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 13, 2007
Amy Pearson helping Chief Scientist Jerry Prezioso load equipment onto DELAWARE II
Science and Technology Log
DAY 1 – Onboard, pre-cruise work Woods Hole, MA.
Arrived in Woods Hole at 11:45 to an overcast, humid day. Upper 70’s. Felt privileged to be able to drive into a shipside parking lot. There he and Kim Pratt, another teacher on our cruise, helped me load my gear onto the ship. Everyone was friendly, and I was shown my room – meant for 4 w/ 2 bunk beds. Great to feel the air-conditioning!!! All to myself, how wonderful, and its own bath, a shower and head in one room, sink in the room w/ the bunks. Under the bunks were latched drawers, four in total. There were also four hanging lockers, which I filled w/ hanging stuff, shoes and was able to place things on the top shelf. Assorted activities included lunch in the galley- delicious choice of crab cakes (my choice-awesome), rice, asparagus, creamy pot-onion soup and fresh green salad. Bravo to John the Chief Steward. In the galley there is a fridge w/ milk, juice, and a freezer w/ ice cream plus snacks and sandwich supplies for those who work at times that cause them to miss a meal.
Teachers Amy Pearson and Kim Pratt during their first evening on DELAWARE II
On to unloading supplies from a nearby storage area using wheeled carts. Boxes of jars, bongos, and much more, several trips. We were introduced to Cristina who would later instruct us on CTD data collection, but as the CTD was being repaired that was moved until later in the afternoon. We met Betsy who would be on board during the second week, saw her lab and the cool fish larva – ichthyoplankton, that she studies the stomach contents of. Met some of the crew and visited the helm to see equipment and borrow a 3-hole punch. Unpacked our stuff a little, then had lessons on CTD data collection. Free time for the rest of the evening. Time to explore the village of Woods Hole. Fish were jumping in water, seemed to be small stripers, lots of action. Tired and turned in – cannot sit up in lower bunk w/o hitting head, that’s ok. Finished unpacking as once we get moving, it may be difficult. There is a good light above my bunk for working here. I will have 3pm-3 am shift….We leave at 1 pm tomorrow, which is slack tide. The ship only goes 8 knots so the idea is to leave when the tidal flow into Woods Hole is best for departure.
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Turtle Haste
Onboard NOAA Ship McArthur II June 4 -7, 2007
Mission: CalCOFI Survey: Ecosystem Survey and Seafloor Recovery Evaluation Geographical Area: Central CA National Marine Sanctuary Date: June 5, 2007
The Oblique Bongo nets.
Weather Data from Bridge
Visibility: 6 miles
Wind Direction: Northwest
Wind Speed: 10-20 knots
Sea Wave Height: 2-4 feet
Swell Height: 3-5 feet at 10 second intervals
Surface Water Temperature: 13.96 – degrees Celsius
Air Temperature: 16.1 – degrees Celsius
Sea Level Pressure: 1017.6 millibars
Science and Technology Log
Bongo Nets-Upon arriving at station 60-50, Kit Clark and I began the zooplankton tows with the oblique Bongo nets, also referred to as the “bongos.” The process involved is to tow the nets an oblique angle acquired by calculating the wire put out with the angle it is towed at. There is an angle measuring tool that looks like a level attached to the payout line that is monitored. Adjustments are made depending on the angle to achieve an angle of 45 degrees +/-3 degrees for the nets to reach an approximate depth of 200 meters. The bongo device itself has a 22 kg weight attached to the bottom of the yoke frame to cause it to sink. As the ship is traveling at 1-2 knots, a fixed amount of cable is paid out; the net is held at depth for 30 seconds and then is retrieved at a constant rate of 20 meters per minute. Upon retrieval of the bongo, samples are hosed into the cup at the end of the net to collect as much material as possible. A volume displacement measure is acquired by subtracting the amount of water the zooplankton displaces in a 1000 milliliter cylinder. The time to reach depth, time at depth, and retrieval time are recorded to monitor angle and depth.
Kit Clark identifies various zooplankton caught in a Bongo net to Charlotte Hill.
A tow was made at each station along the 60 survey line after the first station. The first station had too many crab pots and was too shallow to acquire a depth of 200 meters. At night, the anticipated nocturnal rising of krill occurred to present a sample dominated by krill as compared to the daytime samples of copepods. Daylight hours also presented samples of ctenaphore tendrils that “gunked” up the net. An obvious difference between daylight and night tows was the presence of krill in greater numbers. This is expected as especially near Monterey Bay over the canyon is known for Humpback and Blue whales who stop to feed on their migration. Kit noticed that the krill out past the continental shelf and along most of our tows with the exception of the ones conducted in Monterey Canyon were not as “fat and well fed” as the ones within the canyon area itself. Krill over the canyon are in overall better condition due to a localized upwelling feature in the canyon that brings nutrient rich deep water up to increase the productivity of phytoplankton.
