Geographic Area of Cruise: Northeastern Coast of U.S.
Date: June 1, 2018
Weather From Bridge
Latitude: 41° 25.4′ N Longitude: 068° 16.3′ W Sea Wave Height: 1-2 ft Wind Speed: 16 kts Wind Direction: SE Visibility: Hz Air Temperature: 12.5°C Sky: OVC
Science and Technology Log
After completing a southern route past Long Island, New Jersey and Delaware, the HenryB. Bigelow headed north to the Gulf of Maine (GOM). The first sampling stations in GOM were located on the continental shelf close to the slope. After sampling in the Northeast Channel of the GOM, stations will be dispersed throughout the Gulf of Maine. Phytoplankton is continuously imaged through the Imaging Flow Cyto Bot and collection is going well. Below is a recent image taken. Can you find Thallasonemia or Ceratium?
Image of Phytoplankton taken by IFCB
At various stations instead of towing bongo nets with a CTD attached, a CTD, Rosette, is deployed with niskin bottles. CTD contain sensors that measure Conductivity (salinity), Temperature and Depth. The data gathered provides profiles of chemical and physical parameters of the ocean.
CTD on bottom of instrument with 12 Niskin bottles forming a rosette.
CTD, commonly known as Rosette. Note the rosette shape at top of bottles
The great feature of the rosette is its ability to collect water using Niskin bottles as hydrographic instruments. Opened bottles are lowered into the ocean and at the desired depth a bottle is closed and brought to the surface without mixing with other water so pure samples can be taken at different depths. Back on board, water is taken from the Niskin bottles and nutrient, chlorophyll and carbon dioxide tests are run on the samples.
Susan taking water samples from niskin bottles to perform chlorophyll tests at 3 different depths.Chlorophyll extraction set up
Georges Bank is in the southern part of the Gulf of Maine. The bank separates the Gulf of Maine from the Atlantic Ocean. It is a huge shoal that is 100 meters higher than the surrounding ocean floor and is a very productive area of the continental shelf. The mingling of the Labrador current from the north and the Gulf stream on the eastern edge plus sunlight in shallow waters, creates an ideal environment for phytoplankton and zooplankton. Once a bountiful fishery, it is presently recovering from over fishing. Federal Fishery regulations aim to ensure recovery of the area and future sustainability. The data samples collected will give a good idea of the recovery of this area. The pink line below shows the route taken by our ship in the southern Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank.
When we were near the Northeast Channel in the Gulf of Maine, Latitude 41° 53.2′ N and Longitude 65°47.0′ W, I deployed a satellite-tracked Drifter Buoy decorated with our school name May River Sharks. The drifter buoy will send GPS and temperature data to a NOAA website and students will be able to track its path. This area was chosen to deploy because the Labrador current from the north meets with the Gulf Stream and hopefully the buoy will get caught up in one of the currents. It will be fun for students to track the buoy path in the fall. Wonder where it will go???
Susan decorating Buoy- May River High School Sharks
Buoy READY
Buoy Released
Buoy splashing into waterOh where, oh where, will you go?
Personal Log:
So far this trip the weather has been great. Seas have been calm and temperatures good. I have fallen into a nice routine each day. My shift concludes at midnight; I go to bed till 9:00AM; work out; shower and get ready for next 12 hour shift. I eat lunch and dinner each day and a midnight snack. The days are long but never boring. The crew aboard the Henry B Bigelow is awesome. Internet is sporadic but I was able to face-time with my daughter. Technology is a big part of this whole operation. All the programs collecting temperature, salinity and phytoplankton rely on computer programs to run. Second to the chef, the IT person is invaluable. They are trouble shooting problems all day to make sure the collection of data is working. During the longer steams from station to station, I have the opportunity to talk to crew and other scientists. Each person is excited about science. I have never been involved in real science research and I find each day to be fascinating. There is so much time and effort put into collecting the samples. This cruise will collect samples from over 100 stations that will be analyzed and supply much data to give a good picture of the state of our Northeast coastline waters and fisheries.
Today was the last day of school for the year for May River High School. Graduation is Tuesday and my thoughts will be with everyone. Congratulations to all my students, especially the seniors.
