NOAA Teacher at Sea
Amy Pearson
Onboard NOAA Ship Delaware II
August 13 – 30, 2007
Mission: Ecosystem Monitoring Survey
Geographical Area: North Atlantic Ocean
Date: August 18, 2007
Weather Data from the Bridge
Air temp: 24.1
Water temp: 26.4
Wind direction: 030
Wind speed: 12 kts.
Sea wave height: 3 ft.
Visibility: 10+
Science and Technology Log
What a beautiful day. Humidity is gone and there is a nice breeze, bright sun and 2-3 ft seas. Up at 7 a.m. just in time for breakfast of blueberry pancakes, bacon and an egg sandwich. Email checked and data collection for logs happened. I went to the bridge and interviewed the Commanding Officer (CO) Jeff Taylor and the ship’s navigator, Ensign Claire Surrey. I also interviewed and taped Patrick Bergin, the ship’s electronic technician. Information from them will be in another log entry. We also observed a large pod of bottlenose dolphins (at least 25) swim with the boat for a short time in the morning. A smaller group with larger individuals came by around 3:30 p.m. I did get some video of the first group—very beautiful creatures.
After lunch I sent my first four logs to the NOAA office in Maryland. We do not have Internet access here, just email access on 3 computers. This all went quite smoothly. My evening watch begins with a sampling at about 6 p.m., another at about 9 p.m. and one more at approximately 12:20 a.m. During the evening we headed inshore, the ocean depth decreased, and flies were annoying us on deck. Contents of the plankton tows have increased in volume with more jelly-like creatures, such as Salps. We observe more ships in the area. Learning about NOAA’ s mission and how this ship fits into the mission took place today. The organization NOAA falls under the auspices of the Department of Commerce (DOC). It used to be under the Dept. of Interior. NOAA’s many divisions support the mission of DOC. The organization has just 299 NOAA Corps officers, a congressionally approved maximum. All others who work for NOAA (99% of workers) are civilian marine workers employed by the government. They include scientists, crew, who are called wage mariners, and the many support staff who work for these people. To become a NOAA Corps officer, one must apply and compete with many worthy candidates.
The maximum age to apply is forty-two years old. One must have a bachelor’s degree in an area of science or engineering with two semesters of both calculus and physics. Upon being accepted, one would begin with a sixteen-week training program at the Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y. Then the individual would receive their first sea assignment that would last two to three years. Following this, a three-year land based assignment would happen. For both of these assignments the officers can submit a rank of requests for location. After twenty years, they may retire with a pension. On this cruise there are four NOAA Corps officers: LT Jeff Taylor, the acting Commanding Officer, LT Monty Spencer, the Executive Officer, ENS Francisco Fuenmayor, operations officer, and ENS Claire Surrey, navigation officer. More information on their job descriptions will appear in another log.
