The trawling net is used to collect groundfish samples. It is deployed from the stern of the ship and towed for 30 minutes. The net is towed back in and brought onboard to be emptied. During this process it is important that everyone at the stern of the ship is wearing a hard hat and a personal flotation device in the unlikely event that something goes wrong. Once the net is lifted over the side of the ship and brought on deck, it is untied and emptied into large baskets.
Hauling the trawling net back onboard.
The baskets are weighed before they are brought inside and emptied onto a large conveyor belt. The fish are spread out on the belt so they are easier to sort. The fish are sorted into individual baskets by species. Once all of the fish are sorted, we count them and find their total weight. We then work through each basket and measure, weigh, and identify the sex of each specimen. Once we are done measuring the fish, some are bagged, labeled and frozen for scientists to examine back at their labs. The rest of the fish are thrown back into the ocean.
Alex & Reggie emptying the net into baskets.
We found many different species of vertebrates and invertebrates (fish with a spine, and those without a spine). Here are some of the fish we found:
It is important to document the length and weight of each fish collected in a trawl. We used special measuring boards and scales to collect this data. There are two boards, each is connected to one computer. When we measure the fish, we use a magnetic wand. When it touches the board, it sends a signal to the computer which records the length of the fish. Fish are measure at one of three lengths: fork length, standard length, and total length. Once the fish are measured, they are placed on a scale to be weighed. The scale is also connected to the computer and records the weight of the fish.
ScaleMeasuring BoardsFork length is measured from the inside of the tail of the fish.Standard length is measure from the base of the tail of the fish.Total length is measured from the tip of tail of the fish.
Personal Log
Day 12 – July 16th
Today is my last day at sea before we dock in Pascagoula,Mississippi. It has been quite a journey and I can’t believe it is already over. Though the work was hard and hot (and many times smelly), it was an amazing experience and I hope to one day have the opportunity to experience it again! I have met many wonderful people and hope to keep in touch with them! I have learned so much about our oceans and the life within them. I hope that my blogs have given you a glimpse into what life onboard the Oregon II is like and I hope that you have learned something about the work that takes place on the open seas.
Map of our Survey
Although this is my last day on the Oregon II, keep an eye out for one final blog. There will be interviews with the crew of the Oregon II, what their job is, why they chose this line of work, the steps they took to become a crew member of the Oregon II, and words of advice for students everywhere!
Weather Details from Bridge: (at 19:45 GMT)
Air Temperature: 29.90 ◦C
Water Temperature: 29.40 ◦C
Relative Humidity: 64%
Wind Speed: 3.56 kts
Barometric Pressure: 1,014.90 mb
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Science and Technology Log
The CTD
Deploying the CTD
This device is the first to be deployed at every sampling station. CTD stands for *Conductivity *Temperature *Depth. The salinity (the amount of salt in the water) is measured by looking at the conductivity. Salt has ions. Ions are like little electrical charges that are either positively charged or negatively charged. By measuring how many electrical charges (ionic charges) there are in the salt, we can measure how conductive the water is which will also tell us how much salt is in the water. This data is measured by the CTD and is transmitted by an electrical pulse. The depth is measured by the amount of pressure being pressed upon the device as it is lowered into the water. The temperature is measured by a temperature gauge. All of the data collection devices are attached to a large metal rosette wheel.
The J-Frame
The frame is lowered into the water using a thick cable that is attached to a J-Frame (a large yellow arm that can be raised and lowered.) The cable runs through a pulley attached to the J-Frame to make sure the deployment of the CTD runs smoothly.
The CTD also measures dissolved oxygen levels (the amount of oxygen in the water). There is also a fluorometer which measures the amount of chlorophyll (phytoplankton activity) in the water.
As soon as the CTD is released into the water it begins collecting data. Data is collected continuously as it is lowered toward the ocean bottom. The data is sent through a very thin wire that transmits the data to one of the computers in the dry lab where it is documented for later analysis.
Here I am collecting water samples from the CTD.