Geographic Area of Cruise: Pacific Ocean; U.S. West Coast
Date: June 25, 2017
Weather Data from the Bridge
Date: June 25, 2017 Wind Speed: 22 kts
Time: 4:00 p.m. Latitude: 5026.55N
Temperature: 14.3oC Longitude: 12808.11W
Science and Technology Log
Although the scientists have not performed any fishing trawls since departing San Diego, there is a survey crew on board that has continuously been monitoring the water column for a variety of factors using acoustics and an instrument called a Conductivity/Temp/Depth (CTD) probe.
Last night I was able to observe the launch and retrieval of a small, handheld CTD probe. It looks very much like a 2 ft torpedo. The electronics and sensors built into the probe measure such factors as salinity, sound speed, depth, and water temperature. This smaller probe is launched off the tail of the boat and let out on a line of filament from a reel that appears very similar to a typical fishing reel. It does not take more than a couple of minutes for the probe to sink to a depth of about 300 meters. Data is collected from the probe at various depths on the way down. Once the probe has reached its target depth, it is simple reeled back in using a winch to retrieve it. This requires quite a bit of energy as the probe is deployed with enough line for it to end up about 3 miles behind the ship. The data from this probe is then blue-toothed to the program used by those monitoring the water column acoustically. It help the techs make corrections in their acoustical readings.
Surveyor Jian Liu and scientist Juan Zwolinski deploy the smaller CTD probe off the stern of NOAA Ship Reuben Lasker
The Reuben Lasker also carries a larger version of the CTD probe with the additional capabilities such as water collection at various depths. However, this version requires the ship to be stationary. Taking measurements with the unit slows down the work of the day as each stop takes about 30 minutes from launch until retrieval. The launch of the larger CTD can be seen below.
CTD launch
CTD surfaces after test
CTD being landed back on deck
CTD Probe in steel protected basket
The data from the CDT probe is recorded real-time on the survey team’s computers. Below you can see how this data presents itself on their video screens.
Several variables plotted against temperature (x-axis) and depth (y-axis)
Key for CTD Data: Temperature is in red, Salinity in blue, Fluorescence in green
On the left video display you can see that there are several variables that are plotted against a depth vs. temperature. The green line tracks fluorescence (a measure of the chlorophyll concentration); the light blue line tracks dissolved oxygen; the red line represents temperature; the blue line is for salinity.
Extension question for my students reading this: What correlations or relationships do you see happening as you observe the change in variables relative to changes in depth?
Route of NOAA Ship Reuben Lasker
Here is the route taken by the Reuben Lasker during the past 24 hours or so. As you can see from the chart, the ship has now reached the northern-most end of Vancouver Island. This is where the CDT recordings, marine mammal watching, deployment of two sets of plankton nets (to be explained later) and fish trawling will begin along the predetermined transect lines.
Note at the base of the screen the other parameters that are continuously recorded as the ship moves from place to place.
Personal Log
The action on-board is increasing dramatically today. We have arrived at our outermost destination today, along the northernmost coast of Vancouver Island. The sights from the bridge are amazing…all this blue water and rugged, pine covered coastline. I am still waiting for that orca whale sighting!
The waves are up today but I’m holding my own. Yeay! Especially as the night fishing will begin in a few hours.
Unique activity of the day – I just finished a load of laundry! The ship possesses 3 small washer/dryer units so we can redo our towels and whatever else we have used up during the course of this first week. How serviceable can you get! I’ll retrieve mine as soon as dinner is over. We have set meal hours and if you miss…it’s leftovers for you! Best part of this is I am actually ready to eat a normal meal, even with the ship rocking the way it is today.
I have now been assigned deck boots and a heavy duty set of rain gear to cover up with when the fish sorting begins. I can’t wait to see what all we pull up from these nutrient rich waters!
Did You Know?
Much of the data collected by the CTD and acoustic equipment from the Reuben Lasker is entered into a large data set managed by CalCOFI (California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigation). Anyone interested in utilizing and analyzing this data can access it via the organization’s website located here. There is an incredible amount of information regarding the work and research completed by this group found on this site. Check it out!
