NOAA Teacher at Sea Heidi Wigman Aboard NOAA Ship Pisces May 27 – June 10, 2015
Mission: Reef Fish Survey Geographical area of cruise: Gulf of Mexico (24°29.956’N 083°320.601’W) Date: June 8, 2015
Weather: 83° @ surface, E-SE winds @ 10-15 knots, seas 2-3 ft, average depth 123m
Science and Technology Log:
NOAA’s mission is three-fold: science, service, and stewardship. By utilizing fisheries, hydrographic, and oceanographic scientists in the field, NOAA’s goal is to understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans, and coasts, while also putting forth a conservation effort towards coastal and marine ecosystems. This knowledge is shared with businesses, communities, and people, to inform on how to make good choices to protect our fragile earth.
Sunset on the GulfSunrise on the Gulf
The specific mission, for our current voyage, on the Pisces, is to survey fisheries at pre-determined sites throughout the Western portion of the Gulf of Mexico. The data from these surveys will be brought back to the lab in Pascagoula, Miss. and analyzed. Then determinations will be made for future surveys and studies. According to Chief Scientist, Brandi Noble, “These fishery independent surveys increase our knowledge of natural reefs in the Gulf of Mexico. We get a better picture of what’s down there and work with outside agencies to determine how to maintain the health of the fisheries. Data gathered will be used in future stock assessments for the Gulf of Mexico.”
Bottlenose dolphins in the Gulf
The methods used to gather data on this cruise are through the use of the camera array and the bandit reels. The camera arrays are deployed at sites that have been mapped and sit at the bottom for a total soak time of 40 minutes. This footage is analyzed and processed by scientists to determine what the conditions of the reef are and the species of fish present in the area and their abundance. This gives a partial picture, but to get a complete and accurate report, fish need to be studied more closely. The “Bandit Reels” provide a more hands-on approach and allow the scientists to get data on sex, maturity stage, and age of species. Some of the fish are released after some initial measurements, but the commercially important species are dissected and samples are taken for further lab analysis. Initial measurements made with anything brought aboard include total length (TL), fork length (FL), standard length, SL (from nose to caudal fin), and weight.
Removing the otolith to determine the age of the fishRemoving organs to determine sex and maturity
A closer look at the data allows scientists to make predictions on fish populations and growth over time. Some of the data we got on this trip were for the Lutjanus campechanus (red snapper) and for the Pagrus pagrus (red porgy).
There are several ways to disaggregate the data to determine differences and similarities based on region, time, species, etc. For our purposes, we’ll make some observations involving probability, proportion, and statistics.
Math Problem of the day: You are a scientist and have brought data back from the Gulf of Mexico to analyze in your lab. You have three tasks: a) to get an average fish size based on weight (species specific) b) to determine what the proportion is of the Standard Length to the Total Length of each species (hint: ratio of SL/TL; find average) c) determine the theoretical probabilities that the next Red Snapper will be >1,100g, and that the next red Porgy will be <1,000g (hint: how many times does this happen out of the total catches?)
Coming Soon . . . Meet some of the crew behind the Pisces
Previous Answers:
Trigonometry of Navigation post: 18 m/s @ 34°SE
Bandit Reels post: about 14.6 nautical miles
The STEM of Mapping post: layback = 218m, layback w/ catenary = 207m
NOAA Teacher at Sea Alexandra (Alex) Miller, Chicago, IL Onboard NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada May 27 – June 10, 2015
Our ship.
Mission: Rockfish Recruitment and Ecosystem Assessment Geographical area of cruise: Pacific Coast Date: Sunday, June 7th, 2015
Weather Data:
Air Temperature: 12.4°C
Water Temperature: 13.3°C
Sky Conditions: Overcast
Wind Speed (knots/kts) and Direction: 22 kts, N
Latitude and Longitude: 45°59’62”, 124°33’97”
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The only piece of equipment on the Shimada I haven’t told you about is the box corer. Jason Phillips has been using the box corer to collect, well, box cores. Box cores are samples of the bottom of the ocean or sea floor (also, seabed). The box core is lowered to various depths (400 m, 300 m, 200 m, 100 m and 60 m), then survey technicians, Jaclyn Mazzella or Phil White, open the jaws of the machine and scoop up a mouthful of whatever is on the bottom, including benthic (referring to bottom of the ocean) creatures.
