We cast off yesterday morning at 1000 hrs, RST—Rainier Ship Time. Although we are still in the Alaska Daylight Savings time zone, our time on the ship has been adjusted backwards 1 hour to give us more daylight during ‘working hours’. Since the ship is its own floating universe, time that is referenced to a specific time zone is not as important as time that is referenced to our day and the work that needs to be completed. Einstein would be pleased to see that time is, indeed, relative here aboard the Rainier!
There is science involved just to leave port and set forth on this cruise. There’s data to be collected, such as a weather forecast—and decisions to be made based on that data. Today’s weather report called for rain and high winds. That data input resulted in a travel plan including taking a more protected route north of Kodiak Island instead of heading out to more open water right away. We didn’t reach the wide-open spaces until evening, and I was lulled to sleep by the endless rocking and rolling of the boat.
We needed to take out the trash before we left.Heading into the Shelikof Strait
Science can also include the protocols needed to keep everyone on board safe and healthy during a cruise. With that in mind, I spent part of the day learning about the ship and the safety routines we need to follow. Ensign Wall gave me my survival suit, aka Gumby Suit and showed me how to don that lifesaving apparel. The suit is a foam-filled drysuit, providing insulation and floatation in one handy, non-form-fitting package. They are, apparently, one size fits none, but when it’s a matter of survival, I doubt that style counts for too many points!
Each person aboard is assigned stations to report to in case of fire or in case it becomes necessary to abandon ship. I found out that I go to the Boat Shop near the stern in case of fire, and that I head to Station 1 near the bridge. We had a fire drill in the afternoon, followed by an abandon ship drill. Much like fire drills at school, it’s a good time to practice and figure out the best way to get to where you need to go. Since I’m still learning my way around the ship, it was especially important to figure out where I needed to go and how to get there.
Where do I go?Trying on my Gumby suit
Then there’s the ‘real’ science—the science of hydrography and the point of this entire venture. The NOAA Ship Rainier has been tasked with charting (creating maps) of the Shumagin Islands and Cold Bay areas. It’s amazing to think that there are still some parts of our coastline that haven’t been charted. I spent much of this afternoon talking with the scientists who are making these maps and came away with the overwhelming sense that this is, indeed, a complicated and multi-faceted process. I’ll be writing separate journals on all the science that goes into creating these detailed maps of the ocean floor. If you just can’t wait and need to know more right now, check out the blogs from previous TAS teachers on the Ship Rainier.
Personal Log
Much of my first day at sea was spent getting used to being aboard a large floating object on a rather bumpy sea. Our day was spent in transit, from Kodiak to the Shumagin Islands, around 28 hours away.
My very first rainbow at sea!
There’s a lot to learn about life on board the Rainier. Most important has been orienting myself and figuring out where everything is located. Decks are labeled from ‘A’, the lowest, to ‘G’, the uppermost deck area. My quarters are on the ‘E’ deck. The Galley, where food is prepared and served, is on the ‘D’ deck below me, and the Bridge (steering and control of the ship) is above me on the ‘F’ deck.
I have my own room—kind of luxurious living! There’s a bunk, the head (bathroom), a couple of closets, drawers, and even a small fold-down desk area so that I can write my journals. Every drawer latches tightly to minimize the chance of unidentified flying objects if we hit some rough weather.
Home, sweet home.
I took a short tour of some of the more esoteric parts of the ship, including a visit to the cofferdam, whose access was through a hatch and down a ladder hidden in one of the heads (bathrooms). This is sort of like accessing the crawl space under your house through a small tunnel in your bathroom. While we speculated on just what purpose this area served (storage, poor planning in designing the hull and layout, a random skinny place to hang out?), it turns out that it is a watertight compartment that separates the contact between liquids that might be in the bow area and those in the stern area of the ship.
Starla Robinson leads us down the hatch into the cofferdamLt. Quintero in the cofferdam.
There was also an escape hatch that was incredibly heavy to lift—but I am sure you could lift it if your life depended on it! I don’t plan on having to test this thing out!!
NOAA Teacher at Sea Susy Ellison Aboard NOAA Ship Rainier September 9-26, 2013
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographic Area: South Alaska Peninsula and Shumagin Islands Date: September 7, 2013
Weather: Partly cloudy at the Anchorage Airport
Lat 61.217 N, Lon 149.900 W
Temp 56F
Personal Log
Although Mapquest says ‘you can’t get there from here’, when queried about routes from Carbondale, CO to Kodiak, AK, I am sitting in the Anchorage Airport and well on my way to meeting up with the NOAA Ship Rainier. While it’s easy to make a list of exactly how I’m getting to Kodiak (drive to Vail, CO, shuttle van to Denver, fly from Denver to Seattle, Seattle to Anchorage, and Anchorage to Kodiak), it’s a little more complicated to actually describe my journey to Kodiak and the Rainier.
Sitting in Vail waiting for the shuttle van to Denver.
I’m not sure that the journey only started when I packed my large, orange duffel bag and threw it in the car. That bag, currently either in the underbelly of a plane or sitting in a stack somewhere in the bowels of the airport, is filled with the clothing and personal supplies I’ll need for the next 3 weeks. Topping the list of clothing is a pair of Xtratuffs–rubber boots to keep my feet dry on the ship and when we’re on shore. Speaking of dry, I have 2 sets of raingear; a gore-tex parka and pants for those mostly wet days, and pvc-coated nylon parka and pants for the truly wet days. Rumor has it that it could be a bit rainy in the Shumagin Island area. I have long underwear to keep me warm, a wool hat to keep my head toasty, and the usual assortment of jeans and t-shirts for time ‘indoors’ on the ship.
Sometimes I think this journey started while planning 3 weeks of lesson plans for my students. My mind was already on the ship as I was creating those plans and trying to link my students’ activities with some of what I will be learning during my cruise. I created an independent study plan for students who wanted to earn science credit by following along with my blogs and reading the blogs of other teachers. All that planning gave me ample time to think about the journey that lay ahead, and to, perhaps, already start the journey while I was sitting at my desk.
This journey to Kodiak and the Shumagin Islands certainly has some foundation in my endless perusal of the Teacher at Sea blogs this summer. I was an avid reader of blogs from teachers aboard the Rainier, but also took time to read journals from teachers in other oceans and locations. Since I’ve never been on a ship this was a great way to start my trip a little bit ‘early’.
Did this journey begin way back when I applied for the Teacher at Sea program? After all, part of the application process involved envisioning how I would use this experience in my classroom. I had been following other teacher’s cruises for many years, so it was great to have to visualize myself on a ship and what I could learn from such an experience.
But, when I really think about this journey, it might actually have started long ago, when I was a child. I was lucky enough to grow up in a household that was, to put it mildly, firmly rooted in science and looking at the world as one giant science experiment. I was taught to ‘think like a scientist’, observing the world around me and asking questions (and searching for answers) about our planet.
It comes down to a question of scale. Is it really just a journey of 3000+ miles from Carbondale to Kodiak, or is it the sum total of days, months, or even years? Either way, I can’t wait for this part of the journey to end and my life on the ship to begin!
Weather Data from Newport, OR: GPS location: 44°38’12.63” N, 124°3’12.46”W
Sky condition: OVC
Air temperature: 10.6°C
The sun rising as we finished our transit back to Kodiak.
Science and Technology Log
During my final days aboard the NOAA Ship Rainier, I began to understand the big picture of all that goes in to hydrographic survey. While we were transiting from the Shumagin Islands back to the Coast Guard Base in Kodiak, the scientists invited me to sit in on a survey review meeting. During the meeting I listened as the Commanding Officer (CO), the Chief Survey Technician, the Field Operations Officer (FOO), the sheet manager, and others went over the Descriptive Report for a project that had been completed on a previous leg in Behm Canal. It was interesting to listen to the conversation and actually understand what these researchers were talking about! I felt as though it was appropriate for me to attend this meeting on my final day on the ship, as this truly is the last step for the scientists on board before the chart and attached data are sent off the ship to the Pacific Hydrographic Branch where the data is further processed in order to ensure accuracy of the data. As I have now participated in most parts of the survey process, allow me to show you a step-by-step explanation of hydrographic survey from start to finish.
Step One: Getting to the Survey Location
Several NOAA Corps Officers on the bridge while coming in to port in Kodiak.
It takes a dedicated and skilled team to safely navigate the ship to the correct survey location. It is also important that the FOO conducts a survey meeting to review the plan of the leg with the research crew. When I sat in on this survey meeting at the start of the leg the crew discussed what has been accomplished to date, which sheets we would be focusing on during this leg, and any technical issues that needed to be reviewed with the team.
Step Two: Setting up Vertical and Horizontal Control Stations
Brandy Geiger (left) and Bill Carrier (right) work on equipment that was set-up on Bird Island as a vertical and horizontal control station.
Before data can be collected, it is necessary to have a reference of where the data is being collected. As I discussed in a previous post, tidal gauges are set-up prior to survey in order to guarantee accurate water depths. The NOAA Ship Rainier is currently setting up a tidal gauge near Cold Bay, Alaska so that they may begin working in their upcoming survey location. You can track the Rainier at http://shiptracker.noaa.gov/
Step Three: Running Shoreline Verification
Before the launches (small boats) are able to get data close to the shore, it is important for the skiff to visually check the shoreline to make sure that there are no major hazards to navigation. The shoreline crew is responsible for marking any dangers, and getting close enough to shore to decide where the sheet limits should be set. These sheet limits dictate how close the shoreline and rock formations are that the launches need to survey.
Step Four: Data Collection on Ship and Launches
This is the time when the hydrographers and ship crew can begin “coloring in the lines” by filling in designated polygons with sonar data. The hydrographers are in charge of determining where the ship or launch needs to be driven in order to gather the required data using navigation software on the ship called HYPACK. They are also responsible for taking Conductivity Temperature Depth (CTD) measurements in order to apply accurate sound speed profiles to the data. The deck department and the NOAA Corps officers are responsible for following the plan laid out by the hydrographers in order to navigate the ship to gather data. This takes attention to detail, because if the ship goes off course, data is missed for a certain area creating a “holiday”, or a gap in the data. If a holiday is created it means that the crew has to go back and get the missing data later. Nobody likes a holiday as it costs time and money to fix. While data is being collected, the hydrographers are in charge of keeping an acquisition log that is a detailed record of everything that is taking place during a specific survey. The team uses a program called Seafloor Information Systems (SIS) in order to collect the sonar data on the ship. On the launches, HYPACK serves a dual function as the navigation software and the sonar software.
Randy (left) and Brandy (right) working on ship survey by monitoring the systems, drawing lines for navigation, and ensuring that good data is being collected.Left – Releasing the CTD from one of the launches. Right – Controlling the CTD as it is dropped from the surface to the bottom.
Step Five: Processing and Cleaning the Data
This was one of the most interesting parts of the process as you begin to see the data come to life. The “lines” of data that are collected using the Konsberg sonar unit are brought over to a program called CARIS. Certain correctors such as sound velocity and the predicted tides are added to the data in CARIS as well. While each processing step is being completed, the hydrographer is responsible for making notes in the acquisition log.
Here is an example of some lines of data that have been added into the processing software.
Next it is important to “clean” the data. This is done by moving carefully over each line of data to filter out any noise that shouldn’t be there. When the data has been cleaned it can then be added to the project file for the sheet manager. This way the hydrographer that is in charge of that specific sheet of data can see what progress has been made and what steps are still required for the work to be completed.
Here is an example of data that needs to be cleaned. Notice how the data jumps around rather than showing one continuous ocean floor.
Step Six: Writing the Descriptive Report (DR) and Conducting a Survey Review
The Descriptive Report (DR) seems to be the most tedious part of the process. This is the report that is included with the sheet when it is sent to the Pacific Hydrographic Branch for review and further processing. It thoroughly explains things like the area surveyed, how data was acquired, and results and recommendations. After a DR is thought to be complete, the ship conducts an internal review. This is what I got to sit in on during my last day on the ship. After it has met the expectations of the Chief Survey Technician, the FOO, and the CO, the project can then be sent off the ship to the Pacific Hydrographic Branch before being sent on to the Marine Chart Division (MCD) where the charts are finalized.
This is an image of all of the work that has been completed in the Shumagin Islands by the Rainier during this field season. The colored sections have been completed, and you can see the polygons that need to be finished.
Like I said in my previous blog post, the scientific process is not easy. These scientists and crew work tirelessly to ensure that they are producing quality work that can be utilized for safe navigation. I appreciate their efforts, and I want to thank them for their long hours and their attention to detail.
Personal Log
I find myself unable to fully express my gratitude to the crew of the Rainier for my time with them. They allowed me to ask endless questions, they welcomed me into their close-knit community, and they provided me with an experience of a lifetime. I am extremely thankful for this opportunity, and I wanted to be sure to offer my appreciation.
It has been over a week since I’ve been back in Newport, Oregon, and I’ve had a great time reliving my Teacher at Sea (TAS) experience with family, friends, coworkers, and students. While we were transiting from the Shumigans, Christie Reiser, a Hydrographic Assistant Survey Technician on board gave me an awesome video that she had made with several crew members. The video gives a tour of the Rainier, and I thought it would be a nice to share it on my blog as a way to show people where I spent my 18 days at sea.
In this section I usually do a detailed interview with one crew member. As this is my last blog post, I wanted to be sure to include all of the other interviews that I had while on the ship. For each of these interviews I have included a snapshot of the conversation that I had with each person. While I wasn’t able to interview everyone on board, I can say for a fact that each person I met had a unique story. I was particularly fascinated by the various pathways that people have taken in order to become part of the Rainier crew. Enjoy!
Did You Know…
The NOAA Teacher at Sea community has created a Did You Know website. Click on the following link to check out an assortment of things you might not have known: http://teacheratsea.noaa.gov/dyk/#box23_text
Farewell
Thank you for following my blog and for sharing this experience with me. Thanks again to the crew of the Rainier for giving me this once in a lifetime opportunity. I’ve learned so much from this experience, and I plan to take the knowledge I’ve gained and pass it along to my students, friends, and community members.
The crew signed this flag and gave it to me as a departing gift.
Best wishes to the crew of the Rainier, good luck with the rest of your field season, and happy hydro!
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Katie Sard
Aboard NOAA Ship Rainier July 29, 2013-August 15, 2013
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical Area of the Cruise: Shumagin Islands, AK Date: August 9-13, 2013
Weather Data from the Bridge: GPS location: 54°49.910’N, 159°46.159’W
Sky condition: OVC
Visibility: 5 nm
Wind: 10 kt, 135 true
Water temperature: 7.2°C
Air temperature: 11.0°C
Science and Technology Log
At the beginning of my time aboard the Rainier I couldn’t believe it when one of the hydrographers told me that it takes almost two years for the data that we are collecting right now to go into print. After spending time with the scientists trying to understand the process, I have a better idea of why the data can take up to 24 months to appear on a chart. There are numerous things to take into account: variables that need to be controlled for, inclement weather that may restrict completing data collection, limited personnel to process the data, reports that need to be written to accompany the data, and so on. The point being is that it is not as simple as surveying the ocean floor and making a chart.
The FOO (Field Operations Officer), Meghan McGovern, leads a morning safety meeting prior to sending out the launches.
The tides are one important variable that hydrographers must control for when they are collecting data. Tides constantly cause the depths of the water to change, but it is important for the charts to show the shoalest (most shallow) depth possible for safe navigation.
Notice how one low tide is lower than the other low tide.
It’s not practical to only conduct surveys during low tides, so the data must be corrected to take water depth to a universal constant. For most of the charts, NOAA uses Mean Lower Low Water as the control. To explain Mean Lower Low Water, I have to review a bit about the tides themselves. Most places, including Alaska, experience semidiurnal tides meaning that in one day, there are two high tides and two low tides. If you look at the two low tides in one day, one of the two will be lower than the other one. An average should be taken of the “lower low” water levels for 19 years. This is how long the earth, sun, and moon to go through their various orbital eccentricities. Typically, it is not reasonable to have a gauge installed for 19 years so by acquiring one 30 day cycle of tide data we are able to get approximately 90% of the solution and the remaining 10% is solved for using “primary stations” (ones which have a 19 year record) that are nearby. This calculated average of the lower low tides is called the Mean Lower Low Water and all data is corrected to this value.
Before the water depth can be corrected to Mean Lower Low Water, the tides must first be measured. The National Water Level Observation Network has stations all over the United States which give data on how to figure out local tide conditions. The closest one to use in the Shumagins is at Sand Point on Popof Island. In order to verify that the tides are being accurately predicted, the crew on the Rainier installs their own tidal gauge to verify the tidal data.
The tide station that the Rainier crew installed on Bird Island.
A tide gauge is installed on the sea floor near the coast line by divers. It must be fairly deep so that it is always covered by water. In order to verify that the tide gauge is working, a tide staff is installed nearby for the crew to take visual water level measurements every week for 3 hours in 6 minute increments. They use this manually collected data and compare it to the tide gauge to make sure that the gauge is functioning accurately and also to ensure that the gauge has not moved relative to the land after it has been installed.
One of the five benchmarks that was cemented into the bedrock at the tide station on Bird Island.
It is a complicated process to install one of these tidal gauges, and they have to be calibrated to that Mean Lower Low Water. In order to assure that we have a reference point on land, benchmarks are put in near the tide gauge. These benchmarks should be able to be utilized for centuries by anyone who wished to come back to set-up a tide gauge.
Last Friday I was assigned to the skiff (small boat) as part of the crew of people who would go observe the tide staff and complete other necessary tasks at the tide gauge station on Bird Island. It was a 30 minute ride in the skiff from the ship, and when we got the island, the coxswain pulled the boat next to the rocks so we could quickly transfer ourselves and our gear onto the island. A total of five benchmarks had been put into the bedrock during the last visit to Bird Island, and it was our job to verify the location of each benchmark.
I had the task of pointing at the benchmarks to note their locations for the pictures. The benchmark is embedded in the bedrock near my left hand.
We took GPS locations, measured from benchmark to benchmark, and took pictures with detailed notes telling where each of the five was located. If something happened to the primary benchmark, there would be four back-ups that could be used to reference the location of the tide gauge. It was also the responsibility of our crew to do the 3 hour tide staff observations, but bad weather only allowed us to complete one hour of data collection before we were required to return to the ship.
LT Mike Gonsalves takes a GPS location while sitting on one of the five benchmarks.Measuring from one benchmark to the next.LT Mike Gonsalves begins taking tide staff observations.
It constantly impresses me how many variables these scientists need to control for in order to get accurate depths to place on the charts. I have only received a snapshot of the work that goes into one of these projects during my time aboard the Rainier. I have begun to see a problem when so many people of this generation expect instant results and instant gratification. From now on it will be important for me to show my students that the scientific process is slow and arduous, but the overall results are impressive when you learn to appreciate and understand the steps that it takes to get there.
Personal Log
Earlier this week I had the opportunity to visit the engine room as the ship was getting underway. Evan McDermott , a 1st Assistant Engineer on board, was kind enough to let me to follow him through the heart of the ship. As we walked and ducked under the various equipment, I began to realize just how naïve I am about how the ship is powered. As I began to observe and ask questions, I realized just how much time and effort it takes to get the ship in motion.
When I first went down to the engine room they had just turned the pumps on. These pumps are used to help turn the rudders. Each time the pumps are powered on, it is required that the engineers do a steering test. I went with Joshua Parker, a GVA (General Vessel Assistant) in the engineering department on board, as he showed me how to complete the steering test with the rudder.
GVA Josh Parker helps to show me around the engine room.
While we were anchored, the engines were powered down and we were running the basic functions of the ship with two generators which stay on 24 hours a day while the ship is underway. When I came back to the engine room it was time to turn the engines on, and Evan walked me through how to do this. Really all I did was push two buttons that he showed me, but it was neat to hear the engines come to life.
The two 12-cylinder engines that we have on board.
While I was in the engine room, I remembered several of the questions my students had when the CO came to speak to my class last year. I seemed to remember a lot of students asking questions about the fuel that the Rainier uses. I decided to do some investigating by asking some of my own questions. It turns out that the ship is able to carry a total of 103,000 gallons of fuel at a time. On a typical 18 day leg, the ship will burn about 30,000 gallons of fuel. Evan pulled up a detailed Microsoft Excel sheet and showed me how they keep track of the fuel being used. He showed me that while underway the ship typically burns about 2,000 gallons each day, but if the ship is anchored it is more like 600 gallons.
Something else I learned while in the engine room was how this ship uses fuel as ballast. Normally on a ship, ballast is water that is taken in to help keep the ship balanced. The Rainier has 17 fuel tanks all around the ship, and one of the reasons for this is to give the ship stability.
A diagram of the 17 fuel tanks on the Rainier. Notice how they are low as they help with the stability of the ship.
For this reason, it is important that the fuel is burned in a certain order based on which tank it is in. Once the engineers decide that they need to use fuel from a certain tank, it is transferred into two settlers. This is where the water is allowed to settle out of the fuel before it is purified and transferred to the day tanks. These two-day tanks are where the two engines suck fuel from directly.
The last thing that grabbed my attention in the engine room was the process on how the sewage is filtered. I know it sounds gross, but it is such a simple chemical reaction that I feel compelled to share it! The machine that is responsible for this treatment uses salt water and DC current. The current is run through the water and breaks the salt (NaCl) into the ions Na+ and Cl–. The Cl– ions go on to reform with the OH– ions from the water forming sodium hypochlorite. This substance acts to kill the bacteria in the sewage. Chemistry at work!
Just another Day at the Office
Evan McDermott, 1st Assistant Engineer
Evan McDermott
After touring the engine room, I sat down with Evan to talk about his job and how he came to work for NOAA as a 1st Assistant Engineer. He told me that he graduated from Massachusetts Maritime Academy with a BS in Marine Engineering as well receiving his US Coast Guard license. I didn’t know what a Maritime Academy was until I came aboard the Rainier, so I asked him how he originally heard about this field. Evan told me that in high school he went through a unique program where he spent two days each week doing marine engineering outside of his school. A guidance counselor told him more about the benefits of marine engineering, and that’s when Evan decided to apply to Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
During our conversation, Evan told me that what he enjoys most about his job is the variety of hands-on work that he gets to be involved in, and he also enjoys the scenery here in Alaska. He is required to stand watches in the engine room for two 4-hour shifts while the ship is underway, and he also plays a supervisory role. The engineering department on the ship is mostly responsible for the maintenance and operations. I asked him to share the advice he would give to students hoping to get into this field of work, and he said that it is important to keep up on your math to become a marine engineer! Evan told me that the Maritime Academy was a tough four years of his life, but that his hard work has paid off as he has now secured this job with NOAA.
Evan appreciates the fishing that is available in Alaska, and when not on the ship he enjoys snowboarding.
Your Questions Answered!
A friend from my high school, Derek Cusimano, works with similar technology that is being utilized on the Rainier. I was excited to see the questions he had for me, and also to realize that I actually understood how to answer some of the more technical questions. First he asked about the program that is used to collect and process the data on board. It is my understanding that on the ship, Hypack is the navigation software that is used. The bridge sees this screen, and the hydrographers use it to draw the lines to show where the ship needs to be navigated in order to collect the data. Seafloor Information Systems (SIS) is the sonar software for the EM710. Finally, CARIS is the software that is used to process the data once it is collected.
Derek also asked me about what positioning the crews use for their surveys. The tidal gauges that I discussed in this post are used for vertical control, as the water moves up and down with the tides. The scientists also have to take into account horizontal control. They need to accurately be able to tell where their position is, because without that information the water depths that we are gathering with the sonar are useless.
ENS Bill Carrier and HST Brandy Geiger work to set-up part of the horizontal control station on Bird Island.
Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) is used from the Coast Guard station in Kodiak Alaska to gain accurate latitude and longitude. However, the Rainier crew also installs their own GPS base stations to correct the GPS positions acquired on the ship and launches during “post processing”. For this project, a GPS base station was installed on Bird Island near the tide gauge and data is down loaded via a VHF radio. These stations listen to all GPS signals and correct the locations for each satellite down to the decimeter. This allows the Rainier to correct their GPS positions to have an accuracy of just a few centimeters.
The next question comes from my 2-year old nephew Ollie Burgeson. He wanted to know what I was eating on the ship. My answer to him is a little bit of everything! I can’t say that I’ve had the same meal twice while out at sea. Meals are at 0700, 1130, and 1700, and each day a menu is posted that tells what will be available for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The stewards also provide a stocked ice cream freezer and other snacks 24 hours a day. Many know that I eat mostly vegetarian food, and each meal there is always a vegetarian option which several crew members and I enjoy. While out on the launches, the coolers are packed full of food for the crew of each boat. Sandwiches, fresh fruit, chips, and dessert are all included on the launches.
Did You Know…
Photo courtesy of NOAA.
On Sunday I saw at least a dozen whales while I was looking out over the waters of the Shumagins. The ship was anchored while the launches were out gathering data. It was such a clear day that I decided to spend time on the bridge whale watching. It didn’t take long before I saw several breach in the distance. I was told by some of the crew that I was observing humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae. I didn’t know much about them, so I decided to do a bit of research. Here are some of the interesting things I learned about humpback whales:
Humpback whales can be found in all major oceans from the equator to sub-polar latitudes
The humpback whale’s lifespan is about 50 years
They eat mostly krill, plankton, and small fish
Humpback whales can consume up to 3,000 pounds of food per day
Females are typically longer than males, and they can reach up to 60 feet in length
Newborns weight about 2,000 pounds and adults can grow to be between 50-80,000 pounds
Weather Data from the Bridge: GPS location: 54°49.402’N, 159°33.182’W
Sky condition: Overcast (OVC)
Visibility: 5 nm
Wind: 210 true, 15 kts
Water temperature: 8.3°C
Air temperature: 11.0°C
The NOAA Ship Rainier. This has been my home for the past 12 days!
Science and Technology Log
While I was speaking with ENS Rosemary Abbitt, a Junior Officer on board, she used an analogy to describe the amount of information that she takes in every day while on the job. She said that it is like trying to get a drink from a fire hose. I thought that this was fitting as each day as a Teacher at Sea I am constantly trying to take in and process the huge amount of new information I am learning. I have jumped in to the heart of hydrographic surveys, but in this post I would like to take a step back and look at a brief history of how the use of sonar has evolved.
Before coming on the Rainier, I knew that the use of sonar on ships had something to do with sound waves traveling in the water in order to map the ocean floor. After gathering information from the crew, and a bit of my own research, I found out that sonar actually stands for Sound Navigation and Ranging. I also found out that sound waves travel better in water as compared to radar or light waves, so that is why they are used for this type of work.
The top-side unit of the sonar system that is used on board. This machine acts as the “brain” of the sonar system.
The NOAA Ship Rainier is equipped with a Kongsberg EM710 Multibeam Sonar System which falls in the category of active sonar. The system emits acoustic signals into the water, and when the sound bounces off of an object it returns an echo to the sonar transducer. By determining the time between emission and reception, the range and the orientation of the object can be determined. The range of an object is equal to the sound speed times the travel time divided by two.
On the left you can see the machine that is used to drag the MVP in the water behind the ship while we are surveying. On the right, the MVP is ready to go in the water.
It is extremely important that the hydrographers using this technology have accurate measurements for sound speed. The Rainier is equipped with a Moving Vessel Profiler (MVP) which generates sound speed profiles. These profiles include information such as temperature, salinity, depth, and most importantly, sound speed. These measurements are applied to real-time sonar data in order to make sure that these variables are controlled for.
Sonar was first used during World War I as a way of detecting submarines. The US Coast and Geodetic Survey were the first to use sonar to map deep water areas in the 1920s. As I discussed in a previous post, lead line surveys were the primary way to gather bathymetric data up until that point. It astounds me to see all of the technology on board, but it also leaves me wondering where we’ll be in another 10 to 20 years. I suppose only time will tell what new technologies will allow for the continued exploration of our Ocean!
Personal Log
The beauty of Alaska has truly come to life for me in the last few days. Last night, the CO was kind enough to take a group of people to a nearby beach on Chernabura Island. From time to time he will do this, and the crew calls these events “Beach Parties”. It took me several minutes to gain my land legs as my body has acclimated to life on a ship. I walked the beach, but I soon turned to hike up one of the peaks that I had been seeing from a distance for so many days.
My footsteps on the beach at Chernabura Island. It’s crazy to think how few people have walked on this land.
The hike up to the top was HARD! The ground beneath my feet was not solid earth, but rather soft, boggy terrain that required a great deal of energy to hike through.
The view from a stop along the way. Looking out over Chernabura Island.
When I made it to the top I could not believe my eyes. The beauty of this untouched land was overwhelming, and I realized how very lucky I am to be on this wonderful adventure.
A hidden lake in the background at the top of the ridge on Chernabura Island.The ship in the distance from the top of the ridge on Chernabura Island.
I began getting to know Christie while I was out on my first launch with her last week. Before this time, I had heard her mentioning that she is currently doing an internship with NOAA. This immediately caught my attention as I am always interested in how students are able to involve themselves with real-world organizations such as NOAA. As I began interviewing her I found out that she is working on her bachelor’s degree through the University of Colorado with hopes of someday becoming a physical scientist. She began her internship with NOAA last field season, and she is now a permanent employee while also completing her internship. Before her current school work she obtained an associates degree in business marketing and worked for an oil company as an executive assistant. During that time, her boss asked if she wanted to learn Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for her work, and so she was signed up for a crash course which allowed her to begin using the software to make maps. Unfortunately, she was laid off but during this time she was able to move to Europe because she has dual nationality in Germany. While overseas, she spent a year working as an apprentice in a saddlery in Austria. When she came back to the states, she decided to go back to school at the University of Colorado. She enjoyed her previous GIS experience, so she began her work in the geography department which led her to the internship with NOAA.
Christie told me that has truly enjoyed her time in Alaska. She loves seeing the marine life and getting to know the people she works with so well. Her favorite part of the work is the night processing where she is able to work directly with the data in order to see the sea floor come to life. When asked what advice she would give a young person trying to break into this field, she said that she would recommend waiting to go to college until you are ready. Wait to find something that makes you happy and that you have a passion for.
When not on the ship, Christie enjoys leather working, saddle making, and book binding.
Your Questions Answered!
One question that I’ve had from several people has to do with the morale of the crew. These people are out to sea for 18 days at a time, and so people wanted to know if it gets depressing out here. Also, it was asked if there is good comradery and banter among the crew?
In response, I can say this; life at sea is not for the shy or the meek. While there are many amazing advantages to this type of work it definitely takes a certain type of person. As far as the morale of the crew, from my perspective it seems like field season up here means time to get business done. Everyone has important tasks to be completed, and most of the time people are busy with work. Operations run 24 hours, and the point of being here is to gather the data. However, it’s not all work and no play. Morale on the ship is important, and I’ve heard many people speak of the crew as a second or extended family. I don’t know any other job where you work, live, and share space 24 hours a day with the same people. I’ve noticed that people on the ship really look forward to meals. It is one of the small pleasures of life at sea and it is a time to gather with everyone and take a break. The universal struggle on board is the time away from home. Nobody wants to be away from their loved ones, but the crew on the Rainier work as hard as possible to make life at sea enjoyable.
My Aunt Kathy wanted to know if I have seen any whales. The ship has had to navigate around pods of whales, but it seems to be whenever I am busy with something else. Yesterday the crew called me to the bridge as they had been seeing a lot of whale activity. Of course, as soon as I got my camera out, there wasn’t a whale in sight. However, last night I was walking on Chernabura Island during the beach party, and I saw a pod of whales out in the distance. I saw four of five spouts, but they were too far to get a picture.
The first sunset I’ve seen since being on board.
Did You Know…
Here are a few ship specific terms that I have learned during my time aboard the Rainier:
To come about – to turn the ship around
Aft – the back of the ship
Helm – ship’s steering equipment, found on the bridge
Pitch – the forward and backward rise and fall of the ship as it moves
Leeward – the side of an island or a ship that is sheltered from the wind
Also, when making a call to another vessel, it is important to say the call sign of the vessel you are calling for first followed by your own call sign. When I was out on RA-6 doing survey launches, I had to call the Rainier to give hourly updates. In a previous blog I told you that the call sign for the Rainier is WTEF, but they typically shorten it when out on surveys to just ET. In this case when I was calling for the ship I would say, “Echo Foxtrot this is RA-6.” The OOD would respond with, “RA-6 this is Echo Foxtrot go ahead.” This type of universal communication system is one of the ways that the team aboard the Rainier maintains safety while at sea.
