moss – NOAA Teacher at Sea Blog

NOAA TEACHER AT SEA
JASON MOELLER
ONBOARD NOAA SHIP OSCAR DYSON
JUNE 11 – JUNE 30, 2011

NOAA Teacher at Sea: Jason Moeller
Ship: Oscar Dyson
Mission: Walleye Pollock Survey
Geographic Location: Gulf of Alaska
Dates: June 13-14, 2011

Personal Log

Welcome back explorers!

June 13th

Kodiak Dock — A view of the dock as we finally leave!

We are finally underway! The weather cleared up on the 12th, so the rest of our scientific party was finally able to make it in from Anchorage. The scientists did not arrive until later in the day, but at 9:00 in the morning, the Oscar Dyson finally left port in order to run some tests, including a practice cast of the fishing net!

island in harbor — An island in Kodiak Harbor. Kodiak is hidden by the island in this photograph.

Open Ocean — Open ocean, straight ahead!

Net spool — Casting the net was a tricky process that took about 30-45 minutes. (I did not time the process.) The casting started by unhooking the edge of the net from this giant spool. The net was wrapped tightly around this spool when not in use.

net caster — Next, the net was hooked to the mechanism that would lower the net in the water. (The mechanism is the yellow object that looks like an upside-down field goal post)

net hooked up — This is a photo of the net being hooked up to the casting mechanism

net being unwound — Once attached, the mechanism then pulled up on the net to start unwinding the net from the spool. Once the net was properly unwinding, the net was lowered into the water to begin fishing!

Once the tests were completed, we headed back towards the harbor to pick up the rest of the scientists. Once we were all on the vessel, we held a quick briefing on the ship rules. This was followed by a meeting among the scientists where shifts were handed out. I am on the 4 PM to 4 AM shift, also known as the night shift! Hopefully, I will see some northern lights during the few hours that we actually have darkness. After the meeting and a fast guided tour, I went to bed, as I was extremely seasick. Hopefully, that is a temporary issue.

June 14

I woke up to discover that the ship has anchored in a protected cove for the day in order to calibrate the acoustic devices on board that are used for fishing. This is a time consuming but necessary process as we will need the baseline data that the scientists receive by calibrating the device. However, that means that there is not much to do except for eating, sleeping, watching movies (we have over 1,000 aboard) and enjoying the beautiful scenery. As we are in a quiet cove with no waves, I am not currently sick and decided to enjoy the scenery.

cove 1 — The next four images are from the back of the ship. If printed, you can go from left to right and get a panoramic view.

Jellyfish — I know the image is bad, but can you see the white blob in the middle of the water? That is a jellyfish!

Here is a photograph from the side of the boat of a snow-capped mountain. Even though it is summer here, there is still quite a bit of snow.

This is another image off the side of the boat. A waterfall falls off into the ocean.

waterfall 2 — A closer shot of the waterfall. This place is just gorgeous!

Science and Technology

The Science and technology segment of the blog will be written at the start of the Walleye Pollock survey, which should begin in the next day or so.

Species Seen

Jellyfish!

Arctic Tern

Gulls

Reader Question(s) of the Day

I received a few questions from Kaci, who will be a TAS here in September!

1. What is the temperature here?

A. The temperature has been in the mid to upper 40s, so much cooler then back home in Knoxville, Tennessee, where we were getting 90 degree days! It’s actually been pleasant, and I have not been cold so far on this trip.

2. What did you bring?

A. The temperature affected what I brought in terms of clothing. I started with a weeks worth of shorts and t-shirts, which I stuffed in my check in bag, and then two days worth of clothes in my backpack just in case my checked bag didn’t get it. Our other TAS, Tammy, got stuck here with only the clothes on her back, so a backup set of clothes was necessary. In addition, I have several pairs of jeans, 2-3 sweatshirts, a heavy coat, and under armor to round out the clothing. The under armor and heavy coat have been great, it’s why I haven’t been cold. I also packed all of my toiletries (though I forgot shampoo and had to buy it here.

