves between the flows were Laysan and Short-tailed Albatross, my Hawaiian friends!

Thursday, May 3: An IPY webinar at an early hour on ship. 9:00! We had two very important guests so we wanted to do our best. Somehow, between all the planning e-mail, a time reminder went out with the incorrect time. Now a half hour of time is a precious thing to busy people. We told our guests to hang tight, we would let them know when time had come. Thirty minutes of time has never passed more slowly.

But pass it did, and a very informative hour followed. Between Dr. Ray Sambrotto, the cruise Principal Investigator, and Captain Tedric Lindstrom, the Healy captain, the internet audience was wowed.

Immediately after the webinar, the Arcus folk had arranged for me to talk directly to my students. This was a huge special treat for me. I teach very active seventh graders, and their attention span and the schools technical equipment did not lend itself to easy listening. For a whole half hour I was connected to my Green Honus (fourth period students) who asked me any and all kinds of questions. Oh my, how I missed my students.The rest of the day was spent catching up with journal writing, editing pictures, and ice observing.

Friday, May 4: Today, we decided to try and work with our mp3 voice recorders. Robyn had recorded Carleton Ray discuss walrus ecology and I wanted to work with a Frank DeLima presentation from my school. Ice observations, writing, answering questions from the webpages, cleaning our rooms, the day was done, and we weren’t any closer to our mastering the mp3 podcast platform.

To the Coast Guard, it’s all about safety.

There were many last-minute dinner problems that came and went. And the ice was always present and changing, we made sure of that.

Saturday, May 5:

Between cooking a Mexican banquet for 130, I ran up to the bridge to take ice observations.

Started like any ordinary day, but soon morphed into a remarkable one. Check out my journal entry for May 5 to fill in the blanks between. OH, by the way, we also took in a tour of the ships engine, and cooked a Mexican banquet for 130. It was fun and delicious. And so ended our next to the last week on the icebreaker Healy.

May 5, 2007April 1, 2021

Maggie Prevenas, May 5, 2007

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Maggie Prevenas
Onboard US Coast Guard Ship Healy
April 20 – May 15, 2007

Mission: Bering Sea Ecosystem Survey
Geographic Region: Alaska
Date: May 5, 2007

Science Log: Tagging Ice Seals

Saturday May 5, started off ordinary, as ordinary as a Saturday on an icebreaker in the middle of the Bering Sea can be. I was lingering over lunch with Gavin Brady and Dr. Michael Cameron, two members of the NOAA National Marine Mammal Laboratory ice seal team. They were telling leopard seal stories and fun factoids about other seals. Unfortunately, I had to excuse myself, as it was time for me to make an ice observation up on the bridge.

In that very short period of time that it took me to lumber up the five flights to the bridge of the Healy, something happened. We were stopped at a station, a ribbon seal had been recorded close to the ship, and the ice seal team was going to try and tag it.

Much of the ice we encountered last week was soft and honeycombed. You wouldn’t want to go ice hopping on this.

I stopped right smack dab in the middle of my observations and flew down three flights to the hanger, where the seal team was hastily putting on their zodiac safety gear. Our last week on the Healy had us in rotting ice, or fog, or no ice at all with few opportunities to tag ice seals. This was a golden opportunity, as the boat was stopped and on station. Zodiacs away!

Jay Ver Hoef, the newest member of the ice seal team, geared up in a MS 900, bunny boots, white stocking cap, helmet, and ice camoflage overshirt.

Permission was granted and the seal team was good to go.

Dr. Mike talks netting strategy to the ice seal team.

They met together, refreshed their netting strategy, and waited.

The purpose of a strategy meeting is to review boat approaches and answer any questions that might arise.

The Coast Guard worked as quickly as it was able to.

Lee Harris stands next to Captain Lindstrom. The Healy supports scientific research by facilitating technology and equipment dispersal.

This was only the second time these zodiacs were launched; the crew was working out protocol and safety procedures.

The ice seals rolled the zodiacs onto the deck so that they could be lifted into the icy Bering Sea. — The ice seal team rolled the zodiacs onto the deck so that they could be lifted into the icy Bering Sea.

Time ticked, ticked, ticked away.

The ice seals tracked the ribbon seal as they waited patiently for the Coast Guard to get the three zodiacs onto the water below. — The ice seal team tracked the ribbon seal as they waited patiently for the Coast Guard to get the three zodiacs into the water below.

Each zodiac had to be lifted by crane up and over the helo deck fencing.

Zodiac one contained Dr. Mike and his driver Dave Withrow.

Sean Dahle and driver Lee Harris scooted off in zodiac two. — Sean Dahle and Lee Harris scooted off in zodiac two.

This was Jay’s first decent down the Healy Jacobs Ladder.

Gavin Brady with driver Jay Ver Hoef descended the Jacobs ladder into the zodiacs below. They chugged off into the frosty fog, and were gone.

The zodiacs slipped into the fog and out of sight.

They had radios, GPS and other contact equipment. We knew they would be safe.

Steven Elliot, Tom Bolmer, and Captain Lindstrom help the zodiacs find the seal in the ice-maze.

The rest of the seal tagging was done within a quiet and serene ice flowscape.

Dave Withrow, one of the ice seal team, took pictures of the Healy from the zodiac.

