NOAA Teacher at Sea Kiersten Newtoff Aboard NOAA Ship Pisces January 6 – January 29, 2025
Mission: Atlantic Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species (AMAPPS) Geographic Area of Cruise: North Atlantic Coast Date: January 15, 2025 Data from the Bridge: Currently standing still at 39°12’0″N, 74°24’0″W due to offshore weather. It’s 38°F with 26kt winds.
Team Spotlight: Hydrophone Heroes
It started as periodic clicking. Click. Click. Click click. Click click click. Cliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiccccccccccccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkk. And then nothing.
These series of clicks tell the story of a sperm whale attacking prey and feasting on its prize. This is just one of the many cool stories coming from the Hydrophone Heroes.
In Tandem, Eyes and Ears on the Ocean
All marine mammals are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and some are dually protected under the Endangered Species Act. These laws dictate that marine mammals cannot be hunted, harassed, taken, or killed; although some exclusions exist for scientific research among other things. You may recall from an earlier post that there are two marine mammal teams on the Pisces: the bioacoustics team and the visual observation team. Both teams are working toward a common goal: where are marine mammals, how are they behaving, what is the diversity, and how many are there? These surveys help NOAA propose new rules or develop new technologies to reduce the accidental bycatch or injuries from boats to preserve the species. By doing surveys periodically, we can better understand how populations are changing in response to the environment.
The sampling protocol differs between the visual and bioacoustics teams, as well as what they can and can’t detect. By combining their data together, a complete picture of marine mammal abundance can be made.
Bioacoustics
Visual Observation
Detection Range
Larger
Smaller
Water Depth to Operate
> 100m
Any
Weather Conditions
Any
Better the more clear
Species ID Confidence
Medium
High
Discerning Number of Individuals
Only when there is 1 or 2
Any
Statistical Methods for Analyzing
Not well developed
Well developed and standardized
The world of marine mammal bioacoustics is relatively new, starting in the 1960s but taking off in the late 1990s to early 2000s. Also, each species of marine mammal has a large ‘vocabulary’ that we are still learning. Because of this, the library of sounds of each species is limited. While it may be great to hear a click or whistle through the hydrophone, it means very little if there isn’t a visual confirmation from the observation team.
Science is the art of inquiry. Annamaria
How Do Hydrophones Work?
As the name implies, a hydrophone is a listening device that is in the water. It can pick up frequencies higher and lower than what humans can hear and it can hear sounds from miles away. On the Pisces, the hydrophone array consists of multiple sensors and equipment in a long tube. There are three omnidirectional hydrophones in the array, and all three will pick up the same signals. However, the hydrophone that hears a sound first can give the team an idea of the direction the sounds are coming from: in front, in line, or behind the ship. This setup can’t identify starboard or port side, and that’s where the visual observation team comes in. As the ship moves and the hydrophone continues to pick up sounds, they can be triangulated to get an idea of how far away the sound is from the ship. The array setup can’t tell you how deep the sound is coming from, but some patterns of clicks of different species can give clues to if a cetacean is diving or at the surface.
The array is towed behind the ship in waters that are at least 100m deep. Although the hydrophone doesn’t actually sit that close to the bottom, it’s a fail safe for if the ship has to slow down or stop. This can cause the hydrophone array to sink and it is imperative that it does not touch the bottom. The equipment in the array is very sensitive (and very expensive!), so it’s crucial that it’s impossible for it to touch the bottom. You may be thinking “well, just tow it closer to the boat so that you can work in shallower waters”, but the problem is that the boat itself is making noise that the hydrophone will pick up. If the array is too close to the ship, the sound would be deafening, and you would miss many marine sounds. The hydrophone is set about 350m out from the ship, which does dampen the noise quite a bit. The hydrophone has a high pass filter, meaning only high frequency sounds are picked up. The auditory range of ship noise is much lower, so it gets filtered out, but unfortunately that also means filtering out some marine mammal sounds, particularly baleen whale songs.
Audio clip of short-beaked common dolphins as heard through a hydrophone. This comes from NOAA’s Marine Mammal Sound repository, but these have been common on this trip.
There are six (!!) screens that the Hydrophone Heroes are monitoring when the array is out. They are:
Rob and Annamaria actively listening and recording any marine mammal sounds.
High frequency setup: this is focused on high frequencies such as from dwarf and pygmy sperm whales and is giving a bearing on where they are located.
Diagnostic plots that characterize the incoming signals.
A spectrogram that displays tonal signals like whistles.
Data entry form to record each incoming sound.
Map displays of the bearings of sounds as a way to localize and track them.
Client computer which is synced with the visual team to match up sounds with visuals.
Perhaps some time in the future, machine learning can be used to automatically classify sounds picked up by a hydrophone. But in order for that to happen, we need a lot of matched acoustic and visual data to be used for training the machine learning models.
