NOAA Teacher at Sea Heidi Wigman Aboard NOAA Ship Pisces May 27 – June 10, 2015
Mission: Reef Fish Survey Geographical area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico (28°58.91’N 085°29.87’W) Date: June 2, 3015
Weather: 82° @ surface, SE winds @ 5-18 knots, seas 1ft, chance of showers, average depth 72m
Science and Technology Log:
So far, I’ve talked about the daytime ops aboard the Pisces, and the different ways in which sample sites are surveyed, but once the sun goes down, something else happens. After the daytime series of drops of the CTD, camera rig, and bandit reels; a different deployment commences. During the evening, mapping operations are underway utilizing the technology of the sidescan sonar towfish. This little guy does exactly what it says – it gets towed and uses its sonar to scan laterally and map the ocean floor. The acoustic imaging can be used for mapping of geologic features, hazard surveys (for pipeline and cables), archaeological sites, sunken ships and downed aircraft. It can be deployed from the surface (via Pisces) or incorporated on a remote AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle). By mapping a predetermined feature, or area, in a linear transect array, the sidescan relays data from 20% above the depth of the ocean floor. So, if we are at 87m, the sidescan would be at an altitude of about 70m (210ft).
Science and deck team getting ready to test the AUVAUV being lowered into the blueThe AUV on its maiden voyageThe side scan towfish
Math at Sea: One of the tasks of the scientists is to determine the amount of “layback” or distance between the tow point and the lateral distance of the towfish from the vessel – making sure that this is in the range of the shipboard GPS transmission. Typically line is laid out at 3 times the depth at which the towfish will be cruising. By looking the diagram below, you can see that all three points create the vertices of a right triangle . . . get ready for some real-life applications of the Pythagorean Theorem. Math Question of the Day: If the Pisces is cruising at 5 knots @ 96m above the ocean floor, what is the measure of layback? An extension to this problem has to do with “catenary” (red parabolic line) or the amount of bend in the tow cable due to the speed of the vessel, cable length and the drag of the towfish/cable. Usually this is determined by subtracting 5% of the layback value. Based on the problem above, what is the total amount of layback in ft, to account for the catenary in the tow cable? Previous Answers:Trigonometry of Navigation post: 18 m/s @ 34°SE Bandit Reels post: about 14.6 nautical miles Coming soon . . . Now Hear This! Underwater Acoustics
NOAA Teacher at Sea Jennifer Petro Aboard NOAA Ship Pisces July 1 — 14, 2013
Mission: Marine Protected Area Surveys Geographic area of cruise: Southern Atlantic Date: July 10, 2013
Weather Data Air temperature: 28.4°C (81.5°F)
Barometer: 1010.20 mb
Humidity: 76%
Wind direction: 103°
Wind speed: 1.5 knots
Water temp: 27.5° C (81.5°F)
Latitude: 32 81.67 N
Longitude: 78 12.95 W
Science and Technology Log
The most integral piece of equipment on board is the ROV. A Super Phantom S2 to be precise. The ROV is operated by the team of Lance Horn and Glenn Taylor from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington (UNCW). Dubbed by me as the “ROV Guys”, Lance and Glenn have almost 50 years of combined experience working on and operating ROVs. The Super Phantom S2 is part of UNCW’s Undersea Vehicle Program which currently consists of 2 ROVs and 1 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle or (AUV). In the fall they will be adding a third ROV to their fleet. The ROV set-up is quite impressive and centers around one key component….communication. The ROV is tethered to the ship by an umbilical. During each and every dive the ROV operator is in constant contact with the ROV deck. The umbilical is either payed out over the side or brought back in according to the dive depth and that needs to also be communicated to the wench operator. The ROV deck is constantly watching the direction and tautness of the umbilical so that it does not get overstretched or goes into the boat’s prop. All the time the ROV driver is in contact with the bridge. So, there is a lot of communication and it is integral in every aspect of ROV operations.