Mission: Sea Scallop Survey Geographic Area of Cruise: Northeast Atlantic Ocean Date: June 14, 2017
Weather Data from the Bridge Latitude: 41 31.54 N
Longitude: 70 40.49 W
Wind Speed 10 Knots (11.5 mph)
Air Temp 20.2 C (68.4 Fahrenheit)
Science and Technology Log
Contrary to the popular Rolling Stones song “Time is on my Side,” time is not on our side while we are taking survey of the scallop population in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean. This survey has been meticulously planned for months leading up to the actually event. There is no time budgeted to sit at a dredge station longer than you have to.
The Nobeltec Cruise Track for the 2nd and 3rd legs of the 2017 Scallop Survey. You can see this survey has covered 1000’s of nautical miles, and stopped at over 100 dredge stations.
For seven days our noon to midnight science crew has been working at a blistering pace to dredge the ocean floor or take pictures with the underwater camera, HabCam. We are on a tight schedule, and in a twelve hour period we are able to work through 10 dredge stations. There has been little down time, and because some of the dredge stations are so close together, there is no time to be unproductive while we are at a station. Because of this, there are often stations where we simply are not able to individually count all the organisms we collect. There are many situations where our crew must use the method of subsampling.
For you in the Midwest, imagine you wanted to know how many dandelions were in your yard. Now if you are anything like me, you have way too many to count. If you went to count them all individually, it would literally take you all day if not more. It is just not time efficient to do such a thing. But if we took a population sample of some random areas in the yard, we could come up with an answer of how many dandelions were in the yard, and get a very close answer to actually counting them individually.
A similar example I can give you is with a recent dredge catch that was full of sand dollars. In one of our massive dredge catches composed of about 99.5% sand dollars, I completed an estimate sand dollars in a similar manner. I filled 2 liter pail full of sand dollars. My count for that pail was 188 sand dollars per 2 liters. In this catch we had 46 baskets each with a volume of 46 liters. So at 94 sand dollars per liter with there being 2,116 liters total, you can estimate there are about 198,904 sand dollars in that dredge catch.
A dredge catch that was almost 100% sand dollars. These sand dollars are dripping with a green algae and cover our buckets and wet gear in a green coating.
We are faced with similar tasks while sorting through the dredge. When we face those situations, we turn to the method of sampling, and we take a representative sample of our catch. At most stations we are taking count of sea stars, crabs, waved whelks, all fish, and scallops. When we collect the dredge, most of the time it would not be time efficient to totally count up all the sea stars, so we turn to subsampling.
Here’s how subsampling works. Once we have sorted our dredge catch into various pails, we count up our specimens. For sea stars however we always take a subsample. To do that our watch-chief takes a scoop full of whatever is in our discard pails, and she does this randomly. She puts the random sample in a 4.5 liter pail. From here, she can begin to estimate the number of sea stars in our dredge catch. For example, if she goes through the 4.5 liter pail and finds six sea stars, and she knows there are four 46 liter pails of discard from the dredge, with a little math work she can figure out how many stars are in the dredge. If there are four 46 liter pails of discard, then there is a total of 186 liters of discard. She knows from her random sample that there are 6 sea stars per 4.5 liters which would come out to 1.3 sea stars per liter. By multiplying that number by 186, you can determine that an expanded estimate for the sea stars in the dredge collection would be 242 sea stars.
An example of our discard baskets from our dredge catches. This catch was sea star heavy, and this shows it would have taken too much time to count each sea star individually. Since many sea stars are predators of scallops, a count needs to be recorded.
We also use this method when we have a large catch of scallops. When we have an overly large scallop catch on the dredge, we are not able to count and measure every single scallop from the catch. In these cases we use a representative amount. In one case we caught 24 baskets of scallops, each basket able to hold 46 liters. If we were to measure all of those scallops we would be at that station far too long to move onto the next dredge. When we caught enough scallops to fill 24 baskets, we used 3 baskets of scallops as a representative amount. All of the scallops in the 3 baskets were measured for their shell height. We would then take a mean average from these scallops to represent the 21 other baskets. We are also able to estimate the number of scallops in the 24 baskets the same way I estimated the number of sand dollars in a dredge catch.