The CTD has three water collection Niskin bottles (large grey cylinders). Niskins are named after Shale Niskin who developed this bottle. Water collections using the Niskins are controlled by a computer in the dry lab. One click on a computer and the CTD will automatically snap shut the bottles. Older versions that were not controlled by computers had heavy metal messengers that were lowered down a string toward the collection bottle. When the messenger reached the top of the bottle, it would hit a trigger and snap the bottle shut.
Water collection does not occur at every sampling station, but when it is planned, the water is collected at the bottom. This is because we are focusing on the bottom of the ocean during this survey. We want to test the water at this depth to better understand the environment in which the organisms we are collecting live in and make predictions as to how human and nonhuman influences may harm this benthic (bottom) community. The water can be used for several different tests, but we use it to test the dissolved oxygen levels of the water.
Measuring dissolved oxygen levels is important because if it is extremely low — called “hypoxia” (2 mg/L or lower) — animals fail to survive. If dissolved oxygen is not present (0 mg/L) it is called “anoxia”. Hypoxic or anoxic areas are frequently referred to as “dead zones”.
Digitally measuring dissolved oxygen levels
Although the CTD has a digital device that measures the dissolved oxygen (DO) levels, we manually test the water for DO once a day to make sure that the CTD is calibrated correctly and that there are no malfunctions that need to be fixed. There are two different ways we manually test the water. One is by using a hand-held dissolved oxygen meter. This meter digitally calculates the dissolved oxygen levels. We lower this meter directly into one of the Niskins.
We also collect water samples from each of the three Niskins in glass beakers. We use these samples to run what’s called a Winkler’s tritration test. This is a chemical-based test that tells us how much dissolved oxygen is in the water.It is important to run so many different tests because if we only used one method, we couldn’t know if it was accurate or not. By running three different tests, we can compare the results from all three. If the result from one test comes up differently than the others, we know that test was not accurate but the other two tests were.
After the CTD is brought back up on deck, it is important to rinse it off with fresh water. This is because the salt from the ocean can damage the equipment and corrode (eat away at) the metal. Once a day we also run Triton-X (a type of soap) through the hoses of the CTD to keep the sensors clean and salt-free.
Personal Log
Day 5 – July 9th
Today was a bit slower because our sampling sites were father apart than they were on previous days. We continued collecting and preserving plankton, but trawling is the most exciting because you get to see so many different species. We conducted only one trawl today and it was a very small catch. It didn’t take long to collect all of the data we needed before we were back to waiting for our next plankton collection site. We had some interesting fish in our trawl including a small bat fish, a couple of starfish, several sea urchins, and a honeycomb moray eel. The highlight of my shift was during our last plankton trawling. It was around 21:00 (or 9:00 pm) so it was pitch black out with the only light coming from the ship and the stars. We started seeing a lot of flying fish jumping out of the water. We soon realized it was because a pod of spotted dolphin had found them. It was fun watching them jump and fly though the water to catch the fish. The group also had a couple young dolphins that stuck close to their mothers. I’d seen dolphins before, mostly in captivity or ones too far away from a boat to see clearly, so it was really neat to see them so close up!
Day 6 – July 10th
Today started out great. I woke up to get ready for my shift by heading down to the mess for lunch. It was one of my favorite meals – Mexican! When I read about other teacher’s experiences on NOAA ships and how great the food was I now understand what they were talking about! There is so much yummy food at all of the meals that it is frequently hard to decide what NOT to eat! And there is so much food available at each meal that you’ll never go hungry! I always end up walking away stuffed!
Stormy Seas
The weather was great up until the sun set. We were stuck in quite the thunderstorm. When there are storms with lightning in the area, no one is allowed out on deck for safety reasons.
We had to postpone a couple of our sampling stations until the storm passed over us, so we tried our best to keep ourselves occupied until the storm passed. Our internet went down for length of time, so we were left with books, movies, or just some relaxation time.
By the time the storm had passed, we had only one sampling station to complete before it was time for the next watch team to switch in.
