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Gail Tang: The Bitter End, September 1, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Gail Tang

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette

August 4, 2023 – September 1, 2023

Mission: Hawaiian Islands Cetacean and Ecosystem Assessment Survey (HICEAS)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Hawaiian archipelago

Date: September 1, 2023

When referring to sailing knots, the bitter end signifies the end of the line (i.e. rope to non-seafarers). I thought this fitting, considering the conclusion of my rich time at sea! From interacting with the different deck crew, I learned different ways to tie knots—sometimes the same type of knot. For example, though I knew the bowline before I set sail, I didn’t have a process that stuck in my memory. With the aid of the crew, I solidified a process for myself. Exposure to different ways to tie a knot (or in the case of the mathematics classroom, different ways to approach a problem) gives the learner autonomy to choose a method that suits their learning. I also learned how to splice. See pictures below!

close-up view of a hand gripping the end of a cord tied on a pole with an intricate knot
Double Sheet Bend
a hand holds up a rope tied in a lover's knot against a view of the churning ocean topped by blue skies
Lovers Knot
close-up of a rope tied to a metal hook in a clove-hitch; hard to see where this is located
Clove Hitch
a hand holds up a green rope tied into a loop against a background of the ocean, clouds on the horizon
Eye Splice (3-strand)
a hand holds up a green rope tied to itself (spliced) using some of the partially unraveled strands, in front of a railing on the deck; blue water and blue sky beyond
Short Splice in Progress (3-Strand)

Science and Technology Log

stunning close-up photo of a bird in flight, must have been taken with a powerful telephoto lens
Adult Brown Morph Red-footed Booby. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Michael Force (Permit #MB03330)

In the final week, all science teams (birders, marine mammal observers, acousticians, plankton team) wrapped up and prepared to disembark the ship. Traveling a total distance of 4,819.2 km, Leg 2 spanned 28 glorious days at sea. The cetacean team tallied 90 visual sightings (visually identified 15 species) and 122 acoustic detections. The seabird side saw 37 species and 4,124 individuals. The plankton team completed 39 net tows on Leg 2 and totals 44 tows overall. The images below from the HICEAS Map Tour page detail the specific cetaceans sighted and heard. I also include some cetacean photos taken by the marine mammal observers (MMOs).

a whale bursts vertically out of the ocean with a mahi mahi fish grasped in its mouth. confusingly, in front of the whale is a dark round object, also mid-air; this must be the trash bucket lid
False killer whale (a priority species) catches a Mahi-mahi from under sea trash (bucket lid). Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Ernesto Vasquez
beautiful view of a dolphin leaping mostly out of the bright blue water
Bottlenose Dolphin. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Gail Tang (Permit #25754)
a map of the Hawaiian Islands, including both the main islands and the outer islands in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, with straight line segments showing the survey tracklines and a variety of symbols marking the locations of sightings of 17 identified species and 5 more unidentified species
Cetacean Sightings and their Locations. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries Map Tour
a map of the Hawaiian Islands, including both the main islands and the outer islands in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, with straight line segments showing the survey tracklines and a variety of symbols marking the locations of acoustic recordings of 14 identified species and 3 more unidentified species
Acoustic Detections and their Locations. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries Map Tour
top down view of a cardboard box containing glass vials separated by cardboard dividers. most of the bottles are capped; the top row contains uncapped empty extras. the capped vials are grouped with lines of labeled colored masking tape, reading "Tow 6," "Tow 8," "Tow 31," etc. Two larger vials are stored among the small ones; the cardboard divider had to be opened to make them fit.
The plankton team completed 39 tows in leg 2! Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Gail Tang

It was an incredible experience to witness science in action. I often referred to my time at sea as “Science Camp!” Cruise leader-in-training, Yvonne Barkley (featured in this previous blog post), briefly interviewed me for the HICEAS 2023 Map Tour. Aside from the science, she asked me what I’ll bring back home with me from this experience. I had to incubate on this question and after some reflection, realized that what I’ve gained are all the connections I made with my ship mates.

Gigantic mahalo to Fionna Matheson (Commanding Officer). We had many conversations during the Conductivity Temperature Depth operations and over meals. We bonded over being women in leadership positions, as well as sharing family stories. Thank you for a smooth cruise!

Gail and Fionna pose for a photo together seated in the galley
Gail Tang (Teacher at Sea) and Fionna Matheson (Commanding Officer) sharing a meal in the mess. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Suzanne Yin

Personal Log

My true purpose on the ship was to create crossword addicts. I love collaborating on crosswords, so I brought a book of Monday-Friday New York Times (NYT) crosswords on the ship. The book mostly stayed up on the flying bridge where someone “off effort” (someone not currently observing) would read clues for the marine mammal observers on effort. In many of our jobs, listening to music, audiobooks, podcasts, etc, help us focus on the work at hand; similarly, pondering crossword clues helped the MMOs concentrate on searching for mammals. By the end of the leg, Andrea Bendlin (MMO) printed out a clipboard full of more NYT crosswords, and both Suzanne Yin and Paul Nagelkirk (MMOs) made their own crosswords that incorporated both the science and the science team members. I’d say I left my legacy!

Marie sits in a swivel chair on the flying bridge holding a spiral bound book of crossword puzzles. at her left, Alexa kneels or crouches as she looks on get a closer view at the puzzle. Gail stands off to Marie's right, hands gripping the canvas shade covering above their heads, looking on as well. Gail has a radio hooked on her shorts.
Gail Tang (Teacher at Sea), Marie Hill (Cruise Leader) and Alexa Gonzalez (Acoustician) crosswording on the Flying Bridge. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Andrea Bendlin

Alexa Gonzalez (Acoustician) was one of my roommates! A Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology at University of Hawaii, Manoa initially brought Alexa from sunny California (Santa Clarita! We’re practically neighbors.) to sunny Hawaii. During her time at school, she volunteered for the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) doing data entry and some monk seal responses for the Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program. She also participated in outreach and marine mammal response for the Protected Resources Division of NOAA Fisheries Pacific Islands Regional Office. After graduation in 2018, Alexa had a fun job working on a tour boat wearing many hats as a deckhand, snorkel guide, and bartender. In 2019, she worked on monk seal population assessment efforts at the Hawaiian monk seal field camp at Holoikauaua/Manawai (Pearl and Hermes Atoll). Right after, she was recruited by the Science Operations Division to fill the role she’s in now, Biological Science Technician. She participates on different research projects at PIFSC as a diver, small boat operator, acoustician and lab tech. Below, you can see a photo of Alexa as a small boat operator on Malia.

Gail takes a selfie with Erik and Alexa visible over her left and right shoulders. Alexa stands at the helm of the fast rescue boat. The water churns with the boat's wake, and the sky is blue with only a few clouds low on the horizon. Gail, Alexa, and Erik wear hard hats and life vests.
Alexa Gonzalez (Acoustician) driving fast-boat, Malia, with Erik Norris (Acoustician), and Gail Tang (Teacher at Sea). Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Gail Tang

Pizza and Mexican food top Alexa’s favorite food list, so what’s better than the fusion of the two at one of her favorite restaurants Asada Pizza in Sylmar, California. She loves to get the nopales pizza, topped with jalapeños and cilantro. Yum!! In my time with Alexa, I’ve come to learn the meaning of a quiet sort of connection. We didn’t have to converse much to enjoy each other’s company whether we were decorating Styrofoam cups to crush, playing guessing games in the acoustics lab, or doing crosswords! The lengthy down times made me very thankful for Andrea’s nail polish. Alexa and I had a spa night in the forward mess with Jason Dlugos (3rd Assistant Engineer) and Paul Nagelkirk (MMO).

View over the bakck of a sofa wear Paul sits with his left hand extended so that Gail, still wearing a hard hat, can paint his nails.
Teacher at Sea, Gail Tang, takes a break during the plankton net tow to do MMO Paul Nagelkirk’s nails.
angled view of Alexa and Jason at a wood table. There's a comic-like illustration of NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette framed on the wall behind them, titled "Pride of the Pacific Island Fleet." Jason, suppressing a laugh, holds out his right hand so that Alexa can paint his nails.
Alexa Gonzalez (Acoustician) gives Jason Dlugos (3rd Assistant Engineer) a manicure.
close-up of Jason looking toward the ceiling as he holds up his hands to show off sparkly blue nails (on his right) and sparkly purple nails (left). He is wearing a brightly colored Hawaiian shirt.
3rd Assistant Engineer Jason Dlugos shows off the sparkles in his eyes and nails. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Yvonne Barkley

While most of us keep aurally busy while we work with our hands, the acousticians keep their hands busy while listening for cetaceans! Jennifer McCullough (Lead Acoustician) brought a never-ending supply of pipe cleaners to build objects. See some of the creations below!

3-D shapes made from pipe cleaners: cube, pyramid, others
Platonic Solids are now aboard the Sette!
Cookie Monster sculpted from pipe cleaners
Acousticians Erik Norris and Jennifer McCullough collaborate on Cookie Monster.
food-themed pipe cleaner creations
Cast iron fried egg, butter and toast, spaghetti and meatball (Gail Tang, Fionna Matheson, Alexa Gonzalez)

Food and Career Blog

I will really miss the meals aboard the Sette as well as all the conversations shared. Mahalo to all the stewards and friends who made sure I was fed, especially during teaching hours!

plated meal
Potato pancakes topped with red cabbage and pork belly
taco components in a divided plastic container
Taco Tuesday
plated meal of fried chicken, gnocchi, mashed potatoes, squash?
My Last Supper

As mentioned before, I tried to do one small thing that I did not do the day before to break up the routine. This week’s major routine-break involved Hawaiian shave ice, put on by Verne Murakami (1st Assistant Engineer)!! Though I recognize that sweets can taste good, I generally prefer savory, sour, or spicy foods. Regardless, I had a blast making shave ice for others. In particular, Zack High (General Vessel Assistant–GVA) and Paul Nagelkirk (MMO) allowed me to make their shave ices. First, a scoop of ice cream, then some ube. Shaved ice fills the cup, coming to a mound above the lip. Flavored syrups like mango or blueberry color the ice. Finally, a sprinkle of ling hing mui accents.

Gail smiles at the camera as she pours blue flavored syrup onto a cup of shave ice. In front her we see open containers of vanilla ice cream, bottles of other flavored syrups.
Gail Tang (Teacher at Sea) prepares shave ice for friends. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Suzanne Yin

Zack went to maritime school at Mid-Atlantic School in Norfolk, Virginia. Afterwards, he completed an internship on a vessel with the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command. He learned basic CPR, safety and training, completed his Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping. One of his professors sent his resume to NOAA and a year later, Zack started working in Nov 2021 on the Sette! Though he started in the deck department under Chris Kaanaana (Chief Boatswain/Bosun), two months later, he transferred to the engineering department for a different career opportunity. As part of his role as a GVA, he goes on watch, does rounds, goes down to the main control room to take readings, goes up to the main deck to record temperatures of freezers, look for leaks or other signs of disrepair.  He hopes to become a licensed engineer with aspirations to go into private industry or another federal branch. Zack is a big fan of weight lifting and loves fishing with Verne, catching big tuna and mahi mahi. He calls himself a gearhead because he likes working on cars and going to car shows. He also enjoys going to see live music; his last show was an underground punk concert in Seattle. He would like to start hiking. Zack likes boxing and he even gave me a little lesson on the ship!