A large catch of scallops from one of our dredge stations. In this case a representative sample of shell heights was taken.
Representative samples and population estimations through sampling are valuable tools that scientists use to collect a lot of data in a more efficient amount of time. From this data, mathematical models and predictions are developed. By implementing these methods, we are able to get more data from more locations.
Personal Log
It has been 9 days since I arrived in Woods Hole, Massachusetts to be a part of this journey. As I shared in my last blog, it is hard to be away from home, but many of the people here are gone more than 100 days per year. There is one thing that makes that time away easier….eating! Here on the Hugh R. Sharp, I would imagine I’ve put on some extra pounds. Most days I feel like a cow grazing. There are so many snacks on board, that it is so easy just to walk by the galley and grab a mini candy bar, chips, pop, or ice cream. I have discovered there is no better candy bar than a Baby Ruth. On top of the snacks and sweets, the cook, Paul, cooks up some mean dinners. Though I miss my wife’s home cooking, Paul’s cooking is a good substitute.
Lots of candy and snacks and some good dinners is probably leading to some extra poundage! There are two drawers always full of candy, and a freezer always full of ice cream. Pictured on the left is the ship’s cook, Paul.
Outside of eating, there is not much recreational time on the ship. I do try to get up a couple hours before our shift begins to just enjoy being out on the ocean. I haven’t been able to make myself get up yet for sunrise at 5:05 AM. After working a twelve hour shift sorting dredge catches, there’s not much you want to do but sleep. Sleeping on the boat has been good. Probably some of the deepest sleep I’ve had since our kids were born. I’ve gotten used to the motion of the boat, the sound of waves hitting the bow, and the boat stabilizers which sound like a giant snoring. I’m a sleep walker, so that was a concern coming in that I would find myself on deck, sleep walking. But I’m sleeping so sound, I don’t think it’s possible. However I did warn my roommates to stop me if they saw me up in the middle of the night.
Part B of the survey has started, and with that most of my crew got off the ship, and I will have a new crew starting today. It was a great group of people to work with.
Part A of the survey the day crew from left to right: Crew chief Nicole, myself, Dylan, Sue, and Nancy. Then the night crew of Lauren, John, Jill, Han, and crew chief Mike.
Did You Know?
Living in Illinois, there are not many times where knowing your parts of a ship come in handy. However, as I have been living on the Hugh R. Sharp for over a week now I have picked up some terms. I did not know many of these coming on, so this is a “Did you know?” moment for me.
Front of the ship: bow
Back of the ship: stern
Moving to the front of the ship: forward
Moving to the back of the ship: aft
The left of this picture is port, and the right is starboard. It took me awhile to figure out what our turn would be like if we were making a turn to starboard.
If you were on the bow, your left would be the: port
If you were on the bow, your right would be the: starboard
Fathom: 6 feet
A heading of zero: North, a heading of 90: East, a heading of 180: South, a heading of 270: West
Heading to a location quickly: steam
Kitchen (where I constantly graze in between dredge stations): galley
Location of the ship’s navigational equipment is: bridge
Bathrooms: the head
NOAA Teacher at Sea Dana Chu On Board NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada May 13 – 22, 2016
Mission: Applied California Current Ecosystem Studies (ACCESS) is a working partnership between Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary, Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, and Point Blue Conservation Science to survey the oceanographic conditions that influence and drive the availability of prey species (i.e., krill) to predators (i.e., marine mammals and sea birds).
Geographic area of cruise: Greater Farallones, Cordell Bank, and Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuaries
Date: Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Weather Data from the Bridge Clear skies, light winds at 0600 increased to 18 knots at 0900, 6-8 feet swells
Science and Technology Log
Ahoy from the Bell Shimada! Today, I will explain three of the tools that are deployed from the side deck to obtain samples of the water and the ocean’s prey species.
First off we have the Harmful Algal Bloom Net, also known as the HAB Net, which is basically a 10-inch opening with a 39-inch fine mesh netting attached to a closed end canister. The HAB net is deployed manually by hand to the depth of 30 feet three consecutive times to obtain a water sample. The top fourth of the water collected is decanted and the remaining water (approximately 80ml) is transferred to a bottle which is then sealed and labeled with the location (latitude, longitude), date, time, vertical or horizontal position, and any particular comments. The samples will eventually be mailed off to California Department of Health Services lab for analysis for harmful toxins from algae that can affect shellfish consumers.
