Mission: Mapping Deep-Water Areas Southeast of Bermuda in Support of the Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation
Date: July 25, 2018
Weather Data from the Okeanos Explorer Bridge
Latitude: 28.37°N
Longitude: 63.15°W
Air Temperature: 27.8°C
Wind Speed: 9.7 knots
Conditions: partly sunny
Depth: 5236.01 meters
Ensign (ENS) Anna Hallingstad
Hometown: Anacortes, Washington
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) is built on three principles: science, service, and stewardship, and ENS Anna Hallingstad embodies all of these core values. Anna is currently immersed in her first sea assignment aboard the Okeanos Explorer and has many different responsibilities as a NOAA Corps Officer.
Anna has always been fascinated by the outdoors and enrolling in a Marine Science course in high school set her on a science track in college. After graduating high school, Anna completed an undergraduate and graduate career at Stanford University. She majored in Earth Systems and focused particularly on ocean systems. Earth Systems was a unique interdisciplinary major that investigated the interactions of different ecological, geological, and human systems.
Anna extended her learning outside of the traditional classroom environment by completing a quarter of classes at Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, California. She spent the fall quarter of her junior year studying abroad in Australia in collaboration with the University of Brisbane and Stanford. During the summer before her senior year, Anna participated in a 10-week Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) through the National Science Foundation. Anna continued her studies at Stanford to earn her Masters in Earth Systems and focused on the human relationship with the ocean.
Upon graduation, Anna did an AmeriCorps term by working for an urban forestry non-profit and was a volunteer for Salish Sea Stewards in Washington. Anna also worked as the Harbor Porpoise Project Coordinator before applying and being accepted into NOAA’s Basic Officer Training Class (BOTC). Anna had a desire to work for NOAA since she was young and began her 19-week training in January at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. Officer training school was an intense program that emphasized leadership, teamwork, seamanship, navigation, etc. After graduating in May, Anna was shipped off to her first assignment in Honolulu, Hawaii and reported to the Okeanos Explorer in 2017. She will spend two years on the Okeanos Explorer until her three-year land assignment in Washington state.
Anna wears many different hats aboard the Okeanos Explorer as the Morale, Safety, and Property Officer as well as a Purchase Card Holder and Diver. As the Morale Officer, she organizes events on aboard such as ice cream socials, cookouts, and cribbage tournaments. She really enjoys seeing everyone having a great time onboard. It can be very busy balancing all of these important responsibilities, but Anna believes that you shouldn’t shy away from difficult things. Having the confidence to tackle the unknown is a valuable life lesson and one that she abides by while at sea.
We arrived off the coast of Florida on the evening of Sunday, July 15, and sampled stations in the eastern Gulf until the afternoon of Thursday, July 19. We used the same fishing method during this part of the cruise (bottom trawling), but added a step in the process, deploying side scan sonar in advance of every trawl. This measure was taken both to protect sea life on the ocean floor (sponges and corals) and to avoid damaging equipment. The sea bottom in this part of the Gulf—east of the DeSoto Canyon—is harder (less muddy) and, in addition to coral and sponge, supports a number of species markedly different than those seen in the western Gulf.
Side Scan Sonar
In contrast to single-beam sonar, which bounces a single focused beam of sound off the bottom to measure depth, side scan sonar casts a broader, fan-like signal, creating nuanced readings of the contour of the ocean floor and yielding photo-like images.
Rigged and ready for deployment. Signals from the sonar are conducted up the cable and picked up by the electrically powered lead on the block.
Side scan sonar on its way in astern.
Side scan sonar just beneath the surface & descending.
When we arrive a station in this part of the Gulf, we begin by traversing, covering the usual distance (1.5 miles), but then turn around, deploy the side scan sonar, and retrace our course. Once we’ve returned to our starting point, we recover the sonar, turn around again, and—provided the path on the sea bottom looks clear—resume our course through the station, this time lowering the trawl. If the side scan reveals obstructions, it’s a no-go and the station is “ditched.”
Coming about before deploying the side scan sonar.
And Now for Something Completely Different . . . Fish of the Eastern Gulf
Off Panama City, Florida – Tuesday morning, July 17, 2018
We spent the first half of this leg of the survey in the western Gulf of Mexico, going as far west as the Texas-Louisiana border. The second half we’re spending in the eastern Gulf, going as far east as Panama City. From here we’ll work our way westward, back to our homeport in Pascagoula.
Thanks to different submarine terrain in the northeastern Gulf—not to mention the upwelling of nutrients from the DeSoto Canyon—it’s a different marine biological world off the coast of Florida.