Do You Hear What I Hear? (by Bing Crosby and Kiersten)
Do you hear what I hear? Said Rob to Annamaria
Do you see what I see? (Do you see what I see?) Visuals said to acoustics
Do you see what I see? (Do you see what I see?) A whale, a whale, leaping through the waves With a tail as big as a kite With a tail as big as a kite
Meet the Hydrophone Heroes
Annamaria is a research biologist from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Massachusetts. Her love of the ocean started early, and she pursued it more intently in her high school’s oceanography club and in the Quahog Bowl . From there she got a bachelor’s degree in marine biology, during which she did an internship with the U.S. Navy in their marine mammal monitoring program. It is through this internship that Annamaria learned about bioacoustics and left with the experience of managing 93 hydrophones! She really liked the internship, especially because she was able to apply the science with real time responses (and it was paid!). Post-graduation, she worked at the Bioacoustic Research Program at Cornell University and then went to Scotland to get her master’s degree. She volunteered with the Wood’s Hole Oceanographic Institution working in fish bioacoustics before landing a position at NOAA in 2014.
Tanya and Tasha, from the deck crew, help Annamaria and Rob set out the hydrophone array off the stern.
Rob is a biological science technician who has been working with NOAA for the past 4 years at the Pacific Island Fisheries Science Center in Honolulu. In college he studied marine and environmental science and afterwards he looked into fisheries science so he could be outside. He ended up at the California Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) working with salmon and delta smelt and then moved to the Federal FWS. He finally moved into the Protected Species Division at NOAA where he learned about bioacoustics in cetaceans. Baby Rob’s dream was to do a cetacean cruise, and he made it!
Advice & Words of Wisdom
Be curious – science is a never-ending process of asking more questions.
When applying for jobs on USAJobs, cast a wide net (pun intended). There are lots more fisheries positions which can still be valuable to your career by developing transferable skills to cetaceans.
If you are working with data, try to seek opportunities to see how that data is collected in the field. It can help you better understand the data which will be advantageous when running analyses.
Internships are crucial and can really define your career. They also help with connections to other people in the industry.
Be open to lots of career paths and gain skills to enable you to be a jack of all trades. If you have skills from multiple fields, you are more likely to find positions.
Here’s some additional pictures from setting out the array and working in the acoustics lab.
Geographic Area: Northwest Hawaiian Island Chain, Just past Mokumanamana (Necker Island)
Date: July 20, 2017
Weather Data from the Bridge:
Science and Technology Log:
As promised in Blog Post #3, I mentioned that “Thing number four we deliberately throw overboard” would have a dedicated blog post because it was so involved. Well, grab some popcorn, because the time has arrived!
Thing number 4 we deliberately throw over the side of a ship does not get thrown overboard very often, but when it does, it causes much hubbub and hullaballoo on the ship. I had the unique opportunity to witness one of only ten ocean noise sensors that are deployed in US waters come aboard the ship and get redeployed. These sensors are found all over US waters – from Alaska to the Atlantic. One is located in the Catalina Marine Sanctuary, and still others are hanging out in the Gulf of Mexico, and we are going to be sailing right past one! To see more about the Ocean Noise Sensors, visit the HICEAS website “other projects” tab, or just click here. To see where the Ocean Noise Recorders are, click here.
The Ocean Noise Sensor system is a group of 10 microphones placed in the “SOFAR” channel all over US waters. Once deployed, they collect data for two years in order to track the level of ocean noise over time. It’s no secret that our oceans are getting louder. Shipping routes, oil and gas exploration, and even natural sources of noise like earthquakes all contribute to the underwater noise that our cetacean friends must chatter through. Imagine sitting at far ends of the table at a dinner party with a friend you have not caught up with in a while. While other guests chat away, you and the friend must raise your voices slightly to remain in contact. As the night progresses on, plates start clanging, glasses are clinking, servers are asking questions, and music is playing in the background. The frustration of trying to communicate over the din is tolerable, but not insurmountable. Now imagine the host turning on the Super Bowl at full volume for entertainment. Now the noise in the room is incorrigible, and you and your friend have lost all hope of even hearing a simple greeting, let alone have a conversation. In fact, you can hardly get anyone’s attention to get them to pass you the potatoes. This is similar to the noise levels in our world’s ocean. As time goes on, more noise is being added to the system. This could potentially interfere with multiple species and their communications abilities. Calling out to find a mate, forage for food, or simply find a group to associate with must now be done in the equivalent din of a ticker-tape parade, complete with bands, floats, and fire engines blaring their horns. This is what the Ocean Noise Sensor is hoping to get a handle on. By placing sensors in the ocean to passively collect ambient noise, we can answer two important questions: How have the noise levels changed over time? To what extent are these changes in noise levels impacting marine life?