Zack, wearing engineering overalls, is seated at a desk with computer monitors mounted on the wall in the background. He flashes a smile for the camera and holds up his cup of shave ice
Zack High (GVA Engineering) satisfied with his shave ice!
Zack, wearing boxing gloves, punches a punching bag mounted on the deck of the ship.
Zach High (GVA Engineering) shows Gail Tang (Teacher at Sea) how to box.

Paul went to Michigan State University and majored in environmental biology and zoology. He became a fisheries observer in the Bering Sea and then later worked in oil and gas mitigation in the Gulf of Mexico to reduce environmental impacts due to noise pollution. In 2013, he started both ship and aerial surveys with NOAA. In the aerial surveys, the plane follows transect lines 600ft over the water.

Paul has also conducted aerial surveys of the North Atlantic Right Whale through the New England Aquarium. The New England Aquarium is the pioneer and premier research institution for the Right Whale. They run the individual ID catalog for the North Atlantic Right Whales (see https://rwcatalog.neaq.org/#/). They know the whales’ relationships to each other since they perform year to year tracking for conservation efforts. Climate change alters the whales’ prey locations, causing them to move farther north towards Canada. Further, they are susceptible to entanglements from the lobster and crab industry as well as collisions from ship traffic because they tend towards the coast. The number of North Atlantic Right Whales left is disturbingly low, about 350, landing them on the endangered species list.

Paul and I became fast friends. I affectionately call him my “worstie”, but he really is a “bestie”. We shared his favorite food (Detroit-style pizza) at Pizza Mamo in Honolulu–I highly recommend! His other hobbies (some of which we share) include Wordle, biking, hiking, and disc golf.

Paul smiles for the camera and holds up his cup of shave ice in his upturned palm. We can see his sparkly blue nail polish.
Paul Nagelkirk (MMO) is pleased with his shave ice.

Many Mahalos

A very special mahalo to Cruise Leader 💞Marie Hill💞. Marie’s charm brought much energy to the science team. Her vibrant character will be missed!

Gail, Marie, Suzanne, wearing hard hats and life vests, post for a close-up photo.
Gail Tang (Teacher at Sea), Marie Hill (Cruise Leader), and Suzanne Yin (MMO) during HARP retrieval. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Suzanne Yin

Regrettably, my career highlights lack comprehensiveness. Give me another month, Teacher at Sea Program 😉, and I could feature everyone. I include some visual shout-outs in the images below!

Darryl smiles for the camera, cocking his head to the side so that we can see the pipe cleaners in his hair
Darryl Henderson II (GVA-Deck) relents to the pressures of Gail Tang (Teacher at Sea) to decorate for the international date line crossing.
view of the back of Darryl's head, showing off the pink, yellow, and blue pipe cleaners tied into his dreads
Darryl Henderson II (GVA-Deck) shows off his new domain of the golden dragon ‘do. Mahalo for the good times!
Logan, wearing a hard hat and life vest, stands at the control panel (facing away from the camera) near the rail at sunset. Left hand on the panel, he leans his right arm over the railing, and looks over his right shoulder, gazing intently over the water.
Logan Gary (Able-bodied Seaman) deploying the CTD during sunset. Mahalo for all the fun, especially singing Part of Your World on the boat deck! Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Gail Tang
Chris stands under a davit on the ship's deck. The ship appears to be docked, as we can see land in the background.
Mahalo, Chris Kaanaana (Chief Boatswain/Bosun), for all your years of service aboard the Sette!
Kym and Gail, arms around each other, pose for a photo in front of NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette in port.
A myriad of mahalos to Kym Yano (Cruise Leader-in-Training) for answering my many questions before going underway and welcoming me ashore with an Ilima and Tuberose lei. I’ll miss you!
16 people pose for a photo on the deck of NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette with a whiteboard sign reading "HICEAS 2023 Leg 2!" In the background, we see the water of the harbor and mountains beyond. Everyone in the photo is arranged according to the color of their shirt in rainbow order.
Mahalo to all the scientists that cared for me, showed me the ropes, and involved me in all aspects of the science. Every rainbow I see will forever be a reminder of you. Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Nich Sucher

Did you know?

You may be familiar with the duality of the word “aloha”, embodying both a greeting and a farewell. My exposure to new meanings of “aloha” through Chef Chris’s Aloha Kitchen: Recipes from Hawai’i cookbook by Alana Kysar inspired me to learn more. According to the Hawai’i Law of the Aloha Spirit,

“‘Aloha’ is the essence of relationships in which each person is important to every other person for collective existence. ‘Aloha’ means to hear what is not said, to see what cannot be seen and to know the unknowable.” 

To all my community aboard the Sette, aloha.

view of a pen-and-ink drawing of NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette across the spread of a moleskin notebook, placed on a desk, surrounded by pens and other little desk objects
NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette through the eyes of Gail Tang (Teacher at Sea). Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries/Gail Tang
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Gail Tang: Contemplating the Enormity of the Minuscule, August 14, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Gail Tang

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette

August 4, 2023 – September 1, 2023

Mission: Hawaiian Islands Cetacean and Ecosystem Assessment Survey (HICEAS)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Hawaiian archipelago

Date: Tuesday August 8, 2023 

Weather Data from the Bridge

Temperature: 27.06° C

Latitude: 29°53’0” N 

Longitude; 174°24’0”W

Science and Technology Log with Career Highlights

Previously, I wrote about the day-time operations focused on surveying whales, dolphins, and birds. Through the 25-powered binoculars (big eyes), the large mammals in the distance look microscopic. Now, the sun has set and I take us underwater to learn about the tiny world of ichthyoplankton, magnified to reveal intricate details of their exquisite structures.   

Weather permitting, Nich Sucher (Survey Technician) works with the deck crew to deploy the CTD, which measures conductivity, temperature, and depth. This information is used to help scientists understand the physical, chemical, and biological changes of the ocean to help inform them of environmental changes. For example, Nich explained that data from CTDs are used to better understand why tuna were migrating away from Hawaii and towards California. The data can help answer whether the tuna are moving north for access to more oxygen in the water or for cooler temperatures. On our project, we deploy the CTD down to 1000m because that is where some of our deep diving cetacean species feed. Also, the temperature & pressure affects how sound travels through the water. This information can be used to calculate the speed of sound at different depths.

a view down the starboard rail of NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette. We see Logan, wearing a hard hat and life vest and facing away from us, lean his right arm over the rail. He looks down at the water as the CTD apparatus descends below the purple-blue surface of the water. In the distance, the sun has just set over the horizon, leaving orange, yellow, pink, purple skies dotted with a few scattered clouds.
Logan Gary (Able-bodied Seaman) deploys the CTD at sunset. Photo Credit: Gail Tang

Nich wanted to work for NOAA since he was in middle school! In high school he fell in love with fish. Initially he went to college in Iowa for soccer and then transferred to Carthage College, in Kenosha, Wisconsin to study environmental science, conservation and ecology. Nich did an independent study with his aquatic ecology professor on a coral reef project in Roatan, Hondurus. His senior thesis investigated the feasibility of releasing captive-bred axolotl (an adorable salamander that’s critically endangered and possibly extinct in nature) into the wild. After college, he had a job at an aquarium, and while he temped at US Fish and Wildlife studying chub and salmon, NOAA reached out about his job application. He started in January 2022 on the NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette!

Nich, wearing a hard hat, life vest, and an illuminated flashlight attached to his vest, looks straight at the camera as he holds up with both hands a styrofoam head decorated with marker designs and compressed (by water pressure) from its original size.
Nich Sucher (Survey Technician) with recently pressure-shrunken styrofoam head. Photo Credit: Fionna Matheson (Commanding Officer)

Since the CTD is deployed to 1000m, a common extracurricular activity is to attach styrofoam objects to the instrument because they shrink as a result of the pressure! On a previous leg, Commanding Officer Fionna Matheson shrunk a styrofoam head, which can be seen in the picture of Nich above. A few of us shrunk decorated styrofoam cups.

photo of a hand holding up a full-size styrofoam cup, upside down. it's decorated with many triangles drawn in black marker. the rim of the cup reads HICEAS 2023. we can see a view of a deck beyond.
Regular-sized styrofoam cup with Sierpiński’s Triangle Design
photo of a hand holding up a compressed styrofoam cup, upside down. it's decorated with many triangles drawn in black marker. the rim of the cup reads HICEAS 2023. we can see a view of a lab beyond.
Pressure-shrunk styrofoam cup
photo of a hand holding up a compressed styrofoam cup, upside down, above a regular white styrofoam cup, upside down. the top cup is decorated with many triangles drawn in black marker. the rim of the cup reads HICEAS 2023. we can see a view of the ocean beyond.
Regular and shrunk styrofoam cups for size comparison
a hand holds up a stack of four upside-down compressed styrofoam cups, decorated, top to bottom, as purple design, smiley face, triangles, orca with hearts.
Artist of the cup from top to bottom: Jennifer McCullough (Lead Acoustician), Erik Norris (Acoustician), Gail Tang (Teacher at Sea), Alexa Gonzalez (Acoustician). Photo Credit: Gail Tang

The whole process of the CTD deployment and retrieval takes about an hour to an hour and a half. The Isaacs-Kidd Midwater Trawl (IKMT) net tow usually follows. Jessie Perelman and Dre Schmidt are the plankton researchers on board this leg of HICEAS. Most nights, we do 2-3 tows of the net. (They are affectionately called a “tow-yo” because the net gets towed in and out several times.) They use an inclinometer, a.k.a. angled angle, to measure the angle of the line (see picture below) and then confer with a chart to determine the length of the line needed to reach the desired depth. The chart is a good way to avoid on-the-spot trigonometric calculations. But it’s a good exercise to ask yourself anyway: if you know the desired depth and the angle, how would you calculate the length of the line needed?