NOAA Teacher at Sea Rosalind Echols Aboard NOAA Ship Rainier July 8 — 25, 2013
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical Area of Cruise: Shumagin Islands, Alaska Date: July 30, 2013
Current Location: 54° 55.6’ N, 160° 10.2’ W
Weather on board: Broken skies with a visibility of 14 nautical miles, variable wind at 22 knots, Air temperature: 14.65°C, Sea temperature: 6.7°C, 2 foot swell, sea level pressure: 1022.72 mb
Science and Technology Log:
Sometimes in school you hear, “You’ll need this someday.” You have been skeptical, and (at times) rightfully so. But here on the Rainier, Avery and I encountered many areas in which what we learned in school has helped us to understand some of the ship operations.
How does a 234 ft. ship, like the Rainier, float?
If you take a large chunk of metal and drop it in the water, it will sink. And yet, here we are sailing on a large chunk of metal. How is that possible? This all has to do with the difference between density (the amount of mass or stuff contained within a chunk of a substance) and buoyancy (the tendency of an object to float). When you put an object in water, it pushes water out of the way. If the object pushes aside an amount of water with equal mass before it becomes fully submerged, it will float. Less dense objects typically float because it doesn’t take that much water to equal their mass, and so they can remain above the water line. The shape of a ship is designed to increase its buoyancy by displacing a greater quantity of water than it would as a solid substance. Because of all the empty space in the ship, by the time the ship has displaced a quantity of water with equal mass to the ship itself, the ship is still above water. As we add people, supplies, gasoline and so on to the ship, we ride lower. As evidenced by the sinking of numerous ships, when a ship springs a hole in the hull and water floods in, the buoyancy of the ship is severely compromised. To take precaution against this, the Rainier has several extra watertight doors that can be closed in case of an emergency. That way, the majority of the ship could be kept secure from the water and stay afloat.
How does a heavy ship like the Rainier stay balanced?
Another critical consideration is the balance of the ship. When the ship encounters the motion of the ocean, it tends to pitch and roll. Like a pendulum, the way in which it does this depends largely on the distance between the center of gravity of the ship (effectively the point at which the mass of the ship is centered) and the point about which it will roll. Ships are very carefully designed and loaded so that they maintain maximum stability.
Boat stability diagram
Ballast is often added to the hulls of ships for the following reasons:
to help keep them balanced when there is not enough cargo weight
to increase stability when sailing in rough seas
to increase the draught of the ship allowing it to pass under bridges
to counteract a heavy upper deck like that of the Rainier, which itself contains 64, 000 pounds of launches.
Ballast comes in many forms and historically rocks, sandbags and pieces of heavy metal were used to lower a ship’s center of gravity, thus stabilizing it. Cargo ships, when filling up at port, would unload this ballast in exchange for the cargo to be transported. For example, in the 1800s, the cobblestone streets of Savannah, Georgia were made with the abandoned ballast of ships. Today water is used as ballast, since it can be loaded and unloaded easier and faster. Most cargo ships contain several ballast tanks in the hull of the ship.
Cargo ship with several ballast tanks
It is thought that the capsizing of the Cougar Ace cargo ship bound for the west coast of the US in 2006, was caused by a ballast problem during an open-sea transfer. The ship was required to unload their ballast in international waters before entering US waters to prevent the transfer of invasive species carried by the stored water. The result of the Cougar Ace snafu: 4, 700 Mazdas scrapped and millions of dollars lost. Oops!
Cougar Ace capsized in open ocean
Because the Rainier is not loading and unloading tons of cargo, they use a permanent ballast of steel rebar, which sits in the center of the lower hull. Another source of ballast is the 102, 441 gallons of diesel which is divided between many gas tanks that span the width and length of the ship on the port and starboard sides. These tanks can be filled and emptied individually. For stability purposes the Rainier must maintain 30% of fuel onboard, and according to the CO, the diesel level is usually way above 30% capacity. The manipulation of the individual diesel tank levels is more for “trimming” of the boat which essentially ensures a smoother ride for passengers.
Where does all the freshwater come from for a crew of 50?
If only humans could drink saltwater, voyages at sea would be much easier and many lives would have been saved. Unfortunately, salt water is three times saltier than human blood and would severely dehydrate the body upon consumption leading to health problems such as kidney failure, brain damage, seizures and even death. So how can we utilize all this salt water that surrounds us for good use? Well, to avoid carrying tons of fresh potable water aboard, most large ships use some type of desalination process to remove the salt from the water. Desalination methods range from reverse osmosis to freeze thawing to distillation. The Rainier uses a distillation method which mimics the water cycle in nature: heated water evaporates into water vapor, leaving salts and impurities behind, condensing into liquid water as the temperature drops. This all is happening inside a closed system so the resulting freshwater can be kept. To speed up this process, the pressure is lowered inside the desalinator so the water boils at a lower temperature. Much of the energy needed to heat the water comes from the thermal energy or waste heat given off by nearby machines such as the boiler.
Desalinator in the Rainier engine room
Distillation purifies 99% percent of the salt water and the remaining 1% of impurities are removed by a bromine filter. The final step of the process is a bromine concentration and PH check to ensure the water is potable. The bromine should be about .5 ppm and the PH between 6.8-7.2.
Daily water quality log
Everyday the Rainer desalinates 2500 gallons of saltwater to be used for drinking, cleaning and showering. The toilets, however, use saltwater and if you are lucky like me, you can see flashes of light from bioluminescent plankton when flushing in darkness. It’s like a plankton discotec in the toilet!
How does the chicken cross the road when the road is moving?
The difference between a road map and a nautical chart is that a road map tells you which way to go and a nautical chart just tells you what’s out there and you design your course. Thus, navigating on the ocean is not as simple as “turn left at the stop sign,” or “continue on for 100 miles”, like directions for cars often state. Imagine that the road beneath you was moving as you drove your car. In order to keep following your desired course, you would need to keep adjusting to the changes in the road. That’s a lot like what happens in a ship. If you want to drive due west, you can’t simply aim the ship in that direction. As you go, the ship gets pushed around by the wind, the currents, and the tides, almost as if you drove your car west and the road slid up to the north. Without compensating for this, you would end up many miles north of your desired location. If you have a north-going current, you have to account for this by making southward adjustments. In a physics class, we might talk about adding vectors, or directional motion; in this case, we are considering velocity vectors. When you add up the speed you are going in each direction, you end up with your actual speed and direction. In the ship we make adjustments so that our actual speed and direction are correct.
Which way to the North Pole?
Did you know that when you look at a compass, it doesn’t always tell you the direction of true north? True north is directly towards the North Pole, the center of the Earth’s axis of rotation which passes directly to the true south pole. However, compasses rely on the location of the magnetic pole which is offset somewhat.
Compass showing true north and magnetic north
The combination of the solid iron core and the liquid iron mantle of the Earth create a magnetic field that surrounds the Earth (and protects us from some really damaging effects of the sun). If you visualize the Earth like a bar magnet, magnetic north is located at an approximate position of 82.7°N 114.4°W, roughly in the middle of northern Canada. If you stood directly south of this point, your compass would point true north because true north and magnetic north would be on the same line of longitude. However, as you get farther away from this west or east, the North indicated by your compass is more and more offset.
The magnetic poles of the earthEarth showing true and magnetic poles
Our navigational charts are made using “true” directions. Because of our location in Alaska, if we were steering by compass, we would have to offset all of our measurements by roughly 14° to account for the difference in true and magnetic north. Fortunately, due to the advent of GPS, it is much simpler to tell our true direction.
Why so much daylight and fog?
Every hour, the crew of the Rainier measures the air temperature, sea water temperature, atmospheric pressure, and relative humidity. Aside from keeping a record of weather conditions, this also allows the National Weather Service to provide a more accurate weather forecast for this geographical region by providing local data to plug into the weather prediction models.
Hourly weather log
Weather in the Shumagin Islands could be very different from that of the nearest permanent weather station, so this can be valuable information for mariners. In our time out here, we have experienced a lot of fog and cool temperatures (although the spectacular sunshine and sunsets of the past few days make that seem like a distant memory). One reason for this is our simultaneous proximity to a large land mass (Siberia, in far-east Russia) and the ocean. Cool air from the land collides with warm waters coming up from Japan, which often leads to fog.
Currents around Alaska
However, because we are pretty far north, we also experience a lot of daylight (although not the 24-hour cycles so often associated with Alaska). At this time of the year, even though the Earth is farther away from the sun that it is in our winter season, the axis of the Earth is tilted toward the sun, leading to more direct sunlight and longer hours of illumination.
Earth’s orbit around the sun
One slightly bizarre fact is that all of Alaska is on the same time zone, even though it is really large enough to span several time zones. Out in the west, that means that sunset is in fact much later than it otherwise should be. Our last few spectacular sunsets have all happened around 11pm and true darkness descends just past midnight. I have on several occasions stayed up several hours past my bedtime fishing on the fantail or getting distracted wandering around the ship because it is still light out at 11pm!
Rosalind and Avery (with Van de Graaf generator hair) at sunset
Personal Log:
After roughly a week back on land, I have already been inundated with questions about life on the Rainier, the research we were doing, the other people I met, and so on. It occurs to me that as challenging as it was to embark on this journey and try to learn as much as possible in three weeks, perhaps the greater challenge is to convey the experience to friends, family, and most importantly, my students. How will I convey the sense of nervousness with which I first stepped from the skiff to land, trying not to fall in the frigid north Pacific? What will I do in my classroom to get my students as excited about learning about the ocean and diving into new experiences as I was on this trip? How will I continue to expand on the knowledge and experiences I have had during my time on the Rainier? At the moment, I do not have excellent answers to these questions, but I know that thinking about them will be one of the primary benefits of this extraordinary opportunity.
For the moment, I can say that I have deepened my understanding of both the value and the challenge of working in collaboration with others; the importance of bringing my own voice to my work as well as listening to that of others; and the extent to which new experiences that push me out of my comfort zone are incredibly important for my development as an individual. I genuinely hope that I can develop a classroom environment that enables this same learning process for my students, so that, like the science I discussed above, they aren’t doing things that they will, “need some day,” but doing things that they need now.
Finally, I will say that I am finishing this trip even more intrigued by the ocean, and its physical and biological processes, than I was before. When one of the survey techs declared, “This is so exciting! We are the first people ever to see the bottom of this part of the ocean!” she wasn’t exaggerating. Even after my time on the Rainier, I feel like I am only beginning to scratch the surface of all of the things I might learn about the ocean, and I can’t wait to explore these with my students. I look forward as well to the inevitable research that I will do to try to further solidify my understanding and appreciation of the world’s oceans.
I leave with fond memories of a truly unique 18 day voyage aboard the most productive coastal hydrographic survey platform in the world: her majesty, the NOAA Ship Rainier. Thank you lovely lady and thank you Rainier crew for making this Teacher at Sea adventure so magical!
Weather Data from the Bridge: GPS location: 55°02.642’N, 159°57.359’W
Sky condition: Overcast (OVC)
Visibility: 7 nm
Wind: 180° true, 8 kts
Water temperature: 8.3°C
Air temperature: 12.0 °C
Science and Technology Log
In my last post I talked mostly about the science needed for safely navigating the ship to our survey area in the Shumagin Islands. Now that the surveying has begun, I’d like to use this post to talk about the actual logistics of the surveys that are being completed. These surveys are the reason that we are in Alaska, and it takes quite a bit of planning and coordination to make sure that accurate data is collected. The hydrographers are looking for features to put on the chart (map) such as depth, rocks, shoals, ledges, shipwrecks, islets (small islands), and kelp beds.
One of the massive kelp beds that we recorded while out on a survey launch.
The last time most of this area was surveyed was back in the early 1900s. Lead lines were used in order to gather data about the depth of the sea. While accurate, this method only gave information on discrete points along the ocean floor. This resulted in charts being left with large amounts of white space which represents areas that have never before been surveyed.
You can see the sea depth measurements on this chart are in a neat line where I’ve highlighted in red. These are the lead line measurements that were taken in the early 1900s. You can also see the large amounts of white space that haven’t yet been charted.Here is a comparison of the type of data that would be gathered from a lead line versus multi-beam sonar. (Credit http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mcd/learnnc_surveytechniques.html)
The sonar technology on the ship allows us to gather data which can be classified as full-bottom coverage. That means that we have data on every inch of ocean floor that we cover rather than just one point along the way.
Now let’s get to the heart of survey! The overall survey area here in the Shumagins is broken down into what the team refers to as sheets. The Commanding Officer (CO) informed me that the reason they call them “sheets” is because back before the use of computers in surveying, hydrography would be done on a small boat and all the positions would be hand-plotted on a sheet of fine cotton paper. The size of this “sheet” of paper and the scale of the survey dictated how big the survey would be. Anyways, each sheet has a sheet manager that is responsible for the data collected in that area. Each sheet is then broken down even further into several polygons which represent specific areas to be surveyed on that sheet. Meghan McGovern, the Field Operations Officer (FOO) on this ship, explained to me that while the ship itself is running sonar to collect data 24 hours a day only two launches can be sent out at a time to do additional surveys. This is because the ship does not have the manpower to run the entire ship plus all four small survey launches. However, it is hard on the crew to run continuous 24 hour operations on the ship, so every so often the ship will anchor and four survey launches can be sent out to gather data during the day. I asked which method is preferred and Megan told me that it really depends on the area that needs to be surveyed. Sometimes it can be more beneficial to anchor and send out all four launches if a lot of data needs to be collected on areas close to the shore. In that case, the ship is not able to navigate as closely to the shoreline as the small launches are.
Before the launches can be sent out to gather data close to shorelines, benchmarks must be set and tidal gauges must be taken in order to measure the actual water level based on the varying tides. This has not been done during my time in the Shumagins because they were done on the previous leg. (For more information visit TAS Marvin’s blog to understand how she helped set-up benchmarks in the Shumagins.) Shoreline verification must also be completed by the small skiff (boat) in order to visually mark any dangers that may be hazardous to the launches while they are surveying. I am hoping to do shoreline verification while I am here, but for now this area has already been done.
This shows several rocks that would need to be noted through shoreline verification before sending the launches out.To the left of Chernabura Island you can see the two polygons (V and X) we were responsible for surveying.
After the shoreline verification has taken place the actual data collection can begin. I have been out in a launch two times since we reached our survey area. The first time we were surveying polygons V (Victor) and X (X-ray) on the west coast of Chernabura Island. I learned a great deal from the crew about the survey system on the small launch. While I was on this launch I was allowed to drive. It turns out it is hard to drive a boat in a nice, neat line. Yesterday I was able to go out for a second time on a survey launch, and this time we collected near shore data on the east side of Near Island.
You can see the highlighted area was clearly marked as “TAS Driven” to indicate to the hydrographer why the lines weren’t exactly straight!
The launch runs a system that is very similar to the ship in order to collect bathymetric data. The screen, that is projected to the Hydrographer in Charge (HIC) and the coxswain (driver), shows a swath of the area where data has been collected.
Here is what the HIC and the coxswain see as the data is being gathered. Notice the red arrow I’ve inserted to show the “colored in” areas that represent where the data has been collected.
On the screen it looks as though the ship is driving back and forth coloring in the lines as data is collected. Once all of the data has been collected on the launch, it is saved to an external hard drive and brought back to the ship for night processing. I haven’t observed night processing yet, but I plan to do that in the upcoming days.
I will hold off on more detail now and wait until next time to give you the science behind the detailed sonar that is being used during these surveys.
Personal Log
Yesterday was one of my favorite days on my adventure so far. I went with three other people on one of the small launches called the RA-6. While I was on the launch I had the responsibility of doing the radio communication back to the ship for a check-in each hour to let them know our position and what we had accomplished up to that point. The sun was peeking through the clouds, and I was finally able to see the majestic islands that are surrounding us. These islands have no trees, but their sharp cliffs and the mystical lenticular clouds that hovered above them captured my attention each time we drove close.
The lenticular clouds forming over the land near where we were surveying.
The birds out here are the only animals that can be observed and they include gulls, muirs, and puffins. Each time we drove near a puffin I couldn’t help but laugh as they scuttled quickly away in the water. Some of them seemed to have eaten too many fish to be able to lift themselves into the air.
My free time on the ship has been mostly spent at meals and in the wardroom. Each night the ship shows three different movies that run on the cable channels throughout the ship, and a mix of people tend to gather in the wardroom to sit and watch the shows together. I have also had the unique experience of using the elliptical machine several times while on board.
This is the wardroom where I watch movies with various crew members some evenings.
If you have ever used an elliptical machine, you know that normally when you step off the machine it feels like you are still in motion. Add that feeling to the swaying of the ship and it makes for a strange type of vertigo!
The ship even has a small “gym” where the crew can work out while out at sea.
Laura McCrum, a past student of mine, told me in a recent email to remember that knowledge is not confined to age…and she made sure to clarify that she wasn’t calling me old! I am so grateful for this unique experience where I am able to continue my education each and every day in order to expand my knowledge base. I hope that this experience will not only benefit me but also my students, coworkers, and community members as well.
Just Another Day at the Office
I wanted to start this section of my blog as a way to highlight a different member of the crew during each post. These people go to work each day in such a unique environment that I thought it was important to share a piece of their stories.
Carl VerPlanck, 3rd Mate
The first time I saw Carl was on the bridge while the ship was departing from port. He is the navigation officer responsible for creating routes, updating charts and publications, and maintaining a certain decorum on the bridge. Carl also helps to train junior officers in the art of navigation. He conducts underway watches and drives the launches while helping to train others to do the same.
Carl VerPlanck
When asked about how he got to be in the position that he holds today, Carl told me that he grew up in Indiana and received his GED when he was 18 before moving to Alaska to work on a fishing boat. Having no prior experience on boats, he worked in a fish processing plant in Naknek, Alaska until he was able to start as a General Vessel Assistant (GVA) with NOAA. He eventually worked his way up the rank as an Ordinary Seaman (OS), followed by an Able-bodied Seaman (AB) until he received his 3rd Mate certification. He currently holds his 2nd Mate certification, and he plans to hold this position in the future.
While I was talking with him, Carl told me that the best part about his job was that he loves working in Alaska. He has a sense of exploration while doing these surveys, and he likes the feeling that anything could be down there on the sea floor. I asked him to share the advice that he would give a young person trying to break into the field of an ocean related career and he said that you shouldn’t be afraid to broaden the scope of what you might be good at or what your interests are. Never miss a chance to take hold of an opportunity, and don’t be afraid to consider a non-traditional pathway.
I ended our conversation by asking Carl what he would be doing if he wasn’t currently working for NOAA, and he said he was sure he would still be in the maritime community in some way. Besides working for NOAA I found out that Carl enjoys taking flying lessons and he is currently working toward getting his pilot’s license. He has a home in Seattle where he lives, when not underway, with his wife and his 1 1/2 year old son.
Your Questions Answered!
I love getting questions via comments and emails, and so I wanted to do these questions justice by providing prompt answers. So here we go…
My first question was from Kirsten Buckmaster, a fellow teacher at INMS. She asked me if I have any specific duties from day to day on the ship. As a Teacher at Sea it is really up to me to insert myself into the everyday schedule of the ship. The Field Operations Officer (FOO) and the Commanding Officer (CO) sat down with me at the start of the leg and asked me what I was interested in doing while on board, and I told them that I was eager to do a little bit of everything. Each day the FOO posts the Plan of the Day (POD), and this tells you what specific tasks are going to be done for the day. Each day I look for my name on the POD to understand if I have any specific responsibilities. Some days it is up to me to go observe on the bridge or in the plot room. I am hoping to help with the deck department before my time is over, as well as try to better understand what the engineers do.
Plan of the Day (POD) for Saturday. If you look to the left you can see my name under RA-6.
Next I had a question from one of my students Mr. Zachary Doyle. Zach asked me if I was getting seasick. Luckily, it turns out that I am not prone to sea sickness…yet. The POD gives the weather forecast, and the FOO makes sure to let the crew know if we are going to have any inclement weather. If I know the ship is going to be rockin’ and rollin’ I will take Dramamine which helps to prevent sea sickness. Also, the launches get shaken around a bit more so if I know I’m going out on a launch I will take some medicine the night before just in case.
Finally, my grandmother-in-law Liz Montagna asked me about the waves. I’ve learned out here that we need to be aware of two important things: sea wave height and swells. In simple terms, a swell is a wave that is not generated by the local wind. They are regular, longer period waves generated by distant weather systems. The wave height can be measured from the waves caused by the wind in the area where they are created. Luckily we haven’t had waves breaking on the deck. Liz also asked about who does the housekeeping. In my stateroom the answer is my roommate and I. We are responsible for keeping our living quarters neat and tidy. The deck department is mostly in charge of the rest of the ship. Each day I have met people in the passageways (halls) sweeping, mopping, and doing other necessary tasks to keep the ship looking good.
I love questions so please keep them coming! Remember you can post a comment/question on the blog or email me at katie.sard@lincoln.k12.or.us .
All is well in Alaska!
TAS Sard
Did You Know…
I didn’t know how the Shumagin Islands got their name so I did some investigating. It turns out that Vitus Bering was the man who led an expedition to the islands in 1741. Nikita Shumagin was one of the sailors on this mission, but he unfortunately died of scurvy and was buried on Nagai Island.
NOAA Teacher at Sea Avery Marvin Aboard NOAA Ship Rainier July 8 — 25, 2013
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical Area of Cruise: Shumagin Islands, Alaska Date: July 30, 2013
Current Location: 54° 55.6’ N, 160° 10.2’ W
Weather on board: Broken skies with a visibility of 14 nautical miles, variable wind at 22 knots, Air temperature: 14.65°C, Sea temperature: 6.7°C, 2 foot swell, sea level pressure: 1022.72 mb
Science and Technology Log:
Sometimes in school you hear, “You’ll need this someday.” You have been skeptical, and (at times) rightfully so. But here on the Rainier, Rosalind and I encountered many areas in which what we learned in school has helped us to understand some of the ship operations.
How does a 234 ft. ship, like the Rainier, float?
If you take a large chunk of metal and drop it in the water, it will sink. And yet, here we are sailing on a large chunk of metal. How is that possible? This all has to do with the difference between density (the amount of mass or stuff contained within a chunk of a substance) and buoyancy (the tendency of an object to float). When you put an object in water, it pushes water out of the way. If the object pushes aside an amount of water with equal mass before it becomes fully submerged, it will float. Less dense objects typically float because it doesn’t take that much water to equal their mass, and so they can remain above the water line. The shape of a ship is designed to increase its buoyancy by displacing a greater quantity of water than it would as a solid substance. Because of all the empty space in the ship, by the time the ship has displaced a quantity of water with equal mass to the ship itself, the ship is still above water. As we add people, supplies, gasoline and so on to the ship, we ride lower. As evidenced by the sinking of numerous ships, when a ship springs a hole in the hull and water floods in, the buoyancy of the ship is severely compromised. To take precaution against this, the Rainier has several extra watertight doors that can be closed in case of an emergency. That way, the majority of the ship could be kept secure from the water and stay afloat.
How does a heavy ship like the Rainier stay balanced?
Another critical consideration is the balance of the ship. When the ship encounters the motion of the ocean, it tends to pitch and roll. Like a pendulum, the way in which it does this depends largely on the distance between the center of gravity of the ship (effectively the point at which the mass of the ship is centered) and the point about which it will roll. Ships are very carefully designed and loaded so that they maintain maximum stability.
Boat stability diagram
Ballast is often added to the hulls of ships for the following reasons:
to help keep them balanced when there is not enough cargo weight
to increase stability when sailing in rough seas
to increase the draught of the ship allowing it to pass under bridges
to counteract a heavy upper deck like that of the Rainier, which itself contains 64, 000 pounds of launches.
Ballast comes in many forms and historically rocks, sandbags and pieces of heavy metal were used to lower a ship’s center of gravity, thus stabilizing it. Cargo ships, when filling up at port, would unload this ballast in exchange for the cargo to be transported. For example, in the 1800s, the cobblestone streets of Savannah, Georgia were made with the abandoned ballast of ships. Today water is used as ballast, since it can be loaded and unloaded easier and faster. Most cargo ships contain several ballast tanks in the hull of the ship.
Cargo ship with several ballast tanks
It is thought that the capsizing of the Cougar Ace cargo ship bound for the west coast of the US in 2006, was caused by a ballast problem during an open-sea transfer. The ship was required to unload their ballast in international waters before entering US waters to prevent the transfer of invasive species carried by the stored water. The result of the Cougar Ace snafu: 4, 700 Mazdas scrapped and millions of dollars lost. Oops!
Cougar Ace capsized in open ocean
Because the Rainier is not loading and unloading tons of cargo, they use a permanent ballast of steel rebar, which sits in the center of the lower hull. Another source of ballast is the 102, 441 gallons of diesel which is divided between many gas tanks that span the width and length of the ship on the port and starboard sides. These tanks can be filled and emptied individually. For stability purposes the Rainier must maintain 30% of fuel onboard, and according to the CO, the diesel level is usually way above 30% capacity. The manipulation of the individual diesel tank levels is more for “trimming” of the boat which essentially ensures a smoother ride for passengers.
Where does all the freshwater come from for a crew of 50?
If only humans could drink saltwater, voyages at sea would be much easier and many lives would have been saved. Unfortunately, salt water is three times saltier than human blood and would severely dehydrate the body upon consumption leading to health problems such as kidney failure, brain damage, seizures and even death. So how can we utilize all this salt water that surrounds us for good use? Well, to avoid carrying tons of fresh potable water aboard, most large ships use some type of desalination process to remove the salt from the water. Desalination methods range from reverse osmosis to freeze thawing to distillation. The Rainier uses a distillation method which mimics the water cycle in nature: heated water evaporates into water vapor, leaving salts and impurities behind, condensing into liquid water as the temperature drops. This all is happening inside a closed system so the resulting freshwater can be kept. To speed up this process, the pressure is lowered inside the desalinator so the water boils at a lower temperature. Much of the energy needed to heat the water comes from the thermal energy or waste heat given off by nearby machines such as the boiler.
Desalinator in the Rainier engine room
Distillation purifies 99% percent of the salt water and the remaining 1% of impurities are removed by a bromine filter. The final step of the process is a bromine concentration and PH check to ensure the water is potable. The bromine should be about .5 ppm and the PH between 6.8-7.2.
Daily water quality log
Everyday the Rainer desalinates 2500 gallons of saltwater to be used for drinking, cleaning and showering. The toilets, however, use saltwater and if you are lucky like me, you can see flashes of light from bioluminescent plankton when flushing in darkness. It’s like a plankton discotec in the toilet!
How does the chicken cross the road when the road is moving?
The difference between a road map and a nautical chart is that a road map tells you which way to go and a nautical chart just tells you what’s out there and you design your course. Thus, navigating on the ocean is not as simple as “turn left at the stop sign,” or “continue on for 100 miles”, like directions for cars often state. Imagine that the road beneath you was moving as you drove your car. In order to keep following your desired course, you would need to keep adjusting to the changes in the road. That’s a lot like what happens in a ship. If you want to drive due west, you can’t simply aim the ship in that direction. As you go, the ship gets pushed around by the wind, the currents, and the tides, almost as if you drove your car west and the road slid up to the north. Without compensating for this, you would end up many miles north of your desired location. If you have a north-going current, you have to account for this by making southward adjustments. In a physics class, we might talk about adding vectors, or directional motion; in this case, we are considering velocity vectors. When you add up the speed you are going in each direction, you end up with your actual speed and direction. In the ship we make adjustments so that our actual speed and direction are correct.
Which way to the North Pole?
Did you know that when you look at a compass, it doesn’t always tell you the direction of true north? True north is directly towards the North Pole, the center of the Earth’s axis of rotation which passes directly to the true south pole. However, compasses rely on the location of the magnetic pole which is offset somewhat.
Compass showing true north and magnetic north
The combination of the solid iron core and the liquid iron mantle of the Earth create a magnetic field that surrounds the Earth (and protects us from some really damaging effects of the sun). If you visualize the Earth like a bar magnet, magnetic north is located at an approximate position of 82.7°N 114.4°W, roughly in the middle of northern Canada. If you stood directly south of this point, your compass would point true north because true north and magnetic north would be on the same line of longitude. However, as you get farther away from this west or east, the North indicated by your compass is more and more offset.
The magnetic poles of the earthEarth showing true and magnetic poles
Our navigational charts are made using “true” directions. Because of our location in Alaska, if we were steering by compass, we would have to offset all of our measurements by roughly 14° to account for the difference in true and magnetic north. Fortunately, due to the advent of GPS, it is much simpler to tell our true direction.
Why so much daylight and fog?
Every hour, the crew of the Rainier measures the air temperature, sea water temperature, atmospheric pressure, and relative humidity. Aside from keeping a record of weather conditions, this also allows the National Weather Service to provide a more accurate weather forecast for this geographical region by providing local data to plug into the weather prediction models.
Hourly weather log
Weather in the Shumagin Islands could be very different from that of the nearest permanent weather station, so this can be valuable information for mariners. In our time out here, we have experienced a lot of fog and cool temperatures (although the spectacular sunshine and sunsets of the past few days make that seem like a distant memory). One reason for this is our simultaneous proximity to a large land mass (Siberia, in far-east Russia) and the ocean. Cool air from the land collides with warm waters coming up from Japan, which often leads to fog.
Currents around Alaska
However, because we are pretty far north, we also experience a lot of daylight (although not the 24-hour cycles so often associated with Alaska). At this time of the year, even though the Earth is farther away from the sun that it is in our winter season, the axis of the Earth is tilted toward the sun, leading to more direct sunlight and longer hours of illumination.
Earth’s orbit around the sun
One slightly bizarre fact is that all of Alaska is on the same time zone, even though it is really large enough to span several time zones. Out in the west, that means that sunset is in fact much later than it otherwise should be. Our last few spectacular sunsets have all happened around 11pm and true darkness descends just past midnight. I have on several occasions stayed up several hours past my bedtime fishing on the fantail or getting distracted wandering around the ship because it is still light out at 11pm!
Rosalind and Avery (with Van de Graaf generator hair) at sunset
Personal Log:
Well friends, I said a bittersweet goodbye to the Rainier and its incredible dynamic crew. I am sad to have left but am also excited to return home to the Oregon Coast to begin planning for this school year. I look forward to incorporating my newfound knowledge and unique experience at sea into the classroom. I am still amazed at the breadth and diversity of information that I learned in just under 3 weeks. From learning how to steer the ship to acquiring and processing survey data to puffin reproduction, the list goes on. I never stopped asking questions or being curious. And the Rainier crew was always there to graciously answer my questions. I am grateful for all that they taught me and for the kindness and patience they consistently showed me.
When I asked Rick Brennan, the Commanding Officer, what he most enjoyed about his job, he responded “The people.” He said he enjoys seeing the personal and professional growth of individual crew members. It is not hard to see that the Rainier crew is pretty amazing. They are an extremely dedicated group of individuals whose passion for their profession supersedes living a “normal life”. Each one of them has an interesting story of how they got to the Rainier and many of them sacrifice family time and personal relationships to be aboard the ship for months at a time.
Beyond the scientific knowledge attained, I leave this ship with a few important life reminders.
1) Be patient with yourself, your own learning style, with others around you and the task at hand. Authentic science is messy and exhausting. Ship life attracts unique personalities.
2) Don’t forget about the big picture and why you are here in the first place. “Mowing the lawn” day in and day out can seem mundane but all of those data points together will compromise the updated nautical chart which will ensure safe mariner travel for a multitude of ships.
3) Teamwork is key to any complex operation. This not only means working together but always being willing to lend a helping hand and sharing your particular knowledge with fellow crew members.
4) Appreciate, observe and protect the natural beauty that surrounds us. Cultivate this awareness in others. Our livelihood as a species depends on our interaction with the environment.
This is my second to last blog post. Stay tuned for an exciting last entry about my extended stay in Kodiak, Alaska (post Rainier) where I explored the unique cultural and historical facets of this vibrant fishing port. Note: This next post will involve bears, a seal skin kayak, a behind the scenes fish factory tour, orcas, reindeer sausage and fossils!
For now, I leave with fond memories of a truly unique 18 day voyage aboard the most productive coastal hydrographic survey platform in the world: her majesty, the Rainier. Thank you lovely lady and thank you Rainier crew for making this Teacher at Sea adventure so magical!
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Katie Sard
Aboard NOAA Ship Rainier July 29 – August 15, 2013
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical Area of the Cruise: Shumagin Islands, Alaska Date: Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Weather Data from the Bridge: GPS location: 54°52.288’N, 159°55.055’W
Sky condition: Overcast (OVC) with Fog (FG)
Visibility: Less than 2 nautical miles (nm)
Wind: 120 degrees true, 13 knots (kt)
Sea level pressure: 1009.7 millibar (mb)
Sea wave height: 1 foot (ft)
Swell waves: 180 degrees true, 3 ft
Water temperature: 9.4°C
Air temperature: 12.2°C
Science and Technology Log
From the moment I stepped on to the NOAA Ship Rainier in port at the Coast Guard Base in Kodiak three days ago, it was apparent to me that this ship functions in order to acquire information. Hours upon hours of teamwork, dedication, money, and precise planning go in to making sure this ship gets to the right spot, functions properly, and has the correct instrumentation to collect the data. My goal for this post is to share with you all of the science that goes into making sure that this ship is able to perform the overall mission of doing hydrographic surveys.