Many smaller isolated studies have been done on ocean noise levels in the past, but a few years ago, scientists from Cornell partnered with NOAA and the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) and the Pacific Marine Environmental Lab to streamline this study in order to get a unified, global data source of ocean noise levels. The Pacific Marine Environmental Lab built a unified sound recording system for all groups involved in the study, and undertook the deployments of the hydrophones. They also took on the task of processing the data once it is recovered. The HICEAS team is in a timely and geographical position to assist in recovery of the data box and redeploying the hydrophone. This was how we spent the day.
The recovery and re-deployment of the buoy started just before dawn, and ended just before dinner.
Our standard effort of marine mammal observation was put on hold so that we could recover and re-deploy the hydrophone. It was an exciting day for a few reasons – one, it was definitely a novel way to spend the day. There was much to do on the part of the crew, and much to watch on the part of those who didn’t have the know-how to assist. (This was the category I fell in to.)
At dawn, an underwater acoustic command was sent to the depths to release a buoy held underwater attached to the hydrophone. While the hydrophone is only 1000m below the surface seated nice and squarely in the SOFAR channel, the entire system is anchored to the ocean floor at a depth of 4000m. Once the buoy was released, crew members stationed themselves around the ship on the Big Eyes and with binoculars to watch for the buoy to surface. It took approximately 45 minutes before the buoy was spotted just off our port side. The sighting award goes to CDR Stephanie Koes, our fearless CO. A crewmember pointed out the advancement in our technologies in the following way: “We can use GPS to find a buried hydrophone in the middle of the ocean…and then send a signal…down 4000m…to a buoy anchored to the ocean floor…cut the buoy loose remotely, and then actually have the buoy come up to the surface near enough to the ship where we can find it.” Pretty impressive if you think about it.
The buoy was tied to the line that is attached to the hydrophone, so once the buoy surfaced, “all” we had to do was send a fast rescue boat out to retrieve it, bring the buoy and line back to the ship, bring the crew safely back aboard the ship, hook the line up through a pulley overhead and back to a deck wench, pull the line through, take off the hydrophone, pull the rest of the line up, unspool the line on the wench to re-set the line, re-spool the winch, and then reverse the whole process.
Watching the crew work on this process was impressive at least, and a fully orchestrated symphony at best. There were many tyings of knots and transfers of lines, and all crew members worked like the well-seasoned deck crew that they are. Chief Bos’n Chris Kaanaana is no stranger to hauling in and maintaining buoys, so his deck crew were well prepared to take on this monumental task.
Much of the day went exactly according to plan. The buoy was safely retrieved, the hydrophone brought on board, the lines pulled in, re-spooled, and all sent back out again. But I am here to tell you that 4000m of line to haul in and pay back out takes. A Long. Time. We worked through a rainstorm spooling the line off the winch to reset it, through the glare of the tropical sun and the gentle and steadfast breeze of the trade winds. By dinner time, all was back in place, the buoy safely submerged deep in the ocean waters, waiting to be released again in another two years to repeat the process all over again. With any luck, the noise levels in the ocean will have improved. Many commercial vessels have committed to adopting “quiet ship” technology to assist in the reduction of noise levels. If this continues to improve, our cetacean friends just might be able to hear one another again at dinner.
Personal Log
So, I guess it’s pretty fair to say that once you’re a teacher, you’re always a teacher. I could not fully escape my August to May duties onboard, despite my best efforts. This week, I found myself on the bridge, doing a science experiment with the Wardroom (These are what all of the officers onboard as a group are called). How is this even happening, you ask? (Trust me, I asked myself the same thing when I was in the middle of it, running around to different “lab groups” just like in class.) Our CO, CDR Koes, is committed to ensuring that her crew is always learning on the ship.
If her staff do not know the answer to a question, she will guide them through the process of seeking out the correct answer so that all officers learn as much as they can when it comes to being underway – steering the ship, preparing for emergencies, and working with engineers, scientists, and crew. For example, I found out that while I was off “small-boating” near Pilot Whales, the Wardroom was busy working on maneuvering the ship in practice of man overboard scenarios. She is committed to ensuring that all of her staff knows all parts of this moving city, or at a minimum know how to find the answers to any questions they may have. It’s become clear just how much the crew and the entire ship have a deep respect and admiration for CDR Koes. I knew she was going to be great when we were at training and word got out that she would be the CO of this Leg on Sette and everyone had a range of positive emotions from elated to relieved to ecstatic.
As part of this training, she gives regular “quizzes” to her staff each day – many of them in good fun with questions for scientists, crew, engineers, and I. Some questions are nautical “things” that the Wardroom should know or are nice to know (for example, knowing the locations of Material Safety Data Sheets or calculating dew point temperatures), some questions are about the scientific work done onboard, while others are questions about personal lives of onboard members.
