Tag: interview

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Joshua Gonzalez: Sitting on the Dock of the Bay: August 18, 2025

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Joshua Gonzalez

Aboard NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada

August 11 – August 23, 2025

Mission: Integrated West Coast Pelagics Survey (Leg 4)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Pacific Ocean, California Coast

Today’s Date: August 18, 2025

Weather Data from the Bridge:

Location:  Newport, Oregon

Wind speed: 4.1 kts.

Wave height: 6-7 ft.

Air temp.: 15.5° C (60° F)

Sky: Clear

Science and Technology Log

Today we are heading back out to sea., emphasis on back. We had to make a brief stop back in Newport due to a malfunction with the fog horn.  Since it had been very foggy, it was not safe.  We had to wait in Newport for maintenance.

a view of NOAA Ship Bell M Shimada in port at night. it is low tide, so the hull is not very visible above the dock.
NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada back in Newport.

Therefore, we have not been doing any fishing since my last post.  However, now that it has been repaired we are on our way again.  It will take about 15 hours until we are back at the transects that we need to survey.  We are all very excited to begin fishing again.  In the meantime, in order to learn more about what it takes to be a full time NOAA scientist, I thought it would be a good idea to interview one of the scientists working with me on NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada about his role on this mission.  

Meet Gary Longo – Research Scientist 2 NOAA Southwest:

a man stands for a photo on the deck of NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada. we can see the port of Newport in the background.
Gary Longo in Newport.
  1. Why is your work important?  

My work is important because it helps inform management and stock assessors of population structure within federally managed fisheries, because understanding population structure is critical to effective management.

  1. What do you enjoy most about your work?

My favorite part of my job is getting to the point that you see results from data analysis, because often to get to that point it involves time in the field, collecting samples, extracting DNA in the lab, and preparing libraries for sequencing, analyzing the data, and finally starting to see the picture with the results of all your hard work.

  1. Where do you do most of your work?

Most of my work is done at the Southwest Fisheries Center in La Jolla, California.  However the species: pacific sardine, northern anchovy, lingcod, and various rock fish species, that I focus on in my work are generally distributed in the northeast Pacific.

  1. What tool do you use in your work that you could not live without?

My computer, for running analysis and writing up results.

  1. If you could invent any tool to make your work more efficient and cost was no object, what would it be and why?

An autonomous vehicle that hunted fishes and was non lethal but took tissue samples and sequenced each sample’s genome.

  1. When did you know you wanted to pursue a career in science or an ocean career?

When I was at the Monterey Bay Aquarium I realized that my heart wasn’t into medicine, which I was studying at the time.  I was a member at the aquarium and went there all the time and I thought this is what I want to do.

  1. What part of your job with NOAA did you least expect to be doing?

Extra paperwork. 

  1. How do you help wider audiences to understand and appreciate NOAA science?

I try to explain things that I would want my grandmother to understand.  Generally speaking when I am on hikes or birding I speak with curious people and try to engage with them.

  1. How did you become interested in communicating about science?

I became interested when I became a teacher’s assistant in grad school and an instructor in ichthyology at UC Santa Cruz.

  1. What’s at the top of your recommended reading list for a young person exploring ocean or science career options?

One of my favorites is Song of the Dodo by David Quamman.  That’s a great book about island biogeography and the importance of habitat connectivity

  1. What do you think you would be doing if you were not working for NOAA?

Using my dive masters to share my passion of diving with interested folks.

  1. Do you have any outside hobbies?

I enjoy surfing, birding, hiking, and scuba diving.

Gary and the other scientists working on board NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada have been amazing.  They are all very passionate about their work, and very knowledgeable about everything we are studying on this mission.  It is inspiring to work with people who care so much about their work.

Personal Log

Maybe some of you have heard the expression, “Hurry up and wait.”  I have heard that off and on at various times throughout my life.  This part of our mission has seemed to embody the sentiment behind the expression like few other times I have experienced. 

Getting ready for this mission seemed like a whirlwind with balancing my life at home with my family and trying to prepare mentally and physically for my time on NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada.  Once I was in Newport things slowed down a little while adjusting to life onboard and making our way out to our first transect.  Then business really picked up and everything was full of excitement and energy.  Processing our first catch was a time filled with enough adrenaline to make all of us forget that it was one in the morning. 

