EXPRESS Project – NOAA Teacher at Sea Blog

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Lisa Werner

Aboard NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada

August 29-September 13, 2024

Mission: EXPRESS Project

Geographic Area of Cruise: Pacific Coast, near Northern California

Date: September 11, 2024

Weather Data from the Bridge (Coquille Bank):

Latitude: 42º58.378’ N

Longitude: 124º50.146’W

Wind Speed: 23.78 knots

Air Temperature: 14.3ºC/57.74ºF

Conditions: Rain

Science Log

Let’s talk about how Popoki, the autonomous underwater vehicle (or AUV), ‘converses’ with the AUV pilot aboard the ship. The map and directions for the route Popoki will be mapping is programmed into her computers ahead of each dive. On this mission, Popoki has been deployed daily, so every evening, the scientists carefully plan out where she will go on each deployment. They also plan the path Popoki will go when on location – this cruise she has made a lot of sawtooth-shaped patterns to give the scientists the greatest survey of what is in the areas they want to study.

photo of a computer screen showing, at center, an image from a computer-generated model of the underwater bathymetry of an area. Overlaid on the image are topographic lines and depth numbers. overlaid on that is a zig-zagging white line showing Popoki's route. — *Of course, tomorrow’s dive pattern is not a sawtooth pattern. The pattern is drawn out in the white lines over the diagram of the ocean floor contour.*

Though this seems like it would be easy to set up Popoki and let her run her course, that is not quite the end of the story. During a dive, the ocean current is sometimes unknown in any given area, so the AUV pilot needs to be able to help Popoki adjust her positioning. It would not be a very big help to get pictures of an entirely different area than the scientists were aiming for because the ocean currents took Popoki to a different area of the sea floor. The scientists also need to be able to help Popoki if she gets stuck on fishing line, or if the conditions above the water change – such as weather changes or vessel traffic – that would require Popoki to surface ahead of her scheduled time.

To communicate with Popoki, an acoustic modem system is used. There is a modem aboard the ship that can send messages to Popoki through a series of chirping sounds. The pitches and lengths of the chirps are all part of the code that Popoki can understand. She has a device that ‘listens’ for these sounds and can then follow the coded instructions to alter her pre-programmed course. She also communicates regularly with the AUV pilot – sending the coordinates she believes she’s at, her depth, battery life, and how many pictures she has taken so far in the dive.

close-up view of a piece of electronic equipment inside a water-proof housing (with the lid removed to show the contents). There are knobs, dials, CAT-5 cables. — *The modem that communicates with Popoki*

Popoki’s communication device points upward, so when deployment is taking place, the scientists place a transducer into the water to use to communicate. Once Popoki is on her way to her programmed starting point, and farther away from the ship, the transducer is removed from the water.

crewmembers, wearing hard hats and life vests, lean over the rail of the ship and use hooked poles to guide a small yellow object suspended from what looks like a fishing pole safely down toward the water's surface. — *This is the transducer that is placed in the water for deployment*

Sometimes there are difficulties with this communication, and this is where the ship’ crew plays a very important role. The officers on the bridge work to position the ship in areas that allow for Popoki and the acoustic modem to speak to each other easily. The angle of the ship will change as Popoki goes through her programmed patterns, adjusting so that the chirps of the modem have a direct line to Popoki. Distance also plays an important part of the communication process – if the ship and Popoki are too far away from each other, there can be interference with the communication. Ocean current, wave heights and lengths, and other sounds coming from the ship can interfere with the communication, as well. The AUV pilot and the ship’s crew work very closely together throughout the entirety of the dive to help the Popoki and the pilot have clear communication.

photo over someone's shoulder of a computer screen displaying a gridded graph. on the graph is a simplified outline of the ship (like a rectangle with a triangle attached to one end) and some dots to the ship's port side — *AUV pilot Jeff Anderson’s screen showing the ship’s position and Popoki’s position (Denoted as dots)*

At this point, you may be wondering WHY do we use Popoki. I’m sure that you can see her benefits in exploring areas we have not yet seen, but the why actually goes much deeper than that (no pun intended). One of the first things Popoki is doing is looking at areas that are being considered for future offshore wind farm sites. There is a great interest in putting wind turbines over the ocean to create renewable energy for our country. Having been on the Pacific Ocean for 2 weeks now, I can definitely attest to the fact that the wind is very strong in these areas, so there is plenty of energy to harvest. Popoki is identifying the deep sea habitats and geological features on the seafloor that would need to be considered when anchoring any wind turbines.

Popoki is also looking at the changes to the habitats as a result of different regulations that have taken place in fishing areas in this region. Some of the locations we have visited were mapped out by Popoki in the past, and scientists are looking to see whether fishing regulations have helped the populations of ocean life return. Finally, Popoki has been looking for evidence of seeps in the ocean floor. These geological areas are spots where cracks in the ocean floor have occurred due to plate tectonics.

underwater image of the seafloor. it's mostly muddy, with only a little relief, but through the center is a dark crack in the floor, with what appears to be steam (maybe hotter water) rising out of it. we can also make out what might be corals, and a fish. — *Picture of an ocean seep (Photo credit: Popoki)*

Personal Log

The ship’s crew spends a lot of time preparing for safety. Just like we have fire, tornado, and lockdown drills in our school, the ship has drills to practice for emergencies as well. They need to be ready for any emergency, and everyone has a role to play. We have practiced the drills each week.

Throughout my time on NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada, I have gotten to experience some pretty amazing things. However, my absolute favorite moment was getting “Helm time.” That’s right – I got to drive the ship! With Ops Officer Lieutenant Jaime Hendrix and Ensign Megan Sixt guiding me, I got to turn the ship to hard rudder, causing her to drive in a circle. I also got to get her back to her appropriate heading for the transit we were making, and then practice keeping her on course. It was really interesting to see how the ship reacts to the controls and to see what she does! I am so grateful to CO Laura Gibson for this opportunity, and really appreciate the help LT Hendrix and ENS Sixt gave me!

photo of Lisa wearing a bright red survival suit - all we can see of her is her eyes (with glasses) and a portion of her Teacher at Sea beanie hat. she stands on deck on a clear day and stretches her arms out for the photo — *Me wearing the Immersion (or “Gumby”) suit (Photo credit: Curt Whitmire)*

We practice where to gather, or ‘muster,’ in the event of a fire or abandoning ship. At the very beginning of the cruise, we get right to work with a tour of where to find the lifeboats, how to deploy them, and then we get to the drills.

Recently, I had the opportunity to learn to use the flares and the line thrower. The line thrower is used for ship to ship transfers or for rescuing someone who’s fallen overboard. Although it is really fun to get the experience to use these devices, it is definitely something that you hope only gets used in training. However, knowing they are there and that everyone knows how to use them makes you feel a bit better if an emergency does happen.

Lisa, wearing very large, thick gloves, poses near the ship's railing and smiles at the camera. in her left hand, over the railing, she holds a lit flare. it's a mostly clear day, and the sky is blue with a few clouds, and the ocean has a few whitecaps. — *I now know how to use the flares! (Photo credit: Alice Kojima-Clarke*)

Trying out the line thrower

We are not on autopilot!!! ENS Sixt and LT Hendrix helping me learn to drive a ship! (Photo credit: Randy Scott)

Music Connections

Communicating with Popoki has a lot to do with acoustics. Listening to her pilot talk about how important the angles between Popoki and the ship are reminded me a lot of preparing for a recital when I was a music education student at UW-Whitewater. As an undergraduate, we had several performance requirements per semester. For solo performances, the more experienced music majors would always pass on a very important piece of acoustic information to the new undergrads – always aim the trombone bell at the 3rd exit sign along the stage right wall. Hitting this sweet spot would cause the recital hall to ring, the trombone sound to be dark and full, and the experience to be the best for all who were listening. New trombone majors learned very quickly that this was not a piece of urban legend, but by bouncing the brass sound off of the wall at this angle, it was much more pleasant for the audience than to play directly at their faces.

view of an empty performance hall — *The beautiful Light Recital Hall at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater – a great place to perform and explore acoustics! (Photo credit: Dr. Glenn Hayes*)

Communicating with Popoki is similar in a way – rather than bouncing her communications off of corners and walls, however, she responds better to the sound waves coming directly at her. She has a sweet spot, too, but it is more about decreasing the angles. This is a much more efficient method of communication for her, because she does not care about the timbre of her chirps!

Another great moment I really enjoyed during our time together was helping our Chief Scientist Dr. Clarke learn ukulele! I always believe that music is everywhere, and Dr. Clarke proved that theory again for me by bringing her ukulele along on this cruise when she heard the Teacher at Sea was a music teacher! Hopefully she had as much fun as I did!

In the computer lab, Lisa and Dr. Clarke sit in chairs facing one another. Lisa, smiling, leans forward to hold up an open laptop where Dr. Clarke can see it easily. Dr. Clarke watches the screen as she picks at her ukulele. — *Dr. Elizabeth Clarke showing off her virtuoso skills with a little “Hot Cross Buns” (Photo credit: Alice Kojima-Clarke*)

Sounds from the ship today will feature the sound of the ship’s engine outside from the very top deck of the ship.

This is the sound of the engine humming from the Fly Deck. You can also hear the waves, as we are in transit to our next station!

Student Questions

St. Bruno students are fascinated by sea creatures, and they have sent me on a quest to learn about the octopus. I think they will be very excited to see this picture and learn about the deep sea octopus!

underwater image of the seafood showing many brittle stars and some corals. in the lower right, there is a sponge, which since it is viewed from above appears as a white ring. inside the sponge, an octopus is curled up - we can see one eye and several tentacles — *Look at the octopus curled up in a sponge in the bottom right corner. You can see the octopus’s eye sticking out! (Photo credit: Popoki*)

Final Notes

The NOAA Teacher at Sea Program is an incredible opportunity for any teacher. As you can see, you do not need to be a science teacher in order to apply. There are so many connections to be made with the ocean, and students get really excited about learning through their teacher’s experience. Applications for the program will open soon. You can find more information here. Thank you so much to the crew of NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada, the EXPRESS Scientists, and the NOAA Teacher at Sea program for this opportunity. What an incredible experience!

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Lisa Werner

Aboard NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada

August 29-September 13, 2024

Mission: EXPRESS Project

Geographic Area of Cruise: Pacific Coast, near Northern California

Date: September 2, 2024

Weather Data from the Bridge (Humboldt Canyon)

Latitude: 41.6º N

Longitude: 124.8º W

Wind Speed: S at 4.59 knots

Air Temperature: 15.1º C (59.18º F)

Conditions: Mostly Sunny

Science and Technology Log

One of the other interesting components of the EXPRESS Project is the use of MultiNets to study plankton in the mid layers of the water column. MultiNets are exactly what they sound like – a collection of nets that are lowered into the water to grab a sampling of plankton from the area. There are different ways of using MultiNets. Sometimes they are used horizontally, where they are dragged through the water to grab samples. For our mission, however, they are being deployed vertically.

view down the ship's railing as the multi-net - two long plankton nets side by side, where the left net ends in multiple attached cannisters - is being lowered into the water by cables attached to a winch. crewmembers wearing hard hats and life vests stand on board watching and guiding the deployment. The sky is overcast and the seas are calm and gray. — *MultiNet being lowered into the water with the ship’s winch*

There are 5 nets that are each attached to a red canister. The net bags are all closed prior to deployment in the water, so that water flows freely through the frame. Upon the net frame being lowered to the deepest desired depth of study, the first net is opened to collect the water at that depth. As that canister is closed, the next one is opened at the new depth. This goes on as the MultiNet is pulled upwards until all 5 canisters have collected samples at the varying depths being studied. The MultiNet that is being used for this project also has a side net. The side net is used for capturing everything in the water column all the way up from 1000 meters upwards.

One of my favorite parts of the day is what I call “Show and Tell with Jenn,” where Jennifer Questel, the scientist deploying the MultiNet, goes through everything found in the collection from the side net. She pours small portions of the samples from the side net at a time into a glass dish to sift through and pull out the organisms of interest for separate preservation to study in a lab later.

a woman in an orange jacket leans over a metal workbench in the wet lab. immediately in front of her is a glass pie dish containing water. resting her left elbow on the table, she looks down at the pie dish and reaches with what is likely a pair of tweezers or foreceps in her right hand. around her on the table, we see other sample jars, bottles, syringes. — *Jennifer, sifting through the samples from the day’s collection*

close-up view of a clear glass or plastic jar with a white screwtop lid, held up for the photo by two hands. The jar contains water with greenish-yellow clumps of plankton. Behind the jar, out of focus, are rows of colored hard hats hanging on the wall. — *The jar of collected samples from the side net*

The very first time she did this, I was so excited to see a few jellyfish and a lantern fish. I thought that was all that was caught. When Jenn went through the samples, however, she pulled out these incredible clear living organisms that I hadn’t even noticed floating in the sample water.

top-down view of a glass tray of sample wells resting on a metal tabletop. in the top center well is a clear round organism that looks a bit like a peeled grape (perhaps a comb jelly). in the well beneath that is some sort of long, skinny larval fish, looking like a soft clear tube. — *Examples of what Jenn found in her samples*

I even got to hold a salp, which looks really squishy and slimy, but does not feel that way – it definitely has its own structure!

very close-up view of a hand holding a salp for the camera. The salp, clear and gelatinous, is as long as the width of the finger on which it rests. Two tiny antennae extend from one end, toward the ring finger. — *Holding a salp!*

Personal Log

Captain Laura Gibson arranged for me to get a tour of the engine room. Although there is plenty of science in the ship’s day-to-day operations, too, I’m going to use the “Personal Log” section of my blog to discuss ship specifics, particularly since I’ve gotten so many questions about life on NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada.

There are many systems that keep the ship operating. Obviously there is the engine that keeps the ship running, but there is so much that many people wouldn’t think of. For example, did you know that the water is put through a reverse osmosis system so that it is drinkable? I know we have a system like this in my basement for my house, but it is nothing compared to this system!

view of the reverse osmosis system; we can see tubes connecting different parts of a machine. a clipboard with printed protocols hangs in the middle of the photo. — *Reverse Osmosis System for the ship*

There is a very important system on the ship that handles all of the waste from the toilets. It is a very sensitive system and it was reiterated many times that you CANNOT flush anything other than toilet paper down the pipes, or you will be very unpopular amongst the ship engineers! In fact, we learned that most ‘flushable wipes’ that you find are not flushable in any marine system. I imagine this is a system many of you would not have thought about, but it is a system that you definitely want to be working smoothly!

view of an old control board, with four monitors, rows of switches, buttons, and colored lights. a spiral logbook with a pen rest on top of the control board, to the left. mounted above are two more modern computer screens; the larger one shows four simultaneous camera views of locations around the ship. — *Engine room control board*

The Chief Marine Engineer Rob Dillon has a digital system in which he can watch all aspects of NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada in action at any given moment. He is retiring in a month, and it was fun to hear his stories of working on steam ships first, then diesel, and also watching the transition to the digital displays. He has been all over the world, including making deliveries to the USSR before the end of the Cold War. I could have listened to his stories all day long!

view of the rudder post, a heavy round metal casing mounted on the ship's floor. the top is painted blue and the underside is painted red, and hoses lead in and out of the casing. on top appear to be gears. — *Rudder Post – I could see the subtle turning as we were standing there!*

The real fun was seeing the rudder control and the ship propeller. It was such a fascinating feeling to imagine what was happening in the water just on the other side of what I was seeing inside the ship!

a man wearing an engineer's work jacket, a baseball cap, and a beard, faces away from the camera to look at something as he squeezes between large orange metal paneling. — *Getting to the ship’s propeller shaft!*

view down the length of the propeller shaft, which looks like a huge black metal pipe extending out of the ship's wall. everything around it painted orange-red. a dirty oilcloth hangs from a line suspended above the shaft. — *The ship’s propeller shaft – the cloth is there because they clean the shaft often to keep it running smoothly*

Music Connection

Today’s music connection comes courtesy of Ensign Megan Sixt. I was visiting the bridge, and asking questions about the structure of the NOAA Corps (the uniformed service men and women who run the ship operations) and the science teams. Megan beautifully explained that the ship runs like a symphony orchestra – every person has their role, and each role is important. She talked about how there are certain roles on the ship that would be very difficult for her to do, and she is grateful for the people who do them so well on NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada.

It is a very inspiring experience to watch the NOAA Corps and the science team collaborate. Both parties highly respect what the other is doing, and you can see that in every interaction. Everyone on the ship wants the mission to be successful and they all understand their individual role in making it happen. Just like in an orchestra where a trombonist would not be covering an oboist’s part, the people on NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada know their role and do not try to tell other people what to do in their roles. It is so refreshing to be in a place where everyone appreciates and supports each other fully. The trust in each other and respect for each person is very high here, and it is a great lesson for the students I teach to hear about. There is rarely a collaboration that does not end in thanking the other person for their help, insight, or critique. The bigger picture – whether it is a scientific mission, or a symphony orchestra performance, is the ultimate goal that everyone focuses on.

Also, I want to share another audio clip with you all – this is what a group of albatross sound like. You can hear Popoki, as well, as we are recovering her from her dive.

This audio clip contains the sounds of the albatross

Student Questions

Part of the homework I had to do for the students I work with was to find out about squid in the area I am working. They will be excited to know that I saw one off the side of the ship tonight! I couldn’t get a picture of it, as the lighting was not great for an iphone photo. However, there also happens to be a squid in the lab for the freezer.

view of a single market squid, perhaps a foot long, on a refrigerator shelf. — *Pretty sure this guy wants to say hi to St. Bruno Wildcats!*

The samples from the MultiNet have also included some tiny squid.

top-down view of a glass tray of sample wells resting on a metal tabletop. this photo focuses on a sample well containing a larval squid, which is notable smaller than the adjacent salp, though round eyes and tiny tentacles are visible. — *Jenn says this is paralarvae, probably from a squid, found in the side net collection*

Tag: EXPRESS Project

Lisa Werner: How Does Communication with Popoki Work? September 11, 2024

Lisa Werner: MultiNet Research, September 2, 2024