engineer – Page 4 – NOAA Teacher at Sea Blog

October 4, 2011April 28, 2021

Kaci Heins: Surveying and Processing, September 30 – October 3, 2011

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Kaci Heins
Aboard NOAA Ship Rainier
September 17 — October 7, 2011

Mission: Hydrographic Survey
Geographical Area: Alaskan Coastline, the Inside Passage
Date: Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Weather Data from the Bridge

Clouds: Overcast 7/8
Visibility: 8 Nautical Miles
Wind: 21 knots
Temperature
Dry Bulb: 12.0 degrees Celsius
Barometer: 997.0 millibars
Latitude: 55.23 degrees North
Longitude: -133.22 degrees West

Science and Technology Log

I was able to go out on another launch boat Sunday to collect survey data. It was a beautiful day with amazing scenery to make it by far the best office I have ever been too. Despite the fact that the ship is usually “off the grid” in many ways, the location of their work environment, or office, in Alaska is visually stunning no matter where you turn. Keeping your eyes off the cedar trees and focused on the sonar in a launch can be challenging at times! However, when there is a specific job to be done that involves time and money, then the scenery can wait until the job is finished. During Sunday’s launch survey we had to clean up some “Holidays” and acquire some cross line data.

View Of the Data Acquired For the Ship On The Bridge

The word “Holiday” might lead to some confusion about what you might think we are doing when you read that word. Holiday =vacation right? In this case it is when there is a gap, or missing information, in the survey data that is acquired. This poses a problem for the survey technicians because this leaves holes in the data that they must use for their final charts. Holidays can be caused by the boat or ship being off the planned line, unexpected shoaling (or where the water gets shallow) so the swath width decreases, or a slope angling away from the transducer so that a return path for the sound wave is not possible. The speed, direction, weather, swells, rocking of the boat, and the launches making wider turns than anticipated. It is easy to see where holidays occur as we are surveying because amidst the rainbow of color there will be a white pixel or square showing that data is missing. When we are finished surveying or “painting” an area, we communicate with the coxswain where we need to go back and survey over the missing data or holidays. If there are holidays or data is missing from the survey, then the survey technicians must explain why the data is missing in their final Descriptive Report. This document covers everything that was done during the project from how the area was chosen to survey, what data was collected, what data wasn’t collected and why. This is where holidays are explained, which could be due to lack of time or safety concerns.

This launch was a little different because we were cleaning up holidays from the Rainiers’ multibeam. Not only do the smaller survey boats collect sea floor surface data, but the Rainier has its own expensive multibeam sonar as well. The ships sonar is called a Kongsberg EM 710 and was made in Norway. Having the Rainier fitted with a multibeam sonar allows the ship to acquire data in deeper water and allows for a wider swath coverage. The lines that are surveyed on the ocean floor are also much longer than those in a launch. This means that instead of taking around 5-10 minutes to acquire a line of data, it can take around 30 minutes or more with the ship. This is great data because again, the ship can cover more area and in deeper water. We also took the ships previous data and ran cross lines over it. The importance of running a cross line over previous survey data helps to confirm or deny that the data acquired is good data. However, there is a catch to running a cross line. To confirm the data they have to use a different system than what was used before, the cross line has to be conducted on a different day, and it has to be during a different tide. All of this is done to know for sure that the data is acquired has as few errors as possible before the projects are finished.

EM710_sonar_gondola — Rainier Multibeam Sonar

Personal Log

Each day when the scientists go out and survey the ocean floor they acquire tens of gigabytes of information! The big question is what is next after they have acquired it all? When they are on the launch they have a small external hard drive that holds 500 gigabytes to a terabyte of information plugged into their computer. At the end of the day all their information and files are downloaded to this hard drive and placed in a water tight container in case it happens to get dropped. Keeping the newly acquired data safe and secure is of the utmost importance. Losing data and having to re-survey areas due to a human error costs tens of thousands of dollars, so everything must get backed up and saved constantly. This is where I have noticed that computer skills and file management are so important in this area of research.