Then when the fog horn went out of commission everything came to a proverbial screeching halt.  Hurry up, now wait.  The initial feelings of frustration, restlessness, and even anxiety were pervasive.  There were even temptations to gripe and have a “woe is me” type of attitude.  Unfortunately, in life sometimes we have to deal with setbacks due to circumstances that are beyond our control.

I work through tough or frustrating situations in life by taking a step back to gain some perspective, and remembering that there are things outside of my life that are bigger and more important.  My hope is built on nothing less.  All other ground is sinking sand.  When I put my life in a better perspective, I know there will be brighter days, and the things that were bothering me no longer seem so pressing. 

Heading out to sea again has reinvigorated everyone onboard.  We are chomping at the bit, and I think we are just going to rip it.  Pull back and let the big dog eat.  There is an excitement that is palpable.  Being with people who care deeply about their work is a blessing.  I want to take back as much as I can from this experience to my classroom for my students, but I want to remember that desire to do my work and do it well most of all.  Hopefully, very soon we will be so busy processing catches and recording data that I will be nearly too tired to write, but when I do I’m sure I’ll have lots to say.  Let’s hurry up!

portrait photo of Josh wearing a Teacher at Sea hat and a sweatshirt that says I Survived the Polar Bear Plunge, Bradford Beach, Milwaukee. He stands at the railing, and in the distance we can see the port of Newport.
Heading back out to sea!

Did You Know?

An otolith is a small structure found inside fish which helps them detect sound and keep their balance.  Otoliths grow inside fish throughout their life and can be used to determine their age, almost like a tree, by counting the growth rings.  Pretty cool!

Can you identify this species?

a mola mola swimming on its side at the ocean's surface
Mola Mola, aka. Ocean Sunfish

In my opinion, one of the coolest fish names, mola mola.  They are also referred to as an ocean sunfish.  Mola mola have a jellyfish based diet and can grow to be very large, on average 2200 pounds and six to seven feet wide.  I spotted this one from the flying bridge on our way back to Newport.  I speculate it was a little more than half those sizes.

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Dorothy Holley: It’s ALL Chemistry, August 14, 2025

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Dorothy Holley

Aboard NOAA Ship Pisces

July 31 – August 15, 2025

Blog Post #7

Mission: Northeast Ecosystem Monitoring Survey (EcoMon)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Northwest Atlantic Ocean

Date: August 14, 2025

Weather Data from Bridge:
Latitude: 4025.699
Longitude: 07321.16
Relative Wind speed: 4
Wind Direction: 66
Air Temperature: 23.5
Sea Surface Temperature:
Barometric Pressure: 1011.47
Speed Over Ground: 10.1
Water Conductivity: 4.69
Water Salinity: 31.21

First, Ferdinand asked about Sea Surface Temperature (SST) data the ship is collecting and how to access it. Storm Events, like the Hurricane Dexter and Tropical Storm Erin draw energy from warm ocean waters, which act as their primary fuel source. Warmer waters lead to increased evaporation and provide more latent heat to the storm, allowing it to strengthen. The National Weather Service (NWS) is a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and uses SST data in making forecasts. The data is available publicly here. Thank you for reading and asking good questions!

screenshot from the Windy app. it shows a map of the Atlantic Ocean, including the east coast of the United States, and small lines marking wind direction and speed. the ocean is color coded but the key is not visible.
Images from Windy App

Second, an answer to the math problem on the last BLOG: If each of the engines’ cylinders has a displacement of 51 liters, and the engine has 12 cylinders, so the total displacement of the engine is 612 liters. The displacement from a car engine could fit into the Pisces 204 times.

A woman wearing a pink sweatshirt and purple gloves holds a cable with two hands as it extends over the railing of NOAA Ship Pisces
a woman wearing a floppy hat and life vest stands at the railing near a piece of scientific equipment

Victoria (left) and Rowan (right) wrangle a radiometer

Science at Sea

How do we know that satellite information is valid? The satellites must be calibrated, just like the sensors in all other electronic devices. 

