expendable bathythermograph – NOAA Teacher at Sea Blog

May 3, 2023May 3, 2023

Julie Hayes: Women at Sea, May 2, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Julie Hayes

Aboard NOAA Ship Pisces

April 22-May 5, 2023

Mission: SEAMAP Reef Fish

Geographic Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico

Date: May 2, 2023

Weather Data

Clouds: Scattered

Temperature: 80 degrees F

Wind: 1 kt.

Waves: 1 ft.

Science and Technology Log

Seafloor Mapping

The survey technician team collects data on the bathymetric seafloor using a precise timing and ranging system. Multibeam echosounders emit different frequencies to capture different particles in the water (fish, plankton, gases like oxygen), as well as the bathymetry of the seafloor (basically, what the bottom of the floor is made up of.) This will then provide a 3-D picture of the seafloor. A larger version of this, called Kongsberg ME70, was used during the Deepwater Horizon Spill tracking the oil and methane gas. Often, sea floor mapping occurs at night in designated locations.

A rendered image of the seafloor bathymetry, color-coded to represent different depths: red is the most shallow, while blue or purple is the deepest. This section is mostly flat, with a round red peak to the left. The bathymetric image is superimposed on a nautical map, at the same scale, to indicate the location of the surveyed area. — Seafloor mapped during this leg

Vocabulary Check

What is Bathymetry?

Bathymetry is the study of underwater depths of lakes, rivers, or oceans.

What is Sonar?

Sonar (SOund NAvigation and Ranging) is used to not only measure the water’s depth but to also detect objects underwater. This is done by emitting sound pulses under water and measuring their return after being reflected.

Sophie Caradine-Taber, Survey Technician

Sophie stands at a computer desk, facing an array of monitors. She controls the computer mouse with her right hand. We cannot see her face.

Sophie got her degree in biology and environmental studies. She got her start at the National Marine Fisheries Service working for NOAA on a hydrographic survey vessel on the Bering Sea in Alaska for four and half years. Her job on Pisces is part of the survey technician team that does seafloor mapping.

Makailyn Hernandez

Makailyn, wearing blue latex gloves, leans over to work on something at the base of water sample bottles attached to the CTD rosette. We can't clearly make out what she is doing with her hands.

Makailyn is on Pisces collecting Environmental DNA (eDNA) for the University of West Florida’s lab under Dr. Alexis Janosik. Makailyn graduated from UWF with a degree in marine biology, and worked as a research technician under Dr. Janosik. She has volunteered for numerous career opportunities, including this trip and sea turtle monitoring. Her goal is to attend graduate school and get a job as a researcher in either lab or field work.

ENS Grace Owen, Junior Officer

Grace stands at an instrument panel on the bridge. She is facing the rounded bridge windows, but looking off to her left side. She wears a navy blue sweatshirt with the words NOAA CORPS written prominently on the back.

Grace is a Junior Officer for NOAA Corps. She is from North Carolina, and didn’t originally start her path on the ocean, but towards the mountains. She went to college in Colorado and worked as a climbing guide. She felt like she needed to do something more, and began looking at the Coast Guard. This is when she discovered the NOAA Corps and she felt like it aligned more with her values. Grace learned that she didn’t have enough STEM credits to join NOAA, so she moved to Florida to attend the University of Miami and got her graduate degree in exploration science. Training for the NOAA Corps takes around 5 months at the Coast Guard Academy. Once training is completed officers can then go to driving and navigating vessels for NOAA. Grace also has her pilots license and her next goal is to attend NOAA flight school with the future hopes to fly for the NOAA Hurricane Hunters. She even says there is a hurricane name in rotation named “Grace” that has yet to be used, and that would be super neat if she was the one who helped find it.

Heather stands at the controls on the bridge, peering out the window ahead of her. She is wearing the casual blue NOAA Corps uniform. — ENS Heather Gaughan, Junior Officer

Marina poses for a photo in front of a computer desk. Several monitors are visible on the desk or mounted on the wall. — Marina Rowen, Survey Technician

Student Questions of the Day

Jonathan asks: Have you ever found a sunken ship in the ocean?

Sophie works with sea floor mapping, and last year NOAA’s hydrographic ship on Lake Erie found 5 shipwrecks.

Anabelle asks: What is daily life like on the ship?

Sophie calls each ship she is on home, because she spends most of the year on them. She works the 12am-12pm shift 7 days a week. She tries to stay in touch with family, and reads a lot of books on her down time while on the ship. If they port between legs for the weekend she tries to make sure she takes time for herself.

Levi asks: How many years did it take to be able to drive a ship?

Grace states that the NOAA Corps training is 5 months, but once you’re on a ship that is when the real training takes place. Officers will do 2 years on a ship and then usually 3 years off on land assignments.

Ethan asks: What challenges are there when driving the ship?

Grace states that part of the challenges of driving the large ships are learning the physics and maneuvering of the vessel. NOAA is also mostly male dominated, but she feels confident in what she does and it has been an easy fit for her.

Personal Blog

I am enjoying learning all the different backgrounds of everyone on this ship. Even though it is predominately men, I am impressed with the determination that the four women of the crew have. Myself and Makailyn are guests aboard Pisces, but it was nice to see how the women fit in on the ship and are respected. Everyone on board continues asking how I am doing, and making sure I am learning as much as I can. Chief Survey Technician Todd Walsh even spent days building up an extravagant event by having me deploy an Expendable Bathythermograph Sensor (XBT). Todd had convinced me that it was going to be like an “explosion” when it went off, and I was in charge of it. He even gave me a training pamphlet that I studied, and he had me convinced that I must be crazy to agree to do this but I am here for the experience… right? Little did I know that the entire ship was in on the joke. After all the hype of how things could go dangerously wrong, training on how it could backfire, and the special safety attire the day of; the device literally just dropped into the ocean falling out of the holder. Todd… I will get you back!

Several on the ship are looking forward to the end of leg 3 to have a few days off before they are back at it to finish the last leg of this mission. Today I heard the countdown, “2 days and a wake up”. The crew spends so much time out here they look forward to a few days off the ship and a chance to see family. The current scientists will go back to their land jobs after this leg and new scientists will finish the last leg of this mission. Today was by far the prettiest day we have had yet. The ocean has finally calmed down and the Sun is shining bright. This evening it was as if the ocean came alive. We saw whales, dolphins, mahi-mahi, a shark and a trigger fish. I was able to do some laundry on the boat which was great because I tried to pack as light as possible so that I didn’t have to check in luggage at the airport. I am trying to do a little grading when I get a chance. There will only be 10 days left of school when I return. I have missed the students and have really enjoyed reading the letters they wrote me to bring along. Below, you will see a drawing that a student did for me to give to the ship. It is amazing and she is so talented!

Julie readies to deploy the expendable bathythermograph (XBT). She's wearing a life vest and facing away from the camera, across the railing of NOAA Ship Pisces. She stands with her left leg behind her right, for balance, and holds the XBT deployer up with both hands, as if she is about to fire a gun. — Training for deploying the XBT

Julie, wearing a life vest and perhaps unnecessary face mask, holds the now-empty XBT launcher pointed down over the railing of NOAA Ship Pisces. She smiles at the camera. Todd, wearing a life vest and hard hat, stands next to her and points toward the launcher, mid-explanation. — Chief Survey Technician, Todd Walsh and myself after finding out the “joke’s on me.” The XBT just fell in the water with no explosions.

Student Drawing

A beautiful and detailed pencil drawing of NOAA Ship Pisces. It's signed at the bottom: Pandora Hennessy, 4/19/23, NOAA Ship Pisces. — Macon R-1 Middle School student Pandora’s drawing of NOAA Ship *Pisces*

View inside the bathroom of the stateroom. Through an open door, we see a shower and a toilet. The sink and mirror are mounted outside the door (in the main part of the room.) — “Head” (bathroom) in our stateroom

stacked washing machines and dryers — “Head” (bathroom) in our stateroom

blacktip shark seen from above, swimming near the surface of the water — Shark on starboard side of ship

Julie leans into view of the camera to point behind her to Joey, who wears a life vest, sunglasses, and hard hat. Joey stands in front of a CTD apparatus on deck. — Finally, I got a picture of Scientist, Joseph “Joey” Salisbury.
Joey tried to avoid the camera most of the mission. He agreed to at least let me tag him in a picture.

July 18, 2018September 19, 2018

Meredith Salmon: Xtreme XBTs, July 14, 2018

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Meredith Salmon

Aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer

July 12 – 31, 2018

Mission: Mapping Deep-Water Areas Southeast of Bermuda in Support of the Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation

Geographic Area: Atlantic Ocean, south of Bermuda

Date: July 14, 2018

Weather Data from the Okeanos Explorer Bridge – July 14, 2018

Latitude: 28.58°N

Longitude: 65.48°W

Air Temperature: 27.4°C

Wind Speed: 13.96 knots

Conditions: Rain and clouds

Depth: 5183 meters

Science and Technology Log

Temperature and salinity are two main variables when determining the density of water. The density of water or any acoustic medium is a very important factor in determining the speed of sound in water. Therefore, temperature data collected by Expendable Bathythermograph (XBT) probes, as well as historical salinity profiles from the World Ocean Atlas, are used to create sound velocity profiles to use to correct for sound speed changes in the water column.

Expendable Bathythermograph (XBT) probes are devices that are used to measure water temperature as a function of depth. Small copper wires transmit the temperature data back to the ship where it is recorded and analyzed. At first, I was surprised to learn that temperature data is such an important component of multibeam mapping operations; however, I learned that scientists need to know how fast the sound waves emitted from the sonar unit travel through seawater. Since these probes are designed to fall at a determined rate, the depth of the probe can be inferred from the time it was launched. By plotting temperature as a function of depth, the scientists can get a picture of the temperature profile of the water.

On our expedition, we have been deploying XBTs on a schedule as the ship is making its way to the survey area. The XBT Launcher is connected to a deck box, which translates information to computer systems onboard so the data can be logged when the probes are deployed into the water. Aboard the Okeanos Explorer, up to 8 tubes can be loaded at one time and launched by scientists.

xbt 1 — Savannah and I after a successful XBT load

XBT Data from a launch aboard the Okeanos Explorer. The colors on the graph indicate the XBT number and the data is plotted on a temperature and depth scale.

In addition to launching XBTs and collecting data, we completed a Daily Product so that we can communicate the data we have collected to anyone on shore. The Daily Products are completed not only to ensure that the hydrographic software systems are working correctly but to also inform the public our current location, where we have collected data, and if we are meeting the objectives of the mission. Once onshore, NOAA uses this information to analyze the quality of the data and use it for analysis for dive planning. In order to generate the Daily Field Products, we use hydrographic computer systems such as QPS Qimera for advanced multibeam bathymetry processing, Fledermaus for 4D geo-spatial processing, and Geocap Seafloor for digital terrain modeling. In addition, the Daily Field Products allow us to double check the quality of the data and search for any noise interferences due to the speed of the ship or the type of seafloor bottom (hard vs soft).

Personal Log

One of the coolest parts of learning aboard the Okeanos Explorer is the fact that I am a part of scientific exploration and discovery in real time. Known as “America’s Ship for Ocean Exploration,” the Okeanos Explorer is the only federally funded U.S. ship assigned to systematically explore our largely unknown ocean for the sole purpose of discovery and the advancement of knowledge. This is the first U.S.-led mapping effort in support of the Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation and all of this information is going to be available for public use. Not only do I get the opportunity to be involved with “real-time” research, but I am also responsible for communicating this information to a variety of different parties on shore.

Being immersed in the “hands-on” science, learning from the survey techs and watch leads, and observing all of the work that is being done to collect, process, and analyze the data is a really exciting experience. I am definitely out of my element when it comes to the content since I do not have any prior experience with seafloor mapping, sonars, etc., but I am really enjoying playing the role as the “student” in this situation. There is definitely a lot to learn and I am trying to soak it all in!

Did You Know?

XBTs contain approximately 1,500 meters of copper wire that is as thin as a strand of hair!

Resources:

http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/goos/xbtscience/news.php

https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/xbt.html

June 7, 2013August 11, 2021

Elizabeth Nyman: Tropical Storm Andrea Edition, June 6, 2013

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Elizabeth Nyman
Aboard NOAA Ship Pisces
May 28 – June 7, 2013

Mission: SEAMAP Reef Fish Survey
Geographical Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico
Date: June 6, 2013

Weather Data:
Wind Speed: 19.97 knots
Surface Water Temperature: 27.78 degrees Celsius
Air Temperature: 28.40 degrees Celsius
Barometric Pressure: 1010.40 mb

Science and Technology Log

The Pisces is on its way to port, having had to suspend operations in wake of the bad weather that has since become Tropical Storm Andrea. We were supposed to go into Mayport Naval Base, right outside of Jacksonville, FL, but due to the storm we have been redirected to Port Canaveral.

Ocean — It’s been pretty rough out there! (Picture courtesy Ariane Frappier)

Despite all of this, we made the best of a bad situation. Even though we couldn’t do fishing or camera drops yesterday, we did still manage to get some data. We spent as much time as we could mapping the seafloor before we had to dodge the storm, and we took the time in the morning to do an XBT, an Expendable Bathythermograph.

You can use an XBT to get a temperature and depth reading for the water without having to actually stop the ship. A tube with a probe on it is attached to a launcher and is fired into the water. The probe has copper wire attached to it to send the data back to the ship.

So…you drop the probe, you get the readings, and at least you get some data even if you can’t stop the ship to send more delicate equipment down.

Other than that, the past couple of days have been all about cleanup and dodging the storm. To a certain extent that makes the scientific posts a little quieter than usual, but it’s been a very interesting experience watching everyone work together to make sure that the scientists could get as much work done as possible without endangering the ship or its crew.

We didn’t get to do everything that we wanted to do on this leg of the trip, unfortunately. But we still got a lot accomplished, and I feel like it was just as interesting to see how everyone was able to react to the weather and still get their job done.

Personal Log

Whew! I didn’t imagine when I got on the Pisces in Tampa that I’d spend the last bit of the trip dodging the first named Tropical Storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. But I definitely have a greater appreciation that, with science as in all things, sometimes life does not go quite to plan.

If all goes to schedule, I will be leaving the Pisces tonight, for our detour into Port Canaveral. We had to stop working a day early, and we’ll end up arriving a day early and into a different port. My last day has mostly been spent trying to rearrange for my travel home from a new city and with assisting the science crew in cleaning up the lab spaces.

All data collection requires a certain amount of flexibility. I knew that already – social science data is notoriously difficult to collect – but the problems that I face in my work are quite different from these. When international relations scholars have trouble with data, it’s usually because of things like difficulties in getting governments and/or people to tell the truth, etc. But sometimes, as now, it’s because conditions make it unsafe to collect the data. We can’t send people into shooting wars to count casualties, and we can’t send scientists into a hurricane to count fish.

Science is a method, not a subject, and the scientific method is one wherein we all simply do our best with what we have. Science has been so profoundly influential because of the simple power of this process, testing over and over what we think to be true, so that we can learn if we are wrong. It’s true if you study fish, if you study policy, or if you study anything in between.

There are many things we’ve discovered about our oceans, and the fish and other creatures that inhabit them. But there are still many more things to learn. I’m glad that we have scientists like the ones I met on the Pisces out looking for our fish, and glad that NOAA, in conjunction with states and other government agencies like the Coast Guard, are looking out for our oceans.

My thanks go out to the entire crew of the Pisces, and the great people at the Teacher at Sea program, for letting me be a part of the process.

Did You Know?

NOAA is predicting a highly active hurricane season for the Atlantic this year. Stay safe!

November 15, 2011March 26, 2021

Jacquelyn Hams: 7 November 2011

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Jackie Hams
Aboard R/V Roger Revelle
November 6 — December 10, 2011

Mission: Project DYNAMO
Geographical area of cruise: Leg 3, Eastern Indian Ocean
Date: November 7, 2011

Weather Data from the R/V Revelle Meteorological Stations

Time: 1100
Course on Ground
Wind Direction: 195.5⁰Wind Speed (m/s): 2.1
Air Temperature (C): 27.6
Relative Humidity: 81.7%
Dew Point: (C): 24.4
Precipitation (mm): 6.0

PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation) (microeinsteins): 517.4
Long Wave Radiation (w/m²): 405.3
Short Wave Radiation (w/m²): 60.5

Surface Water Temperature (C): 28.7
Sound Velocity: 1540.6
Salinity (ppm): 32.45
Fluorometer (micrograms/l): 65.2
Dissolved Oxygen (mg/l): 3.6

Wave Data from WAMOS Xband radar

Wave Height (m) 1.6
Wave Period (s): 18.4
Wavelength (m): 312
Wave Direction: 265⁰

Science and Technology Log

Background

Leg 3 of the Project DYNAMO research cruise began, on November 6, 2011 from Phuket, Thailand at approximately 1430. The DYNAMO Leg 3 research cruise consists of seven scientific groups conducting experiments in the following areas:

Surface Fluxes
Atmospheric Soundings
Aerosols
NOAA High Resolution Doppler LIDAR
TOGA Radar
Ocean Optics
Ocean Mixing

My primary role on this cruise is to work with the Ocean Mixing group led by Dr. Jim Moum from Oregon State University. The Ocean Mixing Group is responsible for sonar measurements of ocean current profiles, high frequency measurement of acoustic backscatter, turbulence/CTD profiling instruments and near surface CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, Depth) measurements. I will be working with other scientific groups as needed and have organized my Teacher at Sea blog to report on daily activities by science group.

Sampling Activities

We have been cruising for a couple of days to the sampling station in the eastern Indian Ocean and are still within the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of Thailand, India, and other countries. Here is an interesting fact that I learned about the EEZ – it not only applies to resources, but also applies to data collection. What this means to the R/V Revelle, is that the scientists cannot collect data until the ship clears the 200 nautical mile EEZ for the counties. After clearing the EEZ, the science groups can begin data collection.

Atmospheric Soundings

Data collection began on the ship on November 8 and one of the first groups I observed was the Atmospheric Soundings group. This group is responsible for launching radiosondes using helium balloons (weather balloons). A radiosonde is an instrument that contains sensors to measure temperature, humidity, pressure, wind speed, and wind direction. Although the balloons can hold up to 200 cubic feet of helium, on this cruise, each balloon is filled with 30-35 cubic feet of helium. As the radiosonde ascends, it transmits data to the ship for up to 1 ½ hours before the weather balloon bursts and falls into the ocean. The weather balloons have been reaching an average altitude of 16 km before bursting. Approximately 260 weather balloons will be launched during Leg 3 of the cruise.

Watch the video clip below to watch the deployment of a weather balloon.

Computer screen shot of radiosonde data. Temperature is red, relative humidity in blue, wind speed is in green and wind direction is purple.

Ocean Mixing

The Ocean Mixing group began the deployment of XBTs (Expendable bathythermographs) on November 10, 2011. XBTs are torpedo shaped instruments which are lowered through the ocean to obtain temperature data. The XBT is attached to a handheld instrument for launching by a copper wire. Electronic readings are sent to the ship as the XBT descends in the ocean. When the XBT reaches 1,000 meters, the copper line is broken and the XBT is released and falls to the bottom on the ocean.

Here I am getting ready to launch the XBT.

Computer screen shot of thermocline (change in temperature with depth) obtained from XBT instrument. The green shaded curve displays the historical record for comparison.

Personal Log

I arrived in Phuket, Thailand on November 3, 2011 after a 19-hour plane ride. After dinner and a good night’s sleep, I went to the ship to get acquainted with my new home for the next 6 weeks. Select the link below for a tour of the R/V Revelle.

http://shipsked.ucsd.edu/ships/roger_revelle/.

Aboard the R/V Revelle in Phuket, Thailand

The Revelle sailed from Phuket on November 6. As the ship sailed to station, I captured the beauty of the Indian Ocean.

October 2, 2001March 18, 2021

Jane Temoshok, October 2, 2001

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Jane Temoshok
Onboard NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown
October 2 – 24, 2001

Mission: Eastern Pacific Investigation of Climate Processes
Geographical Area: Eastern Pacific
Date: October 2, 2001

Just got back from a fabulous C-130 flight! It was a long day but well worth it. The video and digital pictures will be amazing. They let me fly the plane!!!!! for real!!!! Then I dropped several air expendable bathythermographs (EXBT) – in other words big plastic tubes out of a hole in the floor of the plane.

The chief scientist, Nick Bond, also gave me a job to do which required using the onboard computers to note the exact time and longitude of each drop. The plane “porpoised” for 6 hours to just south of the equator. Porpoising means we flew at an altitude of 5000 feet for 7 min. and then descended to 100 feet! for 7 minutes and then back up to 5000 ft. Of course Dr. Kermond filmed everything so there will be lots to see. Everybody on board was very accommodating.

Please share my historic flight with my students tomorrow. I’m sure they will be impressed. We did fly over the RON BROWN – just barely because we were only at 100 ft! Then on our way back I was able to speak with Jennifer via the cockpit radio. Very exciting.

Keep in touch,
Jane