Not only are all of the people involved in ROV ops communicating but the ROV and boat are communicating
as well. The ROV uses an integrated navigation system to provide real-time tracking of the ROV and ship to the ROV operator and the Pisces bridge for navigation. Ship and ROV positions with ROV depth, heading and altimeter reading are logged for each dive and provided to the scientist in an Excel file. Geo-referenced .tif files can be used as background files to aid in ROV and support vessel navigation.
The vessel has a machine shop which allowed the ROV guys to fix the transducer early in the cruise.The front of the ROV showing spotlights and camera arrays.
The ROV can go to a depth of approximately 305 meters (1000 ft). Our deepest dive on this cruise is 200 meters (650 ft) which is 20 atm of pressure! What does that mean? At sea level, the weight of all the air above you creates one “atmosphere” (atm) of pressure equivalent to 14.7 pounds pressing on each square inch. In the ocean, the pressure increases very rapidly with depth because water is much denser than air. For every 33 feet (10 meters) of depth, the pressure increases by 1 atmosphere. So at 20 atmospheres there is a lot of pressure pushing down on all sides. It is the increase in pressure that makes it difficult to do manned deep water dives and one of the reasons why the use of ROVs is so important.
As an experiment we sent styrofoam cups that we had decorated in a bag along with the ROV down to a depth of 170 meters 550 ft. The cups shrink due to the increased pressure of the water. The deeper you go the more they will shrink.
Styrofoams cups. Before and after being sent down with the ROV.
Data collection: Data is collected during each dive by the means of video recording and still camera photos. Each camera is in a special pressure rated, water proof housing. There is special attention given to the 7 target species (5 of which we have recorded this cruise) as well as any new or interesting species that we have seen. This data is analyzed back in the lab. So far we have approximately 64 hours of video and 2400 still photos. Needless to say reviewing the data is time-consuming but a very important aspect in confirming what we see during the actual cruise.
Still photos taken with the ROVs Nikon CoolPics camera.
Photos taken by the still camera of the UNCW Super Phantom ROV.Hogfish
Driving the ROV is much like playing a video game, only you have many more screens you have to monitor. I did get an opportunity to drive it over sand! According to Lance it takes about 20 hours of training to learn to drive effectively drive the ROV. There are no simulations, all of the drive time is hands-on and in the water.
Lance Horn giving me pointers on how to keep the ROV level and on course.
Personal Log
While I was in the Acoustics Lab speaking with the folks that do the multibeam mapping, I looked down at the probes that they use and a single word jumped out at me: “Sippican”. I know this word from my childhood. We used to visit my Aunt Carol and Uncle Al in Marion, Massachusetts which sits on Sippican Harbor off of Buzzards Bay. Sure enough the probes are made by Lockheed Martin Sippican, Inc. located in Marion, MA. This struck me as so apropos. My Uncle Al was a marine biologist and started a research lab in Falmouth, MA. I would go to the lab with him and count flounder larvae for hours on end. He was very instrumental in developing my love for marine science and I was overjoyed to have a connection, albeit small, to a man whose work I admired very much.
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Rita Salisbury
Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette
April 14–29, 2013
Mission: Hawaii Bottomfish Survey Geographical Area of Cruise: Hawaiian Islands Date: April 29, 2013
Weather Data from the Bridge: Temperature: 79°F / 26°C
Dewpoint: 68°F / 20°C
Humidity: 70%
Pressure: 29.98 in (1015 mb)
Winds: S 10.4 mph (S 17 kph)
Science and Technology Log: This has been an amazing voyage for me; I have learned about science process and technology in a real world application that I can take back to my classroom and incorporate throughout my curriculum. Real science on this cruise involved using multiple survey methods to determine the population and of Bottomfish species in a prescribed area. Acoustics, video recording by BotCam, AUV, and ROV, fishing by professional fishermen, and fishing from the side of the research vessel were all techniques employed in this study. These different methods will be compared and, eventually, a process will be formulated that will probably combine several of the methods in order to compile data to help regulate the bottom fisheries.
Some of the methodologies, such as the BotCams, have been compiling data for five or more years, so there is a sizable amount of information upon which to base decisions. Adding to the general knowledge base is an important part of scientific research; without data it is impossible to make informed decisions.