One ongoing project taking place on our NOAA Summer EcoMon cruise is a calibration validation of a NASA PACE satellite measuring plankton. (See more here.) Victoria and Rowan are Biological Oceanographers, studying how light interacts with the ocean. Once a day, when the PACE satellite crosses over our location, they throw out the radiometer, pull it to the surface from different depths, and ensure it is collecting radiation or light data as it sinks to about 1% light transmission.

Victoria and Rowan also test the water with radiometer casts, once per day during satellite overpass. If we are doing a CTD stop, they will use water from the Rosette, but if we aren’t doing a CTD stop they can use water from the flowthrough system in the chem lab sink. This is a special plumbing network that allows seawater from below the ship to be retrieved in the lab spaces. These tests must happen during daylight hours.

The water is filtered out for particulate matter (plankton and other stuff) and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM). These will eventually be used to characterize coloration through a spectrophotometer, although some of it will go directly to NASA. That’s right. They measure the wavelength of water, specifically how the light and color change throughout the water column.

The data are analyzed, triangulated, and compared with data being collected at other places. (Read about another validation team here.) Understanding light saturation might someday help fisheries measure water health in ways that will save money. If areas don’t have plankton, the bottom level of the food chain, then they won’t have higher levels either and fisheries should look elsewhere to fish.  

Dorothy, wearing her Teacher at Sea t-shirt and holding a notebook with a Teacher at Sea sticker on it, stands in a lab room with one hand resting on a spectrometer, smiling for the photo
Dorothy in the Pisces Chem Lab

Another member of the science crew is collecting dissolved oxygen and dissolved inorganic carbon data as we make our planned stops.  It seems like everything is tied to Chemistry in some way!

infographic about ocean acidification. How will changes in ocean chemistry affect marine life? Carbon dioxide plus water plus carbonate ion results in two bicarbonate ions. Consumption of carbonate ions impedes calcification.
NOAA Graphic showing the Chemistry of Ocean Acidification

You do the Math: If we sorted through 1/8 of our last sample from the Bongo nets, and identified 20 krill, how many krill would you estimate to be in the total sample. Then determine abundance if the nets filtered through 5 cubic meters of water. In other words, how many krill would you estimate we would find per cubic meter in this part of the ocean.  Check in the next blog post for both answers.

Career Spotlight: James Walker, Chief Boatswain.

portrait of man wearing a gray shirt and a gray bucket hat. he stands against the wall of a hallway and we can see a hatch door behind him.
Chief Boatswain James Walker

James Walker serves as Chief Boatswain on NOAA Ship Pisces where he manages a 7-person department. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Human Resources from Park University. Having retired from serving 20-years in the Navy and serving as the Upward Bound Activities Coordinator for the University of Tennessee, James joined NOAA 18 years ago.

He is responsible for running the gear for our science experiments – cranes, hydro wrenches, A-frames, net grills, bongo nets, and CTD rosettes – as well as watch, lookout, and security.  Without James and his crew, the experiments could not happen.

He loves playing all sports, especially bowling and baseball. His favorite tool is his computer because it keeps him informed of what is happening on the ship and in the world, but mainly because it keeps him in touch with his family. With his wife and nine children back home in Tennessee (ok, one child escaped to Mississippi), staying in touch is an important task!

photo of a wooden plaque with 25 engraved nameplates. the plaque is titled NOAA Ship Pisces (R 226) Plankowners. A line drawing of NOAA Ship Pisces is mounted toward the top of the plaque, above the nameplates.
Do you see James Walker’s name on the plaque?

Interesting Things: James Walker is also a NOAA Ship Pisces plank owner. That means he is a part of the original crew (since 2009) and has been responsible for establishing the operations. We don’t use that term in the Education-world, but if we did, we would say that Kris Bennet, Heather Earp, Chris Lee, Don Roncska, and Yvette Truman are West Johnston High School plank owners. These five teachers have been at West Johnston since 2003, the first year it was a four-year high school. Plank owners have a way of keeping things even-keeled. I think that every school should have a plank owner plaques!