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Day 7 – July 11th
Storms on the horizon
The first thing I noticed today was the panoramic view of large cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds – those are the clouds that produce thunderstorms. We managed to steer clear of them, but they certainly made some pretty skies.
We had a couple trawling stations which was great because it is always fun to discover and examine more species. While the trawls were small, we had some cool finds including a frogfish, a butterfly fish, and a black-nose shark.
Holding a frogfishHolding a black-nose shark
A highlight from today was the full rainbow that graced our skies after dinner. I can’t recall ever seeing a full rainbow before so it was really cool to see one!
Rainbow across the bow of the Oregon II
Did You Know?
Our CTD weighs about 200 pounds. On its current settings it can be deployed to a depth of up to 5,000 meters, but if we adjusted the settings it could go as far down as 10,000 meters! With all of the attachments and the steel cage, our CTD costs roughly around $100,000 to purchase. That’s why we have to handle it with care!
I know many of you may have never been on a ship before and are probably curious to know what it is like to be aboard the Oregon II. I’m going to take you on a little virtual tour, but first you will need to know some common terms that are used to refer to certain areas on the ship.
Ship Term
What It Means
Bow
The front of the ship.
Stern
The back of the ship.
Starboard
The right side of the ship when facing the bow.
Port
The left side of the ship when facing the bow.
Forward
The direction towards the bow of the ship.
Aft
The direction towards the stern of the ship.
Bridge
The location of the command center for the ship.
Galley
The kitchen.
Mess Hall
The dining area.
Head
The bathroom.
Stateroom
Where crew members sleep.
On Deck
The Bow
At the bow of the ship is where most of the scientific collection equipment is deployed/released. The CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth), the neuston net, and the bongo nets. (I will talk about each one of these in upcoming blogs.) There are several large cranes that help lift these up off the deck and swing them over the edge of the ship to be released into the water. When you are at the bow and the cranes are running, it is very important to keep yourself safe. Everyone who is at the bow when the cranes are operating is required to wear a hard hat and a PFD (personal floatation device). You never know if a cable will snap or the wind will swing the equipment towards you. There is a sensor on the PFD that is activated when large amounts of saltwater touches it, like if you were to fall overboard. Once salt water touches the sensor, the PFD will inflate and keep you afloat until you can be rescued.
Oregon II Bow
The Stern
At the stern is where the samples from the neuston cod end and the bongo cod ends are collected and preserved in jars for scientists to examine at a lab. This is also where the large trawling net is deployed. The scientists spend most of their time at this part of the ship.
Stern of the Oregon II
What Makes the Ship Sail?
Bridge
The bridge is where the officers of the Oregon II work. It is located toward the bow of the ship. The bridge has all of the navigation tools necessary to steer the ship to the next sampling station. There is also a lot of weather equipment that is monitored and recorded throughout the day. The bridge is where you’ll find the best views of the ocean because it is almost completely surrounded by windows and it’s higher than any other room on the ship.
At the HelmBridge
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Chart Room
This room is where all of the maps are stored. While there are more technologically advanced methods used for navigation on the ship located in the bridge, it is important to have physical maps on hand to refer to, especially if the instruments stop working for any reason.
Chart Room
Engine Room
Before we untied our ship from the dock I received a full tour of the engine room. This is where the heart of the ship is. Everything in the engine room powers the ship. Our water is even purified down here using reverse osmosis (passing water through a membrane to filter the water). Because of this machine, we can filter salt water into fresh water to use on the ship.
Reverse Osmosis Machine
It was great to venture down to the engine room before we set sail because I was told that it can get up to 110 degrees when the engines are running! It is a large space, but it feels small because of the large equipment. There are two of everything, which is especially important if something needs repair. Below is a picture of the two engines. The other is a picture of one of the generators.
EngineGenerator
Living on a Ship Stateroom
My stateroom is compact, but its main purpose is for sleeping so size isn’t really an issue. There is a bunk bed, a sink with a mirror, latching drawers for clothes, and a hide-away desk. There is also a compact tv that is attached to the bottom of the top bunk and folds up when it is not in use. I only use the room to sleep and get ready for my shift because my bunkmate works the opposite watch shift as mine (midnight to noon), and I want to be the least disruptive as possible. After 12 hours shifts, sleep is really needed and helps reenergize you in time for the next watch.