Dre stands on deck at night, facing away from the camera, over the rail. She wears a jacket, a life vest, and a hard hat. Beyond her, we see a davit arm leaning over the water and a cable (attached to the net) extending at an angle off to the right. With her right arm, Dre holds out an angled angle - it's a metal semicircle, like a protractor, with a swinging arm attached at the center point of the straight edge. Dre holds it by a handle, lining the straight edge parallel to the extended cable. The swinging arm hangs straight down to the ship. Dre can read the resulting angle in the markings on the semicircle.
Dre Schmidt measuring with the angled angle. Photo Credit: Gail Tang

After the tows, we bring the larvae into the wet lab and the fun begins. The goal is to sort out the fish larvae from the other larvae. Truthfully, I am not very good at sorting the fish and I just like to look at the organisms under the microscope. The most awe-inspiring creatures I saw under the scope were the shelled pteropods (sea butterflies) and a juvenile sea star that, according to Dre, may have recently morphed from the larval stage. With the naked eye, they look like marks made with a sharp pencil, but under the scope, the enormity of their existence is profoundly moving. While I could not capture these beauties in a photograph, I was able to capture other creatures.

view through a microscope of a phronima animal living inside a (clear, jelly-like) salp.
Phromina living inside a salp. Photo Credit: Gail Tang
view through a microscope of a tiny squid and a polycheate worm.
Polychaete and squid. Photo Credit: Gail Tang
view through a microscope of a tiny squid surrounded by other, unidentified organisms. the squid's large purple eyes stand out.
Squid

Personal/Food Log with Career Highlights

As I fall into a daily routine, I periodically need small bits of irregularity for stimulation. This week, I was privileged enough to work with Chef Chris. Chef Chris is originally from north Philadelphia. In the absence of cable during childhood, he watched cooking shows like Yan Can Cook, Frugal Gourmet, and Julia Child on PBS. He started off cooking on NOAA Ship Rainier and now is the Chief Steward on NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette. We collaborated to make some pork dumplings and vegetable spring rolls for everyone. I cook at home often, but not for so many people, so Chris was essential in helping me scale up the dishes. We bonded over not measuring out ingredients so here is approximately the two recipes we used.

Chris, wearing a black chef's cap, stands at a large fryer in the galley. he's cooking three foods - eggs, pork, onions in large piles - and he reaches toward them with a spatula or perhaps a large knife.
Chief Steward Christopher Williams cooking the eggroll fillings. Photo Credit: Gail Tang

Pork Dumpling Filling

  • 5 lbs of ground pork (when my mom makes these, we use a mix of lean ground pork and fatty ground pork)
  • Mirin (I use Shaioxing wine, but mirin is a good substitute!)
  • Soy sauce (we used Kikkoman; I like to use Pearl River Bridge Light Soy)
  • Green onions
  • Sugar
a plateful of prepared (but not yet friend) pork dumplings
The most gorgeous dumplings
a cafeteria-style pan of perfectly fried pork dumplings
The most satisfying dumplings

Egg Roll Filling

  • Green cabbage
  • Red Cabbage
  • Carrots
  • Mushrooms
  • Soy sauce
  • Hoisin
a sheet pan of about 30 wrapped but uncooked egg rolls
Freshly wrapped vegetarian egg rolls
a cafeteria style pan of fried egg rolls
Freshly fried vegetarian egg rolls

Several of us worked together to help fold the dumplings and egg rolls. I delighted in the number of different hands that contributed to feeding our community. Chef Chris expertly cooked everything and it was all gobbled up!

Chris and Gail, sitting across from one another at a table, each hold up a freshly-rolled dumping to show off. we can see a large metal bowl of pork filling on the table between them.
Chef Chris Williams and Gail Tang
Four people around a table in the mess with a plate full of wrapped dumplings and dough circles and a bowl of pork filling.
Jessie Perelman, Matt Benes, Gail Tang, Dre Schmidt wrapping dumplings
four people around a table wrapping egg rolls; there's a large bowl of filling, a tray of completed rolls, and two rolls in progress.
Gail Tang, Octavio De Mena, Jamie Delgado, Jessie Perelman rolling eggrolls

At night, I assist Jessie Perelman and Dre Schimdt with their plankton research. They were the first to come by to help fold dumplings. Jessie did her undergraduate work in biological science at University of Southern California (USC) with a plan to go to veterinary school. She worked in a marine science lab at USC, and then studied abroad in Australia to take more marine biology classes not available at USC. After she graduated, she got a job as research assistant at Wood’s Hole Oceanographic Institution, where she solidified her passion for research. She applied for graduate school and ended up at the University of Hawaii studying biological oceanography. Her dissertation focused on oceanographic influences on mesopelagic communities across eastern Pacific Ocean using insights from active acoustics, nets, and other sampling techniques. An interesting interdisciplinary part of her background includes learning about international policy on issues like deep sea mining. The international meetings with delegates were very informative for her. She’s also worked on science communication writing, such as science blogging. In Fall 2022, Jessie started as a Marine Ecosystem Research Analyst at NOAA!

Dre Schmidt received her bachelors in biology at Florida State University. She took Calculus, Mathematical Modeling for Biology, Analysis and Statistical Design, and Physics to supplement her biology degree. She volunteered at a research lab on campus and after college, took a couple of years off to work in marine science education for 5th grade to college level students. She went for her master’s degree in Kiel, Germany to study physiological effects of low-level warming on coral and their larvae. She has been at NOAA for 2 years, first as a research associate and now as an essential fish habitat coordinator. What she loves about her job is the variety of responsibilities. She keeps busy by sorting plankton, doing genetics lab work, analyzing data in R, writing up results, and going to sea! Engaging in these different tasks help to activate different parts of the brain, which I can totally relate to! Her advice to students is to know your worth and ask for what you deserve. Her favorite fish larva is the very ugly Centrobranchus andreae simply because her name is found within the name of the organism. I can’t blame her because my favorite flower is the Gaillardia for the same reason.

Andrea, wearing a mask, stands for a photo in front of a screen displaying a larval fish
Andrea with Andrea

Matt Benes (Able-bodied Seaman and Deck Boss) took a break in his duties to fold some dumplings with us. Though Matt declined to be interviewed, I can tell you we share a deep appreciation for food as a mechanism for cultural, historical, and political understanding.

Jamie Delgado (Medical Officer) joined in on the egg roll wrapping. Jamie received her bachelor’s in science and nursing at Rutgers University. She joined the Public Health Service (PHS), and worked at the Indian Health Service (IHS) in northern Arizona. Later, she worked at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a research nurse specialist.  Jamie earned her Doctor of Nursing at University of Maryland before coming to NOAA as ship medical officer. Jamie has so much good financial advice about scholarships and loan repayments programs. Check out these links to learn more:

She also shared that you can retire in a total of 20 years with uniformed services, you get a pension, healthcare benefits, a housing allowance, a food allowance, 30 days paid leave, and unlimited sick leave. Jamie has been in service for 10 years, and with NOAA for 1 year and 5 months.

Jamie also helped me out during our in-port during Leg 1. Snorkeling had dislodged some ear wax and clogged my ear for a couple of days making daily life really uncomfortable. Jason Dlugos’s (3rd Assistant Engineer) “ear beer” helped, but I was still off balance. Jamie had to endure the task of flushing my ear out over the course of two days. Eventually, I did have to go to urgent care to get the rest out. Now I’m 100%!

Last but never least, Octavio De Mena, a.k.a OC, (General Vessel Assistant in the Deck Department) came by to roll some egg rolls. He is originally from the Republic of Panama and loves classic rock music. While we have no intersection in our movie tastes, we share some similarities in the food we ate growing up due to the large Chinese population in Panama. According to the Harvard Review of Latin America, the first Chinese immigrants arrived in Panama in 1854 to build the Trans-Isthmian Railroad. The inhumane treatment and disregard for the workers’ welfare is reminiscent of the situation a decade later with the Transcontinental Railway in the United States. This convergence of cultures led to haw flakes and dried plums in both our childhoods!

OC was an aircraft mechanic in the military reserves, and a security contractor in Latin America. He decided to come back to the U.S. to fulfill his dream job as a professional mariner. On his journey in pursuing his dream, he volunteered for the civil air patrol, and served as an auxiliary for search and rescue flying small Cessnas. He saw a NOAA ship at this job which prompted a search for a position within NOAA. He has been on the NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette since February 2023. On the ship, OC and I are regulars in the forward mess. Sometimes having opposite tastes works out in your f(l)avor, as I get to eat OC’s tomatoes and watermelon jolly ranchers.

Did you know?

You can track us! Visit this site to see where we currently are: https://www.windy.com/station/ship-wtee?26.549,-172.551,5

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Gail Tang: And We’re Off! Aug 8, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Gail Tang

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette

August 4, 2023 – September 1, 2023

Mission: Hawaiian Islands Cetacean and Ecosystem Assessment Survey (HICEAS)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Hawaiian archipelago

Date: Tuesday August 8, 2023 

Weather Data from the Bridge

Temperature: 26.97°C

Latitude: 27.428517 N

Longitude: -167.325400 W

Science and Technology Log

Scientific results reach the general public as a nice package of carefully curated nuggets designed to attract the average reader. It’s not unlike watching a production (movie, play, etc) in its final form. The audience is glamoured by the show or results; we aren’t usually privy to the behind-the-scenes efforts in putting together these massive operations. With this view, there is an illusion of perfection that can hide the true nature of knowledge production. This is often the case in a traditional mathematics classroom that utilizes lecture-based teaching; the instructor works out a problem beforehand and presents the solution to the students. The students do not witness the creative process of trial and error, idea generation, incubation, evaluation of each step, decision-making, or any possible collaboration involved. In brief, the beauty of doing science or math is largely hidden for the general public. I believe that the opportunity for growth lies in the process of discovery just as much as the discovery itself. My access to the data collection process of this project is one of the main reasons I am so thoroughly enjoying myself on this HICEAS (Hawaiian Islands Cetacean Ecosystem Assessment Survey) mission. 

Today is our fifth day at sea. Every moment is invigorating. During our first two days underway, we searched for the elusive Cross Seamount beaked whales (BWC). These whales have been identified acoustically, but not visually or genetically. The acoustics team heard them throughout the night on our first night, and the visual team had a sighting of a suspicious unidentified beaked whale during the third day but we didn’t get close enough for any species or individual identification. There was a lot of excitement on the ship. To learn more about beaked whales check out my roommate and lead acoustician, Jennifer McCullough’s, newest paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mms.13061 

Though I missed it, there was an important bird sighting of the Hawaiian bird, the nēnē. This is a notable sighting because it was formerly endangered (now listed as threatened). After conservation efforts, the population increased from 30 in 1950 to 3,862 in 2022. To read more about the nēnē, visit: https://www.fws.gov/story/2022-12/plight-nene 

The most exciting sightings for me were the rough-toothed dolphins and the bottlenose dolphins. They came by to ride the ship’s bow waves. It was utterly magical. In a conversation with Marine Mammal Observers Andrea Bendlin and Suzanne Yin, I learned a little bit about these two species that I’ll share here.

You might recognize the bottlenose dolphin from Flipper, a popular TV show from the 60s or the movie version in the 90s. You may have also seen these dolphins at the aquarium as they can survive in captivity better than other dolphin species. They are described as the golden retrievers of the ocean. In the wild, they are regularly observed hanging out with other species.

An interesting observation of an interaction between a mother humpback whale and a bottlenose dolphin was captured by scientists and written up in a paper. They hypothesize three reasons for this interaction 1) aggressive whale response towards the dolphin 2) epimeletic (altruistic behavior towards a sick or injured individual) whale response towards the dolphin 3) they were playing!

To read the paper check out: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228684912_Two_Unusual_Interactions_Between_a_Bottlenose_Dolphin_Tursiops_truncatus_and_a_Humpback_Whale_Megaptera_novaeangliae_in_Hawaiian_Waters

Three bottlenose dolphins swim through bright blue water. Two have breached the water's surface, giving us a clear view of their dorsal sides. A third is visible swimming underwater, underneath the two breaching.
Bottlenose dolphins came to say hi! (Permit #25754) Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries Gail Tang

Rough-toothed dolphins are named for their rough teeth. They have a more reptilian sloped head. These animals communicate via whistles and clicks. Echolocation clicks are primarily used for sensing surroundings and searching for prey vs. communication. According to roomie and Lead Acoustician Jennifer McCullough, usually whistles look like a smooth increasing and then decreasing function, however, their whistles look like “steps” and are named stair step whistles (see the pictures below).