Personal Log

When I was in high school, my Chemistry teacher Lavonda Ritchie showed me a styrofoam cup that had been sent to the bottom of the ocean and had shrunk. I thought that was the coolest thing ever. But now I have my own styrofoam cup. and bird. and ball. and another cup. I am SOOOOO excited to show my students! Thank you Mrs. Ritchie!!!

stryrofoam birds, decorated with marker to resemble specific species, lines up on a table top.
now shrunken stryrofoam birds, decorated with marker to resemble specific species, lines up on a table top. a plain white unshrunken bird foam sits nearby for comparison.

Before and after…. our styrofoam birdies shrunk! The picture on the left is before they were sent to the bottom of the ocean. The white, undecorated, styrofoam bird on the right is another way to see how big the birds were before the dive. Increased pressure from all the water molecules pushing down on them at the bottom of the ocean decreased the volume of gas trapped in the styrofoam. The cups and cones (below) were also part of the fun experiment!

line of styrofoam cups on a table; the first one is plain and regular size, and the others are decorated and shrunk
three styrofoam cones: the first is white and full size, the other two are decorated and shrunk

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Dorothy Holley: Moving Metal, August 11, 2025

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Dorothy Holley

Aboard NOAA Ship Pisces

July 31 – August 15, 2025

Blog Post #6

Mission: Northeast Ecosystem Monitoring Survey (EcoMon)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Northwest Atlantic Ocean

Date: August 11, 2025

Weather Data from Bridge:
Latitude: 3956.51 N
Longitude: 07043.5 W
Relative Wind speed: 17
Wind Direction: 336
Air Temperature: 23.6
Sea Surface Temperature: 24.965
Barometric Pressure: 1022.81
Speed Over Ground: 9.8
Water Conductivity: 5.326
Water Salinity: 35.03125

close-up of the buoy portion of the drifter; it is a white fiberglass ball covered in stickers and marker decorations
close-up of the buoy portion of the drifter; it is a white and blue fiberglass ball covered in stickers and marker decorations
Dorothy and Miles, wearing life vests, stand near the railing of NOAA Ship Pisces, and together hold up the drifter buoy and its folded up drogue
Dorothy and Miles, wearing life vests, stand at the rail just after deploying the drifting buoy. it is a lovely day, with some sunset colors and only a few clouds
view of the ocean with the drifting buoy perhaps barely visible in the distance

Miles and Dorothy launch the drifter!

First, Janice from NC is asking about the drifters! In my first blog I mentioned the Global Drifter Program. Since 1979 countries have been placing and monitoring drifters around the world to better understand and make better predictions . Amanda, Miles and I launched the last of our drifters yesterday.

Sam Ouertani, CIMAS (UMiami/NOAA) Research Associate, provided the following answers to Janice’s questions:
How long are the drifters collecting information? 
> Drifters typically collect data until the drifter runs aground, the batteries die, or the sensors die. Most drifters are able to collect data for 450 days, however they typically lose their drogue within a year. Without a drogue, data from drifters cannot be used to accurately estimate the surface current velocities, but drifters are still able to measure sea surface temperature and other parameters if equipped with additional sensors. 

Are there cameras on the drifters? 
> Unfortunately, Global Drifter Program drifters don’t have cameras but several programs in NOAA have started to add cameras. The National Data Buoy Center has added cameras to almost 100 buoys. I believe the Arctic Buoy Program has started adding cameras to observe sea ice conditions, but footage is not yet available.

Do they collect data about depth of the ocean? 
>Drifters only collect data at the surface of the ocean; therefore they don’t measure any parameters below the surface, and they do not measure sea floor depth. Another NOAA program, Argo, collects temperature, salinity, and pressure below the ocean surface, but Argo floats do not reach the bottom of the ocean. 

Where’s the deepest part?
>The deepest part of the ocean is the Challenger Deep, 35,876 feet deep or over 6.7 miles deep, located in the Mariana Trench. Humans measured this depth by lowering a rope from a submersible vehicle. 

Thank you Sam for such thorough answers, and thank you Janice for asking! You can find more information about the drifters we launched here.