A view of the bow of the ship from the flying bridge as we began to get underway.
First perhaps I should give a brief background of what a hydrographic survey is and why they are done. The NOAA Ship Rainier uses sonar in order to collect information about the ocean floor. Each time the ship, or any of the survey launches (smaller boats), use this sonar, they are surveying the area for hydrographic information.
Two of the launches had to get rearranged into their standard locations on the ship as we left port. They had been switched around while at port for maintenance.
This information is then processed and used to create nautical charts which NOAA produces for navigational purposes. These nautical charts contain information on ocean floor depth, but they also give detailed information on areas that may be hazardous to those navigating the waters in that area. I will stop there for now on the hydrographic surveys because the surveys have only just begun today on the ship. The ship has been in transit the past two days, meaning that we have been moving from port to our survey area. Little did I know how much science it takes to even get the ship to the survey area where the hydrographic surveys can begin.
If you are one of my students reading this blog, you may know how I say that science is everywhere. One of my students even asked me this past year, “Mrs. Sard, are you like ALWAYS thinking about science?” Well it turns out that science IS everywhere on this ship. I’ve had the pleasure of chatting with several different crew members in my first few days, and they’ve been eager to explain the many functions of the ship and the crew. What is important to understand is that there are several departments that all must work together in order to allow the ship to function properly. Here is a brief breakdown of each department and what their main tasks are:
Wardroom – These are mostly members of the NOAA Corps which is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. Besides managing and operating the ship, these dedicated workers also function as scientists and engineers.
Survey – These are the scientists that are mostly in charge of the hydrographic data. They collect, process, and manage the information that is collected during the surveys.
Engineers – These people have the important task of keeping the ship in functioning order. They do things like maintain the engine room and respond to any mechanical type issues.
Electronics Technician (ET) – This crew is in charge of the technology on board the ship. They ensure that things like the computers, internet, and phones are all up in working condition.
Steward – This department is tasked with the job of feeding the crew members. (They do a great job, and I think I might actually gain weight while out a sea because I cannot say no to the delicious food they prepare!)
Part of the galley where the food is served and we eat three delicious meals each day!
Deck – The deck crew members are responsible for things like driving the small launches, maintaining the ship’s equipment, and so on.
Visitors – These would be people, like me, who are only on board the ship temporarily. They have a specific purpose that usually falls within one of the other departments.
Navigating the Ship
Now that you are aware of the overall goal of the ship, and you are familiar with the departments, let me discuss the science that is needed to get the ship where we need to go. It was an overwhelming and exciting feeling to be on the bridge of the ship while we were getting underway. The Officer On Deck (OOD) was giving orders to both the helmsman, who marked his orders down on a marker board, and the “lee helm” or engine controls operated by ENS Poremba. The third mate was acting as the navigator and had precisely mapped out the route for safely and efficiently departing the Coast Guard base.
You can see part of the route that the navigator has mapped out for the ship.
The Commanding Officer (CO) was overseeing all that was happening, along with several other officers. I was in awe of how smoothly everything came together, and how efficiently the people worked together as a team. LT Gonsalves eloquently said that the ship is like a “floating city” and that all of the pieces must come together in order for it to function.
As I awoke yesterday, after our first night out at sea, I could hear the fog horn coming from the bridge. I decided to go and observe again to see how things were functioning out at open sea. ENS Wall showed me how to do a GPS fix to make sure that we are following the plans laid out for navigation.
Ens Wall taking a GPS fix that he showed be how to do!
These are taken about every fifteen minutes. He used the current chart that was laid out as well as electronic GPS measurements and plotted them on the chart with a compass. He then marked the latitude and longitude with the time to show that we were on course at that moment.
The OOD, John Kidd, went on to explain a bit more about the navigation of the ship including the gyroscope. Simply put, a gyroscope is an instrument used for measuring and maintaining orientation while out at sea, but it’s not as simple as it looks. I noticed a sign that read “Gyro Error” and so I asked. John went on to tell me that the gyro error is the difference between true north and what the gyro thinks is north. The difference between true north and magnetic north is the combination of “variation” which is a function of local magnetic fields, and “deviation” which is the effect the magnetic fields aboard the boat have on the compass. The steel ship itself and all of the electricity on board have some crazy magnetic fields that interfere.
Finally, I went up to the bridge this morning to quickly get the weather data that I needed for my blog. What I thought would be a quick visit turned into a 30 minute conversation with the crew. It was remarkable to see all of the data that is collected each hour dealing with the weather. The conning officer is required to take the data once each hour and enter it into the computer. They don’t simply look out and take a rough estimate of the weather. It is a detailed process that takes a variety of instrumentation in order to get the quantified weather data that is needed. All of the weather data is then sent off to NOAA’s National Weather Service and is used to refine the local at-sea weather forecasts.
Weather data from the Bridge. Hey INMS students – check out this data table! Data tables can be good!
I couldn’t help but smile at all of the science and math that was taking place in order to have safe navigation through the sea. So much science goes in to making sure that the officers have accurate data in order to navigate the ship. This is one of my goals as a TAS: I want to show my students how many different opportunities they have, and the possible fields of science that NOAA has to offer.
Personal Log
When I arrived in Kodiak on Saturday, Avery Marvin, the previous Teacher at Sea (TAS) was still on board for one night. She took me on a tour of the ship, and gave me the low down on how everything functions. Avery and I decided that before departing on Monday, we would take the day on Sunday to explore the island of Kodiak. I couldn’t believe all of the wildlife I saw including the various creatures of the tide pools, bald eagles, sea otters, salmon, and so much more.
I have been so impressed by the functionality of the ship. Every inch of space is used, and the people on board truly understand what it means to work as a team. Yesterday we had our safety drills including Fire/Emergency and Abandon Ship. When the different alarms sounded, I was required to quickly get to my muster station where I was checked in and accounted for to the CO. I also was asked to try on my immersion suit. In all of the excitement, I wasn’t able to get a picture, but it was an experience to practice these drills.
The rack where I will be staying over the next three weeks.The head or the bathroom in my room that I share with my roommate Martha.
I believe my body is starting to get accustomed to the constant movement of the ship. While sleeping in my rack (bed) at night, I can feel it as the ship sways back and forth. At times the waves are large, but for the most part it feels as though I’m being rocked to sleep.
Please post comments, or email me at katie.sard@lincoln.k12.or.us if you have any questions or information that you would like me to blog about. I’m looking forward to sharing more information on my experience with you next time!
Best wishes,
TAS Sard
Did You Know…
Each ship has it’s own call sign. These signs are displayed on the ship by flags that each represent one letter in the alphabet, and they are international symbols that are used. The call sign for the NOAA Ship Rainier is WTEF.
The flags for the call sign of the Rainier. From top to bottom they read WTEF.
To ensure clearness when reading off these letters, the military alphabet is used. For example, if you were reading the call sign for the Rainier it would read Whiskey Tango Echo Foxtrot instead of just WTEF.
NOAA Teacher at Sea Susy Ellison Aboard NOAA Ship Rainier September 9-26, 2013
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographic Area: South Alaska Peninsula and Shumagin Islands Date: July 22, 2013
In September I will be heading north for 3 weeks as a NOAA Teacher at Sea (TAS). Right now it’s over 90F outside and I am happily visualizing wearing layers of fleece and waterproof raingear on the deck of the NOAA Ship Rainier assisting with hydrographic survey work along the South Alaska Peninsula and Shumagin Islands.
How am I preparing for my experience? First and foremost, it’s important to actually practice blogging and communicating using the TAS website. Since this is the platform that will enable me to communicate with my coworkers, students, and all of you out there in the blogosphere, it’s important to learn how to manipulate all the nuances of electronic communication. Second, I need to learn about the work I will be involved in during my TAS cruise. Third, since I will be gone during the school year, I need to design lessons and unit plans that will enable students and staff at school to follow along during my experience. Finally, since it’s still summer vacation, I need to make sure that I get out there!!
I am Susy Ellison, a teacher at Yampah Mountain High School in Glenwood Springs, CO. Yampah is a public, alternative high school serving students from 4 school districts. Our students come to us for a variety of reasons, although most are united in their search for a high school experience that helps them identify and pursue their passions while providing information in a relevant, hands-on manner. I am the sole science teacher for our school, responsible for teaching earth, life, and physical science classes, as well as taking students outdoors for weeklong trips in the nearby mountains and deserts. My passion is environmental literacy, creating connections between people and their planet. My students will tell you that, no matter what class they are taking, they learn about the planet and how their actions matter.
If you’ve been a good follower of the TAS blogs, you will already know that there have been 4 teachers cruising along on the Rainier (2 of them are on the ship right now). I have been following their blogs to learn about the science and daily life aboard the ship. It is exciting to know that there are still places that need to be mapped. I am looking forward to gaining firsthand knowledge of the mapping technology that is used. The one thing that I have noticed is always mentioned in their blogs, besides the science, is the fact that no one is malnourished onboard the ship!
In the coming weeks I will be designing lesson and unit plans for my science classes so that they will be able to follow along while I am at sea. Since Yampah takes an integrated approach to education, I am also creating lessons that our math, language arts, and social studies teachers will be using to add a little hydrographic science to their classes. The lessons will revolve around the theme of ‘Mapping Our World’, which just happens to be this year’s theme for Earth Science Week.
Finally, my preparations include having an action-packed summer vacation. I am lucky enough to live in western Colorado, close to mountains, rivers, and deserts. I have spent part of the summer floating rivers in Utah and Idaho with my husband and friends. Now, as the waters ebb, I am heading to the mountains for some altitude-adjustment and hiking. The wildflowers are lovely, and the high-elevation hiking helps me beat the heat (and stay in shape!).
My husband in the dory he built.Floating in my kayak on the Green RiverI have a wonderful ‘backyard’!
Stay tuned as my cruise approaches for more of my preparations and, perhaps, some glimpses of the lessons I will be preparing for my students.
NOAA Teacher at Sea Rosalind Echols Aboard NOAA Ship Rainier(NOAA Ship Tracker) July 8 — 25, 2013
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical Area of Cruise: Shumagin Islands, Alaska Date: July 22, 2013
Current Location: 54° 55.6’ N, 160° 10.2’ W
Weather on board: Broken skies with a visibility of 14 nautical miles, variable wind at 22 knots, Air temperature: 14.65°C, Sea temperature: 6.7°C, 2 foot swell, sea level pressure: 1022.72 mb
Science and Technology log:
Rainier motto, painted in the stern of the ship above the fantail, the rear lower outside deck where we have our safety meetings.
“Teamwork, Safety First”, is inscribed boldly on the Rainier stern rafter and after being aboard for more than 2 weeks, it is evident this motto is the first priority of the crew and the complex survey operation at hand.
This is one of the survey launches that we use to gather our survey data. In this case, the launch is shown approaching the Rainier, getting ready to tie up.
It’s a rainy overcast morning here in SW Alaska and we are circled around the officers on the fantail for the daily safety meeting. Weather conditions, possible hazards, and the daily assignment for each launch are discussed. Per the instructions on the POD (Plan of the Day), handed out the previous evening, the crew then disperse to their assigned launches. The launches are then one-at-a-time lowered into the water by the fancy davit machinery and driven away by the coxswain to their specific “polygon” or survey area for the day. A polygon surveyed by a launch on average takes 2-3 hours at 6-8 knots to survey and usually is an area that is inaccessible by the ship. Many polygons make up one large area called a “sheet” which is under the direction of the “sheet manager”. Several sheets make up an entire survey project. Our hydrographic project in the Shumagins has 8 sheets and makes up a total of 314 square nautical miles.
The CO, XO, and FOO lead the safety meeting for the day, discussing weather conditions, water conditions, and the assignments for each launch.This is a chart of the Shumagin Islands showing the 8 sheets (highlighted in green) that we are surveying.East side of Chernabura Island divided into survey “polygons”, each labeled with a letter or word. Notice how each polygon is a small subset of the larger sheet.
On board each launch we have a complex suite of computer systems: one manages the sonar, another manages the acquisition software, and the third records the inertial motion of the launch as it rocks around on the water (pitch, heave, roll). The acquisition system superimposes an image of the path of the launch and the swath of the sonar beam on top of a navigational chart within the polygon. Starting at one edge of the polygon, the coxswain drives in a straight a line (in a direction determined by the sheet manager), to the other end of the polygon, making sure there is some overlap at the boundaries of the swaths. He/she then works back in the other direction, once again making sure there is some overlap with the adjacent swath. We call this “mowing the lawn,” or “painting the floor” as these are visually analogous activities. Throughout the day, we pause to take CTD casts so that we have a sound velocity profile in each area that we are working.
Typical launch dispersal for a survey day. Launches are signified by “RA-number”. You can also see the location of our tide measurement station and GPS control station, both of which we use to correct our data for errors.This image shows the software tracking the path and swath of the launch (red boat shape) as it gathers data, driving back and forth in the polygon, or “mowing the lawn.” The darker blue shaded area shows overlap between the two swaths. The launch is approaching a “holiday”, or gap in the data, in an effort to fill it in.
You might be wondering, why the swath overlap? This is to correct for the outer sonar beams of the swath, which can scatter because of the increased distance between the sea floor and the sonar receiver below the hull of the boat. The swath overlap is just one of the many quality control checks built into the launch surveying process. Depending on the “ping rate”, or the number of signals we are able to send to the bottom each second, the speed of the boat can be adjusted. The frequency of the sound wave can also be changed in accordance with the depth. Lower frequencies (200 khz) are used for deeper areas and higher frequencies (400 khz) are used for shallower areas.
Rosalind in front of the computers on the launch, checking for sonar quality (right screen) and observing the path of the ship, to make sure there are no gaps in the data, or “holidays”.
Despite what might seem like mundane tasks, a day on board the launch is exhausting, given the extreme attention to detail by all crew members, troubleshooting various equipment malfunctions, and the often harsh weather conditions (i.e. fog, swells, cool temperatures) that are typical of southwest Alaska. The success of the ship’s mission depends on excellent communication and teamwork between the surveyors and the coxswain, who work closely together to maximize quality and efficiency of data collection. Rain or shine, work must get done. But it doesn’t end there. When the launches arrive back at the ship, (usually around 4:30 pm), the crew will have a debrief of the day’s work with the FOO (field operations officer) and XO (executive officer). After dinner, the survey techs plunge head first (with a safety helmet of course) into the biggest mountain of data I have EVER witnessed in my life, otherwise known as “night processing”. We are talking gigabytes of data from each launch just for a days work. It begins with the transferring of launch data from a portable hard drive to the computers in the plot room. This data is meticulously organized into various folders and files, all which adhere to a specific naming format. Once the transferring of data has finished, the “correction” process begins. That’s right, the data is not yet perfect and that’s because like any good science experiment, we must control for extraneous factors that could skew the depth data. These factors include tides, GPS location error, motion of the launch itself, and the sound velocity in the water column.
Our chief surveyor works in the plot room cleaning and correcting data.Data showing the consequences of the tide changing. The orange disjointed surface shows the data before it was adjusted for the tide changing. You can see how the edges between swaths (i.e. red and olive green) do not match up, even though they should be the same depth.This image shows the edge effects of changing sound speed in the water column. The edges of each swath “frown” because of refraction owing to changing density in the water column. This effect goes away once we factor in our CTD data and the sound speed profile.
In previous posts, I discussed how we correct for tides and the sound velocity. We also correct for the GPS location of the launch during a survey day, so that any specific data point is as precisely located as possible. Although GPS is fairly accurate, usually to within a few meters, we can get even more precise by accounting for small satellite errors throughout the day. The Coast Guard provided Differential GPS allows us to position ourselves to within a meter. To get even more precise, within a few centimeters, we determination location of a nearby object (our Horizontal Control, HorCon, Station) very precisely, and then track the reported position of this object throughout the day. Any error that is recorded for this station is likely also relevant for our launch locations, so we use this as the corrector. For example, if on July 21, 2013, at 3pm, the GPS location of our Bird Island HorCon station was reported 3cm north of its actual location, then our launches are also probably getting GPS locations 3cm too far north, so we will adjust all of our data accordingly. This is one of the many times we are thankful for our software. We also account for pitch, heave, and roll of the launch using the data from the inertial motion unit. That way, if the launch rolled sideways, and the center beam records a depth of 30 meters, we know to adjust this for the sideways tilt of the launch.
This shows the set up of our Horizontal Control and tide gauge station. The elevated rock position was chosen to maximize satellite visibility.
After all correctors have been applied (and a few software crashes weathered), the survey technicians then sort through all the data and clean out any “noise.” This noise represents sound reflections on sea life, air bubbles, or other items that are not part of the seafloor. Refraction of sound waves, as mentioned in the last post, is caused by density changes in the water due to changes in the temperature, pressure, or salinity.
This shows sonar data with “noise”. The noise is the seemingly random dots above and below the primary surface. On the surface itself, you can see data from four different swaths, each in a different color. Notice the overlap between swaths and how well it appears to be matching up.This shows sonar data after the “noise” has been cleaned out. Notice how all data now appears to match a sea floor contour.
Many of the above correctors are applied the same day the data is collected, so the sheet manager can have an up-to-date record of the project’s progress before doing final planning for data collection the next day. After a sheet has been fully surveyed and ALL correctors applied, the sheet manager will complete a “descriptive report”, which accompanies the data and explains any gaps in the sonar data (“holidays”) and/or other errors present. This report, along with the data, is sent to the Pacific Hydrographic Branch for post-processing and Quality Control. After that the data is forwarded to the Marine Charting Division where the data undergoes a final set of Quality Assurance checks and is put in a format that can be printed on a paper nautical chart. From acquisition on the launches to publication on a chart, the process can take up to two years! The length of the process is designed to ensure maximum accuracy as many mariners rely on accurate charts for safe navigation.
Personal Log
As the saying goes, “When in Rome, do as the Romans.” One of the attractions of life in Alaska is access to excellent fishing, and a wide variety of tasty fish species. Although I normally consider myself to be a fairly outdoorsy person, thus far in my life this had not extended to the activity of fishing. However, inspired by Avery’s enthusiasm, and her first successful halibut catch, I decided at least give it a try, obtaining an Alaska fishing license and preparing myself for yet another adventure. I am, after all, always encouraging other people to try new things, especially things that make them a bit nervous, so it only felt right to follow some of my own advice. Honestly speaking, though, the thought of catching the fish and then having to deal with the consequences made me a little anxious.
Rosalind with her first ever fish catch, trying very hard to keep her fingers away from the tip of the hook and the very spiny and painful back fin of the fish. Black rock fish have venomous points on their fins.
Fortunately, I had excellent guidance in this activity, setting out with Avery and two very patient crew members, who put up with my initial lack of skill and muscle, and intense enthusiasm about even the smallest jellyfish in the water. I had realized after my shoreline rock verification expedition that pointing at everything in the water and shouting “Look!” was probably not that helpful if we were trying to identify rocks, but here it seemed more appropriate. At least if you think jellyfish are cool. After several lackluster hours, we finally found a spot where a group of Black Rock Fish were schooling, and caught quite a few very quickly. Not surprisingly, the fish aren’t that happy about being caught and flail around a fair amount. Considering that they have pointy, venomous spines in their dorsal fin, it takes great care to get the fish in the bucket without injury, but we successfully managed it.
Rosalind learning how to fillet a black rock fish. Notice the safe distance between knife and fingers!
Somehow, in all my years of school, I never actually dissected anything, and have always felt a little squeamish around dead animals. However, after helping catch the fish, I couldn’t very well leave my colleagues alone to deal with the arduous task of filleting and cleaning the fish, so I decided to do my best to participate. It actually went much better than I expected, and I learned quite a bit about fish anatomy along the way. For example, fish have an air bladder that allows them to float. They look much less impressively large when this is deflated.
A sampling of our collection of black rock fish fillets, mid-way through cleaning. I am proud to have contributed to this!
All in all, it was a very satisfying experience. It is nice to be able to say that I have developed a somewhat useful life skill (fishing as well as avoiding my fingers with large knives). Our wonderful cook, Kathy, even used some of the fish for a delicious lunch of fish tacos, which I hope to try to replicate myself some time in the near future.
Delicious fish tacos made from Black Rock Fish caught by Rainier crew and Teachers at Sea Rosalind and Avery!
Fun Fact: a fathom, a maritime measurement for depth equal to six feet, was originally based on the distance between a man’s outstretched finger tips. The word itself derives from an Old English word meaning outstretched or embracing arms. Given that we use it to measure depth, it is also interesting to note that it is related to the word to fathom something, or the adjective unfathomable, meaning immeasurable. The word is also related to the phrases “six feet under” and to “deep six” something.
NOAA Teacher at Sea Avery Marvin Aboard NOAA Ship Rainier(NOAA Ship Tracker) July 8 — 25, 2013
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical Area of Cruise: Shumagin Islands, Alaska Date: July 22, 2013
Current Location: 54° 55.6’ N, 160° 10.2’ W
Weather on board: Broken skies with a visibility of 14 nautical miles, variable wind at 22 knots, Air temperature: 14.65°C, Sea temperature: 6.7°C, 2 foot swell, sea level pressure: 1022.72 mb
Science and Technology log:
Rainier motto, painted in the stern of the ship above the fantail, the rear lower outside deck where we have our safety meetings.
“Teamwork, Safety First”, is inscribed boldly on the Rainier stern rafter and after being aboard for more than 2 weeks, it is evident this motto is the first priority of the crew and this complex survey operation at hand.
This is one of the survey launches that we use to gather our survey data. In this case, the launch is shown approaching the Rainier, getting ready to tie up.
It’s a rainy overcast morning here in SW Alaska and we are circled around the officers on the fantail for the daily safety meeting. Weather conditions, possible hazards, and the daily assignment for each launch are discussed. Per the instructions on the POD (Plan of the Day), handed out the previous evening, the crew then disperse to their assigned launches. The launches are then one-at-a-time lowered into the water by the fancy davit machinery and driven away by the coxswain to their specific “polygon” or survey area for the day. A polygon surveyed by a launch on average takes 2-3 hours at 6-8 knots to survey and usually is an area that is inaccessible by the ship. Many polygons make up one large area called a “sheet” which is under the direction of the “sheet manager”. Several sheets make up an entire survey project. Our hydrographic project in the Shumagins has 8 sheets and makes up a total of 314 square nautical miles.
The CO, XO, and FOO lead the safety meeting for the day, discussing weather conditions, water conditions, and the assignments for each launch.This is a chart of the Shumagin Islands showing the 8 sheets (highlighted in green) that we are surveying.East side of Chernabura Island divided into survey “polygons”, each labeled with a letter or word. Notice how each polygon is a small subset of the larger sheet.
On board each launch we have a complex suite of computer systems: one manages the sonar, another manages the acquisition software, and the third records the inertial motion of the launch as it rocks around on the water (pitch, heave, roll). The acquisition system superimposes an image of the path of the launch and the swath of the sonar beam on top of a navigational chart within the polygon. Starting at one edge of the polygon, the coxswain drives in a straight a line (in a direction determined by the sheet manager), to the other end of the polygon, making sure there is some overlap at the boundaries of the swaths. He/she then works back in the other direction, once again making sure there is some overlap with the adjacent swath. We call this “mowing the lawn,” or “painting the floor” as these are visually analogous activities. Throughout the day, we pause to take CTD casts so that we have a sound velocity profile in each area that we are working.
Typical launch dispersal for a survey day. Launches are signified by “RA-number”. You can also see the location of our tide measurement station and GPS control station, both of which we use to correct our data for errors.This image shows the software tracking the path and swath of the launch (red boat shape) as it gathers data, driving back and forth in the polygon, or “mowing the lawn.” The darker blue shaded area shows overlap between the two swaths. The launch is approaching a “holiday”, or gap in the data, in an effort to fill it in.
You might be wondering, why the swath overlap? This is to correct for the outer sonar beams of the swath, which can scatter because of the increased distance between the sea floor and the sonar receiver below the hull of the boat. The swath overlap is just one of the many quality control checks built into the launch surveying process. Depending on the “ping rate”, or the number of signals we are able to send to the bottom each second, the speed of the boat can be adjusted. The frequency of the sound wave can also be changed in accordance with the depth. Lower frequencies (200 khz) are used for deeper areas and higher frequencies (400 khz) are used for shallower areas.
Rosalind working the surveying computers in the launch
Despite what might seem like mundane tasks, a day on board the launch is exhausting, given the extreme attention to detail by all crew members, troubleshooting various equipment malfunctions, and the often harsh weather conditions (i.e. fog, swells, cool temperatures) that are typical of southwest Alaska. The success of the ship’s mission depends on excellent communication and teamwork between the surveyors and the coxswain, who work closely together to maximize quality and efficiency of data collection. Rain or shine, work must get done. But it doesn’t end there. When the launches arrive back at the ship, (usually around 4:30 pm), the crew will have a debrief of the day’s work with the FOO (field operations officer) and XO (executive officer). After dinner, the survey techs plunge head first (with a safety helmet of course) into the biggest mountain of data I have EVER witnessed in my life, otherwise known as “night processing”. We are talking gigabytes of data from each launch just for a days work. It begins with the transferring of launch data from a portable hard drive to the computers in the plot room. This data is meticulously organized into various folders and files, all which adhere to a specific naming format. Once the transferring of data has finished, the “correction” process begins. That’s right, the data is not yet perfect and that’s because like any good science experiment, we must control for extraneous factors that could skew the depth data. These factors include tides, GPS location error, motion of the launch itself, and the sound velocity in the water column.
Our chief surveyor works in the plot room cleaning and correcting data.Data showing the consequences of the tide changing. The orange disjointed surface shows the data before it was adjusted for the tide changing. You can see how the edges between swaths (i.e. red and olive green) do not match up, even though they should be the same depth.This image shows the edge effects of changing sound speed in the water column. The edges of each swath “frown” because of refraction owing to changing density in the water column. This effect goes away once we factor in our CTD data and the sound speed profile.
In previous posts, I discussed how we correct for tides and the sound velocity. We also correct for the GPS location of the launch during a survey day, so that any specific data point is as precisely located as possible. Although GPS is fairly accurate, usually to within a few meters, we can get even more precise (within a few centimeters) by accounting for small satellite errors throughout the day. We do this by determining the location of a nearby object (our Horizontal Control, HorCon, Station) very precisely, and then tracking the reported position of this object throughout the day. Any error that is recorded for this station is likely also relevant for our launch locations, so we use this as the corrector. For example, if on July 21, 2013, at 3pm, the GPS location of our Bird Island HorCon station was reported 3cm north of its actual location, then our launches are also probably getting GPS locations 3cm too far north, so we will adjust all of our data accordingly. This is one of the many times we are thankful for our software. We also account for pitch, heave, and roll of the launch using the data from the inertial motion unit. That way, if the launch rolled sideways, and the center beam records a depth of 30 meters, we know to adjust this for the sideways tilt of the launch.
This shows the set up of our Horizontal Control and tide gauge station. The elevated rock position was chosen to maximize satellite visibility.
After all correctors have been applied (and a few software crashes weathered), the survey technicians then sort through all the data and clean out any “noise.” This noise represents sound reflections on sea life, air bubbles, or other items that are not part of the seafloor. Refraction of sound waves, as mentioned in the last post, is caused by density changes in the water due to changes in the temperature, pressure, or salinity.
This shows sonar data with “noise”. The noise is the seemingly random dots above and below the primary surface. On the surface itself, you can see data from four different swaths, each in a different color. Notice the overlap between swaths and how well it appears to be matching up.This shows sonar data after the “noise” has been cleaned out. Notice how all data now appears to match a sea floor contour.
Many of the above correctors are applied the same day the data is collected, so the sheet manager can have an up-to-date record of the project’s progress before doing final planning for data collection the next day. After a sheet has been fully surveyed and ALL correctors applied, the sheet manager will complete a “descriptive report”, which accompanies the data and explains any gaps in the sonar data (“holidays”) and/or other errors present. This report, along with the data, is sent to the Pacific Hydrographic Branch for post-processing, and in 1-2 years, we will have a corrected and updated navigational chart. During this time the data is reviewed for quality and adherence to hydrographic specifications and then is distilled into a cartographic product (nautical chart) consisting of points, lines, and areas.
Personal Log:
So I am going to hold off in talking about an animal that has recently fascinated me and instead devote this personal log to some cool things I have been doing on the ship.
Most recently I got to be the helmsman and steer the ship. This involved me following orders from the “conning officer” who told me various steering commands such as: “Left ten degrees rudder”, “steady on course 167°”, “ease 5° right”, “helm in auto” (auto-pilot). To acknowledge the command, I repeated what the conning officer said followed by “aye”. For example: “Left ten degrees rudder, aye” or “course 167°, aye”. When the boat is actually on the course that was requested by the conning officer, I repeated the command with the word “steady”. For example: “Steady on course 167°”
Avery at the helm
You might be wondering why all of the commands involve degrees. Well that is because this ship is steered by the rudder, similar to how you manually steer a small sailboat. So changing the angle of the rudder will change the direction of the ship. To change this angle, you turn the steering wheel a desired amount of degrees beyond zero in the direction the conning officer instructed. So if he said “right 5 degrees rudder”, I would turn the steering wheel right, and stop at the 5 hash mark.
Once the boat actually turns 5°, I will make sure I am at the correct “heading” or degree mark that the conning officer instructed. A heading can be any number between 000-360 (where 000-deg = North, 045 = Northeast, 090 = East, etc.) as this boat can turn in a complete circle and be navigated in any direction. (There is 360° in both a compass and a circle.) Once I am steady at the correct heading, I will put the steering wheel back to 0° which means the rudder is completely straight and parallel with the boat. At this point the boat is going straight. If this were a car, you could just stay straight no problem.
But because this boat moves in water and is affected by ocean conditions such as swells, it is easily knocked off course of the heading. So as helmsman I am constantly making tiny adjustments with the steering wheel by a few degrees in either direction to maintain my heading. This adjustment is done using the steering wheel if I am driving manual, or using a dial on the gear panel if the boat is in “auto” (auto-pilot). Because the ship rudder must “push water out of the way” in order to steer the boat, there is a delay between when I turn the steering wheel to when the ship actually moves that amount of degrees. This is not a car which turns instantaneously by the movement of axles. So I need to account for that “lag time” as well as ocean conditions and the speed of the boat when turning the ship. For example, if the boat is going slow (3 knots) and I need to turn quickly, I will have to use a greater rudder angle. Throughout this process I have several digital screens that show me my current position and course, current heading and desired heading as well as other navigational aides. When I was helmsman, I was closely monitored and assisted by Jason, a former Navy Chief Boatswain, who is one of the best helmsman on the ship. To be a good navigator you need to know the fundamentals but you also need a lot of practice and exposure to various navigational situations.
Helm stand
Yesterday, Rosalind and I got to work on deck and help the Chief Boatswain with various deck tasks such as lowering the anchor and assisting with the davit to hoist the launches from their day of surveying out on the water. Assisting with the job of lifting a 16,000 lb launch with 3 people aboard using the davit winch was by far the most exhilarating experience thus far on the ship. I handled the task with extreme caution. As with being a helmsman, there are many factors I must consider as a davit operator. For example, if there is a significant swell, I need to be more aggressive with the davit movements to get the boat lifted fast to avoid any excessive swaying in mid-air. Most importantly, I must attentively follow the gestures of the deck boss below who is able to see the launch very clearly and is directing me on every davit movement. Even an experienced davit operator like Jason, who probably can predict the next davit movement in his sleep, must never assume and then act. He ALWAYS follows the exact orders of the deck officer below because he never knows what they are seeing that he cannot from the above deck. Overall, with Jason’s close attention and assistance, I think I did a good job of assisting with the davit. The boat made it safely aboard, and my heart returned to a normal beating pattern. 🙂
Getting the davit positioned and ready to lift the launch out of the water.
On a lighter note I learned how to play the good ole’ mariner pastime favorite, Cribbage. Rosalind (the other Teacher at Sea and my delightful roommate) taught me how to play. We had a cribbage tournament here aboard the ship in which about 12 people competed. I did not advance to the finals but had a lot of fun nonetheless. I am looking forward to gaining more Cribbage strategies so I can be a more competitive player for future matches.
First round of Cribbage tournament
Just for fun:
An adorable sole I caught on the fantail of the Rainer (I released him/her). 🙂
Fun factoid: A fathom which is a maritime measurement equal to 6 feet, was originally based on the distance, fingertip to fingertip of a man’s outstretched arms. Fathom that!