A graph of frequencies (measured in kilohertz) over time (measured in seconds). It is titled: Figure 1. Spectrogram of whistles produced by Steno bredanensis (44.1 kHz sample rate, 1,024 FFT, Hann window.) The background of the graph is gray with white speckles - looks like 'fuzz' - but distinct black lines trace the stair-shaped patterns of rough toothed dolphins' whistle frequencies.
Figure from Rankin et al. (2015, p.5)

Rough-toothed dolphins can take a while to identify because their echolocation signals (clicks) are outside the general frequencies for dolphins (e.g. bottlenose, striped, spinner, spotted) and “blackfish” (e.g. killer whale, false killer whales, pygmy whales, melon-headed whales). Blackfish signals go from 15-25kHz, dolphins go from 30-50kHz, while rough-toothed dolphins bridge these two ranges at 20-35kHz. For reference, the frequency range of adult humans is 0.500 kHz and 2 kHz.

Rough-toothed dolphins playfully riding the ship’s bow waves. Permit #25754.

Reference:

Rankin, S., Oswald, J., Simonis, A., & Barlow, J. (2015) Vocalizations of the rough-toothed dolphin, Steno bredanensis, in the Pacific Ocean. Marine Mammal Science. 31 (4), p. 1538-1648. https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12226

Career Highlights

As I mentioned earlier, the information I’m receiving about the animals are from the scientists on board. In this particular post, Marine Mammal Observers Andrea Bendlin and Suzanne Yin (who goes by Yin), and Lead Acoustician Jennifer McCullough gave me insight to the dolphins. I’d like to share some of their background to give students an idea of their career trajectories. 

Andrea Bendlin double majored in zoology and psychology at University of Wisconsin, Madison, with a focus on animal behavior. For the first 4 years after college, she worked on several different field projects including, 4 winters of humpback whale research, one summer study on bottlenose dolphins, and several summers in Quebec studying large whales. Then she started working on boats doing snorkel trips and whale watches. I can attest to Andrea’s snorkeling expertise as I had my favorite snorkeling experience in Hawaii when I was following her around. She pointed out my favorite snorkeling sighting which was an egg sack of a Spanish dancer nudibranch! As you can see in the picture below, it looks like a ribbon wound around itself. For math folks, it is a hyperbolic surface! Since then, Andrea has collected data for many cruises with cetacean research programs.

this egg sack, perched on a rock underwater, consists of elegant reddish-pink folds - from a distance it looks like a flower, like a carnation
Spanish Dancer Egg Sack. Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo

Yin studied biology at Brown University. After school, she worked at Earth Watch, and also did field work on humpback whales, spinner dolphins, and bowhead whales. These projects were conducted on what they call “small boats” (less than 50 ft long) as opposed to a ship like the one we’re currently on, which is is 224 ft long. On these small boats, Yin drove, took photos for species and individual identification, collected acoustic data, and used theodolites to measure angles.  Later, she attended graduate school at Texas A & M University for her Masters degree. She studied wildlife and fisheries science with a focus on acoustics of dusky dolphins and tourist impact on them.  

Gail, in front, takes a selfie with Andrea (to her right) and Yin (to her left) inside a stateroom. We can see bunk beds, luggage, a fan, metal lockers.
Andrea Bendlin, Gail Tang, Suzanne Yin in my Leg 1 stateroom

Jennifer McCullough is the Lead Acoustician on HICEAS 2023. She first started at Hubbs Sea World Research on killer whales where she learned acoustics. She participated in a joint polar bear project with the San Diego Zoo. She then completed a Master’s thesis on the giant panda breeding vocalizations through the San Diego Zoo and China Wolong Panda Reserve. She spent 6 months over 2 years in the Sichuan region. We talked about the Sichuan peppercorn for a bit since I love them so much. She prefers them whole, while I prefer them ground up. After that she worked at Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California and later moved to the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center in Honolulu, Hawaii and was the Acoustics Lead during HICEAS 2017. With the exception of a HICEAS project year, she is at sea for 30-60 days a year and the rest of the time she is ashore analyzing data from previous missions and constructing equipment for future ones! She loves the balance between the equipment work (technical side), field work (data collection), and lab work (data analysis). As a side note: she makes amazing quilts!

Jennifer holds up a quilt with both hands to show off the design: an abstract, feathery shape made from a fabric of many blue shades, sown onto a white background.
Jennifer McCullough with the quilt she just finished!

Personal Log

Life at sea reminds me a bit of my college dorming-days; you’re sharing a room and you leave your door open to invite others in! I share my room with really great roommates. Dawn Breese is a seabird observer and creates a nice vibe in the room with flowers she picked ashore and some sweet feathers taped to the wall. Alexa Gonzalez is an acoustician with whom I do crosswords and play “road-trip”-type games. Jennifer McCullough, highlighted above, is going to teach me how to watercolor!

All in all, I am fairly comfortable on the ship. I spend time bouncing between the acoustics lab, the flying bridge (where the visual team observes), the local coffeeshop—The Forward Mess—(where I do most of my work), and the grated deck, stern, and wet lab (where the plankton team works). The acousticians and visual observers work from dawn to dusk, while the plankton team works from dusk until a few hours before dawn. This means I have very long days and have succumbed to the napping culture aboard the ship!

When not checking in on the scientists, I have been spending my free time getting know the people on board, learning knots, riding the stationary bike on the boat deck, and attempting pull ups. It’s a wonderful life!

Oh and please enjoy this photo of me in my “gumby” suit (a protective suit in case of abandon ship).

Gail in a red survival suit, thumbs up. She's in an interior room of the ship.
Gail Tang in gumby suit. Photo Credit: Suzanne Yin.

Food Log

plated meal of eggs, hash borwns, sausage, fruit. Teacher at Sea Alumni Association mug visible, with tea bag.
Breakfast
plated meal of fried something (chicken?), salad, something else.
Lunch
plated meal of udon
Dinner

To be honest, due to limited physical activity on board, I stopped eating breakfast or even going down to the mess at that time because I have no self-control when it comes to food! The oxtail udon is the highlight so far. It was incredible! Third assistant engineer, Jason Dlugos, requested it and even brought his own rice cooker with his own rice down to dinner.

Jamie and Jason sit at a table. Jamie rests her chin on crossed arms above empty plates. Jason sips from a travel cup in his left hand, and with his right, holds a spoon over his bowl of udon and rice. The rice cooker is on the table in front of him.
Jamie Delgado (Medical Officer), Jason Dlugos (3rd Assistant Engineer) and his personal rice cooker.

Catch of the Day!

Ichthyoplankton researchers Jessie Perelman and Andrea Schmidt caught two squaretail fish (Tetragonuridae), one live fish and one in its larval stage. Not much is known about this fish. One thing we do know is that these fish live inside (!) the body of an invertebrate called salp. Below is a picture of some fish living in a salp.

three small, likely juvenile, fish swim inside a gelatinous blog called a salp. the fish in front is rounder, while the two fish flanking it are narrower.
Fish inside salp. Photo credit: Rich Carey/Shutterstock.com

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Gail Tang: Where There’s a Whale, There’s a Way!, June 23, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Gail Tang (she/her)

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette

June 28, 2023 – July 27, 2023

Mission: Hawaiian Islands Cetacean and Ecosystem Assessment Survey (HICEAS)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Hawaiian archipelago

Date: June 23, 2023

Introduction and Background

Gail poses for a photo to show off her TAS logo gear. She's wearing a navy blue T-shirt that features the TAS Logo in the middle, a navy baseball cap, and a navy TAS beanie pulled down on top of the baseball cap that obscures the baseball cap's logo. Her right hand holds up a spill-proof coffee mug and her left grips a reusable snack pouch.
Gail Tang proudly showing off the NOAA SWAG

Hi Everyone! My name is Gail Tang and I am an Associate Professor of Mathematics at University of La Verne located in Southern California, about 35 miles east of East Los Angeles. I have been the Math program chair for 5 years. I teach mainly upper-level math classes for majors, but also really enjoy teaching the lower-level courses since it is in these classes where I can identify future math majors/minors. Shout out to those who added a math major/minor after one of these classes. You know who you are!

As I’ve been telling people about my summer plans, several questions have come up which I will answer below.

Where am I going?

In a few days, I am flying to Honolulu, Hawaii to start orientation for my Teacher at Sea (TAS) experience. TAS is a program of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for any educators at any level teaching any subject! This could be YOU! Check out more here: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/topic/teacher-at-sea-program

What are the goals of Teacher at Sea with NOAA?

The TAS program has two main goals (TAS Online Training Documents, 2023):

  • To increase environmental literacy, outreach, and educational initiatives
  • To recruit and retain a highly adaptable technically competent and diverse workforce

Thus, during my time out at sea, I will be learning about NOAA research as related to ocean literacy principles, as well as education and training paths for NOAA-related careers. When I return home, I will work to create some math lessons using research methods, data collection, and data analysis learned aboard the ship. I will also create a lesson to highlight NOAA-related careers. I’m particularly excited about passing on career information to my students!

What kind of research do TAS participate in?

There are three types of cruises that TAS can get placed onto (TAS Online Training Documents, 2023):

  • Fisheries – conduct biological surveys and physical science studies “to protect, restore and manage use of living marine, coastal, and ocean resources through ecosystem-based management.”
  • Oceanographic – to increase the understanding of the world’s oceans and climate by measuring “ocean currents, ocean temperatures, atmospheric variables, surface salinity, carbon dioxide content, and sea-level atmospheric conditions.”
  • Hydrographic – chart the ocean floor using “multibeam sonar to collect depth measurements of the seafloor.”

Which type of cruise will I be joining?

I will partake in a fisheries cruise aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette for a marine mammal survey near the Hawaiian Archipelago. The ship was originally built for the U.S. Navy and was formerly known as U.S. Naval Ship Adventurous. It is 224 ft, can go up to a speed of 10 knots, and has a range of 17487 nautical miles. Visit the ship’s website for more information: https://www.omao.noaa.gov/mo/ships/oscar-elton-sette

What type of research is involved in HICEAS?

HICEAS (pronounced High Seas) “will survey the Hawaiian archipelago with a focus on studying whales, dolphins, seabirds, and their ecosystem (i.e., oceanography sampling).” (Email correspondence with Emily Susko, March 1, 2023). The last time the survey was conducted was in 2017 and the 2023 survey will be the fourth HICEAS survey.

Through reading the blog posts about the 2017 survey, I learned that there are two teams: the visual team and the acoustic team. The visual team is trained to use 25-powered binoculars (nicknamed “big eyes”) to spot marine mammals. I am hoping I’ll learn to spot the difference between a white cap and a splash from a dolphin! The acoustic team will also keep track of the cetaceans (order of marine mammals, whale, dolphin, porpoise) under the surface using hydrophones and sonobouys.