Second, an answer to the math problem from the last BLOG: On the First Christmas Bird Count, 18,500 individual birds were logged by the 27 participants. On average, 685 birds were seen by each person. That’s a lot of birds! (The numbers 25, 89, and 1990 were not used to solve the problem.) How do you think that number compares to today’s counts?

three men pose for a photo in the engine room. Glen, in the middle, sports a gray NOAA logo hoodie with the number R 226 - NOAA Ship Pisces' hull ID number.
Engineers Drew, Glen, and Eric on NOAA Ship Pisces

Science at Sea: If steel is heavier than water, how does the 1840-metric ton Pisces stay afloat? Her density, that’s how! The total volume of water she displaces (including steel, people, parts, and air) must have less mass than that same volume of saltwater. Saltwater’s density is 1.025 g/mL, that’s more dense than freshwater, making it easier for you to float in the ocean. You might remember the Titanic sank when it hit an iceberg, ripping the hull and allowing water to enter and add more mass to the ship.

I recently was given a tour of Pisces hull space by the fabulous Engineering Department. They literally make everything run.

bright red door to the engine room, with a window showing equipment inside. Signs on the door read: DANGER - High Noise Level. Double Ear Protection Required. DANGER. Eye hazard area. Wear eye protection.
on a wall of the engine room, painted in red above a collection of hanging wrenches, are the words SAFETY FIRST
two fire extinguishers mounted on a railing

Safety is paramount

With ear plugs safely protecting my eardrums, we traveled down into the engine space. Safety is paramount. Fire stations can reach any point on the ship with 2 different hoses. There are 2 or 4 of everything – fire hoses, engines, generators, AC units, proportion motors, you name it – because EVERYTHING needs a backup. There are traditional CO2 fire extinguishers, but I’ve never been to a school that had a CO2 flooding system like the engine room has. Carbon-dioxide (CO2) breaks the oxygen side of the fire triangle by displacing oxygen in the combustion reaction, effectively stopping the reaction. If you were taught to “stop, drop, and roll,” you learned another way to smother the fire. The CO2 flooding system is so powerful that it cannot be used without doing a full body count of the people onboard to make sure no one is in the engine room.

a man stands in the engine room, his right hand resting on an unidentified piece of equipment
Engineer Eric
a man in a blue jumpsuit, with ear protection resting over his shoulder, stands in front of a narrow desk in the engine deck, posing a bit for the photo
Engineer Travis
Dorothy poses for a photo in the middle of an engine room with metal grated floors, many wires, unidentified equipment
Dorothy tours the engine room
oily water separator. close up view of a control panel and a warning plaque that reads: Discharge of Oil Prohibited
Oily water separator

Engineers Eric (left) and Travis (right) show Dorothy how water, electricity, and power are provided

Our first stop was the water maker unit. The water needed for cooking, bathing, and drinking can be distilled from ocean water or processed through reverse osmosis. Both options are available on Pisces. Past the expansion tanks and power distribution units Engineer Eric pointed out the refrigeration system for our Chemistry lab above. We freeze chlorophyll samples taken in one of our CTD projects in an ultra low freezer maintained at -75oC. I was looking at the equipment that was making the freezer work. Air compressors, generators, and motors make the 600-volt electricity on board, step it down to 480 volts for the major machinery, and down even farther to 110 volts for the outlet in my stateroom to charge my cellphone.

Dorothy stands in front of some equipment in the engine room.
Dorothy takes notes during her tour of the engine room

We continued inspecting the machinery that runs Pisces and enables our teams to fulfil our mission. Another piece of equipment that resembles an instrument from our chemistry lab is the centrifuge. It is used to purify the diesel fuel. These pull out the heavier impurities and store water, the lightest part of the mixture, underneath. You might have seen centrifuges at work in the dairy industry. Understanding the science of the engine room helps the science outside the engine room work even better!  

piece of metal equipment
equipment, painted bright blue.
close up view of a computer screen
view down a narrow hallway, lined with reflective tape, in the engine room

Schematic (bottom left) of the 2 generators and 2 propulsion motors (down walkway on right). Water maker unit (top left) and refrigeration system (middle left) .

More information on Pisces: The ship is 206 feet long, is capable of trawling up to 6,000 feet, and can lift 8,000 pounds. She also has a “quiet hull” which helps reduce underwater sound. Maybe that’s why the whales and dolphins get so close?!

view down at metal flooring in the engine room, interspersed with see-through metal grating. we see two sets of legs.
Feel the power!