Here’s a closer look at the submarine canyon that, roughly speaking, forms a dividing line between characteristic species of the western Gulf and those of the eastern Gulf:
Bathymetric map of the Gulf of Mexico, with proposed dive sites for Operation Deep-Scope 2005 indicated by red arrows and yellow numbers. Site #1 is on the southwest Florida Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico, where deep-water Lophilia coral lithoherms are found. #2 is DeSoto Canyon, a deep erosional valley where upwelling of deep nutrient rich water means greater animal abundances. #3 is Viosca Knoll, the shallowest site, where spectacular stands of Lophelia provide abundant habitat for other species. See: https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/05deepscope/background/geology/media/map.html
And here’s a selection of the weird and wonderful creatures we sampled in the eastern Gulf. As this basket suggests, they’re a more brightly colored, vibrant bunch:
A basket of fish. Upper right: Lane Snapper, Lutjanus synagris. On the left: Sand Perch, Diplectrum formosum. The plentiful scallops? Argopecten gibbus.
Sand Perch, Diplectrum formosumRazorfish, Xyrichtys novaculaA basket of Xyrichtys novacula
Angelfish, Holacanthus bermudensisHolacanthus bermudensis details: tail fins (front specimen), pectoral fin & gill (behind)
Our move into the eastern Gulf marks the midpoint of the cruise, and we’ll be back to Pascagoula in a few short days. The seas haven’t been as serenely flat as they were in the eastern Gulf, nor has the sky (or sea) been its stereotypically Floridian blue, but I’ve found life aboard ship just as pleasurable and stimulating.
A squall on Monday morning, July 16, 2018. Off the stern there to starboard, Blackfin Tuna were jumping.
In my final blog post, I’ll have more to say about all the great folks I’ve met aboard NOAA Ship Oregon II—from its Deck Department members and Engineers, to its Stewards and NOAA Corps officers and inimitable Captain—but here want to reiterate just how thoughtful and generous everybody’s been. The “O2” is a class act—a community of professionals who know what they’re about and love what they do—and I couldn’t be more grateful to have visited their world for a while and shared their good company.
Busy as we’ve been, I haven’t had much time for sketching during this part of the cruise, and, as the selection of photos above suggests, I’ve concentrated more on taking pictures than making them. Still, I’ve begun a small sketch of the ship that I hope to complete before we reach Pascagoula. It’s based on a photograph that hangs in the galley, and that I’m going to attempt to reproduce actual size (3 3/8” x 7”) . Here’s where things stand early on in the process:
Work in progress: sketch of NOAA Ship Oregon II
Did You Know?
Any of the western Gulf fish in the basket from my last blog post? Here it is again:
Basket of Fish from Western Gulf
And here is a visual key to the four species I was fishing for, each figuring prominently in my blog post for July 15:
Basket of Fish from Western Gulf: now color-coded
1: Red Snapper, Lutjanus campechanus
2: Longspined Porgy, Stenotomus caprinus
3: Gulf Butterfish, Peprilus burti
4: Brown Shrimp, Farfantepenaeus aztecus
A few Stenotomus caprinus and Peprilus burti have been left unhighlighted. Can you find them?
Geographic Area of Cruise: Western North Atlantic Ocean/Gulf of Mexico
Date: August 4, 2018
Introductory Personal Log
I’m thrilled to be joining NOAA Ship Oregon II for the second leg of the Shark/Red Snapper Longline Survey. The adventure of a lifetime begins in Canaveral, Florida and concludes in Pascagoula, Mississippi. For two weeks, we’ll be studying sharks, red snapper, and other marine life in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. Scientists will collect data on fish populations to find out more about their distribution, age, weight, length, reproduction, and other important information. Along the way, we’ll also sample water quality and collect other environmental data. Learning more about these creatures and their surroundings can help to keep their habitats safe and thriving.
This exciting opportunity is the next chapter in my lifelong appreciation for sharks and the sea. During a formative visit to the ocean at age three, I quickly acquired a taste for salt water, seafaring, and sharks. I saw my first shark, a hammerhead, in the New England Aquarium, and I was transfixed. I wanted to know everything about the water and what lived beneath the surface.
Enthralled by the ocean at age three. This trip launched a lifelong love of New England.
Revisiting the same beach as an adult…still enthralled.
The Giant Ocean Tank at the New England Aquarium
I had the same reaction when I found out I was selected for Teacher at Sea!