Each surveyor privately records their estimates of the number of cetaceans they observed as not to influence others. Later all the estimates are calibrated. This reminds me of the mathematical concept called the “wisdom of crowds”. Basically, it says that a crowd’s prediction (or in this case estimate) is more accurate that the predictions (estimates) of any one individual’s. Truly an example of a group-worthy task, as we say in mathematics education!  Watch this ~4-minute video of Dr. Talithia Williams, Associate Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd, demonstrating the wisdom of crowds: https://ca.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/nvpn-sci-crowds/understanding-a-crowds-predictive-ability-prediction-by-the-numbers/

How did I find out about TAS?

Dr. Emily Cilli-Turner, Assistant Professor of Mathematics at University of San Diego, is a TAS alumna. In 2018, Dr. Cilli-Turner participated on a Pollock Acoustic-Trawl Survey aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson for three weeks off the coast of Alaska. She told me about her experience and helped me apply. I actually applied twice, having been rejected the first time. Moral of the story: be persistent and use your failures as learning opportunities! To read about Dr. Cilli-Turner’s time at sea, visit her blog: https://noaateacheratsea.blog/category/2018/emily-cilli-turner/

How long will I be on board NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette and what will it be like?

Each HICEAS survey has been about 180 days across two ships. The 2023 survey has 5 legs aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette (I am on the first leg for 4 weeks!) and 2 legs on NOAA Ship Reuben Lasker. TAS Staci DeSchryver joined the 2017 survey aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette and filled me in on some of the day-to-day life experiences. Staci shared some of the incredible learning experience and didn’t want to tell me everything in order to keep some things a surprise. Some interesting things I learned through Staci as well as the blogs/materials:

  • Unless we are going onto one of the Fast Rescue Boats aboard the ship, we do not disembark from the ship for the entire 4 weeks.
  • I will eat the best fish I’ve ever eaten.
  • Fresh fruit and veggies run out at about week 3.
  • There was one room on the ship that many of the staff would get seasick.
  • There’s a movie room and a gym. There have been stationary bikes on deck in the past.
  • I will be sharing a “stateroom” or “bunkroom” with others.
  • I will be among 14 scientists (Marine Mammal Observers, Birders, Acousticians, Oceanographers) and about 22 crewmembers.

Personal Log

I first applied to the TAS in 2018 and then applied again in 2019. I was accepted as a TAS for the 2020 field season and was anticipating sailing Summer 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the sail to 2021, and then to 2022. Now in 2023 (about 4.5 years later!), I am scheduled for the HICEAS survey. To say I’m excited is an understatement. However, there are a number of reasons a cruise does not set sail so I am holding onto the excitement until I am on the ship! One characteristic the program really stresses is flexibility because there are so many factors that impact these research expeditions.

I am most looking forward to the learning opportunities aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette. Though scary, uncertainty is thrilling, especially when it’s paired with prospects to view the world from a new and unimaginable perspective. As Michelle Obama says in her audiobook The Light We Carry:

“Go forth with a spoonful of fear, and return with a wagonful of competence.” (2:16:59)

Did You Know?

False killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) are a priority of the HICEAS survey. Despite their name, they are actually a member of the dolphin family (the delphinids). Their name comes from the similarity of skull shape to the killer whale rather than visual appearance. This population has been on the endangered species list since 2012. Their biggest threat are interactions with fisheries; fishermen see them as competitors and the species are prone to net entanglement. (International Whaling Commission, Marine Mammal Commission)

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Catherine (Cat) Fuller: An Introduction, June 18, 2019

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Catherine Fuller

(Not Yet) Aboard R/V Sikuliaq

June 28 – July 18, 2019


Mission: Northern Gulf of Alaska Long-Term Ecological Research (NGA-LTER)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Northern Gulf of Alaska

Date: 18 June 2019

Weather Data

(From Honolulu, HI)

Latitude: 21.33 N

Longitude: 157.94 W

Wind Speed and Direction: NE 15 G 23

Wind Swell Height and Direction: NE 3-5 ft

Secondary Swell Height and Direction: SSW 2-4 ft

Humidity: 47%

Barometric Pressure: 1016.1 mb

Heat Index: 93 F (34 C)

Visibility: 10.00 nm

Weather: clear and sunny

(From Seward, AK)

Latitude: 60.12 N

Longitude: 149.45 W

Wind Speed and Direction: S 9

Swell Height: 2 ft

Humidity: 77%

Barometric Pressure: 1016.0 mb

Heat Index: 56 F (13 C)

Visibility: 10.00 nm

Weather: Overcast

Personal Log

Aloha kākou! Greetings everyone! In about a week, I will be exchanging currently very warm and sunny Honolulu for the vastly different climate and ecological zone in Seward and the Northern Gulf of Alaska.  I will be embarking on R/V Sikuliaq there to participate in one part of a long-term study of the variability and resiliency of species in the area, but I will get to that in a bit.

In August, I will begin my seventeenth year as a sixth grade social studies teacher at ‘Iolani School, an independent K-12 school that is academically competitive at a national level.  In sixth grade social studies, our students focus on the development of the modern world from ancient civilizations such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome.  I enjoy challenging my students to broaden their worldviews, especially about the impacts ancient civilizations have had on today’s world. We cover those for three quarters, and in the fourth quarter we examine the choices these civilizations have made and whether or not they contribute to a sustainable society.  I want my students to understand that sustainability is more than just picking up trash and conserving water, but it is also about choices in government, society, culture, behavior and environment. The content of our fourth quarter is predicated on the reality that we live in Hawai’i, an island group that is roughly 2000 miles from any other major point of land.

Living in Hawai’i can be just as idyllic as advertisements make it seem, with daily rainbows, colorful sunsets and blue ocean waves.  However, it also comes with challenges that we all have to face.  Our cost of living is among the highest in the nation, and we face constant struggles between maintaining culture and environment in a place with limited room for population growth.  We have a high homeless population, yet many of us joke that the (construction) crane is our state bird.  We are also braced to be at the forefront of climate change.  With a rise in sea level of 3 feet, most of Waikiki and much of downtown Honolulu is at risk of inundation.  In addition, changes in sea surface temperature affect our coral reefs and fish populations as well as minimizing or eliminating our trade winds through changes in weather patterns.  For these reasons, I hope to plant the awareness in my students that their generation is poised to make some major decisions about the state of the world.

My passion for sustainability and ocean health stems from the amount of time I spend in and on the water.  I have been a competitive outrigger canoe paddler for the last 30 or so years, and in the summers, I paddle five to six days a week.  I go to six-man team practices as well as taking my one-man canoe out with friends.  I also have coached high school paddling at ‘Iolani School for the last sixteen years. Being on the ocean so much makes me much more aware of the wildlife our waters shelter: monk seals, dolphins, sea turtles and humpback whales.  It also makes me aware of the trash, especially plastics that are more and more present in the ocean.  I’ve picked up slippers, coolers, bottles, bags and even pieces of cargo net out of the water on various excursions.  Being on the water so often also fuels my interest in meteorology; you need to know what weather and ocean conditions to expect when you go to sea.  One major impact that being on the water has is that it allows you to see your island from offshore and realize that it is an ISLAND, and not a very big one at that!

Cat on Canoe
Me on my one-man canoe off He’eia, O’ahu

Some of the biggest lessons about the ocean that I’ve learned have come from my experiences with the Polynesian Voyaging Society, a non-profit organization founded in 1973 to recreate the original settlement of Hawai’i by ocean voyaging canoes, as well as revive the ancient art of non-instrument navigation.  PVS is most well known for the voyaging canoe Hõkūlea, which sailed to Tahiti (and back again) in 1976 to prove the validity of these cultural arts.  I began working with the organization in 1994, helping to build a second voyaging canoe, Hawai’iloa, and have been there ever since.  As a part of this organization, I have sailed throughout the Pacific, to locations such as Tahiti, Tonga, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Mangareva, and the Marquesas.  With Te Mana O Te Moana, another voyaging canoe initiative, I sailed to the Cook Islands, Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. I’ve seen many faces of the Pacific Ocean on my travels and I look forward to seeing another. 

Between 2012 and 2017, PVS sent Hõkūle’a on a journey around the world.  The name of the voyage was Mālama Honua (To Protect the Earth) and the goal was to visit with indigenous communities to learn what challenges they face and how they work to preserve their lands and cultures.  One of the founding principles for this voyage is a Hawaiian saying, “he wa’a he moku, he moku he wa’a”, which means “the canoe is an island and the island is a canoe”.  The saying refers to the idea that the choices we make about positive behavior, bringing what we need as opposed to what we want, and what we do with our resources and trash while living in the limited space of a voyaging canoe are a reflection of the choices we need to make living on the islands of Hawai’i as well as living on island Earth.  I strive every day to make my students aware of the consequences of their choices.

voyaging canoe
Hõkūle’a en route to Aotearoa, 2014


Science and Technology Log

I’m pretty excited to go to Alaska, first of all, because I’ve never been there!  Secondly, we have species in Hawai’i (birds and whales) that migrate between our shores and Alaska on an annual basis.  Although the two locations are distant from each other, there are connections to be made, as Hawai’i and Alaska share the same ocean. 

The Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). R/V Sikuliaq is an NSF ship working with the University of Alaska in Fairbanks.  LTER encompasses 28 sites nationwide, of which the Northern Gulf of Alaska (NGA) is one.  In this area, three surveys a year are made to monitor the dynamics of the ecosystem and measure its resilience to environmental factors such as variability in light, temperature, freshwater, wind and nutrients.  The origins of the NGA portion of this project have been in place since 1970 and have grown to include the Seward Line system (s series of points running southeast from Seward).

On our trip, we will be looking at microzooplankton and mesozooplankton as well as phytoplankton, the size and concentration of particles in the water, and the availability of nutrients, among other things.  Information gathered from our study will be added to cumulative data sets that paint a picture of the variability and resiliency of the marine ecosystem. I will be a part of the Particle Flux team for this expedition.  I have a general idea of what that entails and the kind of data we’ll be gathering, but I certainly need to learn more!  If you’re curious, more detailed information about ongoing research can be found at https://nga.lternet.edu/about-us/.

I always ask my students, after they complete preliminary research on any project, what they want to learn.  I want to know more about particle flux (as previously mentioned).  I would like to learn more about seasonal weather patterns and how they influence the NGA ecosystem.  I would like to find out if/how this ecosystem connects to the Hawaiian ecosystem, and I REALLY want to see the kinds of life that inhabit the northern ocean! For my own personal information, I am really curious to see how stars move at 60 degrees north and whether or not they can still be used for navigation. 

Mahalo (Thank you)

I’m spending my last week sorting through my collection of fleece and sailing gear to prepare for three weeks of distinctly cooler temperatures.  I’m going to be doing a lot of layering for sure!  My two cats, Fiona and Pippin are beginning to suspect something, but for now are content to sniff through the growing pile on the couch. While packing, I’m keeping in mind that this is just another type of voyage and to pack only what I need, including chocolate.  As departure gets closer, I’d like to thank Russ Hopcroft, Seth Danielson, and Steffi O’Daly for their information and help in getting to and from Seward.  I’m looking forward to meeting you all soon and learning a lot from each of you!  Thanks also to Lisa Seff for her on board life hacks and detailed information…much appreciated!