Stateroom BunksStateroom
The Head
The head is the same as a bathroom. On the Oregon II there are private and communal heads. The private heads are for the officers and are typically connected to their staterooms. The communal heads are open for any crew member to use. There are also communal showers for the crew to use. All of the toilets use salt water that is pumped onboard. The reason fresh water is not used is because it is a precious source on the ship and is not readily available from the ship’s surroundings. The sinks, showers, drinking fountains, and ice machines all use fresh water. Fresh water on the ship should never be wasted. Water for the sinks is timed so that there will never be a faucet that is accidentally left on. Showers are to be kept to a maximum of 10 minutes, though it is encouraged that they be even shorter.
HeadsShower
Galley and Mess Hall
This is one of my favorite places. The galley is where our ship’s cooks prepare all of the wonderful food for the crew. The mess hall is where we all eat during meal times. During meal times it can be quite crowded in the mess hall as there are only 12 available seats and over 30 crew members onboard who are ready to eat. There is an “eat it and beat it” policy to help ensure that everyone who comes down to eat will be able to find a spot. Despite this, it is still a great way to converse with the crew and talk about events from the day before giving up your set to another hungry crew member.
GalleyMess Hall
Crew Lounge
This is the place where crew members who have some down time can gather and socialize, though down time can be rare. There is satellite tv, a couple of computers, and hundreds of movies to choose from. Some available movies haven’t even been released onto DVD for the common household yet, but they are available to the military. They do this because not everyone has access to current movies when they are away from home for extended periods of time. All of the DVDs are encrypted and can ONLY work on the machines aboard the ship. I was excited to find a copy of The Hunger Games and I plan on trying to watch it before my trip is over.
Lounge 1Lounge 2
Labs on the Oregon II
The Wet Lab
The Wet Lab is where all of the samples from the groundfish trawls are sorted, counted, measured, weighed, and sexed (gender identified). Buckets filled with animals from the nets are dumped onto a large conveyor belt and spread out to make sorting the different species out into individual baskets easier. Everything in the wet lab can get wet except the sensors connected to the machines. We need to be cautious around the sensors when we are cleaning up after a sampling so as not to get water in them.
Wet Lab
The Dry Lab
The Dry Lab is where all of the computers are located that record all of the data from the samplings. As the name of this lab states, everything in it is dry. Water should never come into contact with the equipment in here because it can seriously damage it. In between samplings, this is typically where the scientists gather to wait for arrival at the next sampling station.
Dry Lab
The Chem Lab
This is where all of the plankton samples are stored. It is also where water samples taken from the CTD are tested for dissolved oxygen (DO). The CTD does have its own DO sensor, but it is always best to test something more than once to ensure you are collecting accurate data.
Chem Lab
Personal Log
Day 1 – July 5th
I arrived in Gulfport/Biloxi, Mississippi late in the afternoon of July 5th. The chief scientist, Brittany Palm, met me at the airport and drove me over to the Port of Pascagoula where the Oregon II was docked. We met up with two college volunteers, Kayla and Andrew, and got a quick tour of the ship (the air conditioning was out!) before we headed over to a wonderful local barbecue restaurant. We returned after dark and were welcomed with a fixed AC! I unpacked my belongs into my latched drawers and made up my bunk bed up so that everything would be in place when I was ready to hit the sack. It took a couple of nights for me to get use to the sounds of the ship, but now I hardly notice them.
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Day 2 – July 6th
When I woke up the next morning, I decided to venture out into downtown Pascagoula which was only a 5 minute walk away from the ship. It is a quaint area with little shops and restaurants. I met up with the two volunteers and we picked a business that had the best of both worlds, a restaurant and a shop, to have a wonderful breakfast. We had to be back on the ship by 12:30 for a welcome meeting, but we took some time to snap a few pictures of our floating home for the next 12 days. We were underway shortly after 2 pm (1400 hours in military time). It was fun to watch our ship depart from the dock and enjoy the light breeze. It wasn’t long until we had another meeting, this time with the deck crew. We learned about the safety rules of working on deck and discussed its importance. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and getting my sea legs. The gentle rocking does require you to step carefully, especially when you have to step through the water tight doors!