You do the Math: If each of the engine’s cylinders displacement is 51 liters, and it has 12 cylinders, what is the total displacement of the engine? Compare this with a car engine which holds 2-3 liters.  Check in the next blog post for the answer.

To increase the speed of the ship requires an increase in power, but this is not a directly proportional relationship. Doubling the speed requires the power to be cubed. Engineer Eric described the importance of understanding fuel use on ships, math is money! Large container ships easily spend $300,000 a day on fuel. Saving 1% translates to $30,000 savings.

Decorated styrofoam shapes in a mesh bag on a table
view of the lower portion of the CTD rosette, showing a mesh bag filled with colored styrofoam pieces attached underneath the apparatus

Styrofoam science experiment…. submerged 500 meters…. inverse relationship between pressure and volume predicts the air pockets in the styrofoam will decrease when the pressure is increased. What do you think will happen?

Interesting Things: I am surprised by the ways I have been prepared for life on a boat by classroom life in a public school. At West Johnston High School, in Benson, NC, we have fire drills at least once a month. On a boat, we have safety drills at least once a week. The horn blows a series of long and/or short blasts to let us know if there is a fire, a “MAN OVERBOARD”, or if we need to “ABANDON SHIP!”

Dorothy stands on deck, wearing a fully zipped orange survival suit, holding her arms wide for the photo. the sky and water are bright blue in the background.
a fast rescue boat speeds across the water

Everyone must get into their Gumby suit in less than a minute during an emergency fire drill. The FRB (Fast Reserve Boat) practices the man overboard rescue!

group photo - taken by a camera set up on a table with a timer, we discern from the table in the foreground - of 10 people on the aft deck of NOAA Ship Pisces, seated around a picnic table underneath a canvas shade awning.
The Science team on NOAA Ship Pisces EcoMon Summer 2025

Career Spotlight: Meet NOAA Ship Pisces’ new CO! Commander Sinquefield.

a man in a NOAA Corps uniform stands on the bridge of NOAA Ship Pisces, facing a head, holding an intercom up to his ear and smiling.
Commander Sinquefield, NOAA Ship Pisces

Did you know there was a Change of Command last month? Our new CO brings a wealth of knowledge and a desire to be a good leader. He showed me around the bridge this week and shared some of his background (BTW, the view on the bridge is amazing!). CDR Sinquefield’s command philosophy is to respect yourself, respect your shipmates, and respect your ship. Likewise, take care of yourself, take care of your shipmates, and take care of your ship. He believes in personal communication and fresh air.

The things he likes about being CO? He likes seeing things you just can’t see on shore, the continuity of historical traditions (like the language, for instance the word “starboard,” has had meaning for 1000 years), training, the opportunity to put into action leadership skills that he was taught and learned through leaders he admired, and regulations. OK, regulations might be pushing it, but he did say he had great respect for the loss of life that has prompted many of the regulations in the shipping industry today.

Growing up in Mississippi, he joined the Coast Guard to complete the trifecta of working in cotton fields, chicken plants, and river tugboats. CDR Sinquefield worked on three different ships while in the Coast Guard, hauled more 80-lb batteries up Alaskan mountains to replenish navigation lights than he’d care to remember, and became familiar with NOAA projects that informed fisheries reports on the west coast. He left the Coast Guard as ship assignments became highly competitive as the service was taking older ships offline at a greater rate then they were being replaced.  He left the USCG and he joined NOAA as a civilian, later joining NOAA’s uniformed service, the NOAA Corps.

a hand points to a spot on a map displayed on a computer monitor.
a man in a blue NOAA Corps uniform and black NOAA sweatshirt stands on the bridge. He grasps a metal bar mounted along the ceiling with his right hand and smiles for a photo.
view through one window of the bridge over an outer deck. mounted on or in the window is a cylinder surrounded by a circle.

CO teaches the teacher about maps available for navigation. ENS Howsman (top right) stands watch on the bridge. The center of the circular device (bottom right) spins so fast during cold weather it keeps the area ice free.