The Chief Medical Officer, “Doc” gives a lesson on water quality testing.
It has been a lot of fun watching the Wardroom and Crew seek out others and ask them where they live while showing them their “whale dance” to encourage sightings. It has exponentially increased the interactions between everyone onboard in a positive and productive way.
The other teaching element that CDR Koes has implemented is a daily lesson each day from Monday to Friday just after lunch. All NOAA Officers meet on the bridge, while one officer takes the lead to teach a quick, fifteen minute lesson on any topic of their choosing. It could be to refresh scientific knowledge, general ship operations, nautical concepts, or anything else that would be considered “good to know.”
The Chief Engineer gives a rundown on the various ship emergency alarms.
This sharing of knowledge builds trust among the Wardroom because it honors each officer’s strong suits and reminds us that we all have something to contribute while onboard.
I started attending these lunchtime sessions and volunteered to take on a lesson. So, this past Tuesday, I rounded up some supplies and did what I know best – we all participated in the Cloud in a Bottle Lesson!
Here I am learning to use a sextant for navigation.
The Wardroom had fun (I think?) making bottle clouds, talking about the three conditions for cloud formation, and refreshing their memories on adiabatic heating and cooling. It was a little nerve wracking for me as a teacher because two of the officers are meteorologists by trade, but I think I passed the bar. (I hope I did!)
Teaching about adiabatic cooling with the the Cloud in a Bottle Demo with the Wardroom!
It was fun to slide back into the role of teacher, if only for a brief while, and served as a reminder that I’m on my way back to work in a few weeks! Thanks to the Wardroom for calling on me to dust up my teacher skills for the upcoming first weeks of school!
ENS Holland and ENS Frederick working hard making clouds.
Facebook Asks, DeSchryver Answers
I polled all of my Facebook friends, fishing (ha ha, see what I did there?) for questions about the ship, and here are some of the questions and my answers!
Q: LC asks, “What has been your most exciting moment on the ship?”
It’s hard to pick just one, so I’ll tell you the times I was held at a little tear: a) Any sighting of a new species is a solid winner, especially the rare ones b) The first time I heard Sperm Whales on the acoustic detector c) The first time we took the small boat out for UAS operations….annnndddd d) The first time I was on Independent Observation and we had a sighting!
A group of Melon-Headed Whales, or PEPs, cruise along with the ship.
Q: JK asks, “What are your thoughts on the breakoff of Larsen C? And have there been any effects from the Alaskan quake and tsunami?”
We’re actually pretty isolated on board! Limited internet makes it hard to hear of all the current events. I had only briefly heard about Larsen C, and just that it broke, not anything else. I had no clue there was a quake and tsunami! But! I will tell a cool sort of related story. On Ford Island, right where Sette is docked, the parking lot is holding three pretty banged up boats. If you look closely, they all have Japanese markings on them. Turns out they washed up on Oahu after the Japan Tsunami. They tracked down the owners, and they came out to confirm those boats were theirs, but left them with NOAA as a donation. So? There’s tsunami debris on Oahu and I saw it.
Q: NG asks, “Any aha moments when it comes to being on the ocean? And anything to bring back to Earth Science class?”
So many aha moments, but one in particular that comes to mind is just how difficult it is to spot cetaceans and how talented the marine mammal observers are! They can quite literally spot animals from miles away! There are a lot of measures put in place to help the marine mammal observers, but at the end of the day, there are some species that are just tougher than nails to spot, or to spot and keep an eye on since their behaviors are all so different. And as far as anything to bring back to our class? Tons. I got a cool trick to make a range finder using a pencil. I think we should use it!
Q: MJB asks, “Have you had some peaceful moments to process and just take it all in?”
Yes. At night between the sonobuoy launches, I get two miles of transit time out on the back deck to just absorb the day and be thankful for the opportunities. The area of Hawai’i we are in right now is considered sacred ground, so it’s very powerful to just be here and be here.
These sunsets will give Colorado sunsets a run for their money. No green flash in Colorado = point awarded to Hawai’i.
Q: SC asks, “What souvenir are you bringing me?”
Well, we saw a glass fishing float, and we tried to catch it for you, but it got away.
Q: LC asks, “What’s the most disgusting ocean creature?”
Boy that’s a loaded question because I guarantee if I name a creature, someone out there studies it for a living. But! I will tell you the most delicious ocean creature. That would be Ono. In sashimi form. Also, there is a bird called a Great Frigate bird – it feeds via something called Klepto-parasitism, which is exactly how it sounds. It basically finds other birds, harasses them until they give up whatever they just caught or in some cases until it pukes, and then it steals their food. So, yeah. I’d say that’s pretty gross. But everyone’s gotta eat, right?