Day 3 – July 7th
Our first day out at sea was slow to start. We didn’t reach our first sampling station until early in the morning on the 7th, even though we left the Oregon II’s port in Pascagoula mid-afternoon on the 6th. I was sound asleep when we arrived because my shift runs noon to midnight every day, so my first sampling experience didn’t happen until almost 24 hours after we set sail. This was nice because it gave me time to explore the ship and meet some of the crew.
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Right after lunch I got to jump right in and help finish bagging, labeling, and cleaning up the wet lab for the team that was just finishing up their shift. After we had finished it was time to conduct my first plankton sampling. We went out on deck at the bow of the ship to prepare the CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth) device for deployment/release. After the CTD was released and brought back on deck, we deployed the neuston net to collect species samples from that same station. (I’ll explain the importance of this type of net in a later blog.) Once the collection time was complete, the neuston net was brought back on deck where we detached the cod end and placed it into a large bucket. Cod ends are plastic cylindrical attachments with screened holes to let water run through but keep living things inside during collection. The neuston cod end’s screens have 0.947mm sized openings. We then deployed the bongo nets to collect samples of even smaller species like plankton. (I will describe the purpose of the bongo nets in a later blog.) When the nets were brought back on deck, we detached the cod ends from the two bongo nets and placed those into buckets as well. The screens on the cod ends for the bongo net are even smaller than the neuston’s at only 0.333mm. When all of the nets were rinsed to make sure nothing was still stuck to the inside of the nets, we brought the buckets back to the stern of the ship to further rinse the samples and place them into jars for further examination by scientists.
Day 4 – July 8th
Holding a blowfish collected from a trawling
Today was a lot of fun because I completed my first groundfish trawl. The net for this trawl is located at the stern of the ship. When the net was brought back up on deck, it was emptied into a large box. There was quite the commotion when the fish were emptied out of the net. Not only were the fish flopping around like crazy and splattering water everywhere, their scales flew everywhere and it looked like shiny confetti! Anyone who was in a 6 foot radius was bound to be covered in scales. By the end of the day I thought I was part mermaid with the amount of scales that had stuck to me!
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There were so many fish in one of our trawls that we had to use large shovels to place the fish into more manageable sized baskets. The baskets were brought inside the wet lab to be sorted, weighed, measured, and labeled.
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The coolest animals I saw today were sea urchins, a sharpnose shark, and a blowfish. It was also fun to observe the different crab species, so long as I kept my fingers away from their claws!
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Question of the Day
There is only one right answer to this question. ? You’ll be able to find it at one of the links I placed in my blog. Can you find the answer?
NOAA Teacher at Sea Andrea Schmuttermair Aboard NOAA Ship Oregon II June 22 – July 3
Mission: Groundfish Survey Geographical area of cruise: Gulf of Mexico Date: June 26, 2012
Ship Data from the Bridge: Latitude: 2805.26N
Longitude: 9234.19W
Speed: 10mph
Wind Speed: 5.86 knots
Wind Direction: E/SE
Surface Water Salinity: 35.867 PPT
Air Temperature: 28.8 C
Relative Humidity: 86%
Barometric Pressure: 1010.51 mb
Water Depth: 96.5 m
Science and Technology Log
Sunrise on the Oregon II
Opisthonema oglinum, Lagadon rhomboides, Chloroscombus chrysurus…..yes, I have officially started dreaming about taxonomic names of our fish. It’s day 4 and I now have a much better grasp at identifying the variety of critters we pull up in our trawls. I am always excited to be out on deck when they bring up the trawl to see what interesting critters we catch. Surprises are great!
Do you want to know where the Oregon II is headed?