Once we get off of the boats the data is brought upstairs to what is called the plot room. This is where all the survey technicians computers are set up for them to work on their projects. The technicians that are in charge of downloading all the data and compiling all the files together is called night processing. There are numerous software programs (tides, CTD casts, POS, TPU, Hypack,) and data from these programs that all have to be combined so that the technicians can produce a finished product for the Pacific Hydrographic Branch (part of Hydrographic Surveys Division), who then process the data some more before submitting to Marine Charting Division to make the final chart. The main software program that combines all the different data is called Caris and comes out of Canada. Once all of the data has been merged together it allows the technicians start cleaning up their data and produce a graphic plan for the launches to follow the next day. Every movement on the keyboard or with the mouse is very important with surveying because everything is done digitally. Numerous new files are created each day in a special way so that anyone that reads the name will know which ship it came from, the day, and the year. File management and computer skills are key to keeping the flow of work consistent and correct each day.

We have also had numerous fire drills while on the ship. This is very important so that everyone knows where to go and what to do in case of an emergency. They had me help out with the fire fighters and the hose this time. I learned how to brace the fire fighter so that the force from the hose doesn’t knock them over. I never knew that would be an issue with fire fighting until this drill. I learn so many new things on this ship every day!

Student Questions Answered

Animals Spotted

Kingfisher

Sea Otters

Question of the Day

September 21, 2011April 28, 2021

Lindsay Knippenberg: Women are taking over the Dyson! September 15, 2011

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Lindsay Knippenberg
Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson
September 4 – 16, 2011

Mission: Bering-Aleutian Salmon International Survey (BASIS)
Geographical Area: Bering Sea
Date: September 15, 2011

Weather Data from the Bridge

Latitude: 55.41 N
Longitude: -167.98
Wind Speed: 25.86 kts
Wave Height: 10 – 13ft with some larger wind-blown waves
Surface Water Temperature: 8.7 C
Air Temperature: 8.7 C

Science and Technology Log

Real women aren't afraid of piles of jellyfish.

I will admit that before I met the scientists and crew onboard the Dyson I had imagined that the majority of the people on the boat would be men. I had wrongly gone along with the stereotypical view that scientists, engineers, fishermen, and the crew onboard ships were mostly men. Therefore when I finally met the people who I would be sailing with for the next two weeks, I was surprised and very happy to see that women had taken over the Dyson. For example, of the 12 scientists onboard the Dyson for this cruise, 9 are women including the Chief Scientist who is in charge of us all.

The seabird observers looking for birds.

On the ship there are also NOAA Corps officers. The NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. Officers can be found operating one of NOAA’s 18 ships or 12 aircraft to provide support to meet NOAA’s missions. Their duties and areas of operations can range from launching a weather balloon at the South Pole, conducting fishery surveys in Alaska, maintaining buoys in the tropical Pacific, to flying P-3 Hurricane Hunter airplanes into hurricanes. I have met several NOAA Corps officers while I have been at NOAA and they have mostly been men. I was excited to see that of the six officers onboard the Dyson three are women.

NOAA Corps Officers - Rene, Sarah, and Amber taking a break from their duties to pose for a picture.

There are also several other women onboard the Dyson and my mission today was to meet some of these amazing women and interview them to see what they do onboard the Dyson and what motivated them to choose this as their career. Let’s meet them:

Name: Ellen Martinson

Hometown: Juneau, AK

Position: Research Fisheries Biologist and Chief Scientist for Leg 2 of BASIS

Ellen showing off a tiny squid that she was measuring on the scale.

Ellen has always loved solving puzzles and has had a curiosity for nature and how it works. That love of nature and problem solving led her to become a fisheries biologist. She has worked at NOAA since 1995 and she does research to support the management of federally-controlled commercial fisheries. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate and is doing her research and dissertation on developing indexes of ecosystem health in the Bering Sea that includes climate and fish growth factors. Pollock is her species of choice and she is looking at the success rate of Age 0 (zero) pollock surviving their first year to become Age 1 pollock as a prediction of the future health of the commercial pollock fishery.