NOAA Teacher at Sea Avery Marvin Aboard NOAA Ship Rainier(NOAA Ship Tracker) July 8 — 25, 2013
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical Area of Cruise: Shumagin Islands, Alaska Date: July 16, 2013
Current Location: 54° 55.8’ N, 160° 09.5’ W
Weather on board: Overcast skies with a visibility of .5 nautical miles, South wind at 18 knots, Air temperature: 10°C, Sea temperature: 7.2°C, 1-2 foot swell
Science and Technology log: Shoreline Verification
When you think of a shoreline, you might think of a straight or curved “edge” made of sandy beaches that gradually retreat into deeper and deeper water. In the Shumagin Islands, a sandy cove is a rare occurrence and a place for a beach party! Towering, jagged cliffs patched with Artic moss and blanketed by a creeping fog are the typical “edges” here. Below the cliffs in the water, lie sporadic toothed rocks and beds of dense rooted bull kelp, swaying with the current. As I sit on the edge of the skiff (small dingy-like boat), which gently trudges along the outside of the protruding rocks, I think to myself “Is this what Ireland is like?” or is this a world unto its own-untouched and solitary? Whatever it is, this place evokes an ethereal mood and you really feel like you are in one of the most remote places in the world.
Rocky shoreline of Nagai IslandNavigating around Bull Kelp bedPicture of skiff offshore
Remote it is and that is why we are here. These are for the most part, uncharted or poorly documented waters and shorelines and in this post, I am going to talk about the shoreline aspect. Besides taking bathymetric data (depth data), hydrographic ships like the Rainier must also verify that the shorelines of various land-masses are portrayed accurately and that all necessary “features” are documented correctly on nautical charts. Features include anything that might be a navigational hazard such as rocks, shoals, ledges, shipwrecks, islets (small islands) and kelp beds. For shoreline verification, a 19 foot skiff is used for maneuverability and shallow water access. This boat will go out during the “shoreline window”, when the tide is the lowest, with the hopes that if there is a dangerous feature present, it will be visible above the water. In the best case scenario, we can investigate the shoreline fully with the skiff before sending in the bigger launches to survey the area with the sonar, so that we know they won’t hit anything.
Shoreline verification crew. From left: Randy (Coxswain), John (NOAA Corps. Officer), Chief Jacobson (Chief Survey Tech), Avery (Teacher at Sea)Shoreline verification crew hard at work. From left: Randy (Coxswain), John (NOAA Corps. Officer), Chief Jacobson (Chief Survey Tech), Steve (NOAA Corps. Officer)
The main goal of the scientists aboard the skiff is to establish a “navigational area limit line” (NALL). This is a boundary line delineating how far off shore the launch boats should remain when they are surveying. This boundary line is obtained in one of three ways:
1) presence of a navigational hazard such as a dense kelp bed or several protruding rocks
2) a depth of 4 meters
3) distance of 64 meters to shore
Whichever of these is reached first by the skiff will be the navigational area limit line for the launches. Here in the Shumagins, kelp beds and rocks have been the boundary line determinant and often these hazards are in water that is deeper than 4 meters because we have been encountering these before we get within 64 meters of the shoreline.
While scientists are determining the NALL, they are also verifying if certain features portrayed on older charts are in fact present and in the correct location. Using navigational software on a waterproof Panasonic Toughbook, they bring up a digitized version of the old chart of a specific survey area. This chart depicts features using various symbols (asterisk=rock above water, small circle=islet). This software also overlays the boat’s movement on top of the old chart, allowing the boat to navigate directly to or above the feature in question.
Shoreline map showing course of skiff, shoreline buffer, and feature for examination.Shoreline map showing charted location of islet and the actual location of islet determined by the skiff.
If the feature is not visually seen by the human eye or the single beam sonar on the skiff, it will be “disproved” and a picture and depth measurement will be taken of the “blank” location. If the feature IS seen, more data will be recorded (height of feature above the water, time of day observed, picture) to document its existence. This same verification procedure is used for newfound features that are not present on the old charts. All of this data is written on a paper copy of the chart and then back in the “dry lab”(computer lab), these hand-written notes are transferred to a digital copy of the chart.
Section of shoreline showing data and notes about specific features in questionDigitized version of notes and data taken at field site. The black box corresponds to the area from the previous picture above. Note: Kelp buffers are the large shaded red areas and the smaller red circle is the actual position of the islet. The three southernmost rocks (marked by red asterisks) inside the black box were disproved.
On the two shoreline verification adventures I went on, many rocks and islets were disproved and several new features were found. Most of the new features were rocks, islets or large kelp beds. It is important to note that if scientists find a new feature which is a serious present navigational hazard (ex. Shipwreck, huge jutting rock or shoal far offshore) it will be marked a DTON (Danger to Navigation) and communicated to mariners within a short time frame. Other less significant features take 1-2 years to appear on updated nautical charts.
For some survey areas, the Rainier uses aircraft-acquired LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) to get an initial idea of various features and water depths of a shoreline area. (This is a service that is contracted out by NOAA.) LiDAR data is obtained by a plane flying over an area at 120 mph, emitting laser beams to the water below. Like SONAR, LiDAR measures the time it takes for the laser beam to return to its starting point. Using this measured time and the speed of light, the distance the light traveled can be obtained, using the equation distance = speed*time, accounting for the fact that it travels through air and then water. Because light travels much faster than sound, the plane can travel significantly faster than a boat and a large area can be surveyed faster. Unfortunately LiDAR can only be used in clear, calm water because light is easily reflected by various solids (silt in the water, floating wood), specific color wavelengths (ex. White foam on ocean surface) and absorbed by biological specimens for photosynthesis (ex. Surface bull kelp). LiDAR surveys do reduce the time hydrographers spend at a shoreline site thus increasing the safety and efficiency of an operation. As with any data acquisition method, it must be cross-checked by another method and in this case because of the obvious downsides, it is used as a guide to shoreline verification.
Map of island showing LiDAR data. The skiff does shoreline verification outside the orange line that outlines the island. Everything inside this orange island was surveyed by the LIDAR airplane. The three orange features circled in red on the southeast section of the island, need to be re-surveyed by the skiff. Different colors show various depths. (Green is more shallow than light blue.)
After spending several days “disproving” a lot of rocks and islets that were clearly not present in their identified location, we started to wonder why someone would have thought there was a specific feature there. One possibility is that it was just an ink blot on the original chart, made by accident (from a fountain pen), and then interpreted as a rock or islet in the process of digitizing the chart. It’s better to be safe than shipwrecked! Another possibility is that these features were “eyeballed” in their documented location, and thus were present but just in the wrong spot. Lastly because of limitations previously mentioned, LiDAR occasionally mis-reports features that are not present. Fortunately, our current survey methods use sophisticated navigational technology and several cross-checks to minimize data errors.
After shoreline verification has been completed, launches can survey the ocean floor (using SONAR) outside the boundary (NALL) that was established by the skiff. Each launch will be in charge of surveying specific polygons (labeled by letters and names). The picture above shows the polygon areas which are outlined in light orange (most are rectangles). I will talk more about SONAR and surveying on the launch in my next post. 🙂
Personal log:
I have been on the skiff two times now helping with the shoreline verification process. After the second time around and a chat with the XO Mike Gonsalves, my understanding of this process is more fine-tuned. It feels good to reach this point and it reminds me of the need to be patient, diligent and okay with the unknown when learning something new. I, like my students, often seek answers and a deep understanding of complex topics immediately and if this doesn’t happen I can get frustrated with myself. I have been more self-forgiving aboard the Rainier because I know I will be exposed to the same topic or process once again either in a different format or with a different set of crew members. I am also surrounded by a group of tolerant people who continually answer my questions with grace and peak my interest with new ideas. This repetition of content and supportive network is crucial for any learning environment, whether it be on a ship or in a classroom. Additionally, I have been given several small but important tasks which make me feel like a part of this group and complex operation. This empowerment inspires me to learn more and continue contributing. Building a successful classroom community is no different than what is going on here on the Rainier. All students need to have a stake in their learning and a purpose for coming to class each day.
One of my small tasks aboard the skiff during the shoreline verification was to take pictures of the various features (rocks, islets etc.) that needed to be examined. In some cases, it was important to photograph specific biological features that had an effect on navigation. For example, when rounding the SE side of Chernabura Island we came across a large Stellar Sea Lion rookery inhabiting a small rocky islet. The male proudly stood in the center, surrounded by about 50 females. As seen in the picture, this was a hefty male who easily weighed upwards of 1200 pounds. (Males can get as big as 2,500 pounds.) During the breeding season (June-August), the male will fast and often won’t leave his reproductive rookery site. His primary focus is to defend his territory and spread his genes! Even though male Stellar Sea Lions are polygamous, they do not force the females into a harem but rather control the boundaries around their physical territory where within, the females reside. The most successful rookery territories, not surprisingly are small rocky islands which can remain stable and productive for up to two months.
Stellar sea lion reproductive rookery
After researching about the Stellar Sea Lion, I learned that the western stock which resides in the Aleutian Islands is listed as an endangered species (since the 1970’s populations have declined by 70-80%). The cause for this is complex and has been attributed to a range of factors including: overfishing of sea lion prey (ex. Herring, Pollock), predation by Orca whales, shooting by fisherman, and disease. Interestingly, a few native Alaskan communities are still permitted to hunt Stellar Sea Lions for subsistence (survival) purposes.
Stellar Sea Lion range
Fun factoid: The Stellar Sea Lion was named after the naturalist, George Wilhelm Stellar who first discovered the species in 1741 while part of Bering’s tragic voyage across the uncharted North Pacific.
NOAA Teacher at Sea Avery Marvin Aboard NOAA Ship Rainier July 8 — 25, 2013
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical Area of Cruise: Shumagin Islands, Alaska Date: July 11, 2013
Current Location: 54° 49.6 N, 159° 46.6 W
Weather data from bridge: 8.7°C, good visibility (6-8 miles), light and variable wind, overcast
View of Bird Island Cove from tide gauge installation point
Science and Technology Log:
Today, Rosalind and I were scientists in the field, helping the ship’s crew install tidal equipment in preparation for ocean floor survey work. This was a complex process, so we decided to walk you through it in a step-by-step question format.
What does a navigation chart show you?
The image below shows a chart of the area that we are in right now. Our first anchor point was off the north coast of Bird Island in a cove. On the chart, you can see many tiny numbers in the water areas, which represent various depths. These depths are measured in fathoms (1 fathom=6 feet). This depth information helps mariners stay in safe areas that are not too shallow. The charts also show known hazards such as sub-surface rocks and ship-wrecks. This chart clearly has a lot of white space, signifying many areas were never surveyed.
Part of our survey area. Notice the white spaces around Bird and Chernabura Islands!
But wait, why are the depth numbers “fixed” on the charts? Doesn’t the water level change with the tides?
Yes! It sounds easy to say, “the water is 10 fathoms deep at this point”. However, water is subject to the gravitational pull of the moon and sun, resulting in various water levels or tides throughout the day. So the water will not always be “10 fathoms deep at this point.” For navigational purposes, the most hazardous water level is the lowest one, so nautical charts show the depth at the low tide water level. Depending on the location, some places have two high tides and two low tides per day (semi-diurnal) and some places have one high tide and one low tide per day (diurnal). Here in the Shumagin Islands we are on a semi-diurnal mixed tide schedule (meaning that the two highs and two lows are not the same height).
How do you measure the tides each day?
Map of the Shumagin Island-Sand Point Tide Zones. Notice how the eastern Shumagin Islands are 6 minutes ahead of Sand Point.
There are permanent tide measuring stations all over the globe that provide information on how to “correct for” and figure out your local tide conditions. For our case, there is a tide station at Sand Point on Popof Island, which is west from our survey area. Our survey area is in two zones, one which is in the same zone as Sand Point and the other which is in a different zone. Therefore, we installed a tide gauge in the latter to verify that the tidal times and heights of this zone are accurately predicted by the Sand Point values. According to the current information, it says that in the different zone the tides should occur 6 minutes before the tides in Sand Point and to multiply the heights by 0.98.
A tide gauge is a pretty cool device that works by the laws of physics. It is installed (by divers) on the sea floor near a coast-line, in relatively deep water, so that it will always be covered with water. The tide gauge uses the water pressure above to determine the depth of the water column (density of water and gravity are the important factors in making this calculation). The tide gauge stays in place for at least 28 days (one full tidal cycle), after which there is a record of the water level throughout that time period (as we were gathering data), as well as a rough idea of the tidal cycle each month, ready for comparison to the Sand Point data.
How do you know if the tide gauge is working?
To verify that the tide gauge is working, humans (i.e.: Rosalind and I), take water level measurements (in an area close to the tide gauge) using a giant meter stick or “staff”. In our case, we recorded the average water level height every 6 minutes for 3 consecutive hours. This 3-hour data set can then be compared to the tide gauge data set for that same time period, and hopefully they will show similar trends.
Mike (XO) and Avery, taking water level data using the staff (big meter stick)This is the tide staff we used to gather water level data for comparison to the tide gauge.Graph showing the water height measurements from the tide staff and the tide gauge. Notice how they appear to be increasing at the same rate! That’s good.
What happens if the survey terrain changes over time? Will that affect the water depth?
The ocean floor is above a liquid mantle, so it is possible for there to be terrain changes and this would affect water depth measurements. Thus, as scientists, we must make sure the location of our survey area is “geologically stable”. To do this, we installed “benchmarks”. If you’ve ever been to the highest point on a mountain in the United States, you might have already seen something like this: they are bronze disks that mark important places, used by NOAA as well as other agencies. We stamped our benchmarks with the year and our station data, letter A-E (by hand! with a hammer and letter stamps!), and installed them at roughly 200-foot intervals along the coastline in what we hope is bedrock. Once they were cemented in place, we determined each benchmark’s relative height in relation to the staff using a survey instrument called an optical level – this process is also called “leveling.” At the end of the survey season, the ship will come back and re-level them. If the area is geologically stable, the benchmarks should all be at the same relative heights to one another as they were when they were initially installed. More so, the scientists will also be very pleased because their ocean depth measurements will be reliable going forward in time.
Stamping a benchmarkA benchmark firmly cemented in place.Avery next to her first cemented benchmark 🙂Rosalind measuring the distance between benchmarks
So what next?
Now that we have completed all necessary pre-survey measurements and research, we are ready to begin surveying the coastline and ocean floor. Happy Hydro!
Personal log
It’s a pretty cool feeling to know that you stepped foot on an island that hasn’t seen human visitors in 20+ years. It was also refreshing to get off the big boat and head to shore for some science fieldwork. I learned all about tide gauge and benchmark installation. I had several small but important tasks:
stamp each bronze benchmark with year and appropriate code using hammer and metal letter stamps
mix up cement batter and add to drilled rock hole and under benchmark disc to secure it in place for years to come (much harder than it looks because the cement was like “oobleck” and not very cooperative)
measure distance between each benchmark using extra long tape measure
take water level data using staff (big meter stick) in water every 6 minutes
Cool sea anemone I found!
In between tasks, I perused the tide pools for various critters. I saw a few new anemones and got a great shot of one with my new underwater camera. I absolutely love tide pooling and could spend most of the day doing it. I also enjoyed observing the puffins flying in and out of their cliff-side home. They tended to leave the cliff in packs probably to do some offshore fishing for herring and capelin. Upon return, presumably with a belly full of fish, some puffins would fly in large circles near their dwelling a few times before finally landing. This bewildered me. I thought, what a waste of energy! So I researched this and found out the following: Puffins are much better swimmers than flyers and have poor maneuverability while in the air. They sometimes are involved in mid-air collisions or crash landings into rocky slopes. Thus, they “size up” their landing a few times by circling near it before finally flying directly into their vertical burrow entrance.
Their body is mostly adapted for swimming, with short rigid wings helping them to “fly” underwater, to 30+ ft. depths! They have durable bones that endure pressure changes while diving and their body tissues store oxygen. They use anaerobic respiration for long dives. To waterproof their wings, puffins rub their bill on their oil gland several times and then smear this oil all over their feathers. How cool!
We are seeing a lot of Tufted Puffins out here in the Shumigans because it is breeding season (June-August), the time when they return from lonely open waters to rocky islands to mate and raise young. Puffins are monogamous, usually having one partner for many years. Interestingly, a female puffin only lays one egg, which is incubated for around 45 days! Both parents share incubation and feeding duties. Right on! The chick then stays in the nest for around 45 days until ready to fly. I love puffins! They are not only adorable but very well-adapted creatures.
Fun/sad factoid: Alaskan and Canadian natives made reversible parkas out of puffin skin. When it was rainy out, they wore the feathers on the outside and in cold dry weather, they wore the feathers on the inside. It took 45 puffins to make one parka!
NOAA Teacher at Sea Rosalind Echols Aboard NOAA Ship Rainier July 8 — 25, 2013
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical Area of Cruise: Shumagin Islands, Alaska Date: July 11, 2013
Current Location: 54° 49.6 N, 159° 46.6 W
Weather data from bridge: 8.7°C, good visibility (6-8 miles), light and variable wind, overcast
View of our anchorage from the installation point in a sunny moment.
Science and Technology Log:
Today, Avery and I were scientists in the field, helping the ship’s crew install tidal equipment in preparation for ocean floor survey work. This was a complex process, so we decided to walk you through it in a step-by-step question format.
What does a navigation chart show you?
The image below shows a chart of the area that we are in right now. Our first anchor point was off the north coast of Bird Island in a cove. On the chart, you can see many tiny numbers in the water areas, which represent various depths. These depths are measured in fathoms (1 fathom=6 feet). This depth information helps mariners stay in safe areas that are not too shallow. The charts also show known hazards such as sub-surface rocks and ship-wrecks. This chart clearly has a lot of white space, signifying many areas were never surveyed.
Part of our survey area. Notice the white spaces around Bird and Chernabura Islands!
But wait, why are the depth numbers “fixed” on the charts? Doesn’t the water level change with the tides?
Yes! It sounds easy to say, “the water is 10 fathoms deep at this point”. However, water is subject to the gravitational pull of the moon and sun, resulting in various water levels or tides throughout the day. So the water will not always be “10 fathoms deep at this point.” For navigational purposes, the most hazardous water level is the lowest one, so nautical charts show the depth at the low tide water level. Depending on the location, some places have two high tides and two low tides per day (semi-diurnal) and some places have one high tide and one low tide per day (diurnal). Here in the Shumagin Islands we are on a semi-diurnal mixed tide schedule (meaning that the two highs and two lows are not the same height).
What are your experiences with high and low tides? What do you notice when you go to the beach? Leave me a comment!
How do you measure the tides each day?
Map of the Shumagin Island-Sand Point Tide Zones. Notice how the eastern Shumagin Islands are 6 minutes ahead of Sand Point.
There are permanent tide measuring stations all over the globe that provide information on how to “correct for” and figure out your local tide conditions. For our case, there is a tide station at Sand Point on Popof Island, which is west from our survey area. Our survey area is in two zones, one which is in the same zone as Sand Point and the other which is in a different zone. Therefore, we installed a tide gauge in the latter to verify that the tidal times and heights of this zone are accurately predicted by the Sand Point values. According to the current information, it says that in the different zone the tides should occur 6 minutes before the tides in Sand Point and to multiply the heights by 0.98.
A tide gauge is a pretty cool device that works by the laws of physics. It is installed (by divers) on the sea floor near a coast-line, in relatively deep water, so that it will always be covered with water. The tide gauge uses the water pressure above to determine the depth of the water column (density of water and gravity are the important factors in making this calculation). The tide gauge stays in place for at least 28 days (one full tidal cycle), after which there is a record of the water level throughout that time period (as we were gathering data), as well as a rough idea of the tidal cycle each month, ready for comparison to the Sand Point data.
How do you know if the tide gauge is working?
To verify that the tide gauge is working, humans (i.e.: Avery and I), take water level measurements (in an area close to the tide gauge) using a giant meter stick or “staff”. In our case, we recorded the average water level height every 6 minutes for 3 consecutive hours. This 3-hour data set can then be compared to the tide gauge data set for that same time period, and hopefully they will show similar trends.
This is the tide staff we used to gather water level data for comparison to the tide gauge.Graph showing the water height measurements from the tide staff and the tide gauge. Notice how they appear to be increasing at the same rate! That’s good.
What happens if the survey terrain changes over time? Will that affect the water depth?
The ocean floor is above a liquid mantle, so it is possible for there to be terrain changes and this would affect depth measurements. Thus, as scientists, we must make sure where our survey area is “geologically stable”. To do this, we installed “benchmarks”. If you’ve ever been to the highest point on a mountain in the United States, you might have already seen something like this: they are bronze disks that mark important places, used by NOAA as well as other agencies. We stamped our benchmarks with the year and our station data, letter A-E (by hand! with a hammer and letter stamps!), and installed them at roughly 200-foot intervals along the coastline in what we hope is bedrock. Once they were cemented in place, we determined each benchmark’s relative height in relation to the staff using a survey instrument called an optical level – this process is also called “leveling.” At the end of the survey season, the ship will come back and re-level them. If the area is geologically stable, the benchmarks should all be at the same relative heights to one another as they were when they were initially installed. More so, the scientists will also be very pleased because their depth measurements will be reliable going forward in time.
This is the benchmark-stamping set-up.Rosalind chiseling away at the rock to ready it for benchmark installation.Rosalind and Avery cementing a benchmark in place for posterity.A benchmark firmly cemented in place.Rosalind holding the level rod for the benchmark leveling process. It turns out that it is incredibly difficult to hold 12 feet of leveling rod level.
So what next?
Now that we have completed all necessary pre-survey measurements and research, we are ready to begin surveying the coastline and ocean floor. Happy Hydro!
Personal log
One of my favorite parts about this particular activity was exploring the coastal wildlife along the way. A Harbor Seal spent a good portion of the day swimming near by and keeping an eye on what we were doing. Unfortunately, every time I tried to get closer for a picture he ducked under water. He was clearly very curious, though. No doubt the installation of the equipment seemed rather bizarre.
This is a view of the installation point we used for the tide gauge. You can tell that the tide is low because of all the exposed animal and plant life at the base of the rocks.
Being on the rocky outcropping where we installed the tidal gauge and the beach nearby reminded me a great deal of my childhood. From the washed up bull kelp still clinging to a barnacle (sometimes still alive) to the hermit crabs scurrying away from my hand in tide pools to the brightly colored sea anemones untucking as the tide came in, it brought back a lot of fond memories and definitely re-inspired my childhood enthusiasm for exploring nature and learning about biology by experiencing it. It also brought back that sense of heightened physical awareness as I scrambled from barnacle-covered rock to barnacle-covered rock, trying to avoid the slippery foot placements that would inevitably lead to lengthy gashes on my hands. All is well. I returned from my beach adventure in one very intact piece, slightly rosy-cheeked despite the overcast conditions.
An open sea anemone. They also come in red, orange, pink, and purple!Sea Anemones, barnacles, and other rock-dwelling critters exposed at low tide.
Aside from that, as someone who loves food and eating, the Rainier has treated me very well so far. We have some wonderful stewards and cooks, who do a far better job feeding 50+ people than I do feeding one or two. Every meal includes several gourmet options, including stuffed peppers, chicken or tofu stir fry, braised beef, and countless other delicious things. And there is dessert at every meal. And a freezer full of ice cream. No wonder the crew on the Rainier seems so happy!
Greetings from the NOAA Ship Rainier! It has been a whirlwind two days since we departed from our docking station at the Coast Guard base in Kodiak, AK and Oregon seems a world away here in the remote Shumagin Islands. The trip over took roughly 32 hours and during this time we had the chance to see the many facets of ship life. The crew on board the Rainier have been incredibly welcoming, enthusiastically answering even the most basic questions (of which we Teachers at Sea have many), and have made both myself and the other Teacher at Sea onboard, Rosalind Echols, feel very comfortable.
In this blog post, I’d like to talk about getting acquainted with life on a ship. The Rainier is a complex operation, and each person on the ship wears many hats (which is very much like being a teacher) depending on what is happening on the ship each day. One person might man the bridge (front command center of the ship) in the morning, be part of the dive team in the afternoon, and at night, take the role of the on-call medical officer.
Our course leaving our docking point in Kodiak
Rosalind and I have both spent considerable time on the bridge in the last two days, watching the navigation process, from “threading the needle” between the red and green buoys in Woman’s Bay where our ship was docked to plotting out the course many hours ahead. We both noticed how important communication is in this process, specifically making sure that everyone is on the same page all the time. Thus there is specific ship language that is used and repeated for every activity. For example: when acknowledging a change of duty, everyone on the bridge responds with “Aye.”
Being a newcomer on a ship can be daunting. My first day on the ship, before we set sail, the only thing I could reliably find was my own stateroom (which has our bunkbed, or “rack”, and bathroom, or “head”). One of the many things the Rainier crew has done for us is to take us on a very thorough tour of the ship, showing us everything from the engine room to the flying bridge (the highest point on the ship outside of the mast, which offers a great view of what is going on). It is important to know how to get around in case of an emergency, so you can get to your assigned “muster” point quickly, and take an alternate route if necessary.
Avery in her “survival suit”
This actually came up not long after we got underway! In the spirit of safety, the whole ship regularly does emergency drills, so once we were in open water, we had a fire drill which was signaled by one loud long horn. Since we’re on a ship, this isn’t like a school fire drill where everyone leaves the building as fast as possible and waits for the experts to show up. The ship is a self-contained community and it is in everyone’s best interest to keep the ship afloat and functional. Therefore, when the fire drill sounds, everyone heads to their muster station, is checked in (to make sure you are not trapped in the fire!), and then either carries out or is assigned a fire fighting duty such as: attending to the injured, manning the fire hose, preparing to mop up the water, “de-smoking” the area etc. Shortly after the fire drill, we had an abandon ship drill, which again involved us meeting at a specific “muster” station. In this case, we were preparing to abandon ship, so we quickly slipped into our bulky, waterproof, self-inflating “immersion” or “survival” suits and then prepared to exit the ship. We didn’t actually exit the ship but envisioned such a next step. After the two drills, the crew met in the “galley” (eating area) for a debrief of the two drills led by the XO (Executive Officer) where we discussed what had gone well, what hadn’t and what we should improve upon for next time. It made me feel like I am in very good hands here on the Rainier. In the end, this complex ship operation relies on a dedicated crew who works and communicates well as a team, keeping safety as the number one priority.
Our Geographical Area
Part of our survey area, around Bird and Chernabura Islands
While on board, we will be working primarily as part of the Survey Team, the people taking the hydrographic measurements. I will get into much more detail about how this all works once we delve into our first project, but for today, I want to focus on why this work is important and why we are in the Shumagin Islands specifically. When navigating, ships use charts, either electronic or paper, to plot a safe course through an area. In open ocean, you typically don’t have to worry about navigational hazards (rocks, shoals, ship wrecks), but as you get closer to land, these are more and more common, and ships need to be able to avoid them.
The Rainier approaches the Shumagin Islands
If you look at a chart of the Shumagins, you can see that there is a lot of “white space”: empty areas with no depth soundings. Most often, we see a string of measurements in a straight line, fairly regular but also fairly sparse. Our CO (Commanding Officer) said that these were most likely done with a lead line, where someone literally took a lead weight on the end of string and dropped it down to the seafloor over the side of the ship, and measured how deep it was in that spot. While very accurate, it is hard to collect a lot of data about one entire area, and therefore there are many blank spaces.
In deciding where to survey, NOAA creates a priority list. You can find the complete list and list of factors on the Nautical Charts site, but our CO said it comes down to three main factors: age of the last survey, commerce in the area, and recent natural disasters (like Hurricane Sandy, for those of you on the East Coast: the shoreline and sea floor look very different now). As I said earlier, the Shumagins have very sparse data, and it’s old (the most recent survey in the area we are looking at was 1969, at best). Some of the measurements could be from when the Russians surveyed the area, 100+ years ago. Because the Shumagins are en route from Asia to some North American ports, updated nautical charts are vital for safe mariner travel.
Speaking of remote, the CO said that it might have been 20 years since someone set foot on one of the Shumigan islands. That seems incredible to me! Living in a big city, there are always people around. What about you? What’s the most remote place you’ve ever been? Leave me a comment below to let me know.
Personal Log:
Hi friends!
I have been on lots of boats in my life: canoes, kayaks, rowboats, sailboats, small fishing boats, large fishing boats, a live aboard scuba diving boat in Australia and I even was the sole operator of the Soundkeeper boat one summer in high school. My duties on this boat were unique and environmentally important for I was transferring sewage from large vessels to the hull of my small vessel and at the end of the day this sewage was transferred via a vacuum system to a large holding tank on land. It was both a smelly and fun job! Never though have I lived on a boat quite as large or complex as the Rainier. And it really isn’t that large (Length: 231 ft, breadth: 42 ft., draft: 14.3 ft) in comparison to freight-liners or huge Carnival cruise ships but what’s impressive is the use of space and it’s scientific capabilities. Hallways are narrow, ladders (stairs) are steep and storage space is maximized. Everything is bolted down to the ground or secured with a bungee cord, which is essential when the boat is in motion. Besides the normal rooms and amenities you would expect on a live-aboard, the Rainier has several labs, a bridge (front command center) with several hi-tech navigational aides, a technology room (with terabytes of storage), 4 launch boats, 2 skiffs (dingy type boat), 1 rescue boat, 3 cranes and a fancy hydraulic system that puts the launch boats in the water.
Launch being lowered into water
On the food side, there are two 24- hour coffee stations, a fully stocked ice cream freezer (dangerous!) and a big snack basket. The actual meals are pretty darn good and nutritious too. For example, tonight the menu was: stuffed bell peppers, cucumber salad, homemade minestrone soup, halibut, broccoli and coconut cream pie.
I write this post to you in the mess (eating area) as the boat is anchored in the cove of Bird Island which is one of the Shumigan Islands. I am quite happy we are anchored for many reasons:
1) I have trouble not bumping into things on a moving ship
2) Turns out I am prone to seasickness (Thankfully, anti-nausea pills prevent me from meeting the true Ralph.)
3) I can safely go to the bathroom without injuring myself.
4) I get to go on daily research excursions on the small boats.
5) I get to see many more adorable Puffins!
6) I get to wake up and see the rising sun glisten off the water.
Sunrise in Bird Island Cove
It’s been a good few days so far. I am thrilled there is another Teacher at Sea onboard (Rosalind Echols) with whom I can directly relate and who shares many of the same questions and curiosities about this complex scientific operation as myself. I though, tend to ask more questions (both inane and profound) which in the end helps us both learn more. We are now getting into the interesting Hydrographic science so the next post will be quite informative and science-y.
Fun factoid: In the 1800’s, the Aleut people of the Aleutian Islands, covered the outside of their homemade sea kayaks with sea lion skin which is both flexible and water repellant.
Have any questions about life at sea or the research I’ll be doing? Leave me a comment below!
Greetings from the NOAA Ship Rainier! It has been a whirlwind two days since we departed from our docking station at the Coast Guard base in Kodiak, AK and Philadelphia seems a world away here in the remote Shumagin Islands. The trip over took roughly 32 hours and during this time we had the chance to see the many facets of ship life. The crew on board the Rainier have been incredibly welcoming, enthusiastically answering even the most basic questions (of which we Teachers at Sea have many), and have made both myself and the other Teacher at Sea onboard, Avery Marvin, feel very comfortable.
In this blog post, I’d like to talk about getting acquainted with life on a ship. The Rainier is a complex operation, and each person on the ship wears many hats (which is very much like being a teacher) depending on what is happening on the ship each day. One person might man the bridge (front command center of the ship) in the morning, be part of the dive team in the afternoon, and at night, take the role of the on-call medical officer.
Our course leaving our docking point in Kodiak
Avery and I have both spent considerable time on the bridge in the last two days, watching the navigation process, from “threading the needle” between the red and green buoys in Woman’s Bay where our ship was docked to plotting out the course many hours ahead. We both noticed how important communication is in this process, specifically making sure that everyone is on the same page all the time. Thus there is specific ship language that is used and repeated for every activity. For example: when acknowledging a change of duty, everyone on the bridge responds with “Aye.”
Being a newcomer on a ship can be daunting. My first day on the ship, before we set sail, the only thing I could reliably find was my own stateroom (which has our bunkbed, or “rack”, and bathroom, or “head”). One of the many things the Rainier crew has done for us is to take us on a very thorough tour of the ship, showing us everything from the engine room to the flying bridge (the highest point on the ship outside of the mast, which offers a great view of what is going on). It is important to know how to get around in case of an emergency, so you can get to your assigned “muster” point quickly, and take an alternate route if necessary.
Rosalind in her survival suit during our abandon ship drill.