If you click on the link above, you can see the path that our ship is taking to hit all of our stations for the survey. We often have station after station to hit- meaning as soon as we are done sorting and measuring, we have to bring in the next catch. Because some stations are only 3-5 miles apart, we sometimes have to do “double dips”, where we put in the trawl for 30 minutes, pull it up, and put it right back in again.
It’s been interesting to note the variety of our catches. Croakers, bumperfish, and shrimp have been in high abundance the last 2 days as we were in shallower water. Before that we had a couple of catches that had a high abundance of pinfish. When we take our subsample, we typically enter data for up to 20 of that particular species. We take length measurements on each fish, and on every fifth fish. We will also weigh and sex it (if sexing is possible).
A comparison of the various sizes of shrimp we pull up from our trawls.A relatively small catch in comparison to the 200+ we’ve been pulling up recently.
When we were in shallower waters, we had a significant increase in the number of shrimp we brought up. Tuesday morning was the first catch that did not have well over 200 shrimp (this is because we’ve been moving into deeper waters). For the 3 commercial shrimp, white (farfantepenaeussetiferus), pink (farfantepenaeusduorarum), and brown (farfantepenaeusaztecus), we take 200 samples, as opposed to our high-quantity fish, where we will only take 20 samples. For each of the commercial shrimp we catch, we measure, weigh and sex each shrimp. I’ve gotten very good at identifying the sex of shrimp- some of the fish are much more difficult to tell. The information we get from this survey will determine the amount of shrimp that boats can take during the shrimping season in Louisiana and Mississippi. During the first leg of the groundfish survey, the data collected determined the amount of shrimp that could be caught in Texas. The groundfish survey is crucial for the shrimping industry and for ensuring that shrimp are not overfished.
Students- think of the food chain. What would happen if we overfished and took out too many shrimp? (Hint: Think of predators and prey.)
The trawl net at sunrise
We’ve now started doing 2 different tows in addition to our trawls. Some of the stations are trawl stations, whereas others are plankton stations.
Alex, Alonzo and Reggie unloading the trawl net.
At a trawl station, we lower the trawl from the stern down to the ocean floor. The trawl net is meant for catching larger critters that live at the bottom of the ocean. There is a chain, also known as a “tickler”, which moves lightly across the ocean floor to lure fish to leave their hiding spots and swim into our net. The trawl is down for 30 minutes, after which it is brought back on deck to weigh the total catch, and then brought back into the wet lab for sorting.
Another important mission of the groundfish survey is to collect plankton samples. To do this, we use a Neuston tow and a bongo tow.
The Neuston tow about to pick up a lot of Sargassum- oh no!
The Neuston tow has a large, rectangular frame with a fine mesh net attached to it. At the end of the net is a large cylindrical bucket, called a codend, with a mesh screen meant for catching the organisms. In comparison to the trawl net, which has openings of 41.4mm , the Neuston’s mesh is only 0.947mm. This means the mesh is significantly finer, meant for catching some of the smaller critters and plankton that would otherwise escape the trawl net. The Neuston tow is put on the surface of the water and towed for 10 minutes. Half the tow is in the water while half is out. We end up picking up a lot of Sargassum, or, seaweed, that is found floating at the water’s surface. When we gather a lot of Sargassum, we have to sift through it and spray it to get out any of the organisms that like to hide in their protective paradise.
The bongo tow on deck waiting to be sent down to about 3m from the ocean floor.
After we’ve completed the Neuston tow, we do the bongo tow. The bongo’s mesh is even finer than the Neuston tow’s mesh at only 0.333mm. The bongo has 2 parts- a left and a right bongo (and yes they do look a little like bongo drums- hence their name). The top part of the bongo is a large cylinder with an open bottom and top. The net is attached to this cylinder, and again at the bottom of each side is cylindrical tube called codends meant to catch the plankton. The bongo tow is meant to take a sample from the entire water column. This means that instead of riding on the surface of the water, it gets sent down to about 3 meters from the ocean floor (there is a sensor at the top that is 2m from the bottom of the net) and brought back up immediately.