Q: KI asks, “Have you eaten all that ginger?”
I’m about two weeks in and I’m pretty sure I’ve eaten about a pound. I’m still working on it!
Q: HC asks, ”Have you seen or heard any species outside of their normal ocean territory?”
Sort of. Yesterday we saw Orca! They are tropical Orca, so they are found in this area, but they aren’t very common. The scientific team was thinking we’d maybe see one or two out of the entire seven legs of the trip, and we saw some yesterday! (I can’t say how many, and you’ll find out why in an upcoming post.) We have also seen a little bird that wasn’t really technically out of his territory, but the poor fella sure was a little far from home.
Q: JPK asks, “What kinds of data have you accumulated to use in a cross-curricular experience for math?”
We can do abundance estimates with a reasonably simplified equation. It’s pretty neat how we can take everything that we see from this study, and use those numbers to extrapolate how many of each species is estimated to be “out there.”
Q: AP asks, “What has surprised you about this trip?”
Many, many things, but I’ll mention a couple fun ones. The ship has an enormous movie collection – even of movies that aren’t out on DVD yet because they get them ahead of time! Also? The food on the ship is amazing. We’re halfway through the trip and the lettuce is still green. I have to find out the chef’s secret! And the desserts are to die for. It’s a wonder I haven’t put on twenty pounds. The crew does a lot of little things to celebrate and keep morale up, like birthday parties, and music at dinner, and shave ice once a week. Lots of people take turns barbecuing and cooking traditional foods and desserts special to them from home and they share with everyone. They are always in really high spirits and don’t let morale drop to begin with, so it’s always fun.
Celebrating Engineer Jerry’s Birthday.
Q: TS asks, “What’s the most exciting thing you’ve done?”
I’ve done lots of exciting things, but the one thing that comes to mind is launching on the small boat to go take photos of the pilot whales. Such a cool experience, and I hope we get good enough weather to do it again while we’re out here! Everything about ship life is brand new to me, so I like to help out as much as I can. Any time someone says, “Will you help with this?” I get excited, because I know I’m about to learn something new and also lend a hand.
Mission: WHOI Hawaii Ocean Timeseries Station (WHOTS)
Geographical Area of Cruise: Pacific Ocean, north of Hawaii
Date: June 28th, 2016
Weather Data from the Bridge (June 28th at 2pm)
Wind Speed: 12 knots
Temperature: 26.2 C
Humidity: 81%
Barometric Pressure: 1016.3 mb
Science and Technology Log
The Aloha Station is about 100 miles north of Oahu, Hawaii and was selected because of its closeness to port but distance from land influences (temperature, precipitation etc). The goal is to select a site that represents the north Pacific, where data can be collected on the interactions between the ocean and the atmosphere. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Hawaii Ocean Time Series (WHOTS) has used this site for research since 2004. You can find real time surface and meteorological data and archived data at the WHOTS website.
We are stationed in the vicinity of mooring 12 and 13 in the Aloha Station to begin intercomparison testing. CTD (conductivity/temperature/depth) casts are conducted on a regular schedule. This data will help align the data from mooring 12 to mooring 13. If CTDs don’t match up between the two moorings then efforts will be made to determine why.
Mooring 13 is being inspected to make sure sensors are working. Photographs have been taken to determine measurement height of the instruments and where the water line is.
When I was aboard the Oscar Dyson, there were multiple studies going on besides the Walleye Pollock survey. The same is true on the Hi’ialakai. The focus is on the mooring deployment and recovery but there are a professor and graduate student from North Carolina State University who are investigating aerosol fluxes.
Professor Nicholas Meskhidze earned his first Physics degree from Tbilisi State University (Georgia). He completed his PhD at Georgia Institute of Technology (USA). He is now an Associate Professor at NC State University Department of Marine Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.
Meskhidze’s study on this cruise is looking at sea spray aerosol abundance in marine boundary layer and quantifying their flux values. Sea spray is formed from breaking waves. Sea spray analysis begins by collecting the aerosol. Using electrical current, particles of a given size (for example 100 nanometer (nm)) are selected for. This size represents the typical size of environmental climatically important particles (70-124 nm). The next step is to remove all other particles typically found in the marine boundary layer, such as ammonium sulfate, black carbon, mineral dust and any organics. The remaining particles are sea salt.
Dr. Nicholas Meskhidze with the sea spray analysis equipment
Meskhidze is looking at the fluxes of the salt aerosols. Sea salt aerosols are interesting. If a salt aerosol is placed in 80% humidity, it doubles in size. But then placed in 90% humidity, it quadruples in size. Due to their unique properties, sea salt aerosols can have considerable effect on atmospheric turbidity and cloud properties.