Next we have the hoop net, which is pretty much similar in design to the HAB net, except for a larger opening diameter of 3 feet (think hula hoop) and a net length of nine feet. The net tapers off into a closed container with open slits on the sides to allow for water drainage. The purpose of the hoop net to collect organisms that are found at the various depth levels of the deployment. The hoop net is attached to a cable held by the winch. The hoop net is lowered at a specific angle which when calculated with the speed of the vessel equates to a certain depth. The survey crew reports the wire angle sighting throughout the deployment.
Every time the hoop net is brought back up there is a sense of anticipation at what we will find once the canister is open. Coloring is a good indicator. Purple usually indicates a high concentration of doliolids, while a darker color may indicate a significant amount of krill. Phytoplankton usually have a brownish coloring. Many of the hoop net collections from today and yesterday include doliolids and colonial salps, neither are very nutrient dense. Yesterday we also found pyrosomes, which are transparent organisms that resemble a sea cucumber with little bumps and soft thorns along their body. The smallest pyrosome we came upon was two and a half inches with the largest over six inches long. A few small fish of less than one inch in length also showed up sporadically in these collections as well.
The Scientific team is looking for the presence of krill in the samples obtained. The Euphausia pacifica is one of the many species of krill found in these waters. Many tiny krill were found in the various hoop net deployments. On the last hoop net deployment for today and yesterday, larger sized krill of approximately 1 inch) were found. This is good news because krill is the dominant food source for marine mammals such as whales. Ideally it would be even better if the larger krill appeared more frequently in the hoop net samples.
Finally, we have the Tucker Trawl, which is the largest and most complex of the three nets discussed in today’s post. The Tucker Trawl consists of three separate nets, one for sampling at each depth: the top, middle, and bottom of the water column. Like the hoop net, the tucker trawl nets also have a canister with open slits along the side covered with mesh to allow water to drain. All three nets are mounted on the same frame attached to a wire cable held by the winch. As the Tucker Trawl is towed only one net is open at a time for a specific length of time. The net is closed by dropping a weight down along the tow. Once the weight reaches the net opening, it triggers the net to shut and sends a vibration signal up the cable line back to the surface which can be felt by the scientist holding the cable. The net is then towed at the next depth for ten minutes. Once the last net tow has been completed, the Tucker Trawl is brought back up to surface. Similar to the hoop net, the survey tech reads the wire angle throughout the deployment to determine the angle the cable needs to be at in order for the net to reach a certain depth. This is where all the Geometry comes in handy!
As mentioned already, with three nets, the Tucker Trawl yields three separate collections of the nutrients found within the top, middle and bottom of the water column. Once the nets are retrieved, each collection container is poured into a different bucket or tub, and then into a sieve before making it into a collection bottle. If there is a large quantity collected, a subsample is used to fill up a maximum of two bottles before the remainder is discarded back into the ocean. Once the samples are processed, an outside label is attached to the bottle and an interior label is dropped inside the bottle, formalin is added to preserve the sample organisms collected so that they can be analyzed later back in the lab.
Personal Log
It is so good to finally get my sea legs! I am glad I can be of use and actively participate. Cooperative teamwork is essential to getting everything to flow smoothly and on time. The Bell Shimada’s deck crew and NOAA team work hand in hand with the scientists to deploy and retrieve the various instruments and devices.
In the past two days I am getting a lot of hands on experience with deploying the HAB net to assisting with processing samples from the HOOP Net and Tucker Trawl. It’s always exciting to see what we might have collected. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the week may bring. I wonder what interesting finds we will get with the midnight Tucker Trawl samples.
Lesson Learned: Neatness and accuracy are imperative when labeling samples! Pre-planning and preparing labels ahead of time helps streamline the process once the samples are in hand.
Word of the Day:Thermocline – This is the depth range where the temperature of the water drops steeply. The region above the thermocline has nutrient depleted waters and while the region below has nutrient rich waters.