What does she like the best about her job? She gets to work with a variety of people ranging from scientists and fisheries managers to fishermen and even teachers like me. She listens to their problems and ideas and then looks for the important questions to address all of those viewpoints. She also gets to travel to a lot of cool places, learn new things from a variety of topics, and her job is often an adventure. How did she get such a cool job? Going to college is the first step. Ellen has a bachelor’s degree in Marine Biology and a master’s degree in Fisheries Resources. She is currently finishing up her Ph.D. at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and then she will be Dr. Martinson.

Name: Kerri Curtin

Hometown: Chicago, IL

Position: Able-Bodied Seawoman

Kerri tying up the trawl net after pulling in a big haul of salmon.

Kerri is one tough cookie. All week I have been amazed by her as she shuffled around the back deck pulling in fishing nets, lifting heavy science equipment, and tying all different types of knots. She is the only able-bodied seawoman onboard and her responsibilities include various deck maintenance jobs, setting up the nets for fishing and bringing in the catch, tying and untying the boat when we are at port, serving time on the bridge as an observer, and helping to launch the small boats. Her favorite part about her job is that she gets to go to work at sea and be outside in the fresh air. She also gets to travel to unique places and see the world. So far her favorite place that she has been to are the Greek Isles. How do you get a job like this? Kerri went to school in Maryland at Seafarers International and did an apprenticeship program. Through that program she gained the basic training necessary to get an entry-level position on a boat. Since then, she has continued her training and has taken several other Coast Guard certification tests. All her time at sea and trainings have paid off because she just received her 3rd Mates license.

Name: Amber Payne

Hometown: Fenton, MI

Position: Navigation Officer

Amber is in control of the Oscar Dyson as the trawl net is being brought in.

Amber is a NOAA Corps officer onboard the Dyson. Her job as the Navigation Officer is to plot all the routes that the ship takes on paper and electronically. She also updates all the charting publications and she gets to stand watch on the bridge every day for eight hours. When she is on watch she is responsible for driving the ship and is in charge of all the operations. Amber has been onboard the Dyson for a year and a half and has several favorite things about her job. She likes that being on a ship in the Bering Sea is an adventure that many people may not get experience. She also likes the authority and trust that she is given to correctly navigate and drive the ship when she is all alone on the bridge. How did Amber get from Michigan to navigating a ship through the Bering Sea? Amber went to a four-year college in St. Petersburg, FL and studied Marine Biology. While in college she joined the search and rescue team and learned a lot about driving small boats. She knew that she wanted to go into a career that included both boats and science and her college advisor told her about the NOAA Corps. She applied to the NOAA Corps after graduation, was accepted, spent 4 months in basic trainings with the NOAA Corps, and then was placed on a ship. She loves that she gets to be a part of scientific research going on in the Bering Sea and she gets to drive boats all as a part of her job.

Name: Wendy Fellows

Hometown: Liberty Lake, WA

Position: Junior Engineer

Wendy has a lot of screens and buttons to monitor when she is on watch.

When I first met Wendy she was sitting in the galley with the other engineers wearing her cover-ups from working in the engine room and I thought to myself, this girl is pretty cool. There aren’t too many female marine engineers and Wendy has a great story. When she graduated from high school she didn’t know what to do. She wanted to see the world so she took a job working in the kitchen of an oil tanker. She traveled all over the world and learned a lot about the different jobs on the ship throughout her journey. Her dad had been a marine engineer and she liked the work that the engineers did, so she went to school at the Seattle Maritime Academy to learn the trade. As a part of a year-long program she became a qualified member of the engineering department and did an internship onboard the Oscar Dyson. She liked it so much that she decided to stay on the Dyson as a Junior Engineer. Her job on board the Dyson is to basically make sure the ship is working properly. She tests emergency batteries, monitors the generators and pumps, services the small boats, fuels the ship when it is in port, fixes random things that break around the ship, and tests the drinking water. Her favorite part about her job is when she gets to use the welding skills she learned onboard the Dyson to fabricate things for the ship or scientists.