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Heather O’Connell: Excited and Eager for Imminent Exploration, April 26, 2018

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Heather O’Connell

NOAA Ship Rainier

June 11 -22, 2018

Mission: Hydrographic Survey

Geographic Area of Cruise: North Coast of Kodiak Island, Alaska

Date: 04/26/18

Weather Data from the Bridge

Latitude 19.6400° N

Longitude 155.9969° W

The current weather in Kona, Hawaii on the Big Island is 86 degrees Fahrenheit with 59% humidity. Winds from the west are coming in at 6 miles per hour or 5.2 knots as we will say on the ship. It is mostly sunny with a 20 % chance of rain.

Personal Log and Introduction

My fascination with the intricacies of the human body led me to pursue biochemistry and earn a bachelor’s degree from Manhattan College in 2002. While I enjoyed analyzing pharmaceuticals for Pfizer and conducting sleep research with Weill Cornell Medical College, I missed the social aspects of a profession. This prompted me to pursue teaching and I received a Master’s Degree in Education from Pace University in 2007.

I began teaching at a small private school in Westchester County, New York, where I taught both middle school and high school science and founded a Habitat for Humanity club and traveled to Nicaragua with a group of students to build homes for the community.  My love of hands on tasks and community service made this an enriching endeavor.

Eight years ago, my adventurous spirit transported me from Long Island, NY to Maui, Hawaii, where I shared my enthusiasm for science with students while exploring the vast terrain, plant life and coral reefs. My next adventure brought me to Hilo on the Big Island where I was part of an enriching professional development program, Ku’Aina Pa, that taught about gardening and culture. Here is where I met my friend Ben who told me about West Hawaii Explorations Academy, W.H.E.A., an outdoor science project based school with a shark lagoon. I never knew charter schools like this existed!

I have been fortunate enough to be a part of the W.H.E.A. high school team for the past five years, where I advise science projects, teach Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus and an after school Chemistry class. I advise an Urchin Survey project where we monitor the population of urchins at a Marine Life Conservation District and I love providing the opportunity for students to collect real data.  We have access to deep ocean water which students have used for cold agriculture projects in the past and more recently to precipitate O.R.M. (orbitally realigned molecules) to use as a fertilizer. Some of my favorite parts about my job are learning alongside students, as I knew nothing about plumbing a marine tank before W.H.E.A., and working with such a great team! When I am teaching students how to be stewards of the land through the lens of science and math, I feel as if I am pursuing my passion in life and it fulfills me greatly.

WHEA Urchin Survey
Freshman conducting an urchin survey for their research paper.

I participated in the Ethnomathematics and STEM Institute last year, where I learned to teach math through a cultural lens with environmental service work. I was inspired by a group of amazing colleagues and met Christina who told me about the NOAA Teacher at Sea opportunity. Since I love experiential learning, I eagerly completed the application and am thrilled to be embarking on this amazing opportunity.

Hikianalia Sail Picture
Cohort 9 of Ethnomathematics and STEM Institute on Oahu

I am passionate about teaching and developing culturally relevant projects that instill a sense of wonder and I seek out soul nourishing experiences like Ku’Aina Pa and the Ethnomathematics and STEM Institute.  I am certain that the Teacher at Sea program will provide a profound, enriching experience that will allow me to develop meaningful curriculum to share with students and fellow educators, while allowing me to grow personally.

When I’m not utilizing my enthusiasm and creativity to instill students with curiosity and responsibility to make a more sustainable future, I enjoy exploring the beautiful Big Island by backpacking or hiking to some of its exotic locations. I also enjoy long distance running, beach yoga, any activity in or around the ocean and cooking nourishing meals.

Kona Sunset
Spectacular Kona sunset…one of my favorite parts of the day

Did you know?

Lo’ihi is the new volcanic island of Hawaii that is forming 20 miles Southeast of the Big Island. This seamount formed from volcanic activity over the hot spot currently rises 10,100 feet off of the ocean floor but is still 3,100 feet from the surface of the water.

 

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Samantha Adams: Mahalo Nui Loa, August 10, 2017

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Samantha Adams

Aboard NOAA Ship Hi’ialakai

July 25 – August 3, 2017

Mission: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Hawaii Ocean Time-series Station deployment (WHOTS-14)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Hawaii, Pacific Ocean

Date: Thursday, 10 August 2017

Weather Data from the “Bridge”:

Latitude & Longitude:21.3245#oN,157.9251oW. Air temperature: 86oF. Humidity: 48%.Wind speed: 14 knots. Wind direction: 45 degrees. Sky cover: Scattered.

Science and Technology Log:

blog.final.image4
Downloading data from the MicroCats on the WHOTS-13 buoy’s mooring line. Back on land, the instruments will be given a more thorough cleaning, re-calibrated, and re-used next year on the WHOTS-15 buoy.

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Packing gear into the shipping container returning to Woods Hole, Massachusetts, at the end of the WHOTS-14 buoy deployment.

The data has been downloaded. The instruments have been cleaned and removed from the buoy. The lines and winches and capstans have been removed from the Hi’ialakai‘s deck. It’s all been packed away into a a shipping container, headed back to the East Coast. Next summer, it will all be shipped to Hawaii again, to head out to Station ALOHA for another year at sea, as part of the WHOTS-15 buoy deployment.

As I sit in the gate area at the Honolulu International Airport, waiting for my flight back to New York City, I’m thinking about everything I learned in my time aboard the Hi’ialakai. I’m thinking about the best way to convey it all to my students — because I love using data in my classroom. One of my favorite things to do, when I am introducing a topic, is to give them a data set — either raw numbers, graphs, or other visualizations — and have them draw some preliminary conclusions. What is the data doing? Are there trends that you notice? Does anything stand out to you? Look weird? Because I teach Earth Science, there is a wealth of publicly available data, from the USGS, from NASA, from NOAA. For just about anything I choose to teach, from the atmospheres of exoplanets to mass extinction events, a quick Google search almost always yields useful, peer-reviewed, scientific data. However, until I had the opportunity to sail aboard the Hi’ialakai and observe the deployment of the WHOTS-14 buoy and the retrieval of the WHOTS-13 buoy, I never quite appreciated just how difficult obtaining all the data I use could be.

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Members of the science team and crew of the Hi’ialakai. Photo courtesy of Kelsey Maloney, University of Hawaii.

Despite my best efforts, I think my students still believe that science is a solitary pursuit — something done by people in white coats in a lab somewhere. I hope that my experiences aboard the Hi’ialakai will help me paint a more realistic picture of what science is all about for my students. It’s a highly collaborative profession that needs people with all sorts of skills; not only science, but computer programming, mathematics, technology, logistics, resourcefulness and patience. I also hope be able to impress upon my students just how difficult doing good science can be. I know that I will certainly never look at the data sets I download with just a few clicks of my mouse the same way again.

Personal Log:

I would like to take this opportunity to say mahalo nui loa (thank you very much) to everyone aboard the Hi’ialakai for the WHOTS-14 cruise — for answering all my questions, even the ones I didn’t think to ask; for sharing data, seasickness medication, hardhats, and the occasional power tool; for the fabulous meals (and the best chocolate chip cookies ever!); for the impromptu education about monk seals and the philosophical discussion on fidget spinners.

It’s been a truly unforgettable experience, and I can’t wait to dig into the hard-won data from the WHOTS buoys and share it all with my students.

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Enjoying yet another gorgeous Hawaiian sunset at sea. Photo courtesy of Kelsey Maloney, University of Hawaii.

Did You Know?

Dry land can feel like it’s moving, too! After spending an extended amount of time at sea, your body seems to expect the ground to be rolling underneath your feet, just like the deck of the ship… but nope! Just you! One slang term for this is “dock rock” — and it’s more than a little strange.

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Staci DeSchryver: Super Bonus Spiritual History Blog! July 29, 2017

NOAA Teacher At Sea

Staci DeSchryver

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette

July 6 – August 2, 2017

 

Mission:  HICEAS Cetacean Study

Geographic Area:  Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Sanctuary  

Date:  July 29, 2017


Location:  20 deg, 20.0 min N, 156 deg, 08.6 min W

Weather Data from the Bridge:

Scattered Clouds

Visibility: 10 nmi

Wind @ 23 kts from 65 degrees

Pressure: 1015.1 mb

Waves: 4 – 5 feet

Swell:  7-8 feet at 70 deg

Temp: 26.5 deg

Wet bulb:  23.5 deg

Dewpoint: 25 deg

Bonus Spiritual History Blog

On July 23, we briefly suspended our operations to help out fellow scientists camped out on the French Frigate Shoals (Lalo), located along the Northwest Hawaiian Island chain – about halfway between the northernmost main islands and Midway (Kuaihelani).  The trip was brief, and we never set foot on terra firma, but with the help of the Big Eyes we could see something that we had not seen up close in 3 days – land.

Two nights prior, we finally crossed over to the Northwest Hawaiian Islands – a sacred and certainly mysterious (at least to me)  area for the Hawaiian People.  I was waiting with some anticipation for the moment we would cross into these waters.  The entire Northwest Hawaiian Island chain and its surrounding seas are limited-access for the vast majority of seafarers; the waters are protected by a proclamation signed by President George W. Bush in 2006, and expanded by President Barack Obama in 2016. This Marine Sanctuary’s designated area begins near the start of the Northwest Hawaiian Island chain, and stretches all the way to the Kure Atoll (Hōlanikū), just past Midway Island (Kuaihelani).  We were not permitted to cross into these waters until we had a permit, part of which included a component requirement of a briefing on the history of the area before we entered.  ers Native Hawaiian Program Specialist Kalani Quiocho introduced us to this sacred ground during our pre-cruise training with this briefing on this Marine National Monument, Papahānaumokuākea.  His presentation was so moving that I felt it necessary that the story of these waters (through my limited experience) must be told.

Mr. Quiocho’s presentation began with the name song for Papahānaumokuākea.  His voice bellowed out in an ethereal chant – one in a smooth and haunting language with sound combinations like nothing I had ever heard before.  His song was punctuated with ‘okinas and kahakōs, and accented with stunning photographs of ocean life, ritual, and artifact.  The music moved me to a tear, though I couldn’t quite pinpoint the emotion that was supposed to accompany it.

name song for papahanamoukuakea
The Name song for Papahānaumokuākea, reprinted with permission from Kalani Quiocho.

I realize now that I have traveled to this sacred place that it was one of simple reverence for the culture and its people who belong so fully to it.  It was at that moment that I realized that this trip would be a whole other ball game – one that is sacred, cosmic, and mysterious.