NOAA Teacher at Sea Melissa George Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson July 22 – August 9, 2013
Mission: Pollock Survey Geographical Area of Cruise: Gulf of Alaska Date: Thursday, July 25, 2013
Current Data From Today’s Cruise
Weather Data from the Bridge (at 6:00 am Alaska Daylight Time) Sky Condition: Fog
Temperature: 12° C
Wind Speed: 11 knots
Barometric Pressure: 1017.5 mb
Humidity: 87%
Sun and Moon Data
Sunrise: 5:51 am
Sunset: 10:40 pm
Moonrise: 10:57 pm (July 24, 2013)
Moonset: 10:37 am
Geographic Coordinates (at 6:00 am Alaska Daylight Time)
How can you determine the population size of species? You could count every member of the population. This would be the most accurate method, but what if the individuals in the population move around a lot? What if the population is enormous and requires too much time to count each individual? For example, krill is a small crustacean (usually between 1 and 6 cm long) that accounts for 400-500 million metric tons of biomass in the world’s oceans. Would you want to count all of the krill in the Gulf of Alaska?
Krill (and a Few Capelin)
Often, ocean populations of animals are just too large to count. Sampling, or collecting a manageable subset of the population and using the information gathered from it to make inferences about the entire population, is a technique that ocean scientists use. There are a variety of ways to sample.
One method is called mark and recapture. In this method, one catches individuals from the population, tags them, and releases them in a certain area. After a set amount of time, an attempt is made to recapture individuals. Data are compiled from the recaptures and the population is mathematically calculated. Tuna populations in some areas are monitored this way; fishermen are required to report any fish that are recaptured. (Photo courtesy of Western Fishboat Owners’ Association)
Tuna with Tag Locations
Another method is quadrat sampling. The organisms in a subset area (quadrat) are counted and then the overall population in the entire area is calculated. For example, in the picture below, one quadrat would be randomly selected and the organisms counted. From this count the overall population would be extrapolated. (Photo courtesy of BBC Bitesize Biology)
Quadrat Sampling
The sampling method used on the Oscar Dyson employs the use of a transect line. The picture below illustrates the use of a transect line. On various increments along the transect line, samples of populations are taken. Imagine the Oscar Dyson’s path on the sea as the measuring tape and the trawl net is the sampling square. (Photo courtesy of Census of Marine Life Organization)
Transect Line Sampling
The overall survey area of the pollock study this summer is the northern Gulf of Alaska between the shore and the continental break. Within this area transect lines were established. These are pathways that the Oscar Dyson will travel along and periodically take samples of the fish.
The current set of transects are 25 nautical miles apart and are parallel, but transects in other areas may be 2 or 5 nautical miles apart. One nautical mile is equal to 1/60 of a degree (or 1 minute ) of latitude. Transects that we are following now are located on the shelf and are perpendicular to the coastline. Transects in inlets and bays may run differently, perhaps even zigzag.
Screen Shot of Oscar Dyson Transect Line Travel
If fish are located through acoustics monitoring off the transect line, the ship might break transect (a mark is made on the map), circle around to the desirable position, and collect a sample by trawling. The population of pollock can then be mathematically calculated from counting the sample. After trawling, the ship will return to the break and continue along the transect line.
Most days, scientists hope that the Oscar Dyson will finish a transect line by nightfall and then the ship can be at the next transect by sunrise. This maximizes the time for detecting fish acoustically and trawling to collect samples.
Personal Log:
In his 1943 paper “A Theory of Human Motivation,” Abraham Maslow, a developmental psychologist, proposed a hierarchy of needs which focus on describing the stages of growth in humans. The largest, most fundamental needs are at the bottom, and as those are satisfied, individuals are able to progress up the pyramid. So, I am going to use this diagram (somewhat tongue-in-cheek) to discuss how basic needs are met on the ship. In today’s blog, I will begin the discussion at the bottom level (where else?).
A Version of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
The bottom layer includes the most basic physiological needs one requires for survival: food, water, warmth, and rest. (We might also include exercise in this level). So, let us begin at the beginning.
Food
Food is available in the galley. It is planned for and shopped for before the mission. Chief Steward, Ava, and Second Cook, Adam, do an excellent job preparing and executing delicious, healthy meals at set times during the day (Breakfast: 7 to 8 am, Lunch 11 am to noon, Dinner 5 to 6 pm). Since the staff on the ship are working around the clock, there is always food available (salad bar, cereal, yogurt, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches) if meal time is missed for sleeping. Below is a photo of the galley. (What are those neon yellow things on the bottom of the chair legs for, do you think?)
Oscar Dyson Galley
Water
Water is needed for in several capacities on the ship. The staff on the ship needs potable water to drink and to cook with. Additionally, water is needed for washing dishes, bathing, flushing toilets and doing laundry.
To get clean drinking water, we pump the salt water from the ocean into a desalination unit (a distiller). The distilled water is then sent to a 10,000 gallon holding tank. When water is needed, it is pressurized so that it will move to the faucets, drinking fountains, showers, and so on.
Water is also needed on the ship in the lab and on the deck to clean up after the catch is hauled in and processed. The water used here is salt water and is pumped onto the boat directly from the ocean.
Rest
Half of the staff on the ship is working around the clock; the other half is resting. For the science staff, there are two shifts, a morning shift (4 am to 4 pm) and an evening shift (4 pm to 4 am). The shifts are staggered at these hours so that the evening shift will be able to share two meals with the rest of the staff (usually lunch and dinner). In most cases, two people share a stateroom: one works days and the other works nights. Because the quarters are close on a ship, this gives each person some time alone in the room to sleep, bathe, and take care of other personal needs. A stateroom consists of a bunk bed, a desk, two lockers, and a bathroom/shower. Below are some photos of the stateroom that I share with my roommate, Abby. (Note: Because rooms are small and space is shared, it is not advisable to bring a large purple suitcase that won’t fit inside one’s locker.)
Oscar Dyson StateroomOscar Dyson Stateroom Bath
Exercise
There are two workout areas on the ship. One workout area has a treadmill, an elliptical machine, a bike, and a yoga mat; the other has a treadmill, a rowing machine, and some free weights. There are limited walking spaces on the ship, so these machines provide a way to stretch one’s legs, so to speak.
Oscar Dyson’s Exercise Room
Did you Know?
With a bachelor’s degree in science, math, or engineering and a 6 month training program at the US Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT, one can serve the United States as a member of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Commissioned Officer Corps (NOAA Corps). Members of the NOAA Corps serve as operational experts, taking researchers to sea and helping to generate environmental intelligence. My roommate, Abby, serves as a member of the NOAA Corps.
Abby Controlling the Oscar Dyson
This is Abby’s second cruise with the NOAA Corps. She has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and just completed her NOAA officer basic training. One of her tasks is to be ready to deploy specific measures in case of a fire on board. Below, she is reviewing all of the locations on the Oscar Dyson with fire response equipment. For more information on NOAA Corps, click on the link.
Abby Locating Fire Response Equipment
Something to Think About
Knowing geography is essential to various positions on the ships such as scientific exploration and navigation. Many types of maps are seen on board, for example, computer generated bathymetric maps show the contour and depth of the ocean. Equally valuable are the “old school” tools (paper maps, compasses, straight edges, and pencils) used to plot the ship’s course.
Navigation ToolsPlotting Transects
Fun Fact
Etymology is the study of the origin of words. Many of the words in science originate from ancient languages such as Greek or Latin. For example, the word etymology comes to us from two Greek words: etymon meaning “the true sense of a word“ combined with logia meaning “doctrine, study.” Combining these two roots gives us “the study of the true sense of words,” which can be said to be the meaning of the word etymology.
Here are some root words I came across today all originating from Greek words:
zoo-from zoion meaning “animal”
phyto-from phyto meaning “plant”
plankton-from planktos meaning “drifting” or “wandering”
vorous-from vorous meaning “eating”
In the blogs thus far, I have discussed two species: walleye pollock and one of their prey, krill. Krill are classified as zooplankton, literally “animals that drift. ” Krill eat phytoplankton, or “animals that drift.” Pollock are considered to be zooplanktivorous, or “drifting animal eaters.” An award winning short video explaining The Secret Life of Plankton can be viewed by clicking on the link.