Name: Kathy Hough

Hometown: Kodiak, AK

Position: Senior Survey Technician

Kathy is busy on the hero deck connecting plankton nets to be lowered over the side.

As the senior survey technician onboard the Dyson, Kathy has the responsibility of working with the scientists to insure that the collection of their data goes smoothly. She helps the scientists to collect their data by lowering and monitoring the CTD, helping with the various nets, and making sure that all of the equipment in the labs are functioning properly. She also collects data of her own. As the Dyson cruises around the Bering Sea, Kathy is in charge of collecting the weather and oceanographic data that is sent to scientists and posted on the NOAA Ship Tracker website. What does she like best about her job? Kathy likes the diversity of operations that she gets to be a part of. The science teams that are doing research onboard the Dyson only stay for 2 – 4 weeks and then another team gets on and might be doing a completely different project. As the science teams constantly rotate, Kathy stays on and helps with a variety of projects and different types of scientists. Does this job sound cool to you? To get an entry-level position as a survey technician you need a bachelor’s degree in science or mathematics. Kathy’s background is in ecology/biology, but a background in engineering, mathematics, or chemistry can be helpful too. If you want to move up to be a senior survey technician like Kathy, you need time and experience working on boats and with the instruments the scientists use for their research.

Name: Rachelle Sloss

Hometown: Juneau, AK

Position: Lab/Research Technician

Rachelle with a huge king salmon from one of our hauls.

Rachelle and I have gotten to know each other pretty well these last couple of weeks as we sorted through piles of fish and did a lot of counting to fifty. Rachelle just graduated from college in May and for the past two summers she has worked in the NOAA labs in Juneau as a lab/research technician. She works in a lab that is studying bioenergetics. While onboard the Dyson, she has been collecting and sorting zooplankton and looking for specific species of krill that will be used for bioenergetic experiments back in Juneau. She has also been collecting juvenile fish species like pollock and herring for similar experiments. While at the lab back in Juneau, Rachelle does lipid class analyses of fish to look at the energy content of their lipids by season. Does this sound like a cool summer job? Rachelle thinks that it is because she gets to work with some really cool people, she is gaining great experience for the future, and she got to spend two weeks on the Bering Sea seeing tons of species of fish. What lies ahead for Rachelle? She got a degree in Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Molecular Biology from Whitman College and is thinking about becoming a high school science teacher. For now she is headed to a much warmer South America and will be traveling around for the next couple of months on her next adventure.

Personal Log

We finally made it back to land and now we are all heading off in opposite directions towards home.

By now I am safely back to my warm living room and I owe all of the women above and the men of the Oscar Dyson my deepest gratitude. I had an incredible adventure on the Bering Sea and I learned so much. Even though we had some rough seas, I still loved seeing all the different fish that we caught in our nets and I loved being a part of a research project that has so much importance to our fisheries. The NOAA Corps officers, crew, and scientists were all incredible teachers and had a lot of patience as they took time out of their day to answer all of my questions. I can’t wait to share my experiences with my students and other teachers and I couldn’t be more thankful for the experiences that I gained as a NOAA Teacher at Sea.

July 21, 2011April 28, 2021

Kathleen Harrison: City on the Sea, July 20, 2011

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Kathleen Harrison
Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson
July 4 — 22, 2011

Location: Gulf of Alaska
Mission: Walleye Pollock Survey
Date: July 12, 2011

Weather Data from the Bridge
True Wind Speed: light (< 5 knots), True Wind direction: variable
Sea Temperature: 9.75° C, Air Temperature: 10.38° C
Air Pressure: 1012.3 mb
Ship Heading: 297°, Ship Speed: 11.3 knots
Latitude: 56.45° N, Longitude: 155.04° W
Patchy fog, very calm seas

Science and Technology Log

The Oscar Dyson is like a self-contained city for 35 people that floats on the sea. All of the engine fuel and oil, food and provisions for the NOAA staff, ship’s crew, and scientists have to be brought on board while the ship is in port. On this leg of the Walleye Pollock Survey, the ship will be out to sea for 19 days. This presents several issues that must be solved in order for the people to be comfortable, and for the research to be performed.