CDR Sinquefield was able to earn his commercial shipping license, but doesn’t plan on driving a Mississippi tug boat anytime soon. He stands firm with NOAA’s of 10,000 people, 7 line offices, 15 research and survey ships, and 10 specialized environmental data collecting aircraft. The extraordinary mammals – we’re talking seals and blue whales here – affirm his career choice every. single. day.    

Personal Log

Life on is very different from life on land. We work 12-hour shifts. Everyone gets to walk to work – I take 53 steps (10 of them are down 1 staircase) from my cabin door to the door of the dry lab. I take 19 steps to the mess hall for lunch and dinner. There are 67 steps (up 3 staircases) from my door to the Flying Bridge where I see gulls, Mola mola, a full view of the sun in the day, and a sky load of stars at night. I am there now, working on this Blog post when I am not distracted by nature.

Dorothy takes a selfie from a chair on the deck of NOAA Ship Pisces. She is wearing a pink shirt with the outline of the state of North Carolina and the word "Teacher." Her laptop rests on her knees.
Dorothy “working” on this BLOG on the Flying Bridge

One thing that is the same on a boat is the need to wash clothes (probably more frequently since everything had to fit in a carry-on bag and I needed that fleece sleeping bag just in case!). Here is a picture of the laundry room. The ship has 3 washers, 3 dryers, and all the detergent you need.

Dorothy takes a selfie next to a stack of washing machines
close up view of label on dryer that reads: Clean lint trap after each use.

Dorothy checks out the washer and dryer on board. Detergent is provided. The most important rule when using is to clean out the dryer lint trap before AND after using. Extra Credit if you can tell me why!

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Dorothy Holley: Basking Sharks, Great Shearwaters, and Phronima Amphipods, Oh My! August 9, 2025

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Dorothy Holley

Aboard NOAA Ship Pisces

July 31 – August 15, 2025

Mission: Northeast Ecosystem Monitoring Survey (EcoMon)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Northwest Atlantic Ocean

Date: August 9, 2025

Weather Data from Bridge:
Latitude: 4118.447 N
Longitude: 06649.365 W
Relative Wind speed: 17
Wind Direction: 314
Air Temperature: 18.8
Sea Surface Temperature: 18.979
Barometric Pressure: 1022.28
Speed Over Ground: 8.7
Water Conductivity: 4.348
Water Salinity: 32.04

closer view of a great shearwater in flight, as seen from above. we can make out the dark head, white throat, patterned back. the water is rippled blue and white.
a great shearwater, visible only as a silhouette, swoops low over calm waters reflecting an orange sunset
a great shearwater swoops low over calm blue waters
side view of great shearwater in flight; we can see its white underside well. it flies above calm waters reflecting a blue and pink sunset.

Photos of Great Shearwaters in flight by Cameron Cox, NOAA Seabird and Marine Wildlife Observer

First, A blog-reader texted me to say that it looked like I was having fun! Yes, while NOTHING could be more fun than your birthday party, Teacher-At-Sea is at the top of the list of fun teacher-things to do! I hope that ALL teachers, especially those from North Carolina, will apply to be a NOAA Teacher at Sea as we continue to grow strong STEM ecosystems while helping our communities make informed decisions.  Thanks for reading Elaine!

Second, an answer to last BLOG’s math problem: If 1 knot = 1.15 mph, and the ship is traveling 8 knots, a stop 15 miles away will take us a little over 1 and a half hours (about 1.6 hours) to reach.

a woman sits in an observation chair on the flying bridge
Allison Black, NOAA Seabird and Marine Wildlife Observer

Science at Sea

Animal monitoring is an active part of our floating weather station. A dolphin sighting texted through WhatsApp brings lots of off duty folks up to see. The NOAA Corps on the bridge keep a constant vigil to make sure we don’t hit a whale. But the “Seabird and Marine Mammal Observers” are a functional part of our Science team. They spend their daylight hours on the Flying Bridge scanning the horizon and recording their findings. The species, group size, and photos are catalogued and stored for long term monitoring. This data can be used to estimate bird and mammal abundance in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean now as well as set baseline data through AMAPPS (Atlantic Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species). NOAA Scientists are conducting surveys and developing abundance and distribution models to better understand how protected species such as whales, dolphins, and sea turtles use our waters. (Read more here)

illustration of a NOAA vessel in the ocean; nearby are silhouettes of birds in flight and marine mammals swimming
Diagram of an observer on the flying bridge a NOAA ship looking for seabirds and marine mammals.
Credit: Su Kim, NOAA Fisheries