This actually came up not long after we got underway! In the spirit of safety, the whole ship regularly does emergency drills, so once we were in open water, we had a fire drill which was signaled by one loud long horn. Since we’re on a ship, this isn’t like a school fire drill where everyone leaves the building as fast as possible and waits for the experts to show up. The ship is a self-contained community and it is in everyone’s best interest to keep the ship afloat and functional. Therefore, when the fire drill sounds, everyone heads to their muster station, is checked in (to make sure you are not trapped in the fire!), and then either carries out or is assigned a fire fighting duty such as: attending to the injured, manning the fire hose, preparing to mop up the water, “de-smoking” the area etc. Shortly after the fire drill, we had an abandon ship drill, which again involved us meeting at a specific “muster” station. In this case, we were preparing to abandon ship, so we quickly slipped into our bulky, waterproof, self-inflating “immersion” or “survival” suits and then prepared to exit the ship. We didn’t actually exit the ship but envisioned such a next step. After the two drills, the crew met in the “galley” (eating area) for a debrief of the two drills led by the XO (Executive Officer) where we discussed what had gone well, what hadn’t and what we should improve upon for next time. It made me feel like I am in very good hands here on the Rainier. In the end, this complex ship operation relies on a dedicated crew who works and communicates well as a team, keeping safety as the number one priority.
Our Geographical Area
Part of our survey area, around Bird and Chernabura Islands
While on board, we will be working primarily as part of the Survey Team, the people taking the hydrographic measurements. I will get into much more detail about how this all works once we delve into our first project, but for today, I want to focus on why this work is important and why we are in the Shumagin Islands specifically. When navigating, ships use charts, either electronic or paper, to plot a safe course through an area. In open ocean, you typically don’t have to worry about navigational hazards (rocks, shoals, ship wrecks), but as you get closer to land, these are more and more common, and ships need to be able to avoid them.
The Rainier approaches the Shumagin Islands
If you look at a chart of the Shumagins, you can see that there is a lot of “white space”: empty areas with no depth soundings. Most often, we see a string of measurements in a straight line, fairly regular but also fairly sparse. Our CO (Commanding Officer) said that these were most likely done with a lead line, where someone literally took a lead weight on the end of string and dropped it down to the seafloor over the side of the ship, and measured how deep it was in that spot. While very accurate, it is hard to collect a lot of data about one entire area, and therefore there are many blank spaces.
In deciding where to survey, NOAA creates a priority list. You can find the complete list and list of factors on the Nautical Charts site, but our CO said it comes down to three main factors: age of the last survey, commerce in the area, and recent natural disasters (like Hurricane Sandy, for those of you on the East Coast: the shoreline and sea floor look very different now). As I said earlier, the Shumagins have very sparse data, and it’s old (the most recent survey in the area we are looking at was 1969, at best). Some of the measurements could be from when the Russians surveyed the area, 100+ years ago. Because the Shumagins are en route from Asia to some North American ports, updated nautical charts are vital for safe mariner travel.
Speaking of remote, the CO said that it might have been 20 years since someone set foot on one of the Shumigan islands. That seems incredible to me! Living in a big city, there are always people around. What about you? What’s the most remote place you’ve ever been? Leave me a comment below to let me know.
Personal Log
Rosalind tries to see whose mouth is bigger.
As might be expected from my introduction, I spent most of my first day thinking (and saying), “I’m so excited”. Between the tour of the ship, where we stopped into just about every major room and department on the ship, watching the ship leave the cove on Monday morning, and talking to various survey techs about what they do, I was overwhelmed by the number of new and interesting things to learn about. When I first got on board, I was a bit fidgety, because I didn’t feel like I had a specific job yet like everyone else, but now I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable just sitting down next to someone and asking about what they’re doing.
Thus far, the scariest thing about the trip was the plane ride from Anchorage to Kodiak. It wasn’t the smallest plane I’ve ever been in, but I was definitely a bit anxious. We were very fortunate on our crossing to the Shumagins in the Rainier to have very little in the way of weather and I luckily have not gotten sea sick yet (although I did worry about rolling off my top bunk as the ship was rolling last night).
The 37 passenger plane that took us from Anchorage to Kodiak
One of the things that has struck me about this experience so far is how much I enjoy experiential learning. I love learning about science regardless, but learning about a ship by participating in the drills or activities, or learning about hydrographic surveys by participating in the process, incessantly asking questions as I go, takes on a whole new meaning. It has also reminded me of the importance of humility and asking questions if you don’t understand something. I can’t wait to see what I get to learn about next!
Have any questions about life at sea or the research I’ll be doing? Leave me a comment below!
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Katie Sard
25 days until I am aboard the NOAA Ship Rainier July 29 – August 15, 2013
Misson: Hydrographic Survey Geographical area of the cruise: Alaska Peninsula Date: July 3, 2013
Personal Log
Hello from Newport, Oregon! I cannot begin to explain how excited I am for my upcoming Teacher at Sea (TAS) experience on the NOAA Ship Rainier. I have the privilege of working in a coastal community at Isaac Newton Magnet School (INMS) here in Newport.
Although I don’t typically get to walk across the bridge each day on my commute, this is me as I made my way over the Yaquina Bay Bridge for the first time by foot!
I teach Integrated Science to blended classes of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students. My daily drive to work consists of looking out across the Pacific Ocean and passing over the Yaquina Bay Bridge. My students are one of a kind, and their budding interests in science motivate me to continue my own scientific education.
I moved to Oregon in June of 2011 with my husband so that he could pursue a PhD position at Hatfield Marine Science Center through Oregon State University. We moved here from Chautauqua County in Western New York State. Although I grew up on the “East Coast”, it wasn’t until moving to Oregon that I really began to appreciate our Ocean and what it means to be a member of a coastal community. Ever since our move I’ve been on a mission to discover all that I can about the Ocean in order to help my students appreciate what an amazing resource it truly is. While I was attending a teacher workshop recently, I read the following quote by David Sobel that said, “Give children a chance to love the earth before we ask them to save it.” The demands of the upcoming generations are enormous, and I am dedicated to making sure that my students grow to be scientifically literate citizens of our world. I know that my TAS experience will help me to help my students love their planet!
The NOAA Teacher at Sea program is giving me the opportunity to continue my scientific education, and to bring my knowledge back to my students, colleagues, and community members. The ship’s mission will be to do hydrographic surveys out around the Shumagin Islands, and in and around Cold Bay on the Alaska Peninsula.
Here is a map that I found to help me understand where exactly I will be visiting.
I’m nervous, excited, and eager for my journey to start as I’ve never been on a ship of this size, and I’ve never been out on the ocean for this duration of time. Be sure to check out the link to the Ship to get more information on the NOAA Ship Rainier.
In the upcoming month before my cruise I will be traveling back to my home town in New York with my husband Nick and my dog Luna.
My husband Nick, my dog Luna, and myself at Lost Creek State Park near our house in Newport.
We will spend several weeks there before heading back cross-country on the 40+ hour road trip. The next time you hear from me will be when I am aboard the NOAA Ship Rainier! I hope that you help to shape my experience by interacting with my via this blog while I am aboard the ship!
Did You Know?
The NOAA Ship Rainier is named for Mount Rainier which is the tallest peak in the state of Washington. It is the fourth tallest peak in the United States.
Here are a few interesting fishermen’s superstitions that I will keep in mind as I begin my journey:
It is bad luck to look back once your ship has left port.
It is said that disaster will follow if you step onto a boat with your left foot first.
NOAA Teacher at Sea Avery Marvin (Almost) Onboard NOAA Ship Rainier July 8–25, 2013
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical area of cruise: Shumagin Islands, Alaska Date: July 1, 2013
Greetings from the Oregon Coast! Thank you for visiting my blog, and I hope you continue to follow me this summer throughout my 18-day Alaskan adventure aboard the NOAA ship Rainier. I am elated and honored to be a NOAA Teacher at Sea—an experience that will undoubtedly shape me and my classroom instruction for years to come.
NOAA Ship Rainier
My name is Avery Marvin and I am a middle school General Science and high school Biology teacher at Taft 7-12, a mid-size public MS/HS in Lincoln City, on the Oregon coast. I moved here just one year ago, and have been discovering the unique facets of living and teaching in a coastal community ever since. I continue to be amazed and inspired by the natural surroundings and marine resources (i.e. the NOAA base in Newport, Hatfield Marine Science Center) at my fingertips. Knowing I am New York native, many of my students have quizzically asked me, “Ms. Marvin, why did you move here?” My hope, then, is that through this NOAA experience, I will be further able to inspire and show kids that “here” is a pretty amazing place to be—not just in terms of its natural beauty but its ecological and research significance moreover. With this awareness and education, students hopefully will feel a greater sense of ownership of—and thus appreciate and actively protect—the greatest resource in their very backyard: the ocean.
Avery dives in the chilly waters of Tasmania, Australia
As an avid adventurer and ocean-goer, I have explored many waters both as a conservationist and a recreationist (i.e. scuba diver, fisherwoman). Yet Alaska is a place I have dreamed of visiting for most of my life, and to be able to combine my experience with like-minded scientists conducting vital ocean research is truly awesome to me. The Rainier, homeported at the NOAA Marine Operations Center – Pacific in Newport, Oregon, is a hydrographic surveying ship whose primary focus is mapping the sea floor in coastal areas. The depth data collected on the Rainier is used to update nautical charts. This is crucial work as commercial shippers, passenger vessels and fishing fleets rely on accurate nautical maps to safely traverse various ocean passages. In the case of Rainier’s work in Alaska, some of the terrain is being surveyed for the first time. Rear Adm Gerd Glang, director of Coast Survey, sums it up best, “Simply put, we have better maps of the moon than of our oceans.” Several multi-beam sonar systems located on the Rainier as well as on a few smaller launch boats are employed to acquire this mapping data. This six-minute video gives a good overview of the mission and daily operations of the Rainier.
My 18-day journey begins on July 8, 2013 in Kodiak, Alaska, where I will be meeting up with the Rainier. From Kodiak, we travel southwest to the Shumagin Islands, where the majority of the research on this leg of the trip will be conducted. We will then conclude our journey back in the Kodiak port. (Track Rainier’s movement here.) I can’t wait to dive in and absorb all that I can. I am particularly looking forward to working with and learning from all the scientists onboard, seeing the majestic Alaskan landscape and understanding how survey data can be used for mapping vital fisheries habitats.
I hope you will ‘virtually’ join me aboard the Rainier, this summer, and be a witness to some incredible scientific research. This blog will be updated weekly with interesting stories, pictures and lots of newfound information about our mission at sea. So check back often and feel free to leave comments and questions for me. If I don’t know the answer, I will ask a brilliant scientist to help me.
“For most of history, man has had to fight nature to survive; in this century he is beginning to realize that, in order to survive, he must protect it.” -Jacques-Yves-Cousteau
NOAA Teacher at Sea Anne Mortimer Onboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson July 4 — 22, 2011
Mission: Pollock Survey Geographical area of cruise: Gulf of Alaska Date: July 21, 2011
Weather Data from the Bridge
Conditions: overcast
Air Temperature: 11.6°C
Sea Temperature: 9.3°C
Air Pressure: 1007.6 mbar
Wind Speed: 12.71 knots
Wind Direction: 214°
Personal Log
My trip on the Oscar Dyson is coming to a close, so this will be my final blog as we make our 15-hour trip back to Kodiak. I have the night off, so after I finish this blog, I’ll take one last trip to the bridge to see how thick the fog is, and then I’ll try to go to sleep by midnight. Tomorrow will be a final stateroom cleaning and then off to the airport. I’ll be in Bellingham by late evening.
Sunset in Shelikof
This 3-week trip has been an incredible journey. Arriving in Kodiak, I was struck at the remoteness and scale of this beautiful place. Traveling through the Shumigan Islands and Shelikof Strait only solidified my understanding of how very vast, rugged, and wild Alaska is, and that was only my experience from a ship! I feel very fortunate that I was able to come here, and be welcomed by both the science team and ship’s crew aboard the Oscar Dyson. Living on a ship is a unique and challenging experience. Working alongside scientists that are passionate about their impact on the ocean was inspiring. Witnessing the challenges of making a 540-net successfully trawl through the ocean for an hour in wind and swell is impressive.
Our last trawl: Anne the Slimer, measuring juvenile pollock.
Although my adventure as a NOAA Teacher at Sea is over, I am confident that this will not be the end of my connections with NOAA and the science team. Being so close to Seattle, Neal, the lead scientist has invited me to come see the labs in Sandpoint and meet the other scientists that will be using all of the stomachs, otoliths, and other data that I was able to assist with. This trip has shown me that science is messy, things get broken, and the weather may not always cooperate. Problems and challenges arise all the time and scientists must communicate with each other and the ship’s crew, problem-solve, and persevere in order to make this trip worthwhile and collect data that has a very important roll in Alaska fisheries. I am very grateful for all of their generosity in helping me be a part of their mission.
THANK YOU to NOAA, scientists, crew of Oscar Dyson, and Teacher at Sea Program support! I had an amazing time!
NOAA Teacher at Sea Kathleen Harrison Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson July 4 — 22, 2011
Location: Gulf of Alaska Mission: Walleye Pollock Survey Date: July 9, 2011
Weather Data from the Bridge True wind direction: 59.9°, True wind speed: 11.44 knots
Sea Temperature: 9°C
Air Temperature: 8.9°C
Air pressure: 1009.74 mb
Foggy with 1 mile visibility
Ship heading: 88°, ship speed: 11 knots
Science and Technology Log
The Shumagin Islands are a group of about 20 islands in the Gulf of Alaska, southwest of Kodiak Island. They were named for Nikita Shumagin, a sailor on Vitus Bering’s Arctic voyage in 1741. They are volcanic in origin, composed mostly of basalt.
Bold and mountainous, the Shumagin Islands rise from the sea in the Gulf of Alaska.
Several islands even exhibit hexagonal basaltic columns. There are about 1000 people who reside in the islands, mostly in the town of Sand Point, on Popof Island. According to the United States Coast Pilot (a book published by NOAA with extensive descriptions about coastlines for ship navigation), the islands extend out 60 miles from the Alaskan Peninsula. They are bold and mountainous.
When this island formed, volcanic lava cooled into basalt hexagonal columns.
The shores are broken in many places by inlets that afford good anchorages. The shores are rockbound close to. Fishing stations and camps are scattered throughout the group, and good fishing banks are off the islands. Fox and cattle raising are carried on to some extent.
Shumigan Islands to the left, snow covered peaks of Alaskan Peninsula in background. An amazing sight on a rare sunny day in the Gulf of Alaska.
Sea water quality is very important to the scientists on the Oscar Dyson. So important, that it is monitored 24 hours a day. This is called the Underway System. The sea water comes through an intake valve on the keel of the bow, and is pumped up and aft to the chem lab. There, it goes through 4 instruments: the fluorometer, the dissolved Oxygen unit, the Thermosalinograph (TSG), and the ISUS (nitrate concentration).
The fluorometer measures the amount of chlorophyll and turbidity in the sea water once every second. A light is passed through the water, and a sensor measures how much fluorescence (reflected light) the water has. The amount of chlorophyll is then calculated. The measurement was 6.97 µg/L when I observed the instrument. The amount of phytoplankton in the water can be interpreted from the amount of chlorophyll. Another sensor measures how much light passes through the water, which gives an indication of turbidity. Twice a day, a sample of water is filtered, and the chlorophyll is removed. The filter with the chlorophyll is preserved and sent to one of the NOAA labs on land for examination.
Here are all of the water quality instruments, they are mounted to the wall in the chem lab. Each one has a separate line of sea water.
The next instrument that the water passes through will measure the amount of dissolved oxygen every 20 seconds. Oxygen is important, because aquatic organisms take in oxygen for cellular respiration. From plankton to white sharks, the method of underwater “breathing” varies, but the result is the same – oxygen into the body. The oxygen in the water is produced by aquatic plants and phytoplankton as they do photosynthesis, and the amount directly affects how much aquatic life can be supported.
The TSG will measure temperature, and conductivity (how much electricity passes through) every second, and from these 2 measurements, salinity (how much salt is in the water) can be calculated. The day that I observed the TSG temperature was 8.0° C, and the salinity was 31.85 psu (practical salinity units). Average sea water salinity is 35. The intense study of melting sea ice and glaciers involves sea water temperature measurements all over the world. A global data set can be accumulated and examined in order to understand changing temperature patterns.
This instrument measures the amount of nitrate in the sea water. It is called the ISUS.
The last instrument measures nitrate concentration in the sea water every couple of minutes. It is called ISUS, which stands for In Situ Ultraviolet Spectrophotometer. Nitrate comes from organic waste material, and tends to be low at the surface, since the wastes normally sink to the bottom. The normal value is .05 mg/L, at the surface, at 8°C. Values within the range of 0.00 to 25 mg/L are acceptable, although anything above 5 is reason for concern.
All of the data from these instruments is fed into a ship’s computer, and displayed as a graph on a monitor. The Survey Technician monitors the data, and the instruments, to make sure everything is working properly.
New Species Seen today:
Whale (unknown, but probably grey or humpback)
Horned Puffin
Dall’s Porpoise
Krill
Chum Salmon
Eulachon
The current water quality data is shown on this computer screen beside the instruments.
Personal Log
Living on a ship is quite different from living at home. For one thing, every item on the ship is bolted, strapped, taped, or hooked to the bulkhead (wall), or deck (floor). Most hatches (doors) have a hook behind them to keep them open(this reminds me of when I put hooks behind my doors at home to keep little children from slamming them and crushing fingers). Some hatches (around ladderways (stairwells)) are magnetically controlled, and stay open most of the time. They close automatically when there is a fire or abandon ship situation or drill. Every drawer and cabinet door clicks shut and requires moving a latch or lever to open it. For some cabinet doors that you want to stay open while you are working in the cabinet, there is a hook from the bulkhead to keep it open.
The copier machine is held in place by a 4 post bracket that is bolted to the floor.
On every desk is a cup holder, wider on the bottom than the top, designed to hold a regular glass or a cup of coffee. If one of those is not handy, a roll of duct tape works well for a regular glass. All shelves and counters have a lip on the front, and book shelves have an extra bar to hold the books in. Trash cans and boxes are lashed to the bulkhead with an adjustable strap, and even the new copier machine has a special brace that is bolted to the deck to hold it in one place (I heard that the old copier fell over one time when there was a particularly huge wave). There are lots of great pictures on the bulkheads of the Oscar Dyson, and each one is fastened to the bulkhead with at least 4 screws, or velcro. There are hand rails everywhere – on the bulkhead in the passageway (hallway) (reminds me of Mom’s nursing home), and on the consoles of the bridge.
This view down the hall shows the hand rail. It comes in handy during rough weather.
Desk chairs can be secured by a bungee cord, and the chairs in the mess (dining room) can be hooked to the deck.
Another thing that is different from home is the fact that the Oscar Dyson operates 24-7 (well, in my home, there could easily be someone awake any hour of the night, but the only thing they might operate is the TV). The lights in the passageways and mess are always on. The acoustics and water quality equipment are always collecting data. Different people work different shifts, so during any one hour, there is usually someone asleep. Most staterooms have 2 people, and they will probably be on opposite shifts. One might work 4 am to 4 pm, and the other would work 4 pm to 4 am. That way, only one person is in the room at a time (there is not really room for more than one). There is always someone on the bridge – at least the Officer of the Deck (OOD) – to monitor and steer the ship. During the day, there is usually a look out as well.
These binoculars are used by the look out to scan the surrounding area for anything in the water - whales, boats, islands, kelp, or anything else in proximity to the ship.
His job is to, well, look out – look for floating items in the water, whales, rocks, and other ships (called contacts or targets). This helps the OOD, because he or she can’t always keep their eyes on the horizon.
I have thoroughly enjoyed living on the Oscar Dyson (we have had calm seas so far), and talking with the NOAA staff and crew. They are ordinary people, who have chosen an extraordinary life – aboard a ship. It has challenges, but also great rewards – seeing the land from a different perspective, being up close to sea life, and forging close relationships with shipmates, as well as participating in the science that helps us understand the world’s oceans.
Our sampling of Pollock larvae continues around the clock. It is interesting to see what stations have a lot of Pollock and which ones don’t. From my own observations of the condition of the bongo nets when they are retrieved, I have started to predict if there will be a lot of Pollock or only a little. If the nets are covered in reddish– brown algae, they usually do not have many Pollock, or anything else in them. The nets that are clearer, but still have some red from the copepods, seem to have more Pollock larvae. (I wonder why?)The scientists say that we have found more Pollock larvae than in the past couple of years. (Again, I wonder why?) That’s a good sign for the fishery, though. I told you in an earlier blog about how Kevin Bailey is using the data that we collect to create a model that will predict the future population of harvestable Pollock. The other two research projects that are going on have to do with determining how fast the Pollock are growing and how healthy the Pollock larvae are. Annette Dougherty, the chief scientist, is studying the otoliths, (small inner ear bones) in the Pollock. The ear bones add a layer of bone each year and create a pattern similar to the growth rings of a tree. The Pollock that are preserved are shipped to her lab where she will look at the otoliths and determine the age of the Pollock to the day. She can then compare that to the size of the Pollock and determine how fast they’re growing. Steve Porter, another scientist on board, is looking at the amount of DNA in the muscle tissue. If the muscle cells are growing and dividing into new cells, there will be a higher amount of DNA in the cells. This data shows how healthy the Pollock larvae are by showing how much their muscle cells are growing.
Engineering Main Control PanelDiesel GeneratorElectric MotorDesalinization UnitSewage Treatment UnitHot Water Tanks
Today’s feature is on engineering. The engineering department on the ship is responsible not just for maintaining the engines of the ship that move us through the water, but also for all the major systems on the ship. They maintain the heating, cooling, electrical, plumbing and sewage systems. The ship is powered by 4 diesel generators that make the electricity for the ship. The ship is then propelled by the use of electric motors. Using electric motors to turn the propellers decreases the vibrations being transmitted to the propellers and allows for the ship to run much more quietly. This is a good thing for a ship that wants to study fish, or anything else in the water that might be scared off by the noise. The ship has 2 desalinization units that use heat from the engines to distill the water. The heat makes the water boil leaving the salt behind. It is then condensed back into fresh water. Ships that have engines that produce a lot of heat can use this method which is very energy efficient. Other ships have to use reverse osmosis (remember that word from the cell unit?) Finally, engineering is responsible for collecting and treating sewage. Maybe in the old days ships would just dump their sewage into the ocean, but not anymore. The toilets are flushed by vacuum action rather than pushed through pipes by water. This decreases problems in the pipes that run throughout the ship. The waste water including what goes into the toilets is collected in a storage tank called an active tank. The active tank contains bacteria and yeast that break down the waste. From there, the water is filtered into a “Clean tank.” Here chlorine is added to make the water crystal clear before it is released into the ocean. The system contains one more tank for storage. It is used when the ship is within 3 miles of the shore and at dock so water is not released right by the land.
Answers to your questions
Hannah M. – The reason that the procedure was developed for how we sample is to minimize the shrinkage of the fish once they are caught. The scientists are trying to get an accurate measure of the fish so we try to collect and photograph them as quickly as possible. Keeping them cold helps to decrease the amount they shrink. They are preserved so that their DNA and otoliths can be examined back at the NOAA labs in Seattle. The larvae that we are collecting are about 4 weeks old.
Exercise Room
Elaina – I haven’t spoken with each person about if they get bored on ship or not, but being on a ship is different from being on land. You have your work to do during your shift. Sometimes that can be very repetitive. On your off hours, there is not a lot to do. There are however, 2 exercise rooms, you can read or watch a movie or play video games. You can’t, however, just go out somewhere to do something.
Adeline and Deborah – Adeline asked me what my favorite job is and Deborah asked which crew member I would like to be. These are difficult questions to answer as I don’t see every aspect of each job. For what I’m doing, I enjoy seeing what we’ve caught in the net each time, and finding the Pollock larvae. As far as the different jobs on the ship, I think it would be very cool to be in charge of navigating the ship safely through the water. (See, I always want to be in charge)
Rick, the Chief Steward, in the GalleyFloyd, the second cook in the Galley
Lucy – The steward started collecting lunchboxes over 20 years ago. He did it for fun. Eventually he had so many he started to sell them. He sold an underdog lunchbox that he bought for 50 cents for $2500.00. He has sold the entire collection, now. The Oscar Dyson stays close to Alaska. She and her 4 other sister ships were built to be used all over the US. Because of that, she is outfitted with air conditioning although it is seldom used. Her sister ships, that stay in warmer waters, also have de-icers on the windows that they never use.
Jasmine – In addition to studying the Pollock fisheries, the Oscar Dyson is also used for ecosystem studies, marine mammal and bird studies.
Your Question to answer
Find out more about one of the following jobs on board the ship: Include a description of their duties and requirements needed to get this job
1. Deck officers include CO – Commanding officer, XO – Executive officer, FOO – Field operations officer, Navigation officer, Safety officer, Medical officer
2. Ship engineer
3. Steward
4. Survey technician
5. Electronics technician
6. Deck crew- includes Boatswain, able-bodied seaman
NOAA Teacher at Sea
John Schneider
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather July 7 – August 8, 2009
Juvenile bald eagle preening
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical Area: Kodiak, AK to Dutch Harbor, AK Date: July 21-26, 2009
Position
In port, Dutch Harbor, AK
Personal Log
The days we spent in Dutch Harbor were a combination of 8-hour work days and evenings spent in town at either the Harbor View Sports Bar and Grill or the Grand Aleutian Hotel. The crew and survey techs put in full days, then go out for a couple of hours using the liberty van. Everyone’s usually back aboard by midnight or so (the van stops running at 2300, but the town’s only about a 20 minute walk.) In Dutch and Unalaska, there are houses of worship, museums, a Safeway, a clinic (which I got to visit / after stepping on a nail), a community indoor pool and a post office. There are also a couple of ship supply places that have excellent quality gear at a minimum markup considering how far away we are.
For me, there were four events that were particularly of note. First, before now I had only ever seen one bald eagle in the lower 48 and a half dozen or so in Kodiak. In Dutch, they are all over. These birds get to be about 3 feet tall and the talons on the juvenile pictured are about an inch long! I took well nigh 100 pictures and had trouble selecting which ones to include. They are stunning animals.
Second, I knew that Dutch Harbor had been bombed by the Japanese in WWII as part of the diversionary action prior to the Battle of Midway. What I never realized was WHY they would bomb a remote, nothing, minor outpost and attack and occupy Attu and Kiska farther out in the Aleutians. The answer lies in spheroid geometry! (OK all you math phobes, this is a cool one that’s not too hard to grasp.) Simply put, the shortest distance between any two points on a sphere (the Earth) is the distance along the surface created by a plane created by three points: the two points in question and the center of the sphere. In other words, it cuts the planet in half! (The red line in the illustration.)
Great circle route from Tokyo to SeattleSpheroid geometry (diagram courtesy USNA)
On the diagram above, the red line is the great circle route from Tokyo to Seattle. As you can see it passes right through the Aleutians. The battle in the Aleutians is sometimes referred to as the “Thousand Mile War” and is largely unknown, However, the Aleutian Islands are the “back door” to attacking North America. That’s why, after the bombing of Dutch Harbor six months after Pearl Harbor, the United States made a concerted effort to fortify the Aleutians and take back Attu and Kiska. By the way, the landings on Attu and Kiska were the first landings on American soil by an enemy since the War of 1812! There are reinforced concrete bunkers and Quonset huts all over the Dutch Harbor area and the fortifications atop Mount Ballyhoo are among the most well-preserved and extensively built in the United States. The fact that our military – both men and women – were stationed in such an inhospitable frontier should be taught to all of our students.
Quonset hut on Mt Ballyhoo
Personally, I am thankful to one of my professors, Jack Lutz, who was stationed on Adak, 350+ miles West of Dutch Harbor. Freedom isn’t free and we are very lucky. So, this information about great circles should lend a bit of insight to the questions I posed earlier about the D.E.W. Line (used for radar protection in the event of Soviet missile launch over the North Pole) and why we encountered ships sailing from North America to Asia while passing through Unimak Pass (It’s right in the middle of the great circle route!)
Gun emplacement overlooking the entrance to Dutch Harbor
On our last day in Dutch, the CO and 5 others including myself went to the old cemetery in Unalaska. Buried there is Karl Mueller of the U.S. Ship Surveyor. He was one of the earliest Americans to work on surveying the Aleutians and was drowned in 1938 when his survey launch hit a previously uncharted reef. For more information on the NOAA personnel lost in the line of duty, go here. It’s important that we know our history in order to appreciate our present and look forward to the future.
Grave marker of Karl Mueller. The Fairweather crew maintains the grave and established a benchmark on the marker.
The last notable event in Dutch was the combined “wetting down” and Sunday Brunch for the new officers. As I pointed out on one of my first logs, CO Doug Baird was promoted to Captain and Mark Andrews was promoted to Lieutenant JG. LTjg Andrews generously invited me to the wetdown and brunch which was attended by the entire crew. The wetdown was at the Grand Aleutian on Saturday night and Sunday brunch was there also. These two events were really something special and the camaraderie was great to experience. Thank you, sirs.
Crab legs, lox, salmon, biscuits w/ crab gravy, kippers (Plate #2 with dessert yet to come!)
NOAA Teacher at Sea
John Schneider
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather July 7 – August 8, 2009
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical Area: Kodiak, AK to Dutch Harbor, AK Date: July 18-20, 2009
Position
Shumagin Islands, in transit to Dutch Harbor
Weather Data from the Bridge
Weather System:
(July 18th) Low system approaching from the South
(July 19th) Fog, gusty wind in the morning, clear afternoon, but getting windier; Wind: southwesterly at 4-6 kts; Sea State: 1-2 feet
Weather System: Projected for the July 20-21 overnight
Barometer: falling rapidly (a warning sign of unsettled weather) Wind: sustained at 30-40 kts, gusting to 55 kts (This would qualify as a “gale”)
Sea State: Predicted wave height next 24-36 hrs – 18 feet!
Andy and lunch—a nice halibut!
Science and Technology Log
On the 18th and 19th, the launches went out (including me on the 19th) to clean up some holidays and get more near-shore data. When we got back on the 19th, we found out that a major low pressure system was building to the south and expected to be in our area within a day and a half. A major low system can reach out a couple of hundred miles and the CO decided that we would leave the Shumagins about 18 hours earlier than originally planned. I discussed this with him (he is remarkably approachable) and he reiterates to me what I had already believed: his responsibilities are in three priorities – 1. His crew. 2. His ship. 3. The mission. Our research in the Shumagins does not represent life-or-death, it represents the continuing quest for knowledge and the expansion of our understanding of the Earth. I’m sure you’ve realized it already, but Captain Baird and his officers have earned my highest regard.
We are in the center of the radar screen and two other ships described below – with their courses projected from the boxes that represent them – are behind us. The green line is our track ahead.
On board the Fairweather is a phenomenal array of electronics. Our positioning equipment is able to determine our position with just a couple of meters and when we are on a course it can tell if the course error is as little as a decimeter! Operating in Alaska, where fog is a way of life, RADAR (Radio Direction And Ranging) is an absolute must, and we have redundant systems in the event one breaks down. Probably the coolest thing about the radar is the use of ARPA technology. ARPA (Automated Radar Plotting Aid) is a system that not only identifies other vessels on the water, but diagrams their projected course and speed vectors on the screen. It does this from as far as 64 miles away!
The tail of the halibut and some crabs found in its stomach
By looking at the screen, you can see the lines of other ships relative to your own and navigate accordingly. Furthermore, the system includes ECDIS, which is an Electronic Chart Display and Information System that identifies other ships as to their name, size, destination, and cargo! So when you see on the radar that you are in a situation where you will be passing near to another vessel, you can call them on the radio by name! This technology is essential, especially going through Unimak Pass. Unimak Pass is about 15 miles wide and is a critical point in commercial shipping traffic between the Americas and Asia. As we were transiting Unimak Pass, We were passed by an 800 foot long container ship that was en route to Yokohama, Japan and going the other way was a 750 foot ship going to Panama. This is a critical area due to what is called “Great Circle” navigation. I’ll address this point when in Dutch Harbor next week.
Eat your hearts out!
Personal Log
Last night, after the beach party, Andy Medina (who has been on board for almost 200 days this year) was fishing off the fantail and caught a nice halibut. The crew who hail from Alaska all have fishing permits and when the day is done, if we’re anchored they get to use their free time for fishing. They even got a freezer to keep their filets in. Earlier in the cruise, we actually had halibut tacos made with about the freshest Alaskan halibut you can find (less than 12 hours from catch to lunch!) Of course, with me being a bio guy, I asked for two things: 1 – to keep and freeze the head (I For the last night of the leg before making port in Dutch Harbor (home of the World’s Deadliest Catch boats) the stewards, Cathy Brandts, Joe Lefstein and Mike Smith really outdid themselves. I sure hope you can read the menu board, but if you can’t, dinner was Grilled NY Strip Steak and Steamed Crab legs with Butter!