After the last deployments of the AUV and ROV yesterday, we all pitched in to help pack equipment to get ready for today’s end of the cruise. We cleaned floor mats, vacuumed, mopped, wiped down counters, and also cleaned our staterooms, heads, and common rooms. Even though this is a scientific research cruise, the scientists are considered guests on the ship and it only makes sense to help clean up. You never know when you’ll be back on the ship for more research and you sure want to be welcomed back!
Personal Log:
My mind is racing like a runaway train, thinking of ways to integrate what I’ve seen and learned on this cruise into my curriculum when I get back to Delaware. I cannot wait to sit down with my co-teachers, Dara Laws and Kenny Cummings, and brainstorm ways to make the science standards I am required to cover more meaningful and engaging to our students. We teach in a project-based, technology-rich environment and the possibilities to “amp up” the lessons and make them more rigorous, as well as captivating, are enormous. In addition to a fresh insight into science process, environments, populations, communities, and the overarching ecosystem, I now have real people I can contact to act as experts and representatives of their fields of study. I cannot thank NOAA, the Teacher at Sea program, Dr. Donald Kobayashi, Chief Scientist, or the Officers and Crew of the Oscar Elton Sette enough. Their openness and willingness to host another Teacher at Sea will make a difference to countless students in the years to come.
Not only did I make new contacts, I made new friends. I’m looking forward to making Clementine’s Chicken Curry for my family and friends and staying in touch with my new friends. I only wish every teacher I know could take advantage of such an amazing opportunity.
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Rita Salisbury
Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette
April 14–29, 2013
Mission: Hawaii Bottomfish Survey Geographical Area of Cruise: Hawaiian Islands Date: April 26, 2013
Weather Data from the Bridge: Wind: NE 3KT
Pressure: 1017.1 mb
Air Temperature: 74 F (23C)
Water Temperature: 78 F (25 C)
Science and Technology Log
Jamie Barlow and Bo Alexander getting ready to deploy the BotCams
I was extremely fortunate to be invited to ride along on a day-long BotCam deployment aboard the Huki Pono along with IT Scott Wong. Dr. Kobayashi got approval for it and before I knew it I was descending down a rope ladder and on my way in a small boat to rendezvous with the Huki Pono to work with scientists Jamie Barton, Chris Demarke, and Bo Alexander.
The BotCams are designed to descend to the sea floor, attract fish with bait, and video record the fish that are in range of the camera. The BotCam is then retrieved, the video uploaded, and then the BotCam is deployed again until the mission is completed. The videos are saved and someone then reviews them and classifies the fish by species and counts how many there are of them. The results are added to a multi-year study of the fisheries in the area.
The BotCams are heavy and deploying and retrieving them takes a lot of skill, so I stayed out of the way while that was going on. However, there were things I was able to do, and the three scientists walked me through them.
Throwing the grappling hook to catch the buoy line
The first thing I got to do was to throw the grappling hook to retrieve the buoys for a BotCam. Captain Al of the Huki Pono skillfully brought the boat up next to the buoys at a good angle and I was able to snag the buoy line with my first throw every time. Then I got out of the way so the hundreds of meters of line that attached the buoys to the BotCam was pulled on board. Once the BotCam was pulled to the surface, a cable from the winch on the back of the ship was attached to it and the BotCam was pulled to the back work area and pulled on board. The video was retrieved, the bait renewed, and the BotCam was ready for deployment again. On this day, the crew was working with two BotCams, but they had a third one on board that they also use, depending on the requirements of the day. (The Bluejay is my school mascot and came along for the ride.)
Setting the buoys to mark the location of the BotCam. Uli Uli Manu is along for the ride.Slinging line as the BotCam drops to the sea floor
Once re-baited, and with new video plugs, the BotCam was ready to be dropped at a pre-determined spot. The dropsites have already been entered into a GPS unit so the captain navigates from one site to the next using a handheld GPS. The depth of the new location determined how much line would be attached. When the captain said it was time, the scientists triple-checked everything, including each other’s work, and swung the BotCam off the deck and into the water. The line that attaches the BotCam to the buoy is quickly fed out after the weighted BotCam and then the buoys are tossed out last, which are the other two jobs I was able to do. Then it’s time to go the next location and either retrieve or deploy another BotCam. This went on all day long, without any breaks. Lunch was eaten while traveling from one BotCam location to another.
Photo courtesy of Dr. Don Kobayashi
While I was onboard the Huki Pono, the Sette deployed the AUV for a lengthy mission. I was able to see some of the video footage when I returned to the Sette and the clarity was amazing! The AUV’s path was blocked by a large outcropping for a while and it was really interesting to watch the video while the AUV worked its way free of the rock.
An AUV capture of almaco jack, a type of kahala. Photo courtesy of Dr. Don Kobayashi
The AUV was deployed again yesterday, and it is just as exciting to watch now as it was for the first mission. I know that it has a few failsafe procedures built into it, such as dropping the weights that help keep it down and aborting the mission, but it is still thrilling to watch the last line removed that tethers it to the ship and see it descend on its own power. The bright yellow skin makes it visible for many meters under the surface, but eventually it goes so deep that it cannot be seen any longer. The scientists monitoring the acoustics can “see” where the AUV is in relation to the position of the ship. They have named the AUV “Popoki” which is Hawaiian for cat.
Second Assistant Engineer (2AE) Megan keeping an eye on the control readout
The Chief Scientist, Dr. Don Kobayashi, arranged a tour of the engineering department of the ship. Chief Engineer Harry Crane met us in the forward mess and explained what we would be seeing. After handing out earplugs to protect our hearing from the 115 decibel environment, we were off. We were able to see the 600 amp 600 volt motor for the bow thruster used to maneuver in tight quarters or to make minor adjustments of the ship’s position. Then we were shown the sewage system next to the laundry room. The waste is collected and then cleaned by running electrical current through it before it is discharged. It holds about 6,000 gallons of waste, which is roughly what a tractor-trailer tanker holds. The giant Caterpillar diesel engines spin generators to provide electric power to run the propulsion motors, making the Sette a hybrid of diesel electric power. The water that is used to cool the engines is the same water that is used, as waste energy, to help run the evaporators that create the ‘fresh’ water needed for the ship. We also saw the halon and CO2 fire suppressant system, the main control room, and the shafts the turn the propellers (or screws), and the hydraulic system used to turn the rudder. One of the things that struck me the most about the whole tour was how very clean all of the areas were. Anyone who works around machinery knows it can be a messy environment with leaks and spills, but the Oscar Elton Sette was clean as a whistle.
Chief Engineer Harry Crane, Chief Scientist Don Kobayashi, Jessica Chen, and me touring the engineering department of the shipUli Uli Manu keeping an eye on things
Personal Log
This ship is like a large, extended family in many ways. The mess and the kitchen are central to the community with 3 wonderful meals served every day. But just like home, the kitchen is always open for anyone to make a snack. The other evening, one of the stewards, Allen Smith, stayed late to help me find the ingredients I needed to make a cake as a thank you to everyone on board. It was served as desert the next evening and the medical officer, “Doc” Tran, who really enjoys cooking, asked for my recipe and said that anytime they serve it from now on, they will call it the Rita Cake. Like I said before, everyone on this ship is very nice and they go out of their way to make me comfortable.
Did You Know?
GPS stands for Global Positioning System. A GPS device is an electronic unit that determines a location within a few feet, displaying coordinates in latitude and longitude. The handheld GPS receives signals from geosynchronous satellites. It only needs signals from 3 satellites to calculate a location, but a signal from a fourth satellite can fix the altitude of the location and the exact time. The more signals that are received from satellites, the more accurate the reading.
One of my duties has been to find out information about everyone on board for blog entry. The Chief Sci and I talked about it and decided to borrow an ice-breaker that we use at my school from time to time called “Two Truths and a Lie.” It has been interesting, to say the least, to start to gather the statements from different people on board. I cannot wait until I have enough data to publish it, but the best thing has been getting to know people even better.
Additional Section
I finally saw a humpback whale breaching while I was on the Huki Pono! It was about a quarter of a mile away, so I didn’t get any good pictures, but it was still exciting.
I also was able to see some kawakawa (False Albacore) off the bow of the ship. They are quite lovely fish, with a brilliant blue hue and a streamlined appearance. There were about a dozen of them and they would race in one direction and then change course, often breaking through the surface of the water to appear as if they were flying. I was disappointed when they finally wandered off.
One thing I have wondered about is the lack of seagulls around here. I just assumed that anywhere there was salt water, there would be seagulls. Jamie Barlow said they simply are not part of the ecosystem here. There might be an occasional one that shows up on its way somewhere else, but they don’t stick around. That surprises me, especially when you consider the Taape, or Bluelined Snapper. They are an introduced species that was introduced in the mid-1950s because Hawaii did not have a shallow water snapper. The species has flourished in these Hawaiian waters so why doesn’t the seagull show up and start competing in a niche?
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Rita Salisbury
Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette
April 14–29, 2013
Mission: Hawaii Bottomfish Survey Geographical Area of Cruise: Hawaiian Islands
Date: Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Science and Technology Log
CDT being lowered over the starboard side
A few days ago we dropped the CDT, an apparatus that collects data on the conductivity, the depth, and the temperature of the sea water in which the acoustic survey is taking place. All of these three things impact how quickly sound travels underwater. The scientists collect the information and then use it to figure out an accurate rate of speed for the sound waves. Once they have that information, they can determine how far a target is from the ship.I was able to ride along in a small boat to Maui to pick up parts for the AUV. While in the Maui harbor, I had the opportunity to visit the Huki Pono, a small boat working on this survey that is using BotCams to survey the fish population. The palu, or bait, that I help make every day is frozen and then transferred to the fishing boats. It is frozen in a shape that fits into a cage on the BotCam located near the camera. As the bait breaks up, fish are attracted to it and come close enough to the BotCam to be visually recorded. There is a lot of video to go through so Dr. Kobayashi says they won’t have the data from the BotCams for a while. But the other three fishing boats assigned to this project turn their survey information in every evening and I get to add it to a spreadsheet to help keep track of what section the boats were in and what they found while they were there.
BotCam on the deck of the Huki Pono
Work continues with the ROV and AUV. The scientists are always working on them, trying to make them run as smoothly as possible. We worked on calibrating the acoustics again this morning for the same reason. The better the information you have when you start a project, the better chance you have of having a successful outcome.
As I mentioned before though, not everything we are doing is high tech. We fish off the side of the ship in the evenings, dropping our lines all the way to the bottom so they are on the sea floor. The scientists running the acoustics tell us if they see fish and then we do our best to catch a representative sample. Here are two of the fish I caught off the bottom: an opakapaka and a taape. The observers that ride in the small boats every day spend the night on the Sette. That way, they can turn their logs in and I can record the data. As a bonus, a few of them are expert fishermen and are a huge help to us as we fish from the ship.
Opakapaka and ta’ape
Personal Log I’m really enjoying my time on the Sette. In addition to learning new things that I can apply in my classroom, I’m making new friends. Everyone is exceptionally friendly and they go out of their way to explain things to me. Most of them call me “Teach” or “Taz” and almost all of them have sailed with a Teacher at Sea before.
Did You Know? You can tell the age of a fish by their otoliths? The picture has the otoliths from an opakapaka, an ehu, and a hogo. Otoliths are a fish’s “ear bones” and they have growth lines in them much like a tree has growth rings.
Math Question of the Day: If the Pisces is cruising at 5 knots @ 96m above the ocean floor, what is the measure of layback? An extension to this problem has to do with “catenary” (red parabolic line) or the amount of bend in the tow cable due to the speed of the vessel, cable length and the drag of the towfish/cable. Usually this is determined by subtracting 5% of the layback value. Based on the problem above, what is the total amount of layback in ft, to account for the catenary in the tow cable? Previous Answers: Trigonometry of Navigation post: 18 m/s @ 34°SE Bandit Reels post: about 14.6 nautical miles Coming soon . . . Now Hear This! Underwater Acoustics