Aerosols are key components of our climate but little is known about them. Climate models are used to predict future climatic change, but how can one do this without understanding a key component (aerosols)?
Source: IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, Summary for Policy Makers
Personal Log
The galley (ship’s kitchen) is a happening place three times a day. The stewards are responsible for feeding 30-40 people.
Chief Steward Gary Allen is permanently assigned to the Hi’ialakai. He has worked for NOAA for 42 years and he has stories to tell. He grew up in Tallahassee, Florida and his early work was at his father’s BBQ stand. He attended Southern University on a football scholarship and majored in food nutrition. After an injury, he finished school at Florida A & M. He worked for a few years in the hotel food industry, working his way up to executive chef. Eventually he was offered the sous chef job at Brennan’s in New Orleans. He turned it down to go to sea.
Chief Steward Allen Gary
In 1971, he sailed for the first time with NOAA. The chief steward was a very good mentor and Gary decided to make cooking at sea his career. He took a little hiatus but was back with NOAA in 1975, where he would spend 18 years aboard the Discoverer and would become chief steward in 1984. He would sail on several other ships before finding his way to the Hi’ialakai in 2004.
In the 42 years at sea, Gary has seen many changes. Early in his career, he would only be able to call home from ports perhaps every 30 days. Now communication allows us to stay in contact more. He is married to his wife of 43 years and they raised 3 daughters in Seattle.
I asked him what he enjoys the most about being at sea. He has loved seeing new places that others don’t get to see. He has been everywhere, the arctic to Antarctica. He enjoys the serenity of being at sea. He loves cooking for all the great people he meets.
I met Ava Speights aboard the Oscar Dyson in 2013 when she was the chief steward and I was participating in the walleye pollock survey as a Teacher at Sea. She has been with NOAA for 10 years.
Ava Speights (on the right) and me
She and a friend decided to become seamen. Ava began working in a shipyard painting ships. In 2007, she became a GVA (general vessel assistant) and was asked to sail to the Bahamas for 2 weeks as the cook. This shifted her career pathway and through NOAA cooking classes and on the job training, she has worked her way up to chief steward.
She is not assigned to a specific ship. She augments, meaning she travels between ships as needed. She works 6 months of the year, which allows her to spend time with her 2 daughters, 1 son, 2 stepdaughters and 4 grandchildren. Her husband is an engineer with NOAA. Her niece is an AB (able bodied seaman) on deck. Her son is a chief cook for Seafarer’s. And her daughter who just graduated high school will be attending Seafarer’s International Union to become a baker. Sailing must run in her family.
She loves to cook and understands that food comforts people. She likes providing that comfort. She has also enjoyed traveling the world from Africa to Belgium.
2nd Cook Nick Anderson
Nick is 2nd cook and this is his first cruise with NOAA. He attended cooking school in California and cooked for the Coast Guard for 6 years where he had on the job training. In 2014, he studied at the Culinary Institute of America and from there arrived on the Hi’ialakai. He also is an augmenter, so he travels from ship to ship as Ava does.
Did You Know?
The Hi’ialakai positioned mooring 13 in an area with a 6 mile radius known as the Aloha Station. Check out all of the research that takes place here at Station Aloha. There is a cabled observatory 4800 meters below the ocean surface. A hydrophone picks up on sounds and produces a seismograph. Check the results for the night the anchor was dropped.
Seismograph during Mooring Deployment
Click here to hear whales who pass through this area in February.
NOAA Teacher at Sea Tom Savage On Board NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow June 10 – 19, 2015
Mission: Cetacean and Turtle Research Geographic area of Cruise: North Atlantic Date: June 11, 2015
Weather Data from the Bridge
Air temperature: 15 C
Wind speed: 22 knots
Wind direction: coming from south-east
Relative humidity: 95%
Barometer: 1010 millibars
Personal Log
My first day at sea began at the bow of the ship searching for Sei and Beaked Whales. What a privilege it is to wake up and walk to the front of a research vessel to start your work day. The early morning hours were ideal for sighting whales as we experienced sunny skies and calm seas. The weather conditions deteriorated into the afternoon and made sightings very challenging. To accurately record the distance from the ship to the marine animals, the observer needs to see the visual horizon. This wind speed also increased during the day causing the ship to move in all directions impacting our accuracy.
Using the “Big Eyes”
Preparing for a complex research mission is not easy and takes months of planning. Due to the complexity of this mission, we were delayed three days to ensure that all scientific equipment and gear was properly working. During this delay, the mission’s chief scientist, Dr. Danielle Cholewiak, has been exceptional in welcoming me. I took her advice and stayed in Falmouth, Massachusetts, which is near Woods Hole. Woods Hole is home to NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center. Woods Hole is a village in the town of Falmouth with a strong science contingent including Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute which are private research institutions not directly affiliated with NOAA.