In terms of electronics, I have my iPod, computer, and my wife’s camera with me. (A special shout out to Olivia is in order here, thanks for letting me use the camera! I am being VERY careful with it!). I have a lot of batteries for the camera, which I have needed since I’ve already gone through a pair!

Just for fun, I brought my hockey goalie glove and ball to use in working out. We have weight rooms aboard the ship, which I will definitely need since the food is fantastic!

I hope that answers those questions, and I will answer more in the next post!

NOAA TEACHER AT SEA
JASON MOELLER
ONBOARD NOAA SHIP OSCAR DYSON
JUNE 11 – JUNE 30, 2011

NOAA Teacher at Sea: Jason Moeller
Ship: Oscar Dyson
Mission: Walleye Pollock Survey
Geographic Location: Gulf of Alaska
Date: June 12th, 2011

Personal Log

Welcome back explorers!

Once again, I woke up this morning to a thick, heavy fog and drizzling rain that enveloped Kodiak like a wet, soggy blanket. While Tammy, who will be the other Teacher at Sea with me, was able to make it into Kodiak, the majority of our science party is still stuck in Anchorage, trying to get aboard a flight. Even though Tammy was able to make it in, her suitcase and clothes did not follow suit, and she was forced to make a Wal-mart run. The result of the weather has been a delay on the cruise, and we hope to set sail for equipment trials tomorrow.

As usual, I had a great day regardless of the rain. I started by helping our steward (cook) stock up on supplies for the ship’s galley. For 40 people on a 19 day cruise, we have $25,000 worth of food stashed away on board. It takes quite a bit of money to stock up a ship!

A river to the ocean — This is a photo of the river I explored weaving its way to the ocean.

After helping shop for the fresh produce, I had the rest of the day off, so I turned to my favorite Kodiak past time, and decided to embark on another bear photo hunt. In addition to bears, I was also on the lookout for salmon (I do not count eating salmon as seeing it) and bald eagles, both of which should be common. Today’s location was the same river that I explored on my first day, but I was much further south. My starting point was where the river met the ocean, and then I walked inland. I will let the photos and captions talk from this point on.

The Beach — I turned left to explore the beach first. It is a black sand beach, the first I have ever seen.

The Beach pic 2 — This photo is of the same beach, and better shows the fog cover we had today.

Waterfall 1 — While walking down the beach, I noticed a freshwater stream coming out of the woods and winding down to the ocean. I ducked under a pine tree at the edge of the beach and saw this waterfall.

Waterfall 3 — The same waterfall, falling away towards the ocean.

Bald Eagle — After I left the waterfall, I continued to walk down the beach, and just happened to look up at the right moment to capture this bald eagle, high above the trees. They are so common here that the eagles are jokingly called roaches of the north.

2 eagles — I saw a total of 8 bald eagles, including this pair in the trees. The fog makes them a bit difficult to pick out.

River 1 — After exploring the beach, I headed upstream to look for salmon and bears. This is what the river looked like by the ocean.

The path by the river was difficult, if it was there at all. Most of the time, I just trudged my way through it. There was not a dry spot on me by the time I finished the hike. It was worth it though.

Marsh — For the first half mile, the river was in a marshland, which the photo shows accurately. However, the marshland quickly gave way to pine forests, which can be seen in the next image.

River in the woods — The river running through the woods.

A photo of the woods running alongside of the river.

Lichen — In the end, I didn't see any bears or salmon in the river, and the vegetation became too thick to go on without a trail. As I was leaving, however, to head back to the ocean and catch my ride home, I ran across this piece of white lichen which contrasted with the darkened woods surrounding it. For me, the photo was worth the trip.

Science and Technology Log

The Science and Technology log will begin at the start of the Walleye Pollock survey.

Species Seen

Bald Eagles!!!

Arctic Tern

Gulls

Magpie

Reader Question(s) of the Day!

Reader questions of the day will start at the beginning of the Walleye Pollock survey! At the moment, I have not received any questions yet, so please send them in! I can take questions at jmoeller@knoxville-zoo.org.

Tag: moss

Jason Moeller: June 13-14, 2011

Jason Moeller: June 12, 2011