the water maker of the oscar dyson — This piece of machinery converts sea water into fresh water for the people on the Oscar Dyson. (courtesy of Anne Mortimer)

First, fresh water is needed, about 100 gallons per person, per day. For 35 people, that is 3500 gallons per day. The ship has a storage capacity of 9000 gallons. Do the math, and you can see that a daily supply of fresh water is needed. Well, the ship has 2 water makers that convert sea water into fresh water. Basically, the water is heated, vacuum pumped, and evaporated, then collected in the fresh water storage. Salt does not evaporate, so it is left behind. The evaporator uses the sea water to power an ejector pump (that creates the vacuum) and keep the unit cool. The brine (super salty water) created from the evaporation is sent overboard by the ejector pump.

engineering room control panel — The engineer controls the power that the generators make with this panel. See the horizontal bar running the length of the panel - even the engineers need something to hold on to during rough seas. (courtesy of Anne Mortimer)

Next, electricity is needed to power the galley appliances, run the washers and dryers, lights, computers, ship’s bridge instruments, and a host of other things. The ship has 4 generators that are capable of producing enough energy to not only power the propeller, but also the whole electrical need of the ship. The control panels for each generator are used to divert some of the power to each part of the ship, so that I can charge my camera battery, use my computer, or turn on the light in my room.

This is generator number 2 on the Oscar Dyson. There are 4 generators, but only 2 are online at any one time. (courtesy of Anne Mortimer)

Another issue is the power needed to run the propeller. For the 19 days the ship is out to sea, there are usually 2 generators running. The ship’s computer decides which generators are needed for the speed that is required at any one time. In heavy seas, or when more power is needed, a 3rd, or even the 4th generator will be brought on. As generators are used, they wear and tear, so the computer determines what the most efficient use of them will be for each situation. Everything can be manually controlled as well. Every month or so, each generator needs an oil change.

price of fuel — The current price of diesel fuel in Kodiak, Alaska.

They hold about 65 gallons of oil! The used oil is kept on board until the ship docks back in Kodiak. Also, about every 20,000 hours, each generator needs to be overhauled. This is done by a team of mechanics when the ship is in port, during the off season. About 100,000 gallons of diesel fuel is stored at the beginning of the trip, and 2000 gallons are used each day.

Now, since the Oscar Dyson is a biological research ship, the usually noisy generators have been quieted, so that the fish are not scared away. One way to quiet a very large, 1600 hp engine, is to put it on a rubber mat. Another way is to send the energy from the generator through a large box, which then converts it to electrical energy, and that is transmitted to the propeller by thin wires. This reduces the vibrations in the hull.

To be an engineer on a ship, a person usually would go to a marine academy and obtain a degree in marine engineering. During school and shortly after, time spent as an intern is valuable to gain experience. Once the new engineer is employed on a ship, he or she would start at the bottom of the team, maybe as 3^rd engineer, depending on how large the ship is. With experience, and management skills, the engineer could move up to 2^nd, then 1^st, then Chief engineer. Of course, a ship’s engineer must love being at sea, and living on a ship.

Personal Log

We had a fabulous day for wildlife and scenery watching – bright sunshine (until 11:00 pm), calm seas, and close proximity to Kodiak Island. I saw stunning rocky cliffs, Dall’s porpoises, and whales – probably Fin whales. I was overwhelmed with the beauty and scale of Kodiak Island.

evening sun shine — I love the way that the sun glitters on the water. I took this photo about 7:00 in the evening.

kodiak cliffs — Rocky cliffs of Kodiak Island on a sunny day.

sunlight through the fog — The sun light is breaking through the clouds about 2 miles away.

Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical Area: Alaskan Coastline, the Inside Passage Date: Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Mission: Hydrographic Survey
Geographical Area: Alaskan Coastline, the Inside Passage
Date: Tuesday, October 4, 2011