The three boats split up and surrounded the ice piece upon which the ribbon seal reclined. Sean Dahle and Gavin Brady quickly took control of the animal, it was a juvenile male.

The ice team wasted no time in getting measurements and data from the juvenile male ribbon seal. Photo by Dave Withrow. — The ice team wasted no time in getting measurements and data from the juvenile male ribbon seal.

The rest of the team measured its weight, some blood, it’s length, sex and attached the flipper tag.

The team attached the tag on the right rear flipper.

Ribbon seals are willing subjects. They are true ice seals; they never touch land and rarely encounter humans. Because of their naivety of humans, they can often be approached more easily than other arctic species.

Ribbon seals can often be approached more easily than other arctic seal species.

This young male waited patiently for the ice seal team to finish taking data.

This young male was true to its breed.

The ribbon seal slipped off the ice and into the Bering Sea. The tag will send out valuable information for roughly a year. — The ribbon seal slipped off the ice and into the Bering Sea. The tag will send out valuable information for a year.

So tagging number two can go down in the ice seal journal and in the event log of the 0701 Healy Science cruise as uber successful. Ordinary days? There are none, when you are on an icebreaker somewhere the middle of the Bering Sea!

May 4, 2007April 1, 2021

Maggie Prevenas, May 4, 2007

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Maggie Prevenas
Onboard US Coast Guard Ship Healy
April 20 – May 15, 2007

Mission: Bering Sea Ecosystem Survey
Geographic Region: Alaska
Date: May 4, 2007

Science Log

I have watched a lot of science happen these past three weeks. I have asked a lot of questions and taken a lot of pictures. See I needed to understand what was happening here in the middle of the Bering Sea. And I need to know it so well that I can go back home and tell my students all about it.

The producers in the Bering Sea ecosystem are diatoms and other phytoplankton. They are productive because there are lots of nutrients in the water.

I have been trying to synthesize ecosystem science and understand. Gradually, oh so slowly, I can see. And it hasn’t been easy. Scientists often do research with a very specific topic or organism. They work in small teams. They need to gather accurate data during the mission and/or store samples to continue research back in their labs.

The scientists on-board Healy work in small teams, with one scientist named again and again as contributing essential data to the Bering Sea Ecosystem STudy. This scientist works alone but is a huge team player. Meet Dr. Calvin Mordy.

Dr. Cal Mordy figures out what nutrients are in the water samples pulled from the Bering Sea.

Cal figures out what nutrients are in the water samples pulled up from the varying depths in the Bering Sea. These nutrients are like fertilizer for the tiny phytoplankton producers that cling to the bottom of the ice that covers the Bering Sea. Understanding why, how and when these tiny green food factories grow and multiply is another researchers problem. Yet another researcher is cataloging what zooplankton consumers are present and in what quantity. Cal? He’s all about the nutrients in the water of the Bering Sea.

Cal tirelessly and exactingly tests hundreds of samples of Bering Sea water.

Remember that the zooplankton (consumers) depend on the phytoplankton (producers) for food. Nutrients are key in this research. Cal tirelessly and exactingly tests hundreds of samples of Bering Sea water, at different depths in the water column, and returns information back to the BEST (Bering Sea Ecosystem Study) scientists so they may integrate that information in their research. Lots of people depend on him for their data. They make calculations of different solutions from his cue.

Many researchers on the Healy depend on Dr. Mordy for his data.

With so many people depending on him for data, does he ever make a mistake? ‘Never,’ he says, and I believe him. Mistakes advertise themselves, he explains. Any data that is out of sort is flagged. Those samples are run again, to verify the data in question. Often those samples are the result of a leaky bottle or a misfired bottle. That data is pulled. That’s that.

Somehow it is so comforting to know that Cal has such a strong grasp of this key piece of the Bering Sea Ecosystem Study. Deep in the lab onboard the USCG Cutter Healy, there is a scientist at work. Cal systematically finds out what nutrients are in this icy cold water and in what concentration. In the BEST cruise, it all starts here.

May 3, 2007April 1, 2021

Maggie Prevenas, May 3, 2007

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Maggie Prevenas
Onboard US Coast Guard Ship Healy
April 20 – May 15, 2007

Mission: Bering Sea Ecosystem Survey
Geographic Region: Alaska
Date: May 3, 2007

Science Log

I stuffed the cups with some sturdy brown paper towels to keep them separate and then placed them in a mesh laundry bag.

Here is Claire’s cup before we sent it down.

The Marine Scientist Technicians (MSTs) connected them to the CDT sampler that was dropped below 3300 meters!

I took this picture of the screen as the CTD was reeled up from the bottom.

How much pressure was down there? Scott Hiller, from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, plugged some numbers into an equation and told me that there was some 5100 psi (pounds per square inch) acting on those little white cups. The temperature was just above freezing.

Two hours after dropping them down to the bottom of the Bering Sea, they emerged strapped and dripping.

And MUCH smaller.

Oh how CUTE!

It will be a lot easier mailing these to the St. Paul students. My have they shrunk!

So what did we learn from this?

Well, there are lots more questions that arise. How far do the cups have to drop in order for them to compress? What is the tipping depth, the depth that they begin to compress? Does the length of time that they are submerged make a difference in how they compress? Where does the gas that is in the cup go?

Ah, science, sweet science, raising more questions than answering once again.