The remnants from our Neuston tow. This is the sieve we use to weed out what we want and don’t want.Here are our 2 samples from the bongo tow. The left one is preserved in ethanol and the right is preserved in formaldehyde (10% formalin and sea water)Here is a sample from the Neuston tow. Carefully camouflaged are thousands of crab megalops, aka juvenille crabs.
For both tows, it is important to rinse the nets to get any lasting organisms we might not see with our own eyes into our sample. Once we’ve done this, we bring the tubes back into the wet lab where we continue to rinse them through a sieve so that only certain items are leftover. In the Neuston, we often find small fish (usually less than 3mm), baby shrimp, crabs and Jessica’s favorite, the Sargassum fish. Most recently a few flying fish got caught in our Neuston tow. Prior to pulling it up, I was enjoying watching them flit across the water- they were about all we could see in the water in the middle of the night. After being rinsed thoroughly through the sieve, we preserve them by placing the sample in a glass jar with either ethanol or formaldehyde solutions. They are preserved in ethanol for DNA work and in formaldehyde for long-term preservation. These samples are then saved to send to a lab in Poland, which is the sorting center for the SEAMAP samples.
Flying fish we pulled up in our Neuston tow at nighttime.
Personal Log
My sleeping quarters (top bunk), also known as a stateroom. My roommate is Kristin, one of the scientists on board.
Well, I think I am finally getting used to the schedule of working the night shift. I am thankful that my bunk is on the bottom floor of the ship- which means it is completely dark- so that I can sleep during the daytime. Yesterday was probably one of the least busy days we’ve had so far, and because we were in deeper waters, our trawls were much smaller. This means I had a little more time to work on my blogs, which at times can be hard to fit in. It amazes me that we have internet access on the ship, and it’s not even as slow as I expected. It goes down from time to time, especially when the waters are rough. We’ve been fortunate to have pretty calm waters, aside from the first day.
You may have heard about Hurricane Debby on the news as it prepared to hit the Gulf. On Sunday, we were heavily debating heading back to Galveston to “bunker down” and ride out the storm. However, the storm that was forming seemed to dissipate and head in a different direction, thank goodness. I was not thrilled about the possibility of heading back to port!
We had our first drills the day after we set sail. The drills- fire and abandon ship are distinguished by different types of bells, similar to using Morse code. The abandon ship drill was fun. We got to put on our survival suit, which is like a big orange Gumby suit. It not only protects you in cold water, but also makes you highly visible. I remember reading some of the former TAS blogs, and this picture was always in. Of course, I’ve got to add mine as well.
Here I am in my survival suit. Judd also decided to be in the picture. 🙂
I’ve been having fun exploring different areas of the ship, even though there is only so far you can go on the ship. Yesterday, I went up to the bridge, which is the front of the ship where the captain or the NOAA Corps officers steer the ship from. You can think of it like a control center of an airplane. There are navigation charts (both computerized and paper) and radars that help guide the ship so it knows what obstacles are out there. There is a great view from the bridge that you don’t get anywhere else on the ship. It’s also fun to watch the folks down on deck when they are deploying the CTD or either of the 2 tows.
We’ve caught such an abundance of critters, I thought I’d share some of my favorite catches thus far:
Here I am holding a cownose ray (Rhinoptera bonasus)- my favorite catch yet. He weighed about 25lbs! This one was the highlight of my day as rays are some of my favorite ocean critters!
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One of the 4 Atlantic sharpnose sharks (Rhizoprionodon terraenovae) we’ve caught so far.
A sharksucker (Echeneis naucrates)- these guys hang onto sharks to catch a ride- he’s still alive so is able to hang onto my arm!
Critter Query Time!
Critter Query #1: What is a fathom (in your own words please)?
Critter Query #2: What are the differences between skates and rays?
Mission: SEAMAP Summer Groundfish Survey Geographical Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico Current Location: Waterloo, Iowa Date: June 22, 2012
Introduction
Welcome everyone to my first Teacher at Sea blog post! I am very honored to have been given this wonderful opportunity and am looking forward to this fast approaching experience!