During this time, I had the privilege of meeting other scientists who are participating on this mission, Mike and Lorenzo. Mike will be collecting data on sea birds and Lorenzo is an acoustics (sound) specialist from Scotland.
Everyone on board NOAA’s research vessel Henry B. Bigelow has been exceptionally welcoming and nice which made my transition to life at sea smooth.
The food on board the ship is amazing; my Teacher at Sea colleagues were correct.
Science and Technology Log
Although visual whale sightings were difficult today, this did not prevent the scientists from using other technologies to detect the animals. Today, a Sonobouy was deployed for the purpose of detecting a “call” from Sei Whales. Like a human voice, whales produce sounds for communication. Each species of whale has unique vocalizations with distinctive frequency range and timing characteristics, and the sonobouy is used to detect these sounds and to track their location. The sonobouy contains a single omni-directional hydrophone, particle motion sensors and a magnetic compass.
Preparing the Sonobouy
This device is deployed from stern of the ship. The sonobuoy is configured to drift at a depth of 90 feet and send back acoustic signals to the vessel by VHF radio, where the data are processed using computer software. The hydrophone is connected to the sonobouy by 90 feet of thin wire. This technology is relatively new in detecting whales for NOAA, but have been used extensively by the Navy for locating submarines. Today, the sonobouy did detect sounds from Sei whales (called “downsweeps”). The acoustics team plan on launching another sonobouy tonight and depending on this outcome will determine our travel plans for tomorrow.
NOAA Teacher at Sea Dieuwertje “DJ” Kast Aboard NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow May 19 – June 3, 2015
Mission: Ecosystem Monitoring Survey
Geographical area of cruise: East Coast
Date: May 31, 2015
NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow
“National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ship Henry B. Bigelow is the second of five new fisheries survey ships to be built by NOAA. The ship is named after Henry Bryant Bigelow (1879-1967), a Harvard-educated zoologist whose work helped lay the scholarly foundation for oceanography as a scientific discipline. He was an internationally known expert on the Gulf of Maine and its sea life, and on the world’s jellyfish, corals, and fishes” (NOAA NEFSC).
Henry B. Bigelow and the WHOI Mascot goat Buck. Photo by: NEFSC NOAA
Legacy of the name:
Henry B. Bigelow (1879–1967) was an American oceanographer and marine biologist. Bigelow described numerous new species to science, 110 of which are recognized today according to the World Register of Marine Species. In addition, some 26 species and two genera (Bigelowina, stomatopods in family Nannosquillidae, and Bigelowiella, protists in family Chlorarachniophyte) are named after him. The Henry Bryant Bigelow Medal in Oceanography is awarded by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Research Institute to honor “those who make significant inquiries into the phenomena of the sea”. Bigelow was the first recipient of the medal in 1960. He was honored by the naming of NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow.
Mission of the ship:
“NOAA ship Henry B. Bigelow will support NOAA’s mission to protect, restore, and manage the use of living marine, coastal, and ocean resources through ecosystem-based management. Its primary objective will be to study, monitor, and collect data on a wide range of sea life and ocean conditions, primarily in U.S. waters from Maine to North Carolina. The region includes Georges Bank, one of the world’s best known and most productive marine areas. The region is also home to the nation’s top-valued port, oldest commercial fisheries, and rare large whales and sea turtles. Data are used by a range of scientists who study variation in ocean conditions and sea life in order to better inform the nation’s decisions about both using and sustaining the ocean’s bounty.
“Henry B. Bigelow will also observe weather, sea state, and other environmental conditions, conduct habitat assessments, and survey marine mammal and marine bird populations. Henry B. Bigelow is a state-of-the-art research ship with multiple science mission capabilities. Foremost among these capabilities is the ship’s “quiet” hull, a design feature that minimizes sound made by the ship underwater. This allows scientists to use hydroacoustic methods for surveying marine life, and significantly reduces changes in the natural behavior of animals owing to the ship noise. In addition, the vessel can collect a variety of oceanographic data while marine life surveys are underway, resulting in both richer and more efficiently collected data.” (NOAA NEFSC)
Most of the main deck is reserved for mission functions. The aft working deck provides 145 sq m of open space for fishing and other over-the-side operations, with an additional 33 sq m of deck space at the Side Sampling Station. Space and support connections are provided for a laboratory van on the aft working deck.