We went through about 10 trays like this!!!
After dinner, everybody secured as much equipment as possible in the labs, galley and cabins as possible in anticipation of the run ahead of the weather into Dutch Harbor. We ran through the night and got to Unimak pass in the middle of the day on the 20th. About half way through the pass was an unusual announcement, “Attention on the Fairweather, there are a lot of whales feeding off to starboard!” It’s the only time whales were announced and it was worth the announcement. For about 2 to 3 miles, we were surrounded by literally MILLIONS of seabirds and a score or more of whales. Comments from everybody were that they had never seen anything like it. I kept thinking of the old Hitchcock film The Birds and the scenes in Moby Dick where Ahab says to “watch the birds.” We were all agog at the sight.
Fifteen minutes of this! Incredible!
With the collective 200-300 years of at-sea experience, no one had ever seen anything like it. After 2.5 weeks that seems like 2.5 days, we approach Dutch Harbor and are secured to the pier by 1700 hours. Tonight we’ll head into town, but if not for the news in the next paragraph, this would be the worst time of the trip, however . . .
The Best news of the trip: I’ve requested and been approved to stay on board the Fairweather for the next leg! WOO-HOO!!! It’s called FISHPAC and deals with integrating bottom characteristics to commercially viable fish populations! I’m going to the Bering Sea!!!
Questions for You to Investigate
When did the Andrea Doria and Stockholm collide? Where? In what conditions?
What was the D.E.W. Line in the Cold War?
Why did the Japanese want bases in the Aleutians in WWII?
Why did we pass a ship going from North America to Yokohama well over 1000 miles north of both ends of the trip?
What are Great Circles?
Did You Know?
That almost 10% of all commercial fishing catch in the United States comes through Unalaska and Dutch Harbor?
NOAA Teacher at Sea
John Schneider
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather July 7 – August 8, 2009
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical Area: Kodiak, AK to Dutch Harbor, AK Date: July 16-17, 2009
Position
Shumagin Islands
Morning safety briefing
Weather Data from the Bridge
Weather System: Light fog, clearing through the day
Wind: light and variable
Sea State: <2 feet
Science and Technology Log
This morning, I went up to the boat deck and took a shot of the FOO in the morning safety briefing on the fantail. Afterwards, while the launches were conducting near-shore and off-shore surveys, the Fairweather ran cross track lines where we had completed a large open-water polygon. Once the large offshore polygons are surveyed by the Fairweather, the ship runs several transects at a 90º angle across the original survey lines. This is to corroborate prior data. When the survey crew finally completes their data analysis, they have checked and re-checked the data a minimum of 4 times before the report leaves the ship. Then, the information goes to NOAA’s charting offices and is reviewed multiple times again before being incorporated and published on charts and in the Coast Pilots.
Personal Log
Perhaps the three most frightening prospects on board a ship at sea are:
Fire
Abandoning a sinking vessel
Man Overboard
Going up the ladder blindfolded
This afternoon, we ran drills addressing the first two situations. In the first drill, we simulated a shipboard fire with thick smoke. Rather than filling the ship with smoke, the crew paired up and practiced escaping from their cabins blindfolded. Each person took a turn being the eyes so their partner didn’t get injured, but could not give directions. My path was relatively easy: Left out of my cabin, right along the wall, up the ladder, right to the next wall, right again, pass the door to the scullery, go over a coaming and left out to the weather deck. I did fine, and my partner, Engineer Joe Kelly, also did. On the other hand, Andrew Clos, one of the survey techs, made one wrong turn and wandered into the mess. Once he got there, well, on board ship folks tend to enjoy a good laugh – either at their own expense or someone else’s. Once Andrew got into the mess, other crew members put chairs in his way, opened cabinet doors, blocked the ability for him to go backwards!
Andrew cornered in the mess!
Oh, they were merciless! Finally, someone led him out and we all shared a good laugh. The XO was, however, quick to point out that Andrew had crawled during the drill – one of the few who had done so. Remember what they teach even in pre-school, if there’s smoke, the smoke rises, so crawl to safety. So I guess the point was well-made. The abandon ship drill is very simple in concept, but with 45-50 people hustling through passageways with life jackets and Gumby suits (not wearing them, but just carrying them) it can be chaotic. Nonetheless, within less than 4 minutes, every crew member was at their abandon ship stations.
“Ensign Forney” at his station in Plot
The best aspect of the drills was the seriousness of the personnel. We all realize, even the crewmen who have been to sea for decades, that life on the sea is held by a thin thread and frivolity belongs in its place. While the launches were operating, Survey Tech Tami Beduhn (with help!) put a chicken suit on the CPR mannequin that we have on board and set it up in Ensign Matt Forney’s station in the plot room. They even put his ball cap on it!
Ensign Matt Forney (left) and the CO at the bonfire.
Speaking of Frivolity
Being more than halfway through the leg and getting work done at a really good pace – through crew efforts and cooperation from the weather – the CO (currently Jim Bush who has relieved CAPT Baird while he is on leave for a short while) approved a “beach party” to be held on one of the accessible beaches (Flying Eagle Harbor – 55º10’ N, 159º30’W) of Big Koniuji Island, the second largest island in the Shumagins. The ship arrived in the “harbor” a few hours before the launches returned and anchored. While the launches were conducting survey ops, the stewards (chefs) and the deck crew repeatedly took the skiff (a small utility boat) and set up a HUGE meal on the beach. As you can see, the bonfire was ready to go – collected from the ample supply of driftwood. We even had a Beachparty Internal Temperance Control Honcho – kind of a 2009 version of Women’s Christian Temperance Union of the late 1800’s! After a while on the ship, it was cool to get ashore. A couple of the crew hiked to the summit of the mountain.
Vocabulary
Scullery – the area of the galley (kitchen) where used dishes are rinsed and put into the dishwasher
Coaming – a raised door sill at a hatch to keep water from flowing inside
The ship waiting offshoreIt doesn’t get any better than this!Yup! We went swimming! That’s me with my arms up. Water was about 43º.
NOAA Teacher at Sea
John Schneider
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather July 7 – August 8, 2009
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical Area: Kodiak, AK to Dutch Harbor, AK Date: July 15, 2009
This is the Fairweather’s foredeck.
Weather Data from the Bridge
Weather System: early fog burned off by mid-day
Wind: light & variable
Temperature: 11.5º C
Sea State: light swells
Science and Technology Log
There’s a whole bunch of ship-specific jargon that marine researchers need to be conversant in for clear communication with the officers and crew. A couple days ago I mentioned bow and stern lines and frapping lines and boat falls. Now for aprimer in basic terminology. The bow is the front of the ship. To get there you go forward. (The bow is a place; forward is a direction.) Similarly, you go aft (direction) to get to the stern (place). By the way, the weather deck at the stern is the fantail which is where a lot of work gets done. Descending into the ship you are going “belowdecks” and to get there you go up or down a ladder (not stairs.) Windows are portlights, which are covered with thick black covering at night so as to not shine light off the ship and cause visual problems for the bridge.
The right side is starboard, the left is port. (Easy to remember, left and port both have four letters, starboard and right are longer.) The ship has running lights which on the Fairweather are on all the times. Starboard is green, port is red (again, the longer words go to starboard.) Ropes aren’t ropes, they’re “lines.”
Personal Log
This evening was a spectacle far beyond what I had hoped for, so most of today’s log will be pictures. I think they’ll be self-explanatory! Let me just preface these pictures with a quote from Chef Joe Lefstein. He and I were chatting on the fantail after dinner and there had been some reports of whales nearby. I told him I was getting my camera and he said, “That’s the kiss of death. There won’t be any whales now.” Welllllll . . .
Birds and a spout!Birds and TWO spouts!!!Two whales with their dorsal fins showingA fluke that can identify a whale!
This shot below is going to be sent to the people at the Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute Juneau Humpback Whale Catalog (part of the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Juneau. Survey tech Will Sautter told me about their site and I think this is a new sighting! I can’t wait to hear from them! Their URL is at the end of today’s page.
Then I got these shots, which shows a whale breaching (jumping out of) the water.
So Joe and I are just blown away by all this (it went on for a good 15 minutes and I took about 75 pictures) and he says, “Can you imagine if we see a breach? I’ve been sailing here for six years and have only seen one.” I turn around to look forward and he yells, “Oh my God, two of them just breached together.” I turned and snapped the following, just catching their splash, and we were treated to another show for another 10 minutes!
Am I lucky or what?! One even waved B’Bye!
Questions for You to Investigate
How do scientists identify individual humpback whales?
How long can humpbacks stay under water?
How many teeth do humpbacks have?
What is the preferred food of a humpback?
Check out this site below and see if you can recognize “my” flukes?
See what you can identify in the picture of the deck at the top: Red wheels (windlass controls), Fire Station, 2 cranes, 8 vents from lower compartments, the boarding ramp, and 3 pairs of bitts.
NOAA Teacher at Sea
John Schneider
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather July 7 – August 8, 2009
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical Area: Kodiak, AK to Dutch Harbor, AK Date: July 14, 2009
Position
Shumagin Islands
Here I am in the data acquisition chair.
Weather Data from the Bridge
Weather System: light overcast
Wind: light & variable
Sea State: gentle swells
Science and Technology Log
Today I spent quite a few hours in the plot room learning about the methods being used on Fairweather for recording bathymetric data. In the picture below and to the right you are looking forward at the starboard side of the Plot Room. From the left are Chief Survey Tech Lynn Morgan, Survey Tech Dave Franksen, survey crew members Damian Manda and Gabriel Schmidbauer. Dave is in the chair that I’m occupying in the shot above.
At first, it’s a baffling array of monitors and programs and people. There are 11 stations for survey personnel in the plot room and it is operating 24/7 when we are under way. In the adjacent compartment are the FOO (Field Operations Officer) and the CST (Chief Survey Technician.) The FOO on the Fairweather is LT Matt Ringel. The future FOO is LT Briana Welton (who will become the FOO when LT Ringel rotates off the ship); and the CST is Lynn Morgan. While the crewis quite casual in addressing one another, there are three individuals who are addressed by their titles. Commanding Officer Doug Baird is addressed as “CO,” Executive Officer David Zezula is “XO,” and LT Ringel is “FOO.” Everyone else on board is addressed by casual names. These three officers and the CST are integral to getting our mission accomplished.
More data acquisition!
I’ll address the monitors I’m viewing from top to bottom and left to right. Once you’ve sat in the chair it’s not terribly difficult to follow what’s being displayed . . . but a novice like me isn’t able to decode issues that pop up sometimes. Though I sat a 4hour watch, for the vast majority of that time I had an experienced tech (Will Sauter) very close to help when it was needed. The top right monitor is a closed-circuit TV monitor of the ship’s fantail1 (aft deck.) This is where the remote MVP is deployed from (The MVP is the ship’s equivalent of the CTDs2 we deploy from the launches.) It’s on the starboard quarter and is deployed with a couple of mouse clicks from the chair. Its mouse is the white one to the right and its keyboard is the white one.
The data acquisition monitors
To the left of the closed-circuit TV monitor is the control screen for the MVP. It indicates how deep the “fish” (the sensor) is, the tension on the line, how far behind the ship it is, the GPS accuracy, who is capturing data on the watch and about 20 other parameters. Whenever something is going that involves the ship or its operations, the bridge must be apprised so the Officer of the Watch is on the same page as the survey and boat teams. You key the intercom to the bridge and say something like, “Bridge, we’d like a cast, please.” And they will respond “yes,” “OK,” “affirmative” or something along those lines. Then we follow with “fish is deployed,” “fish on the bottom” and “fish is back.” The MVP gets a sound-velocity-in-water throughout the water column. It can vary by as much as 10 m/s which affects the recorded distance.
The graphic display of the Multi-Beam Echo Sounder called the beam “cone”
The far monitor you see below is a graphic display of the beam-spread from the 8111 Multi-Beam Echo Sounder. The sounder can cover an angle of 150º (which is 75º to either side of the Nadir3.) Ideally, this line should show blue dots across from one point of the cone to the other. As you can see, the left side is a bit higher than the right. This could indicate either that the ship is rolling or the bottom is sloped. The control for adjusting the beam is the left roller ball in the top picture. (The right one is for a different MBES.) The next 3 displays are all controlled with the black keyboard and mouse on the lower shelf in my lap. The left monitor of these three displays technical data about the ship and MBES. One of the devices integrated into the system is an Inertial Motion Sensor which quantifies the amount of roll4, pitch5 and yaw6.
This screen depicts various graphic displays
Having this information allows the raw data to be corrected for some environmental factors. Also in the display are accuracy and precision indicators for the GPS positions, personnel on watch, logging verification to begin and cease, and more. The next display is broken into four subordinate windows. On the top left and center are visuals on the nadir beams directly under the ship. It seemed a bit odd not to simply include the nadir in the bottom half of the display, but the bottom half is processed a bit differently and needs to be segregated. One of the Officers (ENS Patricia Raymond) actually got a screen capture of what appear to be whales directly below the ship. I swear you can identify flukes and fins, but maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part. I’d have included it here, but there’s just the one copy in plot. The top right in this display shows a minimized version of the path we’re “mowing.” You can see the most recent data in green. Finally, on the bottom, are the side-scan views of the bottom. In this particular shot it’s kind of interesting with what appear to be the remains of glacial moraines and scour on the seafloor.
This display shows technical data about the ship and Multi-Beam Echo Sounder.
The last screen, on the far right, is the screen showing our progress on the polygon. The recently scanned area shows up in a different color than those previously scanned and every time you update the plot, the colors begin anew. Fairweather frequently uses about a 50% overlap to ensure redundancy of data points. On the lower right side of this screen is a graphic of the beams under the ship. It usually looks very much like the image of the “cone” displayed above. The “70.55” indicates the depth (in S.I. Units of meters) and the top right indicates the status of whether we are logging/retaining the data or if it is just reading it. We don’t log when the ship is turning because the data points get too spread out on the outside of the turn.
This screen shows the ship’s progress on the polygon.
Personal Log
At first glance, it seems that mastering all of this would be daunting, but the ease and confidence that are displayed by the team show that it can be done. Again, the Professional Learning Community idea comes into play as they collectively debug issues and plan for future advancements in the technology even as they are using what is current. Listening to the technical banter and seeing how that much brainpower is focused on a task is really cool. Having spent most of the day in plot, it was real nice to spend the (endless) evening just watching the ocean around me. When the sun sets at 2315 (11:15 pm) it’s cool. When it sets at 2313 behind a mountain island off the coast of Alaska it’s unbelievable!
Questions for You to Investigate
How are your inner ears similar to the Inertial Motion detector?
How are your semicircular canals contributors to seasickness?
New Terms/Phrases
Fantail – The aft deck on the ship. It’s where the majority of overboard work is done
CTD’s – Conductivity/Temperature and Depth sensors
Nadir – The beam that runs the shortest distance to the bottom
Roll – the left/right rocking of the ship
Pitch – the front/back rocking of the ship
Yaw – the swinging of the ship to either side of its course (picture a wagging tail)
NOAA Teacher at Sea
John Schneider
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather July 7 – August 8, 2009
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical Area: Kodiak, AK to Dutch Harbor, AK Date: July 12-13, 2009
Position
Anchored near Herendeen Island (55º 03.9N 159º 26.3W)
Weather Data from the Bridge
Weather System: Drizzle, overcast, fog
Barometer: 1019.2 and falling
Wind: out of 070º at up to 15 knots
Temperature: 13.0º C
Sea State: 1-2 foot swells
Drawing of the Ewing mutiny from 1849
Science and Technology Log
Launches 1010 and 1018 were deployed on both days. They were tasked with offshore and nearshore bathymetry in separate areas about 10-15 miles away. These launch ops, as I mentioned earlier, are in areas too close to shore for the Fairweather to operate. In the afternoon the “fast rescue” boat (another of the Fairweather’s inflatables) was deployed to train another crew member as a coxswain, and the Ambar was again deployed to check another tide station.
It’s important to realize that every position on board the Fairweather requires both experience and training. For example, to become a QMED (Qualified Member of the Engine Department) takes a minimum of two years training and apprenticeship. The chefs (as I mentioned earlier) are all graduates of culinary programs. As I continue to chat with crew and survey members, their educations and backgrounds are remarkably diverse, yet there is a common thread among them: they are immensely proud of the Fairweather and the work that’s done aboard her.
The history of coastal surveying dates back in the United States to the founding fathers. In 1807 Thomas Jefferson called for a survey of all the coastal waters of the United States. By the mid1800’s United States Coast and Geodetic Survey personnel were surveying waters on both coasts of the United States. An interesting – though tragic – footnote here is that in 1849 during the height of the California Gold Rush, there was a mutiny on board the Ewing, a hydrographic survey ship. Five mutineers were convicted and sentenced to hang. Ultimately three sentences were commuted to hard labor and the other two were hanged from the yardarms of two ships, the Ewing and the Savannah, in San Francisco Bay on October 23, about 40 days after the mutiny.
Coast surveyors did a great deal of work during the Civil War in both land campaigns and blockades of southern ports. They became particular targets of snipers. In both World War I and World War II, Coast and geodetic Surveyors were transferred to the Army, Navy and Marines for their expertise in navigation, engineering, hydrography and vessel operations.
In 1970 under President Nixon, several fisheries agencies and the Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) were combined into one agency under the domain of the Department of Commerce. This was the “birth” of NOAA – the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. There are seven major branches within NOAA: the branch that oversees the Fairweather is the National Ocean Service and more specifically, the Office of Coast Survey. I’ve had folks ask me why Hydrographic research should be under the Department of Commerce and not the Coast Guard or Navy. Consider the following data. The marine transportation system in the United States has
95,000 miles of U.S. coastline
25,000 miles of navigable channels
326 public/private ports
3700 marine terminals
Supports 13M jobs,
78M recreational boaters
110,000 commercial/recreational fishing vessels
95% of U.S. foreign trade in/out by ship.
All totaled, the marine industry represents a contribution of almost $750 BILLION a year to America’s Gross Domestic Product. That’s 3/4 of a TRILLION dollars. Sounds like Commerce to me! All top level organizations have a means for their people to understand their place as a part of a greater whole. This is clearly described below.
Vision
Customers have accurate and timely information to navigate and manage U.S. coastal waters.
Mission
Acquire, integrate, and manage the Nation’s marine information for nautical charting and coastal applications.
Slogan
Navigate with confidence.
Personal Log
I was not on the boats that went out today and due to the fog and the fact that Fairweather’s size will not be needed until we move further south tomorrow. It gave me some time to reflect on the type of people with whom I am working. Tami Beduhn, a survey technician, gave me several powerpoint files related to the mission of the Fairweather from which I gleaned the brief history above.
I had a couple of chats today with personnel on board – one of the chefs, a member of the engine department, Tami and a few others. The overarching impression that is inescapable is that they are proud of what they do and of how well they do it. After dinner this evening there was a 1/2 hour presentation on the intricacies of the data acquisition programs and how our field work affects the software and vice versa. It was an open professional forum where questions were dealt with in a collegial fashion. Schools and educators are moving in the direction of professional learning communities (PLC’s) as a means of improving. On the Fairweather, a professional learning community isn’t a technique. It’s a way of life.
Questions for You to Investigate
Does your school have a stated Mission, Vision and Slogan?
How, as a student, could the idea of working together help you be more successful?
Are you a member of a professional learning community where you work?
NOAA Teacher at Sea
John Schneider
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather July 7 – August 8, 2009
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical Area: Kodiak, AK to Dutch Harbor, AK Date: July 11, 2009
Position
Sheet L – Shumagin Islands
Weather Data from the Bridge
Weather System: Overcast
Barometer: 1021.4
Wind: mild and veering*
Temperature: 12.1º C
Science and Technology Log
One of the Fairweather’s launches
Today I got to go out on launch 1010. The two primary launches on Fairweather are 29-foot diesel-powered (Caterpillar) single-screw aluminum boats. I was real surprised to find that 1010 is 35 years old! It’s in great shape. Survey equipment on board includes the multi-beam echo sounder, computers, DGPS (Digital GPS gives positional accuracy to about 6 inches!) radar, radios and Iridium satellite telephones. For “creature comforts” there’s a microwave and mini-fridge as well as a very efficient heater/defrost system. Oh, by the way, there are no heads on the launches. (FYI – a “head” is marine-speak for a bathroom!)
Here I am on the launch monitoring all the data
Knowing this in advance, I didn’t have coffee or tea or a big breakfast. Turns out that when “nature calls” the rest of the crew goes in the cabin, closes the door, and you go over the side! Seems gross at first and then you realize that the 30 and 40 ton whales go in the ocean too (besides, it’s biodegradable!) The launches are carried on the boat deck (E-deck) in custom Welin-Lambie davits made for each launch. Welin-Lambie is a company over 100 years old and made the davits for a few ships you may have heard of – the British Royal Yacht Britannia, the Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise ship and oh, yeah, the RMS Titanic! The cradles are self-leveling so when the Fairweather is in heavy seas they remain upright and stable. The picture on the left shows 1010 in its cradle. When it’s time to launch the boat, the securing devices are released, the boat is swung out over the side and two >3 ton winches lower the launch to the rail of D-deck. There it is boarded by the crew and loaded with the needed gear for the day. It is then lowered into the water and sent on its way.
Once we got to the area of our polygon (I’ll explain polygons later in the week) we began acquiring data by “mowing the lawn” – the process of sailing back and forth across a defined area collecting soundings1 (bottom depths.) In every polygon we conduct a CTD cast (CTD = Conductivity Temperature Density.) These three parameters determine the speed of sound in the water and are used to accurately calibrate the soundings. Once we had been working for a while with me observing – and asking what must have seemed like unending questions – PIC2 Adam Argento and AST3 Andrew Clos guided me to monitoring the data being acquired. As you can see on the left there are 4 monitors all running software simultaneously. The picture on the right shows the keyboard and mice. The mouse in my right hand controls the windows on the three screens to the right which are data displays of received info. The left mouse controls which data are being acquired.
After a long day on the launch, it was great to see the Fairweather on this rainy day.
After lunch the coxswain4 (“coxin”) – AB Chrissie Mallory – turned the helm over to me to steer. My first leg was headed North. The positional displays on the Fairweather and its launches all have North being at the top of the displays. (This is called – logically enough – “North Up”.) I rocked! If I had to move off to the right a little, I turned right. Need to move left, turn left. There’s a little delay between when you turn and the position as displayed on the screen. Well, we got to the top of the section and turned around to head South. I needed to adjust a bit to the right, so I turned right . . . BUT . . . the boat is now oriented 180º from the prior run. So in turning right, I actually made the boat go left on the screen! Oh NOOO!!! So I overcompensated the other way. Then had to un-overcompensate . . . and so on. I’m sure when they downloaded the data back on the Fairweather they were wondering what the h*** was going on. Eventually I got the hang of it and didn’t do too badly after a while, but I have a much greater appreciation of what appeared to be really simple at the outset.
After a successful 8+ hours out (by the way, our lunches contained enough food for 6 people!) we headed back to the Fairweather about 15 miles away. To see her after a day out kind of felt like seeing home after a long day out. To the unaware, the ship looks like a mish-mash of all kinds of gear all over the place, but it’s remarkably organized. The reason for the appearance is that the ship is capable of so many tasks that the equipment is stowed in every available space. Fairweather is capable of deploying 7 small boats and operating independently of all of them in coordinated tasking! I’d love the opportunity to take a class of students for an all-day field trip aboard and could do so without ever leaving the dock – there’s so much on board!
A launch returning to the Fairwweather
As you can see in the photo of the Fairweather above, there are two large white inflated “fenders” hanging over the starboard side. This is where we’ll be tying alongside. (I took the next 3 shots from the Fairweather as 1010 approached on a different day.) As the launch approaches, the person on the bow will throw a line to the forward line handler. Notice there’s not a whole lot of room up there as well as the extended arm ready to catch the line. That bow line has a mark on it which lets the line handler on Fairweather know where to temporarily tie off the line. Then the stern line is then thrown to another line handler. Once the launch is positioned properly (no easy task in rolling seas) the hoists are lowered to the launch where they are clamped onto lifting eyes. Each of the clamps on the boat falls5 weighs close to 40 pounds – that’s why in deck ops everyone wears hardhats – and is controlled by both the winch operator and two more line handlers using “frapping lines6.” (in the picture to the left, as the launch approaches, you can see the boat falls, clamps and frapping lines.) Once the clamps are secured, the launch is lifted to the deck rail and the crew gets off, and the launch is lifted back to its cradle.
Piece of cake! Realize, however, that this simply and cleanly executed maneuver, requires: On the Fairweather: 4 line handlers The Chief Bosun 1 or 2 surveyors The bridge crew to maintain position (at least 2 people) 2 or 3 deck personnel to unload gear from the launch A Chief Scientist to task the launch The chefs to feed the launch crew On the launch: Person in charge Coxswain 1 winch operator From 14 to 16 people, all working together. On January 1, 2008, the Fairweather was authorized to paint a black letter “S” on both sides of the ship indicating that she had gone 433 consecutive days without any injuries. Considering the environment in which Fairweather works and the tasking which requires constant deployment and retrieval of heavy equipment, the “Safety S” is a reflection of her crew and officers.
Personal Log
What a great day!
Vocabulary
Soundings – depths measured
PIC – Person In Charge
AST – Assistant Survey Technician
Coxswain – (<O.Fr. coque “canoe” + swain “boy”) Individual who steers a small boat or launch
Boat falls – the lines used to raise and lower boats from a davit
Frapping lines – Lines used to control the boat falls
By the Way
It’s time to do some laundry!!! The laundry room is on D-Deck just forward of the fantail.
NOAA Teacher at Sea
John Schneider
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather July 7 – August 8, 2009
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical Area: Kodiak, AK to Dutch Harbor, AK Date: July 10, 2009
Position
Shumagin Islands
This sheet on my door lists my duty station in case of an emergency.
Weather Data from the Bridge
Weather System: Partly Cloudy/Fog/overcast
Barometer: 1022.0
Wind: variable <8 kts
Temperature: 13.0º C
Sea State: 1 foot
Science and Technology Log
Today I was not assigned to the launch details. (The launch crews change frequently and the officers try to have the duty load between the ship and the launches balanced. Launch duty is a minimum of an 8••• hour day on the water and it taxes the crew to have the same personnel repetitively deployed. I’m also not yet up to speed enough to have any use to data processing or ship-board data acquisition. Sooooo, I took a self-directed tour of the interior of the ship!
Personal Log
The computer area outside my stateroom
The ship is divided into Decks and Sections. The sections run from 1– 10 with the bow being 1 and the stern being 10. Decks run from A to G with G being the Flying Bridge and A being the bilge. My cabin is number C-5-106. I’m on C-deck, just about amidships. The sheet of paper above my cabin number is my duty station list for emergencies. Each crewmember has one of these on their door and it tells where you belong in emergencies: Fire/AbandonShip/MOB (ManOverBoard). Just outside my door there is a small computer area about 10’ x 10’. In that area are two terminals for the ship’s LAN. Additionally there is room in this area for each member berthed there (there are four of us) to stow some gear (like the work vest/life jacket on the hook next to my door.) To the left is a yellow ladder and the sign behind it reads “Escape Hatch Do Not Block.” There are escape hatches like this all over the ship and above them the decks are kept unobstructed.
The “chiller” where the food is refrigerated
Unlike a cruise ship, most of the ship is accessible to people on board. Of course the cabins of other folks are off limits. Violate this and the punishment is severe . . . you’d never get a position on another ship in the fleet again. Also, officers’ offices are restricted. Other than that, I spent a good couple of hours nosing around and learning my way around the ship. I found that EVERY spare nook and cranny is used for storage. If she had to, I bet the Fairweather could sail for months at a time with the only limiting factor being fuel. Fairweather even makes her own fresh water by evaporating and re-condensing seawater in order to extract the salt. They should sell it as bottled water!
Hazardous materials remediation equipment in the quartermaster’s storage.
I found a “chiller” where food is refrigerated. It’s HUGE – must have been 300-400 square feet! The freezer was locked, but it must be comparably sized. When I saw the lock on the freezer door I thought of the movie The Caine Mutiny with Humphrey Bogart as Captain Queeg (“they had the keys to the food locker. They ate the strawberries.” (If you’re not familiar with the movie it is certainly worth renting!). I also found several smaller compartments where dry goods for the chefs were stored. There were cake mixes, spices, cases of condiments (including 3 flavors of Tabasco Sauce) . . . name it, and the chefs can find it!
If you look up through the circular hatch you can see the caged hazmat locker.
Further forward I found the quartermaster’s stores. Line, chain, tools and an entire 250 square foot caged off area for Hazardous materials and asbestos remediation equipment. I opened a hatch in the floor and there was a ladder that went straight down. So, I went in to find another compartment of stores. The shot below is from the bottom of that ladder, and you can see the caged hazmat locker up through the hatch. In this lower compartment were survival coats and immersion suits, printer cartridges, more work vests and more. As I worked my way aft, I went into C-9 and C-10. C-10 is the steering compartment and the rudder posts (those are the “axles” of the rudder that come up into the ship) are about a foot in diameter! There’s a motor just to turn them and for them to operate in tandem there is an 8” steel bar connecting them. You can see it with the yellow stripes. C-10 is also the home to the stern mooring lines, lubricants, hoses and power cables and spare propellers for the launches as well as the hydraulic motors for the winches and equipment on the fantail.
Just forward of C-10 is C-9. C-9 has dozens of parts drawers with thousands of parts and fittings for all over the ship. It is also the home to the exercise equipment. The crew has figured out how to cram just about everything they need into the compartment. Free weight, Pilates balls, punching bag, speed bag, treadmill, and weight bench! There are even a few bicycles hanging from the overhead that are used in port.
This is the part of the ship called the steering compartment which houses the machinery that controls the direction of the ship.
To close the story (I’ll have to do your tour of decks D and up on a later day) I made it all the way down to A-Deck. A-Deck is the bottom of the ship. It is accessed by going through a shower compartment forward on C-deck into a small, half-height, sloped-ceiling opening in which there is a 24-inch diameter hatch. The 24-inch hatch connects with rungs welded into the wall and it goes straight down. Descend this ladder and your feet are on B-deck. Open an even SMALLER hatch and you can see the inner bottom of the ship. This compartment is only about 3••• feet tall, but I squeezed through the hatch and put my feet on the bottom. In retrospect, I should have taken off my Crocs to see how cold the steel was. I’ve been told that people actually go into this space to do work. I think if I could wiggle my way in somehow, the only way to ever get me out would be to drydock the ship and cut me out through the bottom!
This room has many drawers that contain thousands of different parts and fittings for all over the ship. It also has the exercise equipment.Here I am squeezing through the hatch that leads to the very bottom of the shipHere are my feet touching the bottom of the ship.
Questions for You to Investigate
Where does the term “scuttlebutt” (meaning rumors and gossip) come from?
The survey technicians use the term NADIR a lot in regards to the multi-beam echo sounder. What is a nadir?
When was the Marine Mammal Protection Act passed?
What was “Seward’s Folly” and how do you think it turned out for America?
Which is closer to the Shumagin Islands, New York City or Moscow? San Diego or Guam?
NOAA Teacher at Sea
John Schneider
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather July 7 – August 8, 2009
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical Area: Kodiak, AK to Dutch Harbor, AK Date: July 9, 2009
Position
Shumagin Islands
Weather Data from the Bridge
Barometer: 1022.3
Wind: light & variable
Temperature: 12.1ºC
Sea State: <1 foot
This top of this picture shows the area that has been surveyed, and the bottom half has not been surveyed yet.
Science and Technology Log
While part of the survey crew was doing more bottom sampling, launches 1010 and 1018 were deployed to acquire other data from areas ranging between 5 and 15 miles away. The launch deployments today were for 8 hours and the chefs prepare to-go lunches for the crews. The Fairweather is well-suited to its task here in the Shumagins. The crew is experienced at this and it shows. While the launches are away gathering data close to shorelines, the ship sails backand-forth across wide swaths of open ocean using the multi-beam sonar to document depth. Some members of the crew call this “mowing the lawn” which is a perfect analogy (I like to think of it more like a Zamboni cutting the ice in a hockey rink!)