Kit Clark strains zooplankton from the bongo nets to evaluate the displaced volume of organisms trapped while towing.
A general list of zoo plankton collected: Euphausiid (krill) and Copepods Pteropods (sea butterfly) Heteropods (Gelatinous Molluscs) Velella velella (By the Wind Sailors) a surface traveling creature Doliolids and Salps Ostracods Argyropelecus aculeatus (Hatchet fish) Atolla (deep water jelly) Cephalopods Tomopferiids Myctophild Ichthyoplankton Flashlight fish Siphonophore Radiolaria have used with students is identifying water masses in the Atlantic by physical characteristics. We use Temperature-Salinity (T-S) diagram at specific depths to identify water masses based on the density. I was hoping to collect water samples from various depths in the Pacific as well to use in the same activity. In discussions with Dr. Collins of the US Naval Post-Graduate school I learned that the Pacific is less uniquely identifiable than the Atlantic. The layered masses of the central Atlantic would not be as easily recognizable. We spent several days discussing the formation and circulation of deep waters in the Pacific in an attempt to understand the interaction between the atmosphere, chemistry, and surface current contribution to deep water mixing. From these discussions I learned that there are actually three sources of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). Furthermore, I learned that the mixing of NADW and Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) in the Pacific created what is known as Common DeepWater (CDW) and that it is more difficult to actually identify Pacific water masses that I originally understood.
The bottles on the CTD rosette. In the foreground is the bottle containing 4380 meter water at 1.518 degree water, the background contains the water from near the surface at 14.169 degrees.
The two casts were made at the farthest points from shore with the collection of water in the bottles to be used specifically for evaluation of dissolved oxygen and nutrients. Dr. Collins asked for my input to for the overall bottle collection depths to ensure that I would have a set of samples from similar depths to match the Atlantic set I use. The Pacific deep water cast bottles are from the following meter depths for the first cast: 4462, 4000, 3500, 3000, 2500, 2000, 1500, 1000, 7500, 500, 250. The Pacific deep water cast bottles are from the following meter depths for the second cast: 4380, 4000, 3500, 3000, 2500, 2000, 1500, 1000, 7500, 500, 250, and 14. The Atlantic deep water samples that I already have are from the following meter depths and associated water masses: 4000 (Antarctic Bottom Water), 2000 (Antarctic Intermediate Water), 1000 (North Atlantic Deep Water), 500 (Mediterranean Intermediate Water), and 100 (North Atlantic Central Surface Water). Once the CTD was brought on deck, I noticed that the bottles containing the deepest water, although insulated showed condensation. Even though I understand that the temperature of the deep water is considerable colder than sea water at the surface, the ability to observe this drove the point home. Erich Rienecker of MBARI suggested that I feel the water around the rosette of bottles to really understand the temperature difference. This was the first time I had the opportunity to work with the CTD as I was working specifically with the Bongo nets. The bottle from 4380 meters had a temperature of 1.518 degrees Celsius and the surface bottle (14 meters) Another activity that the MBARI folks made sure that all of the science team and MCARTHUR II crew members had the opportunity to participate in was to send a decorated Styrofoam cup down in a mesh bag to “squish” it, or remove the air as a result of the pressure differential. Science team members spent quite a bit of time decorating cups. We even sent down a cup decorated with Flat Stanley.
Charlotte Hill of the US Naval Academy prepares a cup to be sent down to -4500 meters with the CTD.
Zooplankton – Wikipedia has a good general description of most of the organisms listed. I found specific information as I used Google for the unique species, although some of the more specific critters were really hard to find. For further information visit: Scripps Institution of Oceanography. A census of plankton is being conducted through the Census of Marine Life.
AABW = Antarctic Bottom Water; NADW = North Atlantic Deep Water; AAIW = Antarctic Intermediate Water; SACW = South Atlantic Central Water; NACW= North Atlantic Central Water.
Water Mass – a body of water with a common formation history. “This is based on the observation that water renewal in the deep ocean is the result of water mass formation in contact with the atmosphere, spreading from the formation region without atmospheric contact, and decay through mixing with other water masses.”
Flat Stanley – A character from a story by Jeff Brown who has adventures as a result of being flattened by a bulletin board. Classes read the story, send out their versions of Stanley to friends and associated with a scrapbook to record his adventures here.
NOAA Teacher at Sea Elsa Stuber prepares a cup to be sent down to -4500 meters with the CTD.The CTD on the fantail of the MCARTHUR II with Styrofoam cups in the green mesh bag for the second deep cast of -4500 meters.This is a “regular” Styrofoam 10 oz cup and the two cups that returned from 4500 meters. The far right cup has a Flat Stanley drawn on it.
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Turtle Haste
Onboard NOAA Ship McArthur II June 4 -7, 2007
Mission: CalCOFI Survey: Ecosystem Survey and Seafloor Recovery Evaluation Geographical Area: Central CA National Marine Sanctuary Date: June 4, 2007
Charlotte Hill and Erich Rienecker collect water samples from a CTD cast.
Weather Data from Bridge
Visibility: 0 – fog
Cloud Cover: 100 %
Wind Direction: 280 – degrees
Wind Speed: 9 knots
Sea Wave Height: 1 foot in AM, 2 foot in PM
Swell Height: AM swells of 2-3 feet, PM mixed swells of 4-6 feet
Surface Water Temperature: 14.15 – degrees Celsius
Air Temperature: 14.16 – degrees Celsius
Sea Level Pressure: 1017.15 millibars
Science and Technology Log
Established survey lines on this cruise have been monitored by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute or MBARI, since the early 1990 by collecting the same biological and chemical data. I was referred to http://www-mlrg.ucsd.edu/data/data.html for more details and the overview of the survey. Our particular survey lines begins outside of the Golden Gate Bridge, traveling westward for a while, then we will perform a cast of 4500 meters then travel south to for another 4500 meter cast and turn East to finish the survey line near Monterey Bay. The survey lines are numbered in a particular pattern that will be used to identify all samples from each station. At some points we will be beyond the Territorial Seas of the United States, but within the Exclusive Economic Zone.
Kit Clark and Troy Benbow demonstrate the bowline to NOAA Teacher at Sea Elsa Stuber.
What is collected at each station: A CTD measures specific properties of seawater including salinity, temperature and fluorescence as it is lowered off the stern of the ship. The CTD descends under the supervision of the CTD technician, crane operator and assisting crew member to the prescribed depth while generating real-time data in graph form through the descent. Once at depth, the technician is in radio contact with the crane operator who raises the CTD to prescribed depths where bottles are tripped to collect water samples at stated intervals. Generally the prescribed depth is 1000 meters with exceptions at the near shore stations where the depth is less than 1000 meters. Other data is collected from HyperPro Optical sensor casts, made at midday stations and Secchi disk casts made at all daytime stations following CTD casts. Oblique bongo net tows for zooplankton are made after the CTD casts at a depth of 200 meters. As the water is collected, several chemical tests are performed, including dissolved oxygen and nutrients. Dissolved oxygen is tested from each cast using a set of chemicals that is very similar to ones I have used in fresh water chemical analysis as well as nutrients to assess the changes in sediment load. Phytoplankton samples are collected for processing and culturing. In addition, a surface observer is stationed on the flying bridge to document all marine mammals and birds that are encountered. There is an interest in cetaceans, specifically beaked whales.
Marguerite Blum models under the Bay Bridge while loading science gear.
Personal Log
I found a ship’s billet on my door to tell me where to muster for fire, man overboard, and abandon ship. I made sure to visit all the locations to ensure that I knew where to go. The “plan of the day” is posted in convenient locations by ship’s personnel and is required reading in order to know what activities and meetings, are planned. I was able to try on my “gumby” suit and heavy PFD. I identified what is now called the “Leedo Deck” reminiscent of the television show Love Boat where science team members have placed a few lawn chairs for relaxing on aft section of deck one, near the phytoplankton incubation trays. As we depart San Francisco, we will sail out of the Golden Gate, under the Golden Gate Bridge. Although I had hoped for clear weather for the trip under the bridge, it was foggy.
Dr. Kurt Collins listening to the ball game on the “Lido deck” off watch.
Question of the Day
How does the collection and evaluation of phytoplankton assist with monitoring oceanic primary production and our understanding of the role the ocean plays as a global carbon sink?
I need to read more about the total project and perform more interviews of the cooperating scientists to better answer this.
Exclusive Economic Zone – extends for 200 nautical miles (370 km) beyond the baselines of the territorial sea.
Territorial Waters or sea-an area of coastal waters that extends at most twelve nautical miles from the mean low water mark of a littoral state that is regarded as the sovereign territory of the state.
Nautical Mile – is 1852 meters.
Erich Rienecker sets up the filter system to process phytoplankton from the CTD casts.