Career Spotlight

Cameron Cox has been able to turn his love of birdwatching into a career. As a Seabird and Marine Mammal Observer Scientist on NOAA Ship Pisces, he can be found on the Flying Bridge during the daylight hours.

portrait of a man wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses, banana around nectk, sitting at a wooden table on the deck of NOAA Ship Oregon II. a closed laptop and a fancy camera sit on the table.
Cameron Cox, NOAA Seabird and Marine Wildlife Observer

Cameron’s passion for birding kinda snuck up on him. He remembers hiking with a neighborhood friend who had started birdwatching for a hobby. At age 13, Cameron was hooked. Since he was homeschooled, Cameron was able to carve out time to pursue this new interest. He spent his 20’s traveling around the United States looking at birds. He had a 2-thousand-dollar car and 6-thousand dollars worth of optics – binoculars, camera, and spotting scope.  

Cameron explained to me that the long term monitoring projects are hard for Universities and non government organization (NGOs) to fund, which is why our NOAA work is so valuable. The data sets are free and readily available to everyone. Unfortunately, when the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill decimated the Gulf Coast, there wasn’t baseline data available for recovery and accountability. He was able to assist in creating possible baseline data by performing Seabird and Marine Observations off the coast of Florida, a similar ecosystem.

These days, Cameron leads birdwatching tours in what he calls “Environmental Entertainment.” He loves watching others connect with the importance of the natural world, and hopes to help them become conservationists. Cameron has also published two books, Terns of North American: a Photographic Guide, and a Peterson Reference Guide to Seawatching: Eastern Waterbirds in Flight, co-written with Ken Behrens. Writing at the rate of one book a decade, his ongoing projects will ensure he has a long life! This is Cameron’s first time being a Seabird and Marine Mammal observer with NOAA. We hope it is not his last!

the silhouette of a bird banks low above the water, reflecting a firey sunset
Wilson’s Storm Petrel. Photo by Cameron Cox.

Interesting Things: The Seabird and Marine Mammal Scientist Observers onboard are monitoring lots of animals specifically, but there are other animals we are studying or just find in our nets.

top down view of a blue crab resting in a white bucket containing a couple inches of water
a blue crab rests in the corner of a large red bin, filled with a few inches of water

Engineer Drew found this crab in our sea strainers (they strain the water used around the engines). ET Alex named her Crustacina (spelt like crustacean, but pronounced like Cristina). We will keep her on-board until we can get to more shallow waters for release.

NOAA Scientists are collaborating with a group in Miami to study ocean acidification on pteropods’ shells. The phronima amphipod (see video below) inspired the movie alien. They commandeer a salp, eat the flesh, and then lay eggs in the empty pouch.    

Phronima amphipod (left) and salp pouch (right)
For 50 years….. Basking Shark Videoed by ENS Keene-Connole
close-up view of a small fish on a petri dish
microscope set up, with petri dishes and pipettes nearby
a phronima amphipod in a petri dish

A microscope is always ready to check out the latest find!

Personal Log

Have you heard of or participated in the Christmas Bird Count (CBC)? Started in 1900 by 27 dedicated birders, this GOAT Citizen Science Project provides long term data sets that help conservation biologists of all forms study long term bird health and guide conservation actions. The CBC is one example of how good can win (Side Hunt, no link will be provided). Consider joining a Christmas Bird Count this year to learn more about Citizen Science and the importance of long term data sets (see CBC ).

You do the Math: The First Christmas Bird Count was held December 25, 1900. If 18,500 individual birds representing 89 different species were logged by the 27 participants, how many different birds were seen (on average) by each person? Check in the next blog post for the answer.

a line of styrofoam birds - all the same base shape, but decorated with marker to resemble specific species, including a puffin and a cardinal - sitting on a tabletop.
These styrofoam birdies are going to be a science experiment of their own…. stay tuned!