Large, easily reconfigurable laboratories are designed to accommodate the varied needs of individual scientific cruises:
Fish/Wet Laboratory 56 sq m (602 sq ft)
Chemistry Laboratory 27 sq m (290 sq ft)
Dry Laboratory 14 sq m (150 sq ft)
Hydrographic Laboratory 9 sq m (96 sq ft)
Scientific Freezer 19 sq m (204 sq ft)
Preservation Alcove 5 sq m (54 sq ft)
Acoustic/Computer Laboratory 46 sq m (495 sq ft)
“Underwater radiated noise has been shown to influence fish behavior, and sonar self-noise can limit the effectiveness of hydroacoustic surveys and other functions. The International Council for Exploration of the Seas (ICES) has established a standard for ships’ underwater radiated noise in order to effectively employ hydroacoustic stock assessment techniques. Henry B. Bigelow has been designed and constructed to meet this ICES noise standard. This reduced noise signature will improve NOAA’s ability to accurately assess fish stocks and to compare standardized data with the international fisheries scientific community. Examples are the propulsion motors, which are specially constructed and balanced to reduce noise and vibration, and the diesel generators, which are mounted on double isolated raft systems. The hull form and highly skewed, five-bladed propeller were carefully designed and tested using U.S. Navy quieting techniques. Pumps, motors, ventilation and piping systems are all designed for low noise, with some critical systems resiliently mounted in the ship. Hull structure is treated in critical areas with special acoustic damping tiles. Airborne noise has been reduced throughout the ship for personnel safety and comfort.” http://www.omao.noaa.gov/publications/bigelow_final.pdf
To summarize that, this ship is so quiet I cannot tell when we are slowing down to 2 knots for bongo or going 11 knots to steam to the next station. It’s amazing.
Bridge:
The bridge is equipped with numerous dedicated systems including:
Hydrographic ES60 SONAR system, and ME70 multibeam system
Dynamic positioning and auto pilot system
X- and S-band Sperry Bridge Master RADARs
Transas ECDIS Navigation system
DGPS receiver
GMDSS communications suite including weather fax, satellite telephone, MF/HF and VHF radios
MTN internet communications system
SCS remote console and master clock display
Doppler speed log and depth sounder
Sperry primary and secondary gyro compass
Nearly all of these systems are solely controlled from the bridge, allowing scientific and operational systems to be totally independent. All scientific and fishing systems can be monitored from the bridge via remote consoles or SCS interfaces.
Layout of the bridge. Photo by DJ Kast
Laura Gibson charting on the navigational chart. Photo by DJ Kast
Depth Profiler. Photo by DJ Kast
Multi-beam bottom sounder. Photo by DJ Kast
Gibson letting me steer the ship. That is fear in my eyes. Photo by Laura Gibson
Starboard steering Console that lets you control the ship while the bongos or CTDs are deployed from the side sampling station. Photo by DJ Kast
Radar with four contacts! Photo by DJ Kast
Electronic Chart Photo by DJ Kast
LT Gibson checking on operations in the bridge. Photo by DJ Kast
Control and status indicator of watertight doors. Photo by DJ Kast
Navigation Light switches. Photo by DJ Kast
Cool Events on the Ship
Care Package Delivery:
The CO’s friend that is “Rowing for Peace” to Turkey. The CO delivered ice cream, ship hats, and a pineapple. Photo by DJ Kast
Emergency Drills:
The Bigelow values safety and to make sure that everyone knows what to do in an emergency they do quiet a few surprise drills to keep everybody on their toes.
Station card with information on where to go for each person during each of the type of drills that occur on the ship. Photo by DJ Kast
The first one was a Fire Drill and an Abandon Ship Drill on Wednesday May 20th, 2015.
Photo of me in a survival suit after the abandon ship drill was announced. Photo by Megan Switzer
Practicing the PLT gun (Pneumatic Line Throwing Gun): This is a gun that is used to help rescue people who have fallen overboard and it is also used to pass lines to other boats. It has a projectile connected to a long line that can travel far distance and connect an overboard victim to the boat.
Here is a video of it being shot:
A picture of me preparing the PLT gun for launch. Photo by Dennis Carey
Photo by Marjorie Foster.
Photo by Marjorie Foster.
Hydrophoning Acoustic Buoys!
While we were on the southern part of Georges Bank, the boat used a Hydrophone and geometry to pick up an Autonomous Multi-Channel Acoustic Recorder (AMAR) mooring in Lydonia Canyon. The ship sent signals to it with the hydrophone and the signals it received back were indications of where to send the boat next.
The application of the Pythagorean Theorem in terms of acoustic sound distances to the buoy to help during retrieval. Oh, the applications of MATH! Photo by DJ Kast
Geoff Shook preparing to send out messages on the hydrophone to not only find it but also cause it to release to the surface since it was hundreds of meters down. Photo by DJ Kast
Successful retrieval of the acoustic buoy. Photo by DJ Kast
The back of the shirt that the crew and chief Scientist Jerry Prezioso gave me. I’m having everyone sign it so that I can hang it up when I get home. Photo by DJ Kast
All of the crew have been absolutely amazing and have definitely made this the trip of a lifetime. Thank you all so much. -DJ