CTD – A CTD recorder, which stands for Conductivity-Temperature-Depth recorder, measures salinity, the amount of seawater conductivity in practical salinity units. It also measures pressure recorded in decibars. Since depth and pressure are directly related, a measurement in decibars can be converted to depth in meters. Temperature is measured as well and other sensors may be placed on the device as well. The one used had an altimeter to compare to the ships depth sounder and deployed cable for an accurate measure of the depth of the device.
HyperPro Optical sensor – measures light refraction at different wavelengths through the water column as compared to the surface measurement. This device is lowered by hand to a set depth. It is a hyperspectral radiometer, recording optical data in the wavelength region between 350 and 800 nanometers.
Oblique bongo net – a set of rings (thus the name bongo as it looks like a bongo drum) designed for oblique plankton tows. The rings are connected to nets which cone into two catch devices at the ends. Bongos are towed at 200 meters , devised by allowing 300 meters of cable out and towing it at an angle of 45-degrees. Adjustments in cable length are made depending on the angle reached.
NOAA Teacher at Sea Elsa Stuber prepares the seawater phytoplankton incubation trays.
Secchi disk – is used to measure how deep a person can see into the water. It is lowered into the ocean by unwinding the waterproof tape to which it is attached and until the observer loses sight of it. The disk is then raised until it reappears. The depth of the water where the disk vanishes and reappears is the Secchi disk reading. The depth level reading on the tape at the surface level of the ocean is recorded to the nearest foot.
Sea Level Pressure (from Wikipedia) Also referred to as Mean sea level pressure (MSLP or QFF) is the pressure at sea level or (when measured at a given elevation on land) the station pressure reduced to sea level assuming an isothermal layer at the station temperature. This is the pressure normally given in weather reports on radio, television, and newspapers or on the Internet. When barometers in the home are set to match the local weather reports, they measure pressure reduced to sea level, not the actual local atmospheric pressure. Average sea-level pressure is 101.325 kPa (mbar) or 29.921 inches of mercury (inHg).
Visibility – how far in front, or around the ship one can see. In this case, using the marine mammal observer’s scale, based on nautical miles.
Wind Direction- Which direction the wind is blowing FROM. 0 is north, 180 is south, 270 is west. This may also be recorded using the abbreviation of the direction in capital letters.
Sea Wave Height and Swell Height – estimates (based on an average of waves passing under buoys) the height of a wave (from crest to trough) of individual waves and larger waves.
Dissolved oxygen- the amount of oxygen that is available in the water for organisms to use for ventilation, typically referred to in parts per million, or ppm.
Phytoplankton – (from Wikipedia) are the autotrophic component of the plankton that drift in the water column. The name comes from the Greek terms, phyton or “plant” and πλαγκτος (“planktos”), meaning “wanderer” or “drifter”. Most phytoplankton are too small to be individually seen with the unaided eye. However, when present in high enough numbers, they may appear as a green discoloration of the water due to the presence of chlorophyll within their cells (although the actual color may vary with the species of phytoplankton present due to varying levels of chlorophyll or the presence of accessory pigments such as phycobiliproteins).
Zooplankton – (from Wikipedia) are the heterotrophic (or detritivorous) component of the plankton that drift in the water column of oceans, seas, and bodies of fresh water. The name is derived from the Greek terms, ζῴον (“zoon”) meaning “animal”, and πλαγκτος (“planktos”) meaning “wanderer” or “drifter”[1]. Many zooplankton are too small to be individually seen with the unaided eye. Zooplankton is a broad categorisation spanning a range of organism sizes that includes both small protozoans and large metazoans. It includes holoplanktonic organisms whose complete life cycle lies within the plankton, and meroplanktonic organisms that spend part of their life cycle in the plankton before graduating to either the nekton or a sessile, benthic existence. Through their consumption and processing of phytoplankton (and other food sources), zooplankton play an important role in aquatic food webs, both as a resource for consumers on higher trophic levels and as a conduit for packaging the organic material in the biological pump.
Gumby Suit – big, plastic, orange suits that are designed to protect a person from the cold water. Made of a material similar to what scuba divers wear. The suit is thicker, more buoyant and designed to remain dry inside. Suits are very bulky and are supposed to cover the entire body except the face.
PFD – personal floatation device, lifejacket, or “puff-duh”
Flying Bridge – located on the very top and most forward deck of the ship. On the MCARTHUR II, the flying bridge is above, or on top of the bridge. All ship personnel and crew when engaging in science activities keep in contact through the bridge with radios. Radio protocol requires the location being called to be stated first, followed by the calling location. For example,” bridge, flying bridge” If one is calling the bridge from the flying bridge.
Plan of the Day – is posted throughout the ship in common locations. This bulletin informs both crew and science personnel as to ship activities, wave height and safety issues.
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.
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!’