The swath covered by the multi-beam sonar can extend to 75º up from vertical on each side of the ship. As you can see in the picture, the top half of the screen is green. This is an area that has been surveyed with Multi-Beam Echo Sounders (MBES). The white at the bottom is bottom that has not been surveyed. Fairweather is sailing a course from East to West onthe screen and the MBES is sweeping a path indicated on the screen in orange. The colors are significant – they represent different depths. (If you look closely you can see a color bar on the left of the screen. Red=shallow, blue=deep.) the number on the right is the depth in meters. Fairweather does all its bathymetry (<Greek bottom/depth + measure) in meters as they are the units of scientific analysis. Hopefully in the next few days I’ll get to have a better understanding. Right now it kind of glazes over . . . too much input!
Deck Maintenance
Look Carefully – Blue writing!
A ship the size of the Fairweather (230 feet, 7 decks) has an enormous amount of maintenance required just to keep it ship-shape. The permanent crew of AB’s (Able Bodied Seaman,) engineers, stewards and officers keep the Fairweather spotless and running flawlessly. This morning there was need for a modification to a pulley used to deploy the bottom sampler. It was constructed in a short amount of time. The marine environment is merciless on steel and the ship is constantly being stripped of old paint, primed and repainted. Doing this requires that the old finish be removed with a “needle gun” which is a compressed air powered tool consisting of a 1.5cm diameter head of about 25 “needles.” The “needles” are more like 1 mm flathead finishing nails that bounce on the surface like mini-jackhammers.
By impacting the surface thousands of times a minute, old paint is loosened from the underlying steel and chips off. The really cool aspect of this is that the underlying steel isn’t even dented! When I started on this piece of steel it was painted with one layer of primer and two layers of white paint. Now it’s down to bare metal and the markings from the original construction of the davit are clearly legible! After being stripped, a coat of anti-oxidation paint is applied, then primer, then one or more coats of paint. The crew never stops and the condition of the Fairweather is a testament to their diligence.
Personal Log
The weather is absolutely perfect. It is sunny, warm, calm seas. I’m sure it can be (and probably will be) worse at some time during the trip, but for now everyone is soaking it all in! The Fairweather has a ship’s store with some snacks, necessities, T-shirts and other items. It’s open periodically (announced on the PA) and I’ll be sure to hit it up before leaving Dutch Harbor (but I’ve got to get to an ATM – they don’t take American Express.) 😉
Animals (or other cool stuff!) Observed Today
Whales about a mile off the bow – not close enough to see well – brittle stars, tube worms, more coral(!) and the daily dose of sea birds. This morning there was a bit of time when some fog was rolling over a mountain island about 10 miles away and it looked like the fog was just cascading over the top from the other side. Gorgeous!
NOAA Teacher at Sea
John Schneider
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather July 7 – August 8, 2009
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical Area: Kodiak, AK to Dutch Harbor, AK Date: July 8, 2009
Position
Small boat/launch operations vicinity; Herendeen Island (Shumagin Islands Group)
Weather Data from the Bridge
Wind: light & variable
Temperature: 12.7ºC
Sea State: 1 foot
National Ocean Service Benchmark
Science and Technology Log
Today I’ll be heading out on the Ambar (an aluminum hulled inflatable) to check on a tide gauge off Herendeen Island. It might get chilly being off the Fairweather, but the weather has been fantastic since we left. Waves <1 foot, winds below 5 or 6 knots. Weather actually got better as we went to the tide station. (I’ll try to get a good shot of each of the launches.) The tide station is a remarkably simple in concept, yet a terribly complex operation to execute. A month ago, Fairweather personnel installed a tide station on Herendeen Island. This involved sending a launch to the island where personnel did the following setup work:
The tide gauge interface being downloaded to a weather/shockproof laptop computer
Drill a 1/2 inch hole 3” deep into a solid piece of granite and set a bronze bench mark into it.
Drill 3 more holes into a huge granite boulder at the water’s edge. Construct, on that boulder, a vertical tide gauge with markings every centimeter, ensuring that the bottom of the gauge is both lower and higher than the tide should go.
Precisely and accurately determine the height of the benchmark in relationship to the heights on the tide gauge.
Send a diver down below the lowest tide levels and install a nitrogen-fed orifice connected to a hose and secure it to the sea floor.
Connect the hose to a pressurized tank of nitrogen on shore.
Install a solar power panel near the station with a southern exposure.
Install the data acquisition interface. This piece of equipment forces a single nitrogen bubble out of the orifice every six minutes (one-tenth of an hour) and measures the pressure it takes to release the bubble which is then used to calculate the depth of the water (as a function of pressure.)
Collected data are automatically sent by satellite to NOAA. A month later, the survey team re-visits the site and performs a series of 10 visual observations coordinated with the automated sequences of the nitrogen bubble data recorder. These visual observations are then compared to the automated data acquired. If their statistical differences are within accepted parameters, the data are considered valid and will be used further. If not, the data are discarded and collection is re-started.
It’s a little weird to see the Ambar leave after dropping us off on an island that has seen very few footprints!
Not only is the process painstaking, but the technology and Research & Development needed to design the equipment must have been extremely difficult. However, given the amount of our nation’s dependence on marine commerce and movement of goods, it is time and effort more than well spent. Once we returned to the ship, I was able to lend a hand on the fantail (that’s the aft area of the deck where a LOT of work gets done) where the survey team was collecting samples of the ocean bottom. Bottom sapling is done at specific locations proscribed by NOAA guidelines for coastal waters. It is important for mariners to know the type of bottom in an area in case they need to anchor or engage in commercial fishing.
Bottom samples are collected using a Shipek Grab. This 130-pound tool captures a 3-liter sample of the bottom. The scoop is spring loaded on the surface and when it strikes the bottom a very heavy weight triggers the scoop to close, picking up about 1/25 of a square meter of bottom. Bottom characteristics are then recorded with the position and will eventually be placed on nautical charts. Sometimes even small animals get caught in the grab. Today we saw brittle stars, tube worms and a couple of little crabs. However, the biggest surprise to me was finding numerous small pieces of CORAL in the samples! I certainly did not expect to see coral in ALASKAN waters!
Personal Log
A piece of coral on a pebble. (It’s on a 3×5 file card for scale.)
Lest you think that it’s all work and no play, we anchored tonight after a 12 hour+ work day. With sunset at around 2330 hrs (11:30) there was still time for some fishing (nothing was kept but we caught a couple small halibut) and movies in the conference room. There are movies aboard almost every night as well as closed circuit images from 4 areas of the ship. I’ve also started taking pictures of the menu board every night but won’t post all of them because of space limits on my file size – besides, you all simply wouldn’t believe how well we are fed on the Fairweather. Just as an example: how does blackened salmon wraps sound for lunch??? Oh yeah!!! (You have permission to be jealous!)
Coming back, the Fairweather, after being out of sight from the Ambar, is a welcome sight!
Animals (or other cool stuff!) Observed Today
Saw a whale in the distance, quite far off, just before lunch. Two seals a couple hundred meters aft of the port quarter. While at the tide station we saw two whales’ spouts near the shoreline, one seal poked his big ol’ head up from the kelp bed and checked us out a couple of times, saw a bunch of loons, cormorants and puffins, and while at the tide station, Dave Francksen (a very helpful member of the survey team) caught sight of an octopus.
This octopus was about 2 feet across from tentacle-tip to tentacle-tip and changed color when it got over the spotted light-colored rocks.
Questions for Your Investigation
What phylum and class are octopi? Are Brittle Stars?
What “day shape” does the Fairweather display when anchored? When conducting survey operations?
NOAA Teacher at Sea
John Schneider
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather July 7 – August 8, 2009
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical Area: Kodiak, AK to Dutch Harbor, AK Date: July 7, 2009
Position
58º01.18’ N, 153° 29.56’ W (en route to the Shumagin Islands)
Weather Data from the Bridge
Weather System: Fog
Barometer: 1019.5
Temperature: 11.8º C
Sea State: 1-2 feet but to increase through the night
Ships in the distance as seen from the Fairweather
Personal Log
It’s 0610 and at almost exactly 0600 the generator started. The generators (there are 2) on board the Fairweather each put out about 300 kilowatts of electrical power. It’s the electrical power plant that will provide us with electricity for the next 2••• weeks. We’re going to sea in just 4 or 5 hours! I was fortunate to have breakfast with Captain Baird. Focused, professional, likeable, gregarious. He demonstrates characteristics of a fine leader.
Forty-five minutes prior to sailing, the ship’s alarm, fire alarm, watertight doors and PA were all tested. The professionalism of the crew is repeatedly demonstrated and I am in excellent hands. Every crew member has specific duty stations for specific duties. For docking and undocking the ship, my station is forward on the bow for assisting with line handling. The dock lines are really big and they are so long that they require several people to manage. Once again, teamwork, clear communication and coordination were displayed.
You can see how big the lines are when compared to my hand.
Well, my hands are still trembling from the exertion; in the comfort of my cabin I tried on my cold water immersion abandon ship suit (“Gumby suit”.) I wanted to see what was involved before we have an abandon ship drill later on. I sure hope we never need it. Being somewhat claustrophobic, the notion of being fully enveloped in a neoprene rubber suit with only half of my face showing is not exciting. To make it worse, I had a heck of a time escaping from the suit. It literally took about 7 or 8 minutes without assistance. I’ve got to ask if that’s normal or if there are any bigger suits!
Well, it’s 4 hours later and I just finished my safety briefing with Mr. Rice. Putting the suit on and taking it off are MUCH MUCH easier with assistance and instructions! I’m now comfortable and capable of donning it easily – but in no means don’t I want to need to! We’ve been under way for about 5 hours now and just completed a fire drill simulating smoke in a cabin aft on C-deck. Once again, well done. Shortly later, that was followed by the Abandon Ship drill. The entire crew had to don their Gumby suits and I was as ready as anyone. The two previous donnings saved me from looking foolish!
Here I am in my immersion suit, also called a “Gumby” suit.
Almost 1800 hours. Dinner was: fried chicken, barbequed pork chops with chipotle/sundried tomato glaze, fresh snow peas, cheesy potatoes, salad, and rice pudding with fresh whipped cream and raspberries!!! OMG I don’t want to go home! The BBQ is on the port side and the smell of dinner cooking just permeated the air. What a joy!
Animals (or other cool stuff!) Observed Today
While I was in the safety briefing the bridge spotted a couple whales / but there will be others! And as I get ready to turn in for the day, brilliant sunlight at 2200 hours!
Questions for You to Investigate
Without the immersion suit, in 45ºF water, how long would a normal person survive before hypothermia set in?
The mooring lines are a synthetic material less dense than water. Why is that an advantage?
What do “RADAR,” “SONAR” and “GPS” stand for?
Which animals are whales more closely related to, people or tuna?
NOAA Teacher at Sea
John Schneider
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather July 7 – August 8, 2009
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical Area: Kodiak, AK to Dutch Harbor, AK Date: July 6, 2009
Position
57° 43.766’ N, 152° 30.946’ W (Pier at USCG base – Kodiak)
Weather Data from the Bridge
Barometer: 1022mB (30.15”) This is a nominally high pressure air mass characterized by cool temperatures and clear skies.
Wind: 4-6 kts (gusts to 12) 30º off the port bow (ship is facing ~60º at the pier)
Temperature: low 60’s Sea state: calm
The FAIRWEATHER alongside the USCG Pier, Kodiak
Science and Technology Log
Our mission on this cruise is to conduct small-boat hydrographic research and documentation of the sea floor in the Shumagin Islands region. This is an area about 250 miles Southwest of Kodiak. It’ll take about a full day of steaming just to get there. I took a rough estimate of an area of approximately 900 square miles in the Shumagins and found a total of about 100 depths recorded! I realize that the numbers may be hard to read, but the picture to the left is just South of Nagai Island in the Shumagins and includes about 900 square miles. As you can see, there are very few markings in the area. Compare this with the picture to the right of an area of the same size more thoroughly surveyed.
A nautical chart of the area the Fairweather will be surveying, called the Shumagin Islands.
The 1953 Coast Pilot says of the Shumagins “…comprising 15 sizable islands and many islets and rocks, extend for a distance of 60 miles from the coast of the Alaska Peninsula from which the group is separated by Unga Strait.” The newest edition (2008) is worded identically! It’s obvious that there is a need for research in the area and newer charts available to mariners will benefit from the data we collect in the next leg of the Fairweather’s tasking. Regarding data collection and storage, yesterday I was shown the compartment (room) where the on board computer servers are kept. It is one of the significant responsibilities of the duty officers to regularly check the temperature of that compartment as the entirety of the data collected is stored on those servers. If the entire mission runs flawlessly and the data are allowed to be compromised, the mission is ultimately a failure.
Barnacles
Historically, soundings were taken by lowering a weighted line—called a “lead line” because the weight was often made of lead—to the bottom and seeing how deep the water is at that location. Positions were estimated by manually triangulating “fixes” using visual bearings to known landmarks. Later (from the 1950’s through the 1970’s) positions were established using LORAN (Long Range Radio Navigation) and Radar and depths were determined using depth sounders which bounce an electronic “ping” off the bottom. All of these earlier methods were very prone to human error and imprecision.
Bald eagle
Current technologies integrate multi-beam sonar interfaced with computers and satellites to determine position (within just a couple of feet) and not only the depth of the water straight down, but off to the sides. When the data are uploaded to the Fairweather, the computers on board coordinate the exact time, GPS position, tide level, temperature, salinity and clarity of the water at the position of the data acquisition allowing the computers to correct for the different rates of transmission of the sonar signal through differing densities of water to determine the most accurate sea floor information ever possible. So now, as a navigation term, “by the Mark, Twain” (meaning 2 fathoms of depth) is obsolete…but the literary contributions of Samuel Langhorne Clemens remain a tribute to America’s heritage!
Personal Log
All the dark spots are Bison!
Today at the 1400 pre-cruise briefing I was fortunate to be present when two of the officers on the Fairweather were acknowledged as having been promoted. The response of the crew demonstrated the respect these officers had earned. If lunch today was any indication of how the meals will be on board, I can’t wait for dinner and don’t want to go home! Fajitas with about 15 different toppings available, corn on the cob, salad and soup!
Animals (or other cool stuff!) Observed Today
Fox along the road!
While gazing down into the water alongside the ship, I noticed what appear to be 2 different species of jellies – one looking similar to the East Coast’s Aurelia aurelia about 10” in diameter and the other being unknown to me. The unknown was radially symmetrical (as are all jellies) but all of them had 8 distinct lobes on the bell and measured about half the size of the other species.
I also noticed barnacles, mussels and sea anemones living on the pilings that hold up the pier. The anemones at left must have been three inches in diameter at the body tube and the tentacles extended in a halo about 10-12 inches in diameter. On a 2.5 hour drive this afternoon I also saw 2 bald eagles, a herd of bison, a red fox and a kingfisher. (The fox picture is a bit blurred, it was a bit skittish and I took it through the windshield.)
Questions for You to Investigate
What animal did Benjamin Franklin want to use as a National Symbol? When were the Shumagin Islands named? For whom are they named? What is scurvy and how is it prevented?
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Kristin Joivell
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather
June 15 – July 1, 2009
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical area of cruise: Shumagin Islands, Alaska Date: July 1, 2009
To me, the beach on Big Koniuji Island looks very similar to the beaches at the Outer Banks, North Carolina.
Weather Data from the Bridge
Position: In transit to Kodiak, Alaska
Clouds: mostly cloudy
Visibility: 10+ miles
Wind: 7 knots
Waves: less than 1 foot
Temperature: 10.5 dry bulb
Temperature: 8.7 wet bulb
Barometer: 1026.5
Science and Technology Log
The NOAA training materials define hydrography as “the science of measuring and describing the physical features of the navigable portion of the Earth’s surface adjoining coastal areas, with special reference to their uses for the purpose of navigation.” The definition describes the project that I’ve been helping with on the Fairweather, but it doesn’t mention everything that is involved in the journey or all the components that must come together to have a successful project.
TAS Joivell displays some of the kelp found on the beach at Big Koniuji Island. The tube like part is full of air and the leaves feel like plastic.
Different departments on the ship all contribute to the project. Though each department has its own focus, they are all essential to the ship’s well being. The officers all work together to navigate the ship and decide how to gather the data without putting anyone at risk. The survey team gathers, processes, and analyzes data. The deck department contributes to the upkeep of the ship. Engineers make sure the ship’s engines keep it moving through the water. The electronics technician makes sure that the many computer systems are working correctly. The stewards make sure that everyone’s food needs are met. It’s up to everyone on board to contribute in their own way to make the journey significant and meaningful.
A great movie from NOAA that describes the history of surveying in the United States is called “The Surveyors: Charting America’s Course” and can be watched online here. The first scene shows the ocean waves and a quote from John F. Kennedy that states, “Knowledge of the ocean is more than a matter of curiosity. Our very survival may hinge upon it.” I was encouraged to watch this movie on one of my first days onboard and it really set the stage for the work I was to help with. The work that I assisted with on the Fairweather is going to be used to help ships travel safely through previously uncharted or incompletely charted waters. I gained a respect for the crew’s mission from the first day on and am proud that I play my small part in it.
You can see the lake on Big Koniuji Island on the right. I am calling it “Muck Lake” because of the large amounts of sediment on the bottom. You can see a small part of the sandy beach off to the left.
Personal Log:
One of the best things about being on this ship is the opportunity to explore new places. But, I wasn’t expecting to be able to see a beach and swim in a lake in Alaska! Before leaving the Shumagin Islands for Kodiak, we had the opportunity to visit Big Koniuji Island one final time. To me, the beach at Big Koniuji Island looks similar to the beaches at the Outer Banks, North Carolina because it has white sand, dunes, and driftwood. I went beach combing and found sand dollars and kelp all over the beach. I collected some sand to add to my collection at home. Some brave crew members even went swimming in the ocean near the island!
One of the crew knew about a lake on the island and organized a hiking trip to visit it. We hiked over a ridge through some thick brush and weeds to get to the lake, but it was worth it. The lake water was so clear you could see the bottom from almost everywhere. The water was also much warmer than the ocean which encouraged more people to swim in it. I tried out the swimming conditions and soon found that the entire bottom of the lake was covered with at least 2 feet of muck. Every time you tried to move your arms through the shallow waters of the lake, you hit a pile of cold, gooey muck. Even though it was kind of disgusting, the swim was still worth it. I most likely will never be back to the Shumagin Islands to try it again, so this was my one chance to swim in a lake on an island in Alaska. This lake is unnamed, so I am naming it Muck Lake in honor of the piles of muck at the bottom.
Create Your Own NOAA Experiment at Home
NOAA ships travel to many different places in their journeys. There are countless opportunities listed on the internet where you can apply to travel to different countries for volunteer work. One organization that I have noticed is the World Society for the Protection of Animals. Their website has a section about volunteering abroad where you can do work with animals in many different countries. The Peace Corps is another organization where there are opportunities to do worldwide work, but you need to be able to dedicate at least 27 months to the experience. Working with AmeriCorps is similar to the Peace Corps, but the work is conducted in the United States for variable amounts of time. Habitat for Humanity has sites both in the United States and internationally. Earthwatch Worldwide works with scientists to solve international problems. Some of these programs cost money and some are free, but all do important work around the world. If you have the time to dedicate to any of these opportunities, you should investigate further.
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Kristin Joivell
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather
June 15 – July 1, 2009
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical area of cruise: Shumagin Islands, Alaska Date: June 29-30, 2009
This sea star was brought to the surface in a bottom sample.
Weather Data From the Bridge:
Position: North of Big Koniuji Island
Clouds: mostly clear
Visibility: 10+ miles
Wind: calm Waves: 0 feet
Temperature: 12.0 dry bulb
Temperature: 10.0 wet bulb
Barometer: 1023.2
Science and Technology Log
Since the ship is operating in waters that there is not much information about, verifying current charted information is important. Before launches are sent into a new area to collect data, shoreline verification is an operation that must be completed. First, existing charts and new pictures of the coastline taken from a plane are used to determine a rough estimate of the shoreline. Then, the shoreline verification team is sent into the area in a small boat. The boat’s course is determined based on a buffer zone of the mean high water line on shore so that it can avoid any known, previously charted hazards. The boat travels a set path just outside of this buffer zone while logging information about bottom depths and looking for dangers to navigation.
Taking a compass bearing for a previously uncharted danger to navigation. The rock found is only visible at low tide which makes it all the more hazardous.
Sometimes hazards are found that are not charted on existing maps. So, the team must identify these hazards and log their specific locations. An advanced GPS device is used along with a compass to determine the location of the hazard from the boat. The hazards are logged on a computer to record their positions. Then, that information is used to both warn the other survey boats from the Fairweather working in the area, and to update new editions of the charts. Sometimes hazards that are currently charted are found in a different location. Once in a while, charted hazards are not even there at all! All of this new information about hazards is also added to the new editions of charts. It’s somewhat terrifying to think that current charts sometimes have mistakes on them that could affect travelers so negatively. Checking what is on the bottom of the ocean is also important information. To anchor a ship, some materials are more desirable than others. For example, hard rock is not as desirable as mud or sand because the anchor will just drag along hard rock and not catch as well. So, bottom sampling is another important operation that must be completed so that ships can anchor safely and properly.
Retrieving the bottom sampler. It’s interesting to open it up and see what’s inside. Depending on material found, ships can determine more desirable and less desirable anchoring locations.
To take a bottom sample, a scoop is deployed from a small boat or the ship. The scoop has an automatic trigger that closes it when it hits the bottom of the ocean. Then, you pull the bottom sampling device back up to the boat or ship and open the scoop. Observations about gathered materials are made on the computer. There are all kinds of designations to specify the nature of the materials gathered. Many of the samples we gathered were fine sand, but some included medium gravel, soft coral, and broken shells. A few samples even included sea stars and a sponge!
The most difficult part about bottom sampling is that you have to pull the line up from the ocean floor with the bottom sampler attached. The bottom sampler is a heavy, metal object so, pulling up all the line and the sampler from over 100 feet below gives you a workout. Rotating positions on the boat helped especially since there were four of us on board. That way, everyone’s arms had a chance to rest through three turns until it was your next turn to haul up the line and bottom sampler. I liked bottom sampling a lot because it was a surprise every time the sample was brought back up the boat. Also, it gave me a chance to look at some of the creatures that live in the ocean in Alaska. Seeing the sea stars and the sponge were the highlights of the day.
Personal Log
This is a small halibut caught by one of the crew. It was quite small, but they can grow to be over 400 pounds.
Free time is a priceless commodity on the ship. Everyone works to complete many tasks each day. Sometimes unexpected events occur that interfere with regular schedules. The Plan of the Day even has a disclaimer on it that states: “Tasks are subject to change at any time. And they will.” So, when a person has free time and isn’t catching up on sleep, choosing an activity is difficult. Movies are shown each night and the computers are internet capable, but sometimes it’s good to get out on deck or off the ship instead of sitting in a room on board.
One of the things you can do on the ship in your free time is go fishing. You need an Alaska fishing license to do this, so I like to watch the licensed fishermen on board and examine their fish before they are released back into the ocean. It’s interesting to see how many different kinds of fish are caught on the ship. In just the past few days, people have caught halibut, flounder, and cod. Someone even recently caught a red octopus eating a baby crab! Unfortunately, I missed that catch by about 10 minutes. Comparing the freshwater fish that I know to these saltwater fish is a great free time activity.
Panning for gold on Herendeen Island. The mica in the water is deceptively similar to gold flake.
Another free time activity that is popular is going ashore to hike and explore. We sometimes even have the opportunity to build a fire on the shoreline. There is a lot of driftwood available, but the lack of garbage on the beaches never stops surprising me. There are none of the common waste materials that you find commonly on the beaches in the Northeastern United States. However, there are some plastic materials like bottles and bags. One plastic bottle found even had Korean fishermen use plastic fishing floats, but the glass ones are much older and looked for to use for decorations. The crew suggested that I look for them, but I didn’t find any at all.
Panning for gold is also something that can be done while ashore. I assisted a fellow crew member on the quest for gold, but we were unsuccessful. The rocks in the area have mica in them, so the streams are full of glittery chips. These looked to me like gold, and I thought we had struck it rich, but I was wrong. Standing in the cold stream and searching for gold nuggets is something that I will definitely remember for a long time.
Create Your Own NOAA Experiment at Home
You can explore the types of water organisms in your area like a NOAA crew member. If you are planning on fishing, make sure you have the correct fishing license for your area. Rivers are great places to start because you don’t need a boat to fish on them; you can just fish from the riverbank. Also, if you don’t want to fish, you can examine the macroinvertebrates that live under rocks. In the rivers and streams in Central Pennsylvania where I’m from, you can find mayfly and stonefly nymphs, caddisfly larvae, and water pennies in abundance. The Pennsylvania Fish Commission has lots of great materials available to help with identification of organisms. Looking at water from lakes, rivers, streams, and ponds under a microscope is also an interesting experience. You can learn a lot about the health of your area’s watershed by examining the organisms in the water.
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Kristin Joivell
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather
June 15 – July 1, 2009
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical area of cruise: Shumagin Islands, Alaska Date: June 27-28, 2009
The engine room is a busy, confusing, and crowded place, but the engineers know how to maintain every one of the machines.
Weather Data from the Bridge
Position: East of Big Koniuji Island
Clouds: clear
Visibility: 10+ miles
Wind: variable and light
Waves: less than 1 foot
Temperature: 11.2 dry bulb
Temperature: 9.0 wet bulb
Barometer: 1019.2
Science and Technology Log
The engine room of the ship is a very important place. If the machines located there aren’t working, the ship isn’t going to be going very far. I took a tour of engineering and explored the area with one of the engineers. The first impression that I got about the engine room is that you really need to be good with your hands and mechanically minded to work in this area. There are so many different machines that must be maintained, repaired, and monitored that it seems pretty overwhelming when you first walk in. Even though much information about the machines is displayed on a master control board overlooking the engine room, it’s difficult to figure out where each of the machines is located. It’s almost like a whole other world under the floor where the majority of the crew works and lives.
Here I am climbing out of the engineering department using an escape trunk. This pathway is centrally located for easy escapes.
If there is a problem in engineering like a fire or water leak, there are self sealing doors to isolate and contain the problem. The situation is contained to the lower levels of the ship and spread is limited and slow. The engineers can escape from the area using hatches. Crew members are very careful not to place anything on the escape hatches just in case an accident occurs. Safety plays a big part in the engineering department and in the entire ship. It is very important to follow certain procedures for everyone’s safety. The ship has two engines and two generators. Each of these pieces of machinery is large and extensive. Much of the control panel is dedicated to information about their state. Interestingly enough, the two engines are actually train engines and the generators are from General Motors. Both of these, especially the generators, seem to be larger versions of the same land based machines. The engines have seven oil filters apiece. These, naturally, must be changed similar to your personal vehicle. Each of the oil filters is almost two feet long! Many are kept in supply for maintenance purposes.
This is one of the unused oil filters for the main engines of the ship. You can see other filters in the storage room as well.
But, the engineers are not just in charge of the engines, generators, and the other machines that make the ship move through the water. They also must maintain, repair, and monitor the refrigeration, air conditioning, heating, electricity, and plumbing on the ship. Additionally, they are in charge of keeping the five small boats on the ship operating correctly. The ship has two launches, two smaller boats, and one skiff. Each of these presents its own specific problems to maintain. Each of the boats has an engine system that must be maintained. They must be fueled and checked after each day’s work. Anything that breaks must be repaired immediately so that the work on the ship can continue on schedule.
I helped repair one of the smaller boats that was not starting correctly. First, the problem must be diagnosed. So, we used a multimeter to get readings from electrical connections. Salt water corrodes wires quickly. Even though engineer decided to try to clean the components with a wire brush and a knife to create better connections. We cleaned the existing corrosion, but the boat still did not start properly. Next, the engineer predicted that the starter could be the problem since much of the connections to it were very rusty and dirty. We took out the starter and replaced it with a new one; the boat started! It was a relief to be able to use the boat the next day. Without the work of the engineers, the ship would have been short one boat for a period of time. This would prevent work from being completed and put the ship behind schedule; a lot of money would be wasted on operations being incomplete.
I’m lending a hand to repair a boat engine. The batteriesmust be disconnected for safety when working with the starter and other electrical equipment.
Personal Log
Safety on the ship is something that is not taken lightly in engineering or anywhere else. Drills are conducted periodically to ensure that crew members know what to do when an emergency occurs. There are drills for fire, man overboard, and abandon ship. For each drill, each person on board is assigned a meeting spot, called a muster, and function. There are also alternate musters for each emergency in case the first muster is compromised in some way.
Fire drills are important to practice. It’s interesting to note that even though the ship is surrounded by water, fire is one of the most difficult problems to deal with onboard. The ship basically has mini fire stations set up throughout the ship to deal with the emergency. Standard firefighting gear is located at these stations. Certain crew members are assigned to wear the turnout gear and operate the hoses or extinguishers during the drills. Recently, a burned bag of microwave popcorn set off the fire alarm, so these alarms are sensitive!
Practicing the proper technique with a fire hose. These hose stations are located in a variety of spaces all around the ship.
Another situation that can occur is when someone falls overboard. Quick retrieval is very important especially here in Alaska due to the cold temperatures. Different crew members are assigned to be lookouts during a man overboard drill to help with the location of the man overboard. If you see someone when you are a lookout, you must point and alert the bridge to the person’s location to ensure a speedy retrieval. Life preservers are on hand at a variety of locations to throw to the person in the water. The ship also has a line launching device that you can use to shoot a line a lot further than humanly possible. This device is powered by compressed air and shoots the line quite far from the ship.
The last resort in an emergency is to abandon the ship. Since the waters here are so cold, we must be ready to don our emergency suits. I had the chance to practice putting on my suit during a drill. The suit is made of special material that can protect you even in the coldest water. Some of the material seemed similar to a thick wetsuit. You must be able to don the suit quickly and efficiently. The feet are part of the suit, but the arms have tight seals and then you put on mittens separately. There is even a cover for your face that only lets your eyes peek out. As I practiced putting mine on, I got very sweaty, so it seemed to be doing its job already.
Practicing using the line launching device. This tool is helpful in getting help to a man overboard quickly and efficiently.
Create Your Own NOAA Experiment at Home
The crew of a NOAA ship practices emergency drills and you can do these at home, too. In the unlikely event of an emergency, your family can be well prepared and organized. It is always good to be prepared for an emergency; you think more clearly when well prepared.
Did you ever stop and wonder what you should do if your house is on fire? How will you get out of the house? You should have more than one way to get out just in case the first path is compromised. Do you have a meeting place, or muster, for your family? Where is it? Who will bring the pets outside with the family? Where will you call 911 from? Remember, you shouldn’t call from your house if it is on fire; call from a neighbor’s house or cell phone outside your house. You can create an emergency plan for your family and have fire drills periodically.
What about if there is a homeland security emergency? Who is going to pick you up from school? Where will you go to wait for the emergency to be over? Do you have supplies like food and water ready? Who will get the pets and bring them with you? You can create a plan and have drills for this type of emergency as well. That way, if something happens, nobody gets left behind and your family will be comfortable and secure.
Here I am in my emergency suit. This suit can protect you even in the coldest waters. Along with life preservers, hats, and coats, suits must be brought to life raft musters during abandon ship drills.
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Kristin Joivell
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather
June 15 – July 1, 2009
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical area of cruise: Shumagin Islands, Alaska Date: June 24-26, 2009
I found lots of seagull nests on Herendeen Island. Every nest that I saw contained three eggs.
Weather Data from the Bridge
Position: Northwest Harbor
Clouds: Mostly Clear
Visibility: 10+ miles
Wind: variable and light
Waves: less than 1 foot
Temperature: 11.5 dry bulb
Temperature: 10.0 wet bulb
Barometer: 1011.5
Science and Technology Log
Keeping time on the ship isn’t the same as keeping time at home. First of all, all of the day to day operations on the ship take place based on the 24 hour time system. The day is divided into 24 hours, numbered from 0 for 12:00am to 23 for 11:00pm. The diagram below helps to visualize the 24 hour clock; it can be found on this website. This website also has some really great conversion charts and problems to solve using the 24 hour clock.
Fairweather ship operations are based on the 24 hour clock. Diagram courtesy of the Math Is Fun website.
The change from am and pm to the 24 hour clock seems difficult enough, but there is another type of time you need to know when traveling on the Fairweather. Data collection takes place using UTC, or Coordinated Universal Time. This is also a 24 hour clock, but the problems encountered with traveling through different time zones are cancelled out by using UTC. If you want to figure out what your UTC is at the current moment, you either add or subtract a certain amount of hours from your time based on your location. So, since I live in Pennsylvania, our local time zone is Eastern Standard Time (EST). To get the UTC for my time zone, I just need to add five hours to my local time. All of the data collection done on the ship takes place in UTC. That way, there is no problem knowing what time the data was taken, especially since the ship travels through different time zones sometimes while in the process of acquiring data.