Papahānaumokuākea (pronounced Papa-hah-now-mow-coo-ah-kay-a) is the first officially designated Mixed Cultural and Heritage site, and is the largest fully protected conservation area in the United States.   Its name commemorates the union of two Hawaiian ancestors – Papahānaumoku and Wākea, who according to Hawaiian ancestry gave rise to the Hawaiian archipelago, the taro plant and the Hawaiian people.  These two ancestors provide a part of the Genesis story for Hawaiʻi – land to live on, food to eat, and people to cultivate, commune, and thrive as one with the gifts of their ancestors. The namesake alone of this marine sanctuary highlights the importance of its existence and its need for protection.  Many of the islands are ancient ceremonial sites, two of which we passed on the way to the Shoals (Lalo).

Crossing over to the Northwest Hawaiian Islands also marks a celestially significant line in the Hawaiian archipelago – the Tropic of Cancer.  The Tropic of Cancer is the furthest north that the sun will reach a direct overhead path during the solar year – you might know this as the summer solstice.  Right on the Tropic of Cancer lies the island Mokumanamana, a sacred place of cultural distinction for the Hawaiian people.  The Tropic of Cancer divides the entire Hawaiian archipelago into two distinct sections, Pō and Ao – the Ao represents the more southern islands and spiritual daylight, and the Pō representing the Northwest Hawaiian Islands and spiritual twilight.

ao and po
This diagram shows the separation between the NWHI and the main Hawaiian Islands. The horizontal line through the center divides day (Ao) from night (Pō) and lines up with the Tropic of Cancer. The Island Mokumanamana lies directly on the boundary between the living and spiritual realms. Our destination was Lalo, or French Frigate Shoals, though our travels took us much further northwest than that. (Diagram Credit: Kalani Quiocho)

The crossing over as we passed Mokumanamana is significant in that we entered a different spiritual zone of the Hawaiian Islands.   The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument’s website (click here to read much more about it) describes the Northwest Hawaiian Islands as “a region of primordial darkness from which life springs and spirits return after death.”  In this sense, transiting past Mokumanamana represented a “crossing over” into a different realm of ancient history.  Mokumanamana is known for its high density of ancient ceremonial sites and is considered a center of Hawaiian religion and ideology.  Mr. Quiocho expands on the geographical importance of the area to the Hawaiian people in his commentary stating that,

“Papahānaumokuākea encompasses the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands which is ¾ of the Hawaiian archipelago and includes high basalt islands and low-lying atolls, and surrounding marine environments. It stretches nearly 2,000 kilometers and straddles the Tropic of Cancer also known to Hawaiʻi as Ke Ala Polohiwa a Kāne – The sacred black glistening path of Kāne, the patron god of the sun. It is believed that the Hawaiian Archipelago is divided into two regions called Pō and Ao, which essentially means night and day. Most of the NWHI is within Pō, a place of creation and origin where ancestors return to after death. The region known as Ao includes the main Hawaiian Islands where man resides. The entire Hawaiian Archipelago represents the dualisms and cycles of the Hawaiian universe. From the east where the sun rises and the islands are volcanically birthed from the oceanic womb to the west where the sun sets and the islands return to the sea. And all of the extraordinary biology that is found in the Northwestern and main Hawaiian Islands are accounted for in our oral traditions. The Kumulipo, a creation chant with more than 2,000 lines expresses the cosmology of the Hawaiian Islands, beginning with the birthing of the coral polyp and eventually the Hawaiian people. Naturally this is an inspiring place that is the framework of our worldview and the knowledge systems that tell us we are people of place. Which is why many refer to this area as the kūpuna islands, kūpuna meaning elder or grandparent.”

Today, Native Hawaiians will travel by double-hulled canoes from the main islands all the way up to Nihoa and Mokumanamana during times of ritual importance and follow in the footsteps of their ancestors to honor the tradition and the spiritual practice.  I’m sure the journey is both treacherous and fulfilling, one that would rival other more commonly known great expeditions, especially considering its spiritual significance.

rainbow
Papahānaumokuākea is rich with history – both ancient and recent, and full of its own surprises!

Mr. Quiocho continues by expanding on the importance of the navigation of these waters to the Hawaiian people and how it honors their homeland connections:

“Native Hawaiians believe that the vast region that makes up the NWHI is an incredibly sacred place and is regarded as the construct of their cosmological genealogy. This region is rooted in creation and origin as a place where all life began and to which ancestors return after death. Native Hawaiians have historical connections to all parts of their homeland, which encompass all the islands, atolls, shoals, coral reefs, submerged seamounts and ocean waters that connect them. While the islands themselves are focal destinations for traditional voyages, the vast ocean is equally important. It is a cultural seascape that is imbued with immense value. The ocean is more than an unknown empty space that isolates islands, but rather a pathway for movement and potential.

orca
A rare sighting of Tropical Pacific Orca – one of the first Cetaceans to welcome us to the Monument. What a gift!

Long-distance voyaging and wayfinding is one of the most unique and valuable traditional practices that Native Hawaiians have developed and continue to advance. It is an ancient way of interacting with the ocean that continues to inspire and create social change. The ocean region surrounding the NWHI is the only cultural voyaging seascape within the Hawaiian Archipelago. The main Hawaiian Islands are large enough for any novice navigator to find, but the ocean region throughout and surrounding Papahānaumokuākea provides challenging opportunities for apprentice navigators to excel. This expansive ocean environment was the setting for ancient Hawaiian chiefs to voyage back and forth between the main Hawaiian Islands and the NWHI over the course of 400 years.”

On our journey, we slipped passed Mokumanamana in the cover of night – through the invisible gates and into this ancient ancestral realm.  Although we had been in the monument since the previous day, for some reason this crossing marked a distinction for me personally in an indescribable way.  Since arriving on Oahu and in my travels since, I’ve known there was something special and different about this place, and I’ve known that part of the “different” was me.  Walking through Ala Moana Park on the 4th of July revealed threads of a culture that formed a beautiful tapestry of family, community, and heritage as I strolled past hundreds of families camped out in anticipation of the upcoming fireworks over the ocean.

volcanic neck
A volcanic neck stands high above the waters surrounding the shoals.

There was something communal and sacred about it, even though the time and event was modern.  There was an “old” feeling of togetherness that buzzed through the park amongst strangers and friends.  I knew I was an outsider to this energy, but I didn’t feel entirely left out of it.  It’s one thing to feel like a foreigner on the “day” side of the Tropic of Cancer, but the “night” side held a spiritual distinction, as though I was trespassing in a dimension to which I did not belong. Knowing that the only passage of ships through this area would come with permits and regulations left a feeling of emptiness in an already vast ocean.  Knowing the ocean is full beneath with life both current and past – fish and whale and ancient Hawaiian spirit alike gave back some reassurance that we were not entirely alone.  For the first time I didn’t want to just know about Papahānaumokuākea, I wanted the ocean to tell me the story herself.

Nestled in the middle of Papahānaumokuākea was our target destination – French Frigate Shoals (Lalo).  On this tiny island a small team of scientists have been camped out for a little over six weeks studying the endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal.  We were tasked with delivering critical supplies to the scientific team – fuel, replacements of scientific gear, and a small care package with a few creature comforts they had not had access to in quite some time.  (I mean, seriously.  Who drops off fuel without dropping off chocolate? Not us!)   We also picked up some specimens from them to take back to the lab in Honolulu. The Shoals are a special place – a World War II military outpost slowly decays on the far side of the island, providing some cover for the scientists as they work. The island hosts thousands upon thousands of terns, flying en masse around the island in huge swarms.

FFS
A closer view of the island. The dots in the air above the island are all birds.

The terns were in preparation of fledging, and in anticipation of that day, tiger sharks stalked the surrounding waters, waiting for their next meal. On the opposite side of the island a few hundred meters away from shore, a lone sandbar (formerly dredged up for use as a military runway) rose to the surface providing a quiet place for a monk seal and her two pups to lounge in the sand.  One seal pup practiced swimming in the shallows as the mother casually glanced in its direction.  The other pup would hobble a few feet away down the beach, only to run back to its mother and lie next to her for a time.  It was a little reminiscent of a Norman Rockwell beach vacation painting, had Rockwell chosen an animal personification route as his medium.  A turtle dotted the far edge of the landscape on the main island, basking in the rising sun as the waves gently rolled on to the beach behind him.

runway
This flat strip of land is a dredged up runway, slowly returning back to the ocean after years of abandonment from use. A mother seal and two pups lounge on the sand, enjoying the sun.

The structures on the land from afar looked like a distant movie set for an apocalyptic storyline. The wind howled as we approached the atoll, and birds fought against the invisible currents in frantic circles around the island.  Two boats lay destitute along the far side of the island while waves crashed merciless against the sea wall built to hold the atoll in place during the time the island was volunteered to serve in a wartime capacity. The island itself is a surreal duplicity – serving both as a protector of life and a vessel of war.  I found myself taking stock of this history;  watching from far away to learn the eternal evolution of this strange place – first a volcano, sunk beneath the surface, then to a primordial breeding ground for coral, fish, and shark – onto a pristine landscape, possibly used by ancestral Hawaiians for ceremony and stopover en route to Kure (Hōlanikū) – a military base as a refueling station and an outpost – and finally a protected home for hundreds of species, some hanging desperately onto the last strings of life but finally thriving under the care of a dedicated research team.

As much as I desperately wanted to go on to the island to have a look at this former military operations base-turned-endangered-animal-sanctuary, none of us could go on shore – even those who shuttled supplies to the scientists.  French Frigate Shoals marked the first time I had ever seen a coral atoll in anything other than a picture, and it seemed a natural part of my inner explorer to want to pop on to shore to have a look about, even for just a few minutes.  Everything in French Frigate Shoals is protected under the Papahānaumokuākea permitting restrictions.

pulley system
Supplies were hauled ashore by the small pulley system jutting up from the shoreline – visible on the left-middle portion of the island.

Had we wanted to explore the land, we would have needed to quarantine our clothing and ourselves for a minimum of 72 hours to protect the landscape from anything foreign taking foot on shore. Our ship couldn’t make it much closer than a mile or two from the island so as not to put it in danger of running aground. So, a team of four people shuttled supplies in the small boat, navigating the shallows and hauling the supplies on shore through a pulley system.  Two quick trips out to the island, and we were soon on our way again in our search for cetaceans.

When Mr. Quiocho parted ways with us after our training, he made a casual but powerful statement in closing.  He told us the whale dives deeply to commune with ancient wisdom commissioned to the deep ocean, bringing this deep knowledge from the ancestral depths to the surface so that it can become part our collective consciousness. Our trip, then, is a not merely a collection of data or a series of samples.  Each time we interact with the whales, they are bringing us the knowledge of the ancients in hope that we will continue to pass that information on to anyone at the surface willing to listen. The responsibility of our work when described in this light brought a new reverence to the study – one that is not just a story for the present in hopes of preserving for the future, but that weaves ancient knowledge from the past into our work, as well.

Did you know?

  •         Each day at noon, the ship’s alarms are tested to ensure they will work in an emergency situation.  Guess who got to test the alarms?

    fire alarm
    Yup! I got to test the alarm. Thanks Lieutenant Commander Rose!
  •         Ship safety is the height of the focus of everyone on board.  Each Friday, we complete drills to make sure we are ready in the event of an emergency.  Of the many dangers at sea, a fire can prove to be most catastrophic.  It’s not like the fire department can come out to the middle of the Pacific at the first sign of burning bacon (which may or may not have happened to me two days before I left for Oahu).  The entire Sette crew acts as the fire department, so it is important for them to practice in the event of an emergency.  This week we simulated a live-fire scenario, complete with a fog machine.  I got to call the drill up to the bridge!  It was a little extra fun built into a very serious situation.
  •         Classes are still continuing each afternoon on the bridge, Monday through Friday. 

    amanda and hexacopters
    Dr. Amanda Bradford gives the Wardroom a lesson on Hexacopter Operations (see blog #5 for more!)

    tim and msds
    ENS Tim Holland gives a lesson on MSDS chemical safety sheets.
  •         Officers are in a friendly competition to see who is on watch when the most sightings occur, among other friendly battles.  It is the topic of lively discussion at most meal times.  

    The tallys
    Officers can make a competition out of ANYTHING!  Here are the tallys for the past 25 days.
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Samantha Adams: Day 8 – My, What a Fabulous Smell You’ve Discovered, July 31, 2017

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Samantha Adams

Aboard Hi’ialakai

July 25 – August 3, 2017

Mission: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Hawaii Ocean Time-series Station deployment (WHOTS-14)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Hawaii, Pacific Ocean

Date: Monday, 31 July 2017

Weather Data from the Bridge:

Latitude & Longitude: 22o45’N, 157o45’ oW. Ship speed: 0.8 knots. Air temperature: 27.9oC. Sea temperature: 27.3oC. Humidity: 72%.Wind speed: 11.2 knots. Wind direction: 93 degrees. Sky cover: Few.

Science and Technology Log:

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The WHOTS-13 buoy after a year at sea. These three red-footed boobies will lose their perch soon!

It’s deja vu all over again! The WHOTS-14 buoy is stable and transmitting data, and all the in situ measurements necessary to verify the accuracy of that data have been taken. Now it’s time to go get the WHOTS-13 buoy, and bring it home.

WHOTS-13 Buoy Diagram
Diagram of the WHOTS-13 mooring. Image courtesy of the University of Hawaii.

The process of retrieving the WHOTS-13 buoy is essentially the same as deploying the WHOTS-14 buoy — except in reverse, and a lot more slimy. Take a look at the diagram of the WHOTS-13 buoy (to the left), and you’ll notice that it looks almost identical to the WHOTS-14 buoy. Aside from a few minor changes from year to year, the configuration of the buoys remains essentially the same… so the three and a half miles of stuff that went into the ocean on Thursday? The same amount has all got to come back up.

At 6:38AM HAST, a signal was sent from the ship to the acoustic releases on the WHOTS-13 buoy’s anchor. After a year under three miles of water, the mooring line is on its way back to the surface!

 

 

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From the time the signal was sent to the acoustic releases on the anchor to last instrument coming back on board, recovering the WHOTS-13 buoy took 9 hours and 53 minutes.

Personal Log:

Now that I have witnessed (and participated in, however briefly) both a buoy deployment and retrieval, one of the things that impressed me the most was how well coordinated everything was, and how smoothly everything went. Both deployment and retrieval were reviewed multiple times, from short overviews at daily briefings (an afternoon meeting involving the ship’s officers, crew and the science team) to extensive hour long “walk throughs” the day before the main event. Consequently, everyone knew exactly what they were supposed to be doing, and where and when they were supposed to be doing it — which lead to minimal discussion, confusion and (I assume) stress. Each operation ran like a well choreographed dance; even when something unexpected happened (like the glass ball exploding on deck during deployment of the WHOTS-14 buoy), since everybody knew what the next step was supposed to be, there was always space to pause and work through the problem. Communication is most definitely key!

The other thing that really made an impression was how much emphasis was placed on taking breaks and drinking enough water. It was hot, humid and sunny during both deployment and recovery, and since Hi’ialakai had to be pointed directly into the wind during the operations, there was virtually no wind on the working deck at all. I’ve always thought as the ocean as a place you go to cool off, but, at least for these few days, it’s been anything but! With apologies to Coleridge: “Water, water, everywhere, nor any place to swim!”

Did You Know?

blog.5.Day8.image17
A tangled mess of anything can be called a wuzzle. For example: “I don’t know how my headphones got into such a wuzzle.” The mess of glass balls on the deck is most definitely a wuzzle.

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Samantha Adams: Day 6 – Testing… 1 – 2 – 3, July 29, 2017

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Samantha Adams

Aboard NOAA Ship Hi’ialakai

July 25 – August 3, 2017

Mission: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Hawaii Ocean Time-series Station deployment (WHOTS-14)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Hawaii, Pacific Ocean

Date: Saturday, 29 July 2017

Weather Data from the Bridge:

Latitude & Longitude: 22o 45’N, 157o 56’W. Ship speed: 1.3 knots. Air temperature: 27.8oC. Sea temperature: 27.0oC. Humidity: 72%.Wind speed: 14 knots. Wind direction: 107 degrees. Sky cover: Few.

Science and Technology Log:

The most difficult part of Thursday’s buoy deployment was making sure the anchor was dropped on target. Throughout the day, shifting winds and currents kept pushing the ship away from the anchor’s target location. There was constant communication between the ship’s crew and the science team, correcting for this, but while everyone thought we were close when the anchor was dropped, nobody knew for sure until the anchor’s actual location had been surveyed.

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Triangulation of the WHOTS-14 buoy’s anchor location. Look at how close the ‘Anchor at Depth’ location is to the ‘Target’ location — only 177.7 meters apart! Also notice that all three circles intersect at one point, meaning that the triangulated location of the anchor is quite accurate.

To survey the anchor site, the ship “pinged” (sent a signal to) the acoustic releases on the buoy’s mooring line from three separate locations around the area where the anchor was dropped. This determines the distance from the ship to the anchor — or, more accurately, the distance from the ship to the acoustic releases. When all three distances are plotted (see the map above), the exact location of the buoy’s anchor can be determined. Success! The buoy’s anchor is 177.7 meters away from the target location — closer to the intended target than any other WHOTS deployment has gotten.

After deployment on Thursday, and all day Friday, the Hi’ialakai stayed “on station” about a quarter of a nautical mile downwind of the WHOTS-14 buoy, in order to verify that the instruments on the buoy were making accurate measurements. Because both meteorological and oceanographic measurements are being made, the buoy’s data must be verified by two different methods.

Weather data from the buoy (air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, etc.) is verified using measurements from the Hi’ialakai’s own weather station and a separate set of instruments from NOAA’s Environmental Sciences Research Laboratory. This process is relatively simple, only requiring a few quick mouse clicks (to download the data), a flashdrive (to transfer the data), and a “please” and “thank you”.

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July 28, 2017, 5:58PM HAST. Preparing the rosette for a CDT cast. Notice that the grey sampling bottles are open. If you look closely, you can see clear plastic “wire” running from the top of the sampling bottles to the center of the rosette. The wires are fastened on hooks which, when triggered by the computer in the lab, flip up, releasing the wire and closing the sampling bottle.

Salinity, temperature and depth measurements (from the MicroCats on the mooring line), on the other hand, are much more difficult to verify. In order to get the necessary “in situ” oceanographic data (from measurements made close to the buoy), the water must be sampled directly. This is done buy doing something called a CTD cast — in this case, a specific type called a yo-yo. 

The contraption in the picture to the left is called a rosette. It consists of a PCV pipe frame, several grey sampling bottles around the outside of the frame, and multiple sets of instruments in the center (one primary and one backup) for each measurement being made.

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July 28, 2017, 6:21PM HAST. On station at WHOTS-14, about halfway through a CDT cast (which typically take an hour). The cable that raises and lowers the rosette is running through the pulley in the upper right hand corner of the photo. The buoy is just visible in the distance, under the yellow arm.

The rosette is hooked to a stainless steel cable, hoisted over the side of the ship, and lowered into the water. Cable is cast (run out) until the rosette reaches a certain depth — which can be anything, really, depending on what measurements need to be made. For most of the verification measurements, this depth has been 250 meters. Then, the rosette is hauled up to the surface. And lowered back down. And raised up to the surface. And lowered back down. It’s easy to see why it’s called a yo-yo! (CDT casts that go deeper — thousands of meters instead of hundreds — only go down and up once.)

For the verification process, the rosette is raised and lowered five times, with the instruments continuously measuring temperature, salinity and depth. On the final trip back to the surface, the sampling bottles are closed remotely, one at a time, at specific depths, by a computer in the ship’s lab. (The sampling depths are determined during the cast, by identifying points of interest in the data. Typically, water is sampled at the lowest point of the cast and five meters below the surface, as well as where the salinity and oxygen content of the water is at its lowest.) Then, the rosette is hauled back on board, and water from the sampling bottles is emptied into smaller glass bottles, to be taken back to shore and more closely analyzed.

On this research cruise, the yo-yos are being done by scientists and student researchers from the University of Hawaii, who routinely work at the ALOHA site (where the WHOTS buoys are anchored). The yoyos are done at regular intervals throughout the day, with the first cast beginning at about 6AM HAST and the final one wrapping up at about midnight.

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July 29, 2017, 9:43AM HAST. On station at WHOTS-13. One CDT cast has already been completed; another is scheduled to begin in about 15 minutes.

After the final yo-yo was complete at the WHOTS-14 buoy early Saturday morning, the Hi’ialakai traveled to the WHOTS-13 buoy. Today and tomorrow (Sunday), more in situ meteorological and oceanographic verification measurements will be made at the WHOTS-13 site. All of this — the meteorological measurements, the yo-yos, the days rocking back and forth on the ocean swell — must happen in order to make sure that the data being recorded is consistent from one buoy to the next. If this is the case, then it’s a good bet that any trends or changes in the data are real — caused by the environmental conditions — rather than differences in the instruments themselves.

Personal Log:

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The Hi’ialakai’s dry lab. Everyone is wearing either a sweatshirt or a jacket… are we sure this is Hawaii?

Most of the science team’s time is divided between the Hi’ialakai’s deck and the labs (there are two; one wet, and one dry).  The wet lab contains stainless steel sinks, countertops, and an industrial freezer; on research cruises that focus on marine biology, samples can be stored there. Since the only samples being collected on this cruise are water, which don’t need to be frozen, the freezer was turned off before we left port, and turned into additional storage space.  The dry lab (shown in the picture above) is essentially open office space, in use nearly 24 hours a day. The labs, like most living areas on the ship, are quite well air conditioned. It may be hot and humid outside, but inside, hoodies and hot coffee are both at a premium!

Did You Know?

The acronym “CTD” stands for conductivity, temperature and depth. But the MicroCats on the buoy mooring lines and the CTD casts are supposed to measure salinity, temperature and depth… so where does conductivity come in? It turns out that the salinity of the water can’t be measured directly — but conductivity of the water can.

When salt is dissolved into water, it breaks into ions, which have positive and negative charges. In order to determine salinity, an instrument measuring conductivity will pass a small electrical current between two electrodes (conductors), and the voltage on either side of the electrodes is measured. Ions facilitate the flow of the electrical current through the water. Therefore conductivity, with the temperature of the water taken into account, can be used to determine the salinity.