As many of you may already know I am a K-5 gifted and talented teacher for the Expanded Learning Program (ELP) in Waterloo, Iowa and will be going into my third year of teaching this fall. I actually teach at two separate schools in my district, Lowell Elementary and Kingsley Elementary. It is awesome to work with such wonderful staffs and students at both buildings and be a part of both communities!
A picture one of my students took of me.
I love my job and the daily excitement it brings! I love presenting my students with challenges that require them to think in ways they may not have been asked to think before. My favorite part of teaching is watching my students learn and grow each day, and I am always in awe of who they’ve become by the end of the school year. I have always had a passion for supporting the needs of gifted and talented students and am thrilled to be in a position where I am able to do that every day.
Just as it is important for students to learn and grow each day, it is also important that teachers do the same. I am currently working on my Master’s degree at the University of Northern Iowa and will complete my course work next May. I have started preliminary work on my thesis and plan on receiving my degree, Education of the Gifted, in the fall of 2013. It is exciting, challenging work and has reinforced the importance of time management and working toward one’s goals. I always encourage my students to follow their passions and I hope I have set a good example. Overall, it has been a very rewarding experience.
My Passions
Here is a picture of me at age 4 fishing on the Kenai River in Alaska.
Besides gifted and talented education, I have many other passions. Growing up in a military family I was able to see and do things that many have yet to experience. Before I lived in Iowa, I lived in Colorado, Mississippi, and Alaska. (In Mississippi I lived in Biloxi which is VERY close to where I will be starting my Teacher at Sea adventure!) I spent a lot of time outdoors. Hiking, mountain climbing, camping, fishing, and whitewater rafting were many of the things I enjoyed while living in Colorado and Alaska.
View from the top of Eagle Peak in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of Colorado
I knew from a young age that I was passionate about science. I loved exploring, experimenting, and questioning the “hows” and “whys” of everything around me. My excitement for science continued into college where most of my elective classes were science related. Biology, chemistry, and geology were my favorites. When I took my first geology class I was enthralled by our world’s natural history and how we can “dig up the past”.
After taking a course specific to Iowa geology, I have now learned that geology is exciting everywhere, not just in Colorado. My students can attest to my passion in geology as my room is littered with all of my quarry findings!
Geology ROCKS! – At a local Iowa quarry.
Within the realm of geology is the important connection to our world’s oceans. Many people may think that geology is what we can see on the surface: rocks, mountains, valleys. However, it is important to remember that even at the depths of our oceans, geological activity takes place.
SCUBA diving in Alexander Springs, Florida.
My passion for our world’s oceans began shortly after my first experience snorkeling off the coast of Key West, Florida. After viewing the ocean through a pair of goggles, I was transported into a new and exciting world. Swimming alongside angelfish, parrotfish, barracuda, and sharks was beyond my imagination.
It wasn’t long after my snorkeling adventure on Dry Rocks Reef that I started the certification process to become an Open Water SCUBA diver. While I won’t be able to SCUBA dive during my Teacher at Sea adventure, I will still be able to explore life from the depths of the Gulf of Mexico aboard the Oregon II which will be just as exciting!
My Teacher at Sea Adventure
The mission I will be supporting this summer is the SEAMAP Summer Groundfish Survey. SEAMAP stands for Southeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program. The SEAMAP-Gulf of Mexico survey has been conducted since 1981.
The NOAA Ship Oregon II conducts a groundfish survey twice each year, once in the summer and again in the fall. Samples are gathered at randomly chosen stations and brought back up to the ship for examination to determine the abundance, distribution, and health of the fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico. The NOAA Ship Oregon II is stationed out of Pascagoula, Mississippi which is where I will begin my journey.
Once my adventure begins, stop back frequently and check for new blog postings! Make sure you leave comments and questions at the bottom of my blogs, especially if it is something I can explore while still aboard the Oregon II! I will make sure to answer you back as soon as I can and maybe even include your answers in my later blogs!