Once surfaced, Jason subsamples the sediment, sand, mud, small pieces of rocks and debris, removing just a small part of it and storing it until our return to land. Subsampling allows scientists to measure a manageable amount and then generalize about the larger remainder; while this is limiting because it assumes uniformity throughout the box core, the alternative is looking through each piece of sediment individually, something that is time and cost prohibitive. However, he does invest the time necessary to pick out all the creatures collected by the box corer.
Back at his lab, Jason will analyze the sediment, and then he or a colleague will identify all the tiny, tinyorganisms, living things, found in the core.
Below, you can see Jason processing the core. He has washed down the smaller pieces of sediment like clay and sand through the holes in the mesh sieve. The sieve traps the smaller pieces of rock and even smaller animals, allowing him to pick them out and place them into preservative for processing when he returns to shore.
Jason and Amanda pick out benthic organisms from a core sample.
Through the study of box cores, Jason hopes to learn more about the creatures that live on the bottom of the sea. He told me many scientists who are doing box cores are simply collecting the sediment for study, they are not looking to see what organisms live in it, and therefore, there is a lot we don’t know. He says, “I would not be surprised if we found a new species in these cores.”
Take a look at some of the creatures Jason has unearthed on this cruise:
Clam (left); Worm (right)
Sea pen (Pennatulacea) (left); Striped nudibranch which feeds exclusively on sea pens (right)
Because he has been collecting this data for two years, there are some patterns emerging about sediment conditions in different areas of the seabed. This information may help inform the placement and construction of a proposed wind farm off the Oregon coast.
For at least one day of our cruise, Jason also put out hooked long-lines to try and catch albacore, a type of tuna. Unfortunately, the fish weren’t biting. While albacore are unique among most tuna in that they prefer cooler water, Jason says the late-spring waters off the Oregon coast are still a little too cold for them and since they can swim up to 100 miles a day, they can easily find some more comfortable temperatures. The albacore that have been caught on previous cruises as part of this ongoing study are being tested for radioisotopes that may have originated from the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear disaster of 2011.
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And, of course, there’s always fun to be had on the Shimada. Below you can watch a video of Jason unearthing a pupa utility-worm from one of his box cores; scientific name (Travisia pupa), affectionately known as the “stink worm.” Will decides we need a closer, um, look.
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Tyler Jackson, a Master’s student at Oregon State University has been working on fisheries genetics since he was an undergraduate. His interest in marine science began when he was a wee recreational fisherman’s son growing up on the US-Canada border in Port Huron, MI.
In collecting megalopae, a larval form of Dungeness crab, he is trying to determine how closely related the Dungeness crab of areas off the Oregon coast are. He has studied population genetics among adult Dungeness crabs along the West Coast. He hypothesizes that if adult crabs in an area are closely related, larvae settling in the nearshore would be too. However, he tells me that it is not well understood how crab larvae travel throughout the ocean, and then for some to make it back to nearshore and settle to the bottom, maybe near where they came from. Perhaps these extended families get scattered throughout the seas, perhaps not.
Tyler Jackson, Oregon State University
At the first few stations, the tows were not bringing back enough individuals to give Tyler a large enough sample size to provide a reliable assessment of whether the crabs in that part of the ocean are related or not. Unfortunately, on this cruise Tyler did not get a sample size large enough to use.
In the following video you can see that, after sieving the neuston, Tyler found two Dungeness megalopae (too small of a sample size to test) but quite a lot of red rock crab megalopae. These little creatures are fascinating and pretty adorable.
I also interviewed Tyler about his work and life at sea. You can hear our talk below.
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Two nights ago, I couldn’t sleep at all, and I was thinking about the fact that my time on the Shimada is quickly coming to a close. I was trying to find a way to get even more information from the scientists on board to you. Taped interviews seemed like the perfect solution. I began conducting them yesterday and, after finishing three, realized I’d spoken to three of the four other women of the science crew. And so, here we are having a conversation about gender equity in the sciences.
The ladies of the science crew. From left: Samantha Zeman, Amanda Gladics, Emily Boring, Brittney Honisch, Alexandra Miller
Using data from a longitudinal study done by the National Science Foundation, in 1973, 88% of doctorate holders working at the university level in life sciences (includes marine biology) were male, just 12% were female. Hearteningly, women have become much more well represented in the life sciences; in 2010, these numbers were 58% and 42%, respectively‡. You can see this same kind of near gender balance on board the Shimada: of the twelve (counting me) members of the science crew, five are women. Women are also well-represented in this blog post.
You can see the numbers breakdown for all the science and engineering fields here.
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I interviewed the four other women of the science crew about their research and life on board the ship, as well as being a woman in the field of life science. You can hear those interviews below.
If you would like to find the parts of the conversations about gender equality in marine science, you may use the time stamps below.
Samantha Zeman, Graduate Student and Research Assistant, University of Oregon (7.00)
Brittney Honisch, Marine Scientist, Hatfield Marine Science Center (8.50)
Emily Boring, Sophomore, Yale University (I did not ask Emily as she is still an undergraduate)
‡Compare this to the numbers for the physical sciences, in 1973, 95% of doctorates employed in academia were male, compared to 5% female; in 2010, 79% male to 21% female.
NOAA Teacher at Sea Janelle Harrier-Wilson
(Soon to Be) Onboard NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow September 23 – October 3, 2014
Mission: Autumn Bottom Trawl Survey Leg II Geographical area of cruise: Atlantic Ocean from the Mid-Atlantic Coast to S New England Date: September 15, 2014
Personal Log
With my husband, Neil Wilson, and my dog, Devon. He was a puppy at the time and graduating from training classes.
Hello and welcome! I am so excited to be a part of the NOAA Teacher at Sea experience. I currently teach chemistry, engineering, and technology at Lanier High School in Sugar Hill, GA (outside of Atlanta). I am part of an awesome project based learning (PBL) program called CDAT (Center for Design and Technology), which focuses on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Lanier High School opened in 2010, so this is our fifth year as a school; however, this is my first year teaching here. Before transferring to Lanier High School, I taught sixth grade Earth science at Lanier Middle School for eight years. Now, I have the awesome privilege of teaching many of my students a second time. It’s really fun to see how much they have grown up and matured since they were sixth graders.
I am looking forward to sharing what I learn with my students as I think my engineering students will gain insight into shipboard careers they may have never considered, especially as it relates to engineering. I think my technology students will get a chance to see how scientists collect and organize data using technology tools.
Although I teach chemistry and this research cruise is focusing on fisheries, I know my students will gain a new understanding of our oceans. Sampling the health, age, and quantity of different fish species with the NOAA scientists help us to measure the health of the oceans. Some of the big issues with the health of our oceans concern overfishing, human pollution, and ocean acidification. Ocean acidification refers to how the oceans take some of the extra carbon dioxide from the air and dissolve it into the water. This lowers the pH of the water making it more acidic, which can affect the health of the ocean’s inhabitants.
I applied to be a NOAA Teacher at Sea so I could learn more about our oceans in order to share this knowledge with my students. I have always been a hugely passionate about space and space exploration. I’ve had so many cool space opportunities like seeing shuttles and rocket launches, going to Space Camp, floating in microgravity, and most recently, helping our students talk to Reid Wiseman on the International Space Station via amateur radio.
Space is awesome and amazing, but we have an equally amazing frontier right here on own planet, our oceans. I want to be able to share with my students about the oceans with as much confidence and enthusiasm as I do about space, so I am extremely happy to be a Teacher at Sea so I can begin to glimpse all the science our oceans entail. I was also inspired to apply after hearing the stories from two Teacher at Sea Alumni Jennifer Goldner and Kaci Heins, who I met at Advanced Space Camp and now call dear friends.
Experimenting in microgravity with Kaci Heins photo from NASAMe as a child in Florida
I grew up on the west coast of Florida near the Gulf of Mexico. Just two miles from my house was a tiny commercial fishing village, Cortez. My childhood best friend lived in Cortez, so I spent many days running up and down the docks and sampling the fresh caught seafood. (Fresh smoked mullet was my absolute favorite!) This gave me a unique look at the importance of fishing to a community. I even had a chance to go out on a small boat with a commercial fisherman and a few of my friends one night and catch fish via nets. So even though space has always been my passion, I feel a connection to the ocean as well.
Teacher at Sea goodies
My cruise is on the Henry B. Bigelow, a NOAA ship outfitted for fisheries research. You can take a virtual tour of the Henry B. Bigelow including the science labs, and track the ship here.
I am part of Leg II of the Autumn Bottom Trawl. We will be taking samples of fish and other species of marine animals from the Mid-Atlantic to Southern New England to measure the abundance, health, and age of certain fish species. As part of the science team, I will work a twelve hour shift everyday – either from noon to midnight (day shift) or from midnight to noon (nigh shift). I will find out my assigned shift when I arrive to the ship.
Right now I am working on getting everything I need ready and thinking about packing. Since space on the ship is very valuable, I am trying to pack as lightly as possible. Some of the things I plan to bring with me are earplugs (I hear the engines are loud so it’s good to have these while sleeping), anti-nausea aids so I don’t get seasick, and cameras to document my trip. A couple of weeks ago, I received this cool package of items from the Teacher at Sea program. I’ll definitely be bringing the water bottle, shirt, and hat with me. The good thing is there are laundry facilities on board, so I don’t have to pack too many outfits. I also plan to bring a companion along with me. At my school, we are the Lanier Longhorns, so I will be bringing one of the plush longhorns along with me for this adventure. My question for you is which one? Toro or Tyson? You get to decide!
Who should join me at sea: Toro or Tyson?
At Lanier, our motto is Learn.Lead.Succeed. I cannot wait to learn new things on this trip and share them all with you! What things to you hope I will learn and share with you? Please leave your ideas in the comments. Until next time!
Geographic area of the cruise: Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of North Carolina and South Carolina
Date: July 13, 2014
Weather Information from the Bridge
Air Temperature: 27.6 °C
Relative Humidity: 73%
Wind Speed: 5.04 knots
Science and Technology Log
Someone is always working on the Pisces. When Nate Bacheler and the other fishery scientists have finished their work for the day collecting fish, it is show time for the hydrographers, the scientists who map and study the ocean floor. Their job is to map the ocean floor to help Nate find the best places to find fish for the next day. Warren, Laura, David and Matt were kind enough to let me join them and explained how they map the ocean floor while on board the Pisces.
People have learned over the years that some fish like to hang out where there is a hard bottom, not a sandy bottom. These hard bottom areas are where coral and sponges can grow and it also happens to be where we usually find the most fish.
Instead of using a camera to find these hard bottom habitats, the mapping scientists use multibeam sonar. Here is a simple explanation on how sonar works. The ship sends a sound wave to the bottom of the ocean. When the sound wave hits the bottom, the sound bounces back up to the ship.
Since scientists know how fast sound travels in water, they can figure out how far it is to the ocean floor. If the sound wave bounces back quickly, we are close to the ocean floor. If the sound wave takes longer, the ocean floor is farther away. They can use this data to make a map of what the ocean floor looks like beneath the ship.
The neat thing about the Pisces is that it does not send down one sound wave only. It sends 70 waves at once. This is called multibeam sonar.
Single Beam versus Multibeam sonar. Can you see why hydrographers like to use multibeam sonar? Credit: NOAA
So, now you know how sonar works in simple terms.
But it gets a little more complicated. Did you know that sound speed can be affected by the water temperature, by how salty the water is (the “salinity”), by tides, and by the motion of the ship? Computers make corrections for all of these factors to help get a better picture of the ocean floor. But, computers don’t know the physical properties of our part of the ocean (because these properties change all the time) so we need to find this information and give it to the computer.
To find the temperature of the ocean water, the mapping scientists launch an “XBT” into the water. XBT stands for “expendable bathythermograph.” The XBT records the changes in water temperature as it travels to the ocean floor. It looks like a missile. It gets put into a launcher and it has a firing pin. It sounds pretty dangerous, doesn’t it! I was excited to be able to fire it into the water. But, when I pulled out the firing pin, the XBT just gently slid out of the launcher, softly plopped into the ocean, and quietly collected data all the way to the ocean floor.
Kevin McMahon nervously holding the XBT Launcher and waiting for the order to fire.
Kevin McMahon watches as the XBT gently plops out of the launcher.
With the new data on water temperature, the hydrographers were able to create this map of the ocean floor.
Example of an Ocean Floor Map
In the map above, blue indicates that part of the ocean floor that is the deepest. The green color indicates the part of the map that is the next deepest. The red indicates the area that is most shallow.
Nate talks to the hydrographers early in the morning and then predicts where the hard bottom habitats might be. In particular, Nate looks for areas that have a sudden change in elevation, indicating a ledge feature. If you had Nate’s job, where would you drop the 6 traps to find the most fish? Look at the map below to see where Nate decided to deploy the traps.
The green dots are the spots where Nate dropped the traps in hopes of finding fish.
To find out more about using sound to see the ocean floor and to see an animation of how this works, click on this link:
We have now gotten into a regular routine on the ship. The best part of the day for me is when we are retrieving the traps. We never know what we will see. Sometimes we catch nothing. Sometimes we find some really amazing things.
Here are a few of my favorites:
Closer view of sharksucker on my arm
Somebody is crabby.
Sea stars with beautiful navy blue colors
A pair of butterflyfish
Did you know?
The ocean is largely unexplored. Maybe someday you will discover something new about the ocean!
Aloha from the great Pacific Northwest! My name is Kainoa Higgins and although I was born and raised on the island of O’ahu, Hawai’i, I have spent the last 10 years calling Tacoma, Washington home. I am incredibly excited to have been selected as a 2014 NOAA Teacher at Sea and can’t wait to climb aboard the R/V Ocean Starr in a matter of hours! I will be participating in two legs of research during my two and half weeks on ship.
During the first leg, I will be assisting scientists with conducting a Juvenile Rockfish Survey as they examine groundfish populations off the coast of the Western Seaboard of the North America. Though I have been attempting to get caught up to speed, I currently only understand the program at a general level. There are many species of rockfish, all of which are commercially valuable, and keeping track of their populations and distributions is essential for conscious management. Having spoken with my Chief Scientist for this leg, Ric Brodeur, on several occasions leading up to my departure, I understand that my job will entail any, some or all of the following: mammal/bird observational surveys and plankton analysis by day followed by sorting of trawled collections analysis of the catch in the wet lab by night. I’ll be able to share more as the adventure unfolds.
In the second leg, I will connect with Laurie Weitkamp who will take over as chief scientist with a fresh research team and research focus. In a recent e-mail Laurie explained that this leg will be “experimental”. In short, we will be trying a variety of modifications to a marine mammal excluder device to see how it fishes and influences the catch. I’m not sure, exactly, how the MMED is used, but I would be willing to take a guess at it’s purpose. I imagine it has something to do with an attempt to maintain commercial fishing operations without the interruption of marine mammals (dolphins, porpoises, seals, whales, etc.) in close proximity. Through some sort of “deflection”, its goal would also be reduce unintentional by-catch. Once again, I’ll know more concretely a bit further down the road. According to Laurie, in addition to help work up the catch, I will be helping with “marine mammal watch” before and during fishing. Since we will use a surface trawl during the day, it is possible that we could catch a marine mammal (e.g., seals and dolphins). To minimize this risk, I will help serve as a lookout before we set and when the trawl is out, and are required to immediately stop fishing if any are spotted nearby. I look forward to spending some time on the bow scanning the horizon for marine mammals.
One of my favorite pics of marine diatoms (phytoplankton) from the Puget Sound. Taken with iphone camera though microscope eyepiece.
A bit more about myself and the school I represent. I grew up loving the ocean. Much of my life as a child was spend in or around it. Whether snorkeling, surfing or fishing my brother and I were raised to respect and appreciate all that the ocean had to offer. After all, my name, Kainoa, means “free as the sea”. There is a saying in the islands, Malama ‘aina, Malama i ke kai, meaning ‘to care for the land and care for the ocean’. After graduating from Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii I headed for the great Northwest to attend the University of Puget Sound. I participated in Athletics, Lu’au, Senior Theatre Festival and even Greek Life. I studied Biology and spent a semester abroad in Christchurch, New Zealand. Even though I took Marine Biology in one of the most amazing diverse systems in the world, my favorite class had to be “The Diversity of Algae”. It opened my eyes up to the beauty and importance of micro life for the first time. This led to my passion for – and borderline obsession with – plankton.
After earning a Master’s in the Arts of Teaching from UPS, I began my career at the Tacoma School of the Arts teaching entry level biology. After my second year, I was asked to join our recently founded sister school, the Tacoma Science and Math Institute (SAMI) located in Point Defiance Park on the North Tacoma peninsula. SAMI is built around a particular vision: we believe that students make the most of their learning when they take ownership of their education—when students intentionally choose to take on the challenge real learning entails. We further believe that this ownership most naturally develops within a learning community, encouraged by others who share that commitment. We theme our curriculum around the math and science and emphasis the integration of disciplines and staff collaboration all the while perpetuating the pillars on which the schools were founded: community, empathy, thinking and balance. SAMI has allowed me to pursue my passion for marine science. We are a two minute walk to the waterfront which makes the learning opportunities for myself as students invaluable. Between this field resource and collaborations with the University of Washington in the High School program and the University’s School of Oceanography I am in a position to offer my students a world-class learning experience.
I think it is important that teachers are always looking for opportunities to improve their practice and better educate themselves in ways that will better prepare their students for the world ahead of them. The Teacher at Sea opportunity is an incredible way to engage myself as a life-long learner and will help me to better engage and inspire my students. I look forward to designing and offering lessons derived from real-time science and experiences. I am very grateful for this opportunity and can’t wait to share it with you.
See you soon,
Kainoa
SAMI Students reflecting on a trip to Dungeness Spit, WA.The men of the house in my absenceA relationship founded on respect