After discovering nonfiction in fourth grade, I could access the depths through reading. I was riveted to books about deep-sea creatures and pioneering undersea explorers. The more I learned, the more curious I became. As a younger student, I never indulged my aquatic interests in any formal academic sense beyond prerequisites because of my epic, giant-squid-versus-whale-like struggle with math. Because I was much stronger in humanities and social sciences, I pursued a predictable path into writing, literature, and education.
As a Literacy Specialist, I support developing readers and writers in grades K-5 by providing supplemental Language Arts instruction (Response to Intervention). To motivate and inspire my students, I share my zeal for the ocean, incorporating developmentally appropriate topics to teach requisite Language Arts skills and strategies.
In 2011, I initiated an ocean literacy collaboration with undersea explorer Michael Lombardi and Ocean Opportunity Inc. so that I could better answer my students’ questions about marine science careers and marine life. Our first meeting involved swimming with blue sharks offshore, and I knew I needed more experiences like that in my life. From chumming to helping with the equipment to observing pelagic sharks without a cage, I loved every aspect. This life-changing experience (both the collaboration and the shark encounter) transformed my instruction, reigniting my curiosity and ambition. Our educator-explorer partnership has inspired and motivated my students for the past seven years. After supporting and following my colleague’s field work with my students, I wanted a field experience of my own so that I can experience living, researching, and working at sea firsthand.
The only time I was in the shark cage.
The Snappa, Galilee/Point Judith, Rhode Island
Although my fascination with all things maritime began at an early age, working closely with someone in the field transformed my life. Instead of tumbling, I feel like Alice plunging into a watery wonderland, chasing after a neoprene-clad rabbit to learn more. Finding someone who was willing to share their field experience and make it accessible gave me the confidence to revisit my childhood interests through any available, affordable means: online courses, documentaries, piles of nonfiction books, social media, workshops, symposiums, aquaria, snorkeling, and the occasional, cherished seaside visit.
From Walt Disney’s Alice in Wonderland: A Big Golden Book; picture by the Walt Disney Studio, adapted by Al Dempster (Golden Press, 1978); from the motion picture based on the story by Lewis Carroll
We co-authored and published a case study about our collaboration in Current: The Journal of Marine Education, the peer-reviewed journal of the National Marine Educators Association (Fall/Winter 2016). We wrote about bringing the discovery of a new species of mesophotic clingfish to fourth and fifth grade struggling readers. Since a student-friendly text about the fish did not exist, I wrote one for my students at their instructional reading level, incorporating supportive nonfiction text features.
It’s reinvigorating to switch roles from teacher to student. Ultimately, this unconventional path has made me a more effective, empathetic educator. My students witness how I employ many of the same literacy skills and strategies that I teach. By challenging myself with material outside my area of expertise, I am better able to anticipate and accommodate my students’ challenges and misconceptions in Language Arts. When comprehension of a scientific research paper does not come to me easily on the first, second, or even third attempt, I can better understand my students’ occasional reluctance and frustration in Language Arts. At times, learning a different field reminds me of learning a second language. Because I’m such a word nerd, I savor learning the discourse and technical terminology for scientific phenomena. Acquiring new content area vocabulary is rewarding and delicious. It requires word roots and context clues (and sometimes, trial and error), and I model this process for my students.
Lake Ontario
Alexandria Bay, Thousand Islands
Being selected for Teacher at Sea is an incredible opportunity that required determination, grit, and perseverance. Although my curiosity and excitement come very naturally, the command over marine science content has not. I’ve had to be an active reader and work hard in order to acquire and understand new concepts. Sometimes, the scientific content challenges me to retrain my language arts brain while simultaneously altering my perception of myself as a learner. Ultimately, that is what I want for my students: to see themselves as ever-curious, ever-improving readers, writers, critical thinkers, and hopefully, lifelong learners.
I am so grateful for the opportunities to learn and grow. I deeply appreciate the support, interest, and encouragement I’ve received from friends, family, and colleagues along the way. I will chronicle my experiences on NOAA Ship Oregon II while also capturing how the scientific research may translate to the elementary school classroom. Please share your questions and comments in the comments section below, and I will do my best to reply from sea. My students sent me off with many thoughtful questions to address, and I’ll share the answers in subsequent posts.
Did You Know?
Pelagic fish have bodies designed for long-distance swimming. With their long pectoral fins, the blue shark (Prionace glauca) is highly migratory, traveling great distances across oceans.
Look carefully: This graceful blue shark was the first shark I saw in the open ocean. Swimming with them was exhilarating!
Recommended Reading
An engaging read-aloud for younger readers.
For a simplified introduction to how scientists study sharks, I recommend the picture book How to Spy on a Shark written by Lori Haskins Houran and illustrated by Francisca Marquez. This read-aloud science book portrays the process of catching, tagging, and releasing mako sharks. The book includes shark facts as well as an introduction to tagging and tracking technology. For more information on how scientists use underwater robots such as remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to study sharks: https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/18whitesharkcafe/welcome.html
While our main mission aboard the NOAA Ship Oregon II is to survey and study sharks and red snapper, it is also very important to understand the environmental conditions and physical properties of the sea water in which these animals live. The CTD instrument is used to help understand many different properties within the water itself. The acronym CTD stands for Conductivity (salinity), Temperature, and Depth. Sensors also measure dissolved oxygen content and fluorescence (presence of cholorphyll).
The CTD instrument itself is housed in a steel container and is surrounded by a ring of of steel tubing to protect it.
Conductivity is a measure of how well a solution conducts electricity and it is directly related to salinity, or the salt that is within ocean water. When salinity measurements are combined with temperature readings, seawater density can be determined. This is crucial information since seawater density is a driving force for major ocean currents. The physical properties and the depth of the water is recorded continuously both on the way down to the ocean floor, and on the way back up to the surface. There is a light, and a video camera attached to the CTD to provide a look at the bottom type, as that is where the long line is deployed, and gives us a good look at the environment where our catch is made. These data can explain why certain animals gather in areas with certain bottom types or physical parameters. This can be particularly important in areas such as the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico. This is an area of low oxygen water caused by algal blooms related to runoff of chemical fertilizers from the Mississippi River drainage.
Ready to deploy the CTD
Calibrating the CTD
The CTD instrument itself is housed in a steel container and is surrounded by a ring of of steel tubing to protect it while deployed and from bumping against the ship or sea floor. Attached water sampling bottles can be individually triggered at various depths to collect water samples allowing scientists to analyze water at specific depths at a particular place and time. The entire structure is slowly lowered by a hydraulic winch, and is capable of making vertical profiles to depths over 500 meters. An interior computer display in the ship’s Dry Science Lab profiles the current location of the CTD and shows when the winch should stop. We have found this to be a tricky job, during large wave swells, as the boat rocks quite a bit and changes the depth by a meter or more. The operator must be very careful that the CTD doesn’t hit the ocean floor too hard which can damage the equipment.
An interior computer display in the ship’s Dry Science Lab profiles the current location of the CTD and shows when the winch should stop.
The data collected while deployed at each station is instantly uploaded to NOAA servers for immediate use by researchers and scientists. The current data is also available the general public as well, on the NOAA website. Once safely back aboard the Oregon II, the CTD video camera is taken off and uploaded to the computer, The CTD must be washed off and the lines flushed for one minute with fresh water, as the salt water from the ocean can damage and corrode the very sensitive equipment inside. The instrument is also calibrated regularly to ensure it is working correctly throughout all legs of the long line survey.
Personal Log
TAS Stephen Kade
I am having such a great time during my Teacher at Sea experience. In the 9 days aboard ship so far, we have traveled the entire coasts of Mississippi, Arkansas, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Never in my life did I think I would get an opportunity to do something like this as I’ve dreamed about it for decades, and now my dreams have come true. I’m learning so much about fishing procedures, the biology of sharks, navigational charting, and the science of collecting data for further study while back on land at the lab. I can’t wait to get home and spread the word about NOAA’s mission and how they are helping make the world a better place, and are advocating for the conservation of these beautiful animals!
Animals Seen: Sharpnose shark, Tiger Shark, Grouper, Red Drum fish, Moray Eel, Blue Line Tile fish
During my NOAA Teacher at Sea experience, I have truly been inspired and impressed by how many important roles of our operation on the Oregon II are fulfilled by females. One of the most important crew members is Ensign (ENS) Chelsea Parrish who is one of our OOD’s. or Officers of the Deck. I think her story will inspire my daughter and female students to aim high for their future!
As a young child, Chelsea was inspired by her father who spent 20 years in the US Navy. She loved hearing stories about his role working aboard Navy submarines, and all of the interesting things one must do to work below the sea. After high school she attended the Savannah State University, in Georgia. She was able to train aboard the R/V Savannah where she learned about biological, chemical, physical, and geological oceanographic studies in estuaries and continental shelf waters in the southeastern US Atlantic and Gulf coasts. She earned her Bachelor degree in Biology, and received her Masters degree in Marine Science. While she didn’t need her Masters to get into her field, she knew that in the long run it would put herself above others in a highly competitive field and would be an advantage in the future.
A year into graduate school, she attended a conference, where she learned about the NOAA Corps. The NOAA Corps is one of the seven federally uniformed services of the United States, and is made up of scientifically and technically trained and commissioned officers. It was there that she met Lt. Commander Adler, whom she kept in contact with. Just a short time later, she was called for an open opportunity to join the NOAA Corps. She had 17 weeks of real world training at the Coast Guard Academy for Officer Candidate School (OCS). It was there that she learned how NOAA is different than the US Navy. The Navy focuses on various military actions, while NOAA Corps focus is on science and their motto is: “Science, Service, Stewardship”. It was then Chelsea knew she came to the right place to fulfill her professional goals.
After graduating from training, she earned her Officer of the Deck qualification aboard Oregon II in September, 2017. She will be aboard completing her assignment in January, 2019. Chelsea has many important duties to perform on the ship, including steering the ship. This entails following the chart that the CO (Commanding Officer, or Captain) has planned out to fulfill the mission of the ship. In our case the mission is long line fishing of Red Snapper and Sharks at many stations along the southeastern US and the Gulf of Mexico. While the CO is off duty, she must keep him informed of any changes that need to made to the Navigation trackline to ensure there is a safe navigational watch during her shift, which is normally 4 hours at a time.
The most common thing to happen that happens to create a change in course is foul weather, but there are many unforeseen events as well. Chelsea must study reports from the US Coast Guard which let her know various events happening in the region we are sailing. This can be other ships performing science missions, merchant navy ships of other countries in the area, oil drilling operations, or in our case yesterday, live ammunition firing exercises by the US Navy.
ENS Chelsea Parrish on the bridge of NOAA Ship Oregon II
Chelsea is also the environmental compliance officer aboard the ship, and she must follow specific rules set up by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to ensure Oregon II is environmentally responsible while at sea. She must be sure there aren’t any issues with fuel, garbage, or any other foreign substance being put in the ocean while at port, or at sea. She also keeps a recycling log to track all activity and incidents that occur. Chelsea also runs the ship store and keeps track of all the items to be sold to the crew and volunteers aboard the ship.
Finally, Chelsea is the go- to rescue swimmer aboard Oregon II, and is the first to jump into the ocean if there is someone overboard to be retained from our ship, or another at sea near us. I saw her in action during our drills at the beginning of our trip and I was impressed at how quickly the crew launched our rescue boat, so Chelsea could rescue our life ring that acted as our “person overboard”. She also took a 3 week class to get certified as a NOAA working scuba diver. This certification allows her to be in the ocean to find, and/or fix any issues we have with the ship while at sea that can’t be fixed from the deck or rescue boat. She is certified to dive down to 130 feet below the surface.
It certainly is impressive how much Chelsea has accomplished in her 28 years. I hope this post inspires all my students, but especially the girls to go out into the world and do anything they can dream of, as that is exactly what Chelsea did. When her time aboard Oregon II is over, Chelsea plans to be a Cetacean Photogrammetry Specialist in La Jolla, California. She will be getting to get her FAA drone license to fly hexacopter drones from ships. Her duties will be to find, count and track marine mammals such as seals, dolphins, and whales. She said she loves helping NOAA fulfill their mission of helping marine animals and data collecting to further the study of these creatures and helping ensure their survival in the future.
Personal Log:
Now that I am almost a week into the survey, I am starting to fall into the rhythm of working on the ship. The 12 hour work days are certainly long, but we do get breaks between stations to rest, converse, and prepare for the next run. If it’s a good station and we haul in a lot of catch, we often spend time talking about each of the things we caught and become like kids on Christmas if it’s something new and interesting. We also spend time logging all the data we collect into the computer for later research on land.
We have seen just about all the different weather scenarios you could imagine, and have endured bright, 93 degree cloudless days, and windy days with 6 foot waves and pouring rain. We’ve had to call off a few stations until our way back south down the coast due to poor conditions, because on all NOAA ships, the motto is “Safety First”. The real trick is working during the big wave conditions and learning how to function as a human being while the boat is rocking and rolling all about for the entire day. I’m getting better at anticipating where my next step will land and compensating for the constant shifting gravity under my feet. It will make walking on earth again seem so easy!
Animals Seen Today: Sandbar sharks, Scalloped Hammerhead Shark, Blue Line Tile Fish, Grouper, Atlantic Spotted Dolphins, Squid