TAS Joivell relaxes on Little Koniuji Island at about 11:00pm. As you can see, it is still daylight out. I called this area “Dinosaur Egg Beach” because of the shapes, textures, and colors of the rocks.
Of course, all of this time conversion is even crazier at our location in the Shumagain Islands because sunrise is at about 6:00am and sunset is at about 11:30pm. This makes going to sleep at a reasonable time confusing because your body wants to stay awake since it’s daylight. If that’s not confusing enough, another type of time that is used on the Fairweather is the Julian Calendar. In this calendar, each day of the year is assigned a number; months are not used at all. So, since today is June 25, 2009 that converts to day number 176 on the calendar used for Julian time. This is important again for data acquisition because it prevents misunderstandings based on time zones and is easier to save and input data using three numbers instead of a month, day, and year. With all the data processing taking place on board, anything that can help with the organization of the system is welcome. All of this time takes some getting used to, but by now I am already thinking in the 24 hour clock. When I got up today, I didn’t know what day of the month it was, but I knew that all the data acquisition would be labeled with the number 176. I guess I’m beginning to think like a scientist!
Personal Log
TAS Joivell takes a break at the summit of Herendeen Island. Note the matted vegetation on the ground. It looks flat, but it is not so easy to hike through.
Time to go for a hike is always welcome on the ship. Sometimes the monotony of rocking from side to side gets tiring and it’s nice to put your feet on solid ground. Even after a day of hard work, you somehow always still have energy left for a trip ashore. A group of us hiked to the summit of Herendeen Island. As the island got closer and closer, I could see that it wasn’t going to be easy. At first, the terrain looked smooth, but when I began to travel up the slope, it was pretty rough going. First of all, the ground is covered with long grasses and tangled brush. All of this vegetation weaves together to make a mat on the ground. However, there are little holes under the grassy mat that you sink into as you go. It’s kind of like walking through deep snowdrifts.
Herendeen Island is approximately 750 feet tall, but it seems much taller. The views from the top really show how alone we are out here. No ships are in the water as far as I could see except the Fairweather. You can’t see any houses, power lines, roads, billboards, or any other signs of human life either. I thought that Kodiak was remote, but the Shumagins are even more isolated.
Create Your Own NOAA Experiment at Home
You can tell time like the scientists on the NOAA ship. Find some clock and date conversion websites. Can you determine what time it is on the 24 hour clock? How about the UTC for your location? What Julian Day is it? Try to figure out times for your school schedule based on the 24 hour clock. You can even convert your birthday into a Julian Date. Mine is day number 350!
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Kristin Joivell
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather
June 15 – July 1, 2009
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical area of cruise: Shumagin Islands, Alaska Date: June 23, 2009
The mess hall is a place where people tend to gather.
Weather Data from the Bridge
Position: Northwest Harbor
Clouds: overcast
Visibility: 10 miles
Wind: 10 knots
Waves: less than 1 foot
Temperature: 8.5 dry bulb
Temperature: 7.2 wet bulb
Barometer: 1008.0
Science and Technology Log
Disposing of all the trash made by people from eating, working, and other day to day tasks was something I was wondering about. So, I asked crew members on the deck department how all this waste was disposed of. They showed me the incinerator. The incinerator is the main device for dealing with waste management at sea, but if the amount of trash builds up too much, it is dealt with when the ship arrives back in port.
Here, I’m readying cardboard to be placed in the ship’s incinerator. As you can see in the bottom right corner, trash tends to build up rather quickly. This picture was taken in the morning and the line up of trash to be incinerated was already building.
The incinerator burns waste at very high temperatures of 850 degrees Celsius to 1150 degrees Celsius. If you’re not familiar with the Celsius scale (like me), you won’t realize that that equals 1562 degrees Fahrenheit to 2102 degrees Fahrenheit! The high temperatures are created using diesel as fuel with air vents helping to ventilate the fire as it burns. The ash that is left when the waste is done burning takes up much less volume than the waste did and it is disposed of when the ship arrives back in port. There is a central location on deck near the incinerator for trash collection. Personal trash from state rooms can be placed there in bags for disposal. The trash from the kitchen, deck, bridge, and survey departments are also place there. Workers from the deck department burn the trash in the incinerator periodically throughout the day. If the ship didn’t have an incinerator, the trash on board would build up very high and very quickly! Each day since I came on board, there is a pile of waste to be incinerated. From cardboard boxes, to printer paper and food waste, to used rags from cleaning, most materials are disposed of in the incinerator.
The ship also has a collection area for recycling. There are collection bins for glass, metal, aerosol cans, and batteries in a central location near the mess hall. However, plastics are incinerated. The temperatures in the incinerator are so high it seems that the plastic is basically vaporized. Naturally, there is also a filter on the exhaust pipe of the incinerator so that toxins do not enter the atmosphere. Additionally, the ship is going to begin recycling plastics in the near future.
Here I am examining the ship’s food stores. This is the fresh fruit and vegetable section of the cooler, but there are many other sections as well.
Personal Log
People may be wondering how it is possible to feed almost 50 people everyday without stopping at the grocery store. I found that the Fairweather is well equipped to deal with everyone’s food needs and more! I took a tour of the storage facilities and found them equivalent to a small grocery store. There are stockpiles of dairy, meats, fresh fruit and vegetables, breads, freezer storage, and dry storage. According to the Chief Cook, the ship could theoretically sail for up to 60 days without going to a port if necessary.
Every day, there are three main meals and two between meal snack times offered. Fresh fruits and vegetables are in large supply; most foods are not prepackaged, but are created on the ship. Vegetarian choices are available at every meal. Coffee, tea, milk, water, and a variety of fruit drinks are always available any time of day or night. Condiments in abundance are located on every table, too, and not just ketchup and mustard. Different kinds of salad dressing are also available in the mess refrigerator at every meal.
The first meal of the day is breakfast. Breakfast is served from 7 to 8 in the morning. Each day at breakfast, there are a large variety of foods offered. Today’s breakfast choices were as follows: fresh fruit, grits, bacon and ham, vegetarian sausage, French toast, hash browns, made to order eggs, breakfast sandwiches, and omelets, and hot and cold cereal. I always get the fresh fruit because I love the blueberries and pineapple! Then, there is a midmorning snack offered sometime between breakfast and lunch. These snacks are usually coffee cakes or breads. Today’s snack was apple bread with nuts. It was made from scratch with fresh ingredients!
I chose a lemon blueberry jelly roll for dessert! Yum!
Next, lunch occurs from 12 to 12:30pm. Each day at lunch, there are usually salads, soup, a choice of two main courses with a vegetarian alternative, side dishes of pastas, potatoes, or rice, and a side dish of vegetables. Today’s lunch menu included the following: kielbasa and kale soup, grilled reuben, grilled pastrami and Swiss sandwich, grilled cheese, and tater tots. I love it that there is a vegetarian choice; even though I am not a vegetarian, I try to limit my meat intake. After that, an afternoon snack is offered sometime between lunch and dinner. These snacks are usually cookies. Today’s snack was chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies. They were still warm when they were offered.
Finally, dinner is from 5 to 5:30. Dinner choices include a main dish and a vegetarian alternative, a variety of side dishes, and a dessert prepared on the ship. As with all of the other meals and snacks, there is a focus on freshly prepared food instead of prepackaged items. Today’s dinner menu included the following: mustard crusted rack of lamb, paella de marisco, herb cheese stuffed eggplant, creamy orzotto, sautéed bok choy, and lemon blueberry jelly roll for dessert. It’s hard to resist dessert because it’s so freshly made and delicious, so I usually have dessert at dinner, but avoid the two snack times during the day.
Additionally, the mess hall has facilities that are available for snacking at any time of the day or night. Salad ingredients, ice cream, frozen burritos and hot pockets, cold cereals, and fresh fruit are always ready to be eaten. If you’re not careful, you can be overwhelmed with all of the food choices on board and gain a lot of weight while at sea! Speaking to the crew about food is interesting. Many of the crew has not so fond memories about “other” ocean ships that they have been on that did not offer such wonderful food choices. Some crew members expressed the feelings that the morale of the crew basically depends on the food. I can see how a long trip at sea can be made more comfortable with the knowledge that the food will be great!
Create Your Own NOAA Experiment at Home
NOAA ships use the Celsius scale to measure temperatures, but many people in the United States use the Fahrenheit scale. You probably think of a day that is 100 degrees Fahrenheit outside as a hot, summer day, but did you know that this equals 37.8 degrees Celsius? A cold, winter day is usually about 35 degrees Fahrenheit, but that is equal to 1.8 degrees Celsius. You can use a website from NOAA to easily convert Fahrenheit to Celsius and vice versa. Just go to http://www.wbuf.noaa.gov/tempfc.htm and type a number into either the Fahrenheit or Celsius box. Then, click off the box and the temperature is automatically converted for you. Try typing in temperature that you are familiar with like your body temperature (about 99 degrees Fahrenheit), the temperature that water freezes (32 degrees Fahrenheit), and the temperature that water boils (100 degrees Celsius).
You can also use a formula to convert temperatures. This is helpful if you don’t have the internet.
For Fahrenheit to Celsius, use this formulaFor Celsius to Fahrenheit, use this formula
Many thermometers also are scaled for both Fahrenheit and Celsius, so that you can read both temperatures on the thermometer itself.
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Kristin Joivell
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather
June 15 – July 1, 2009
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical area of cruise: Shumagin Islands, Alaska Date: June 21-22, 2009
The Fairweatherrests at anchor in Northwest Harbor.
Weather Data from the Bridge
Position: Northwest Harbor
Clouds: Mostly Clear
Visibility: 10+ miles
Wind: 13 knots
Waves: less than 1 foot
Temperature: 8.2 dry bulb
Temperature: 7.2 wet bulb
Barometer: 1007.0
Science and Technology Log
Launches are excellent for collecting data near the shoreline, but the Fairweather is better at open water data collection. The polygons are larger, but the ship must still be traveling at approximately 6 knots for optimum results. The ship also uses the multibeam to sweep the ocean floor, just like the launches. Of course, multiple computer screens are again necessary to monitor data collection on the ship. Also similar to the launches and their CTD’s, the ship uses a device called a Moving Vessel Profile (MVP) that collects information about sound velocity as it is dropped through the water. It is commonly called the “fish” since it is dropped into the water and manipulated to “swim” at different depths for data collection.
Here I am dislplaying the MVP or “fish” that will be deployed periodically throughout data collection to measure sound velocity, temperature, and pressure of the water.
A definite advantage of the MVP is that the fish can be deployed while the ship is moving; however, the launch must be stopped to use the CTD. Additionally, the MVP measures sound velocity directly where as the CTD collects data that must be plugged into a formula to calculate the measurement for sound velocity. Data collected from both the launches and the ship must be processed and converted. Much of the data processing involves moving data uploaded from launches into networked folders. At times while I watched data processing, there were too many folders open on multiple computer screens for me to personally keep track of. Also, I noticed certain data sets being converted from one form to another. Sometimes, the data conversion takes a long time so computers must be marked so nobody interrupts the conversion process. Patience, computer literacy, and organization skills are a must for working on data processing!
In this picture I’m attempting to clean “dirty” data. The screen on the left shows a 3D image of the ocean floor. The screen on the right shows a 2D image of the ocean floor that is color coded based on depth. As you can see, dirty dishes also tend to collect when cleaning dirty data!
Another part of working with data collected from the launches and the ship involves cleaning “dirty” data. Even through the best efforts to collect data, pings are sometimes lost or interference occurs. Perhaps the speed of the vessel exceeded 6 knots or maybe there was a section of the water with an unusual density. So, a software program called Caris is used to work with the data on a dual screen computer. The ocean floor that is color coded by depth can be viewed on one screen. Then, the person working with the data selects small segments of the ocean floor to view on the other screen. The plane of the ocean floor and all of the pings are shown in a variety of color scales. Data that is very accurate at a high confidence level can be shown in violet, but the lower the confidence level gets, the further up the spectrum the colors are shown. Many people choose to show different lines of pings in different colors to make it easier to see how many times the same section of the ocean floor was swept.
The person working on the computer can choose to delete certain pings, especially if they were located at the far end of the multibeam. These pings are more likely to be lost or misrepresent the depth. Additionally, a measurement can be taken on the screen with a ruler tool to determine if a group of pings are within specification limits. If they are not, a segment of data can be designated for further investigation. The person working on this must make many decisions, so it is important to be able to infer information from data as you work.
Personal Log
Paddling my kayak in the ocean through Northwest Harbor in the Shumagin Islands
I went sea kayaking a few years ago in Mexico, but sea kayaking in Alaska is by far more dangerous. Even though the kayaks are paddled the same way and I could keep the boat balanced relatively easily, the danger of flipping over and freezing to death in the sea water is a constant thought. The beauty of the islands as I paddled near them was mesmerizing. The Shumagin Islands look like something out of a prehistoric world. I keep expecting to see a dinosaur walking up one of the rocky hillsides. I didn’t see any prehistoric creatures on the kayak, but I did see some puffins, a seal, and a wide variety of other seabirds too far away for identification. Kelp was also floating around in abundance. I should mention that I was sea kayaking from about 8:30 to 11:00pm, but it was still daylight the whole time. It is near the summer solstice, so daylight lasts for about 18 hours or so each day. Right now, the sun is rising at about 6:00am each morning and setting at about 11:30 each night. It is really unusual to be out on a sea kayak in bright daylight in the middle of the night!
Create Your Own NOAA Experiment at Home
You can use simple items from your kitchen to see how cold the water in Alaska feels. You will need some ice water, a thermometer, and a bowl. First, put the ice in the bowl and pour the water over it. Next, place the thermometer in the bowl with the ice water. Wait until the temperature goes down to about 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Now, place your bare hand in the ice water. How does it feel? Try it with a glove on. Do you feel a difference? Remember, your body temperature is about 98 degrees Fahrenheit, so you are putting your hand into water that is about half your body temperature. Can you imagine how it would feel to fall into this water?
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Kristin Joivell
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather
June 15 – July 1, 2009
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical area of cruise: Shumagin Islands, Alaska Date: June 18-20, 2009
The boom lowers the launch into the foggy air.
Weather Data from the Bridge
Position: Koniuji Strait
Clouds: foggy
Visibility: less than 0.5 mile
Wind: 11 knots
Waves: 2 feet
Temperature: 8.6 dry bulb
Temperature: 8.0 wet bulb
Barometer: 1005.9
Science and Technology Log
Launches are used to acquire data in areas where it doesn’t make sense for larger ships to go. They are more maneuverable and their hulls don’t extend as far into the ocean. Small crews can travel in the launches and work together to cover specific areas, commonly called polygons. This week, we are using the launches to survey the ocean floor in the Koniuji Strait area. Getting ready for the launch requires some preparation. Dressing for the weather is a must; so layers and layers of clothing are necessary, especially on foggy, chilly days. Additionally, a float coat or life jacket vest and a hard hat are necessary for safety reasons. There are a lot of lines and cables moving around when a launch is being deployed and the safety equipment helps protect everyone involved.
I’m watching the computer screens as multibeam data is collected. The screen on the right shows the depth coloration of the line being swept.
Launches use a device called the Multibeam Echo Sounder (MBES, or commonly called the multibeam) to collect data about the ocean floor. The mulitbeam is a device that sends out sound waves. The sound waves bounce off the ocean floor and then back to the launch. The sound waves are commonly called “pings.” It is necessary to watch a computer screen to ensure that the pings are being collected to the fullest capacity. Sometimes adjustments must be made because pings are being lost or there is too much interference, or noise, in the data acquired. Another computer screen that must be watched shows the depth of the ocean floor being surveyed. Depths are color coded throughout the spectrum with reds being shallow and violets being deep. Watching the depth coloration helps to predict when ocean floor features may be changing from deep to shallow and vice versa. It is also possible to infer where ocean floor features like hills and valleys may be located.
Here, I prepare to cast the CTD in order to get a reading for conductivity, temperature, and density.
Other computer screens show different views and aspects of the data being collected from the multibeam. These screens help to troubleshoot problem areas and make decisions about data being gathered. In fact, there are four computer screens to watch while using the multibeam! Multitasking is a necessity when you are the person in charge of the computer screens. Multibeams collect data from the ocean floor in wide sweeps so that no area is missed or skipped over. Overlaps are also built in to help prevent missed areas. Sometimes an area is missed; these areas are called “holidays.” It is sometimes necessary to resweep an area to fill in these holidays. The driver of the boat helps to keep the boat on the line being swept. Additionally, the driver helps to keep the boat traveling at approximately 6 knots so that data can be collected at the appropriate speed. This job is more difficult than it looks especially in a thick fog.
The use of the CTD device is necessary when collecting data from the launches. CTD stands for conductivity, temperature, and density. Since ocean water can vary in all of these depending on location, the CTD helps collect this information. The information is then uploaded into the computer system on board the launch. The sound velocity is determined using a formula containing these readings. Then, the computer helps to correct for differences in the ocean water when using the multibeam. A cast on the CTD is usually done every few hours.
Personal Log
I attempt to work the line
Launches are great for acquiring data, but they require the assistance of many people to be used effectively. Plans must be made to create polygons to survey. People must use the radio to retain communications with the bridge of the main ship. Different people are responsible for working the lines, or ropes, that attach the launch to the ship. People must be able to use the multibeam computer software and information for the CTD appropriately so that significant data is collected. Someone must drive the launch so that it follows the lines for the sweeps. People from the engineering crew must maintenance the launches so that the engines work properly.
Each of these jobs requires certain training and experience to be completed in an effective way. I attempted to work the line to attach the launch back to the ship. It was difficult to keep the line untangled and throw it to the receiver in the correct location. I also attempted to steer the launch along the line for a sweep, but found myself overcorrecting and going in circles much of the time. It amazes me how the launches involve such a wide variety of skills and knowledge. With each task being accomplished, there are different problems that present themselves. Knowing how to deal with those problems involves a certain kind of personality. Being flexible, knowledgeable, and able to think on your feet while still remaining calm seem to be very important skills when working at sea!
In this picture, you can see the NOAA ship traveling while using the multibeam. The glowing material coming out of the ship represents the actual pings. The green area is the portion of the ocean floor that is being surveyed. Picture provided courtesy of NOAA training materials.
Create Your Own NOAA Experiment at Home
You can simulate the way that the NOAA multibeam devices acquire data to help you get a better picture of how this complicated system works. Using a paint roller, some paint, and a piece of cardboard, you can better envision the sweeps of the multibeam system. First, draw a sketch of your cardboard on a piece of paper. You can even add islands and land features to the cardboard to make it more complex. Determine shapes of polygons that you will be sweeping; squares and rectangles work well in large spaces, but you may need to create some different shapes around your islands and land masses. Lay out the cardboard on a flat surface. Then, use the paint and roller to make wide sweeps on the cardboard. You can even use different colors of paint for each line you sweep to keep your information more organized. Since the paint and roller are simulating the path of the launch, try to keep your paint and roller going at the same speed (remember in a launch this would be around 6 knots). Try not to create any holidays during your sweeps because you will need to go over those again. The picture below may also help you to visualize how multibeam works.
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Kristin Joivell
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather
June 15 – July 1, 2009
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical area of cruise: Shumagin Islands, Alaska Date: June 17, 2009
A launch is deployed in preparation for the day’s tasks.
Weather Data from the Bridge
Position: Big Koniuji Island
Clouds: Light Drizzle
Visibility: 5 miles
Wind: 17 knots
Waves: 2 to 3 feet
Temperature: 8.0 dry bulb
Temperature: 7.1 wet bulb
Barometer: 993.4
Science and Technology Log
Today I had the opportunity to travel to Herendeen Island in one of the launches. The two main tasks that I worked on were placing a new benchmark and taking measurements from a tidal gauge. Benchmarks and tidal gauges are used to help the surveying team vertically reference their survey data to the tidal datum.
The first task to accomplish after landing on the island was placing the new benchmark. Benchmarks can be found in many places. You might even walk near a benchmark everyday and not even be aware of it! The national geocaching website describes a benchmark as “a point whose position is known to a high degree of accuracy and is normally marked in some way.” On this website, you can also search for benchmarks in an area by typing in the zip code where you would like to search. I’ve seen benchmarks in my travels hiking and biking; one was even near an old fire tower. Benchmarks can be very old, but today I helped to place one that was brand new! I think the most exciting part about placing the benchmark was the knowledge that it is a permanent fixture. Years from now, I will be gone, but the benchmark I helped place on Herendeen Island will still be there!
Here I am drilling the hole to insert the Here I am pounding the benchmark into benchmark’s post. Later this hole will be place. Later, this benchmark will be filled with cement to preserve the integrity of surveyed and its exact location recorded the benchmark’s location. and added to the database.
The second task that I worked on today involved some very basic process skills of science: observing, recording, and calculating data. My task was to record the level of the ocean’s water using a tide staff. I watched the water for one minute over six minute intervals for three hours. During that one minute, I recorded the high and low water levels displayed on the tide staff. Then, I calculated the average of those water levels to be used by the surveying team. This important information helps the surveying team reference the measurements from the automatic tide gauge to the benchmarks we installed.
I reached an understanding of the importance of this type of data collection by thinking about a ship traveling through the ocean during high tide and then during low tide. The ship traveling at high tide might read 30 feet deep on their depth gauge, but the same ship traveling at low tide might read 20 feet deep on their depth gauge. If the ship’s hull is close to those depths, it may be in danger of scraping the bottom. Knowing the depth of the water at the lowest of the low tides is important for the safety of the ship traveling through the water.
Even though the tide staff had been placed some time ago, it was still embedded firmly in the rock. However, the seaweed growing on the rocks near the base of the tide staff seemed to be getting in the way of the observations initially. This required some cutting and trimming of the material to improve data accuracy. I think this is a good real world example of reducing the number of variables in an experiment that can’t be overlooked.
Here I am collecting data from the tide staff on Herendeen Island. You can see the excess seaweed throughout the water and near the shore. This factor proved to be a troublesome variable in the initial stages of data collection.
Personal Log
Yesterday, I was part of a shore party in the small port town of Sand Point. The ship needed to stop there for a personnel change and to pick up some mail from the post office. In my past travels, I saw some small fishing villages in Costa Rica, Venezuela, and Mexico, but here is a town in the United States whose existence revolves around fishing. The docks seemed to take up much of the area of the town. There were many boats docked there and the majority of which were fishing boats. I even got to see some boats coming back from the day’s fishing trip and begin to unload their catches. There were also people working on boats, nets, and general items associated with the fishing trade. Some boats looked like they were abandoned, but most looked as if they were used daily. Living and working near the ocean must be an interesting life, especially in such an isolated place as Sand Point, Alaska.
Create Your Own NOAA Experiment at Home
You can collect and record data using the same technique that NOAA scientists use for their tide staff data experiment. Select an area in your backyard on which to make observations. Perhaps a simple selection such as the growth rate of the grass would be appropriate for your first attempt at this experiment. Next, decide on your observation times. It’s a good idea to make your observations at the same time each day so that you can compare results and reduce variables. Finally, you’ll need something to record your data, usually a pen and paper, but you could also take a photograph for data collection. Record your data and try to make inferences and draw conclusions based on the data collected in your experiment.
Here I am posing near a boat on dry land in Sand Point. It is interesting to note how much square area of the boat will be under water when launched; this helps illustrate the point of the importance of hydrography.
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Kristin Joivell
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather
June 15 – July 1, 2009
Left is my bunk card. Notice the precise location or “muster” for each emergency.
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical area of cruise: Shumagin Islands, Alaska Date: June 15-16, 2009
Weather Data from the Bridge
Position: Woody Island Channel
Clouds: Partly Cloudy
Visibility: 10 miles
Wind: light
Waves: less than 1 foot
Temperature: 15.8 dry bulb
Temperature: 12.9 wet bulb
Barometer: 1012.6
Science and Technology Log
From a teacher’s standpoint, the best thing about being on a ship is seeing the real world applications for all of the basic science process skills that I teach. Skills like making accurate observations, collecting data precisely, and communicating clearly are second nature in a career with NOAA.
The Fairweather appears out of the fog.
One of the things that impressed upon me as we left the port at Kodiak and began the journey to the Shumagin Islands was the need for each person on board to know just what to do at the necessary time. The need to be in the “right place” at the “right time” is shown again and again. For example, each person has a bunk card that describes where to be when different types of alarms sound. When one of the three alarms sounds, each person on the ship has a specific job and place to report. Whether it is an abandon ship, man overboard, or fire alarm, each person must be in their place to be accounted for and to do their job to help regain control of the situation. For someone still learning where all of the decks are located, this was a small challenge!
Here I am reading the temperature for the Weather Log. There are two thermometers: wet bulb and dry bulb. The readings on both of these thermometers are read to help determine weather patterns, specifically relative humidity.
Another point that stood out to me was the importance of accurate observations. I often try to impress upon my students the importance of making observations in a precise scientific manner, but here on the ship I noticed real world applications of this skill in action especially on the bridge. Everywhere on the ship, but especially on the bridge, accuracy of observations is a must. Weather is checked every hour. This weather is periodically sent into a weather service. Accurate observations are necessary so that weather can be predicated and charted and the necessary changes can be made in plans for missions and travel.
Also, the ship’s course is charted on a map. Although computers are used for much of the navigation, the location on a paper map is charted as well. In fact, the whole goal of the mission is to attain more accurate charts of the ocean floor. The NOAA film, ‘The Surveyors,’ discusses the historical roots of hydrographic surveying. The film promotes the idea that NOAA was formed since so many ships were being lost at sea. As I watched the film, I realized the just how NOAA is an essential part of the battle against lost ships. After beginning my surveying training on the computer, I found out that 95% of all US foreign trade enters or leaves by ship. To make the job even more complicated, surveying the ocean floor is an ongoing task since changes occur in the ocean floor constantly. Thinking about this made me look forward to the surveying work in the Shumagins even more since the data collected by NOAA could save someone’s life.
Personal Log
Here I locate the Fairweather’s position on a map. The location of the ship is determined using triangulation and simple geometry.
Yesterday, while still in port at Kodiak, I went on a hike to the top of Barometer Hill. I think the name “Hill” is misleading since at the summit it is approximately 2500 feet above ground level. As I looked up at the mountain, I was in awe of its height and the purity of the surrounding terrain. Most of the hikes I’ve been on show signs of civilization throughout the hike, from garbage to power lines over the trail, but not here in Alaska!
I was not to be disappointed. About halfway up to the summit, a brown bear approached our group. Another hiker and I were nearing the top of a rise. Upon glancing behind, we noticed a bear peeking out from below the rise we had just climbed. We made some noises and it went down the mountain, leaving tracks in the snow patches. We were able to watch its progress down the mountain and through the brush at the base…the brush we had just walked through to get to the trail!
Here is Barometer Hill from the base of the mountain. Note the total absence of human impacts such as billboards, structures, and especially power lines. Hiking up the mountain there were a few scraps of paper, but not much trash at all compared to my experiences hiking in Pennsylvania.The brown bear going down Barometer Hill. It covered the distance quite quickly and made it to the base of the mountain in about 10 minutes, much quicker than my hiking speed. Photo courtesy of David Francksen.
As we continued hiking to the top, much of the terrain was steep, treacherous, and rocky, but the views at the summit were extraordinary and gave a 360 degree vantage point of the surrounding land and water. Looking around at the surrounding geography, I was able to see just how special Alaska is from a naturalist’s standpoint.
The view from the top of Barometer Hill. The wilderness keeps extending in the distance.
Create Your Own NOAA Experiment at Home
You can collect weather data using the same tool used on the bridge of the Fairweather. Create a wet and dry thermometer system by wrapping the bulb of one thermometer in wet paper towels and keeping one thermometer uncovered. Compare the temperatures over a period of time and make a line graph. What trends do you see on the graph? Which temperature tends to be lower? What can you infer from this about the way your body feels when you’re in wet clothes compared to the way your body feels when you’re in dry clothes?
After further investigating the wet bulb and dry bulb temperatures here on the ship, I found that the book National Weather Service Observing Handbook No. 1 printed by NOAA in 2004 gave me a better understanding of how this all fits together scientifically by stating, “The wet bulb thermometer works on the principle that water evaporating from the muslin wicking [paper towel] absorbs heat from the thermometer bulb and mercury. When the air is dry, containing little moisture, evaporation will be rapid. If the air is very moist, evaporation from the muslin [paper towel] will be slight.” (p. S-93). To me this makes sense since evaporation, biologically as precipitation, helps to cool your body. The graph below provides a more in depth look into the connection between dry bulb temperatures, wet bulb temperatures, and relative humidity.
On this graph, you can see how the relative humidity percentage gets higher as dry and wet bulb temperatures get closer together. The inverse is true as well; the relative humidity gets lower as dry and wet bulb temperatures get further apart. Psychrometric chart provided courtesy of Richard Brennan.
Weather Data from Bridge
(Weather data is not recorded on the Bridge when the ship is in port)
Question of the Day: Who are the Teachers at Sea?
Personal Log
The sunset behind St. Augustine.
Start to finish, my NOAA Teacher at Sea assignment has been an incredible learning experience. From the moment at the Seward, Alaska, railroad station when OS Dennis Brooks bounced up to me and asked, “Are you the teacher?” everything has been new, exciting, and memorable. His mini-travelogue about Resurrection Bay, delivered as we bounced over the mud puddles of the dock area, got me to looking and thinking right away.
Out of the car, up the gangway, and onto the ship I was herded to where my first official greeting was from petite, feisty Ensign Meghan McGovern. She grabbed my heaviest bag, put up a brief struggle about letting me carry the smaller one, and set off on a whirlwind flight down three decks to my quarters. Up one level, turn this way, turn that way, off to the stern, open the doors, point out supplies, hear the words, and learn the jargon ….what had I gotten myself into? What was it going to be like to be a Teacher At Sea?
Well…the REAL teachers at sea were the officers and crew of the NOAA ship RAINIER! -ENS McGovern, Jennings, Eldridge, and Smith who sensed my perplexity and tactfully and adroitly filled in the gaps: What is this or that? Why or why not? Who? What? When? Where? Why? -LT Ben Evans, Field Operations Officer, who was always bursting with enthusiasm as he explained the scientific mission of the RAINIER.
-ENS Olivia Hauser, quiet, calm, and friendly who made me feel so at home about everything
-ENS Sam Greenaway who guessed that I didn’t know, explained away the puzzles, and then (with a twinkle in his eye) added just a little extra twist to see if I would fall for it! (About those whales Sam…)
-The Hydrographic Survey Crew: Erin, Shawn, Marta, Nick, and Matt …ask them any question and I got as much time as I needed for answers, explanations, and demonstrations; Nick and Matt who kept me on my toes with open-ended discussions about the purpose and future of education
-Amy and Amanda …just a little less new to the ship than I am, but willing to try to make things clearer and easier whenever they can
-Hydrographer Bonnie Johnston, always happy and friendly and with endless good ideas about how to take some of the science from this trip back to teach in my class
-The Deck and Engine crews…lively, ornery, spicy, and eminently lovable: -Meghan G. and Leslie who actually taught me how to splice rope! -Jodie and Ben A. who always found a way to make me feel welcome, special, and not at all in the way; Jodie who tried to teach me to steer the survey boat and didn’t laugh when I was a dismal failure -Steve, Jimmy, and Dennis…smiles and teasing and lots of answers to even my dumbest questions; Steve with wildlife books and information and pictures to share anytime -Muzzy, Puppy, Keegan, Kelsen, Mikey, Chris, and Josh…prototypes for John Fogerty’s “Rambunctious Boy,” full of fun and attitude and hard, hard workers who made the running of the ship make sense -Erik who taught me how to put on my survival suit…and didn’t laugh -Joe – my personal guide for the long-awaited tour of the engine room… “What makes it go Joe?” -Carl – the guy who left the Midwest for a life at sea and who shared his enthusiasm for everything marine with a big smile and endless courtesy -Umeko…the new kid on the block, an intern learning the ropes and the rules and really eager to share her knowledge and explore new things…sorry we never saw enough of the stars for you to teach me how a sextant works…
-The Galley crew: Do and Floyd, who just kept smiling and telling me where things go, how to get what I need, and filling me up with way more good food than I needed; Raul who caught more fish with less fuss than anyone I’ve ever met before
-Gary…”right click, no, right click, no right click”…the very patient IT who helped me to figure out the server, email, the internet, and to get these journal entries off to NOAA
-Executive Officer Julia Neander…career NOAA Corps officer, scientist, literary critic, mom, and the person who always tried to make sure things were going right for me…taught me to kayak, went out for hikes, took great pictures, reviewed my journals, took time for good conversations, and made sure I got included in all the memorable things…she even taught me how to butcher a halibut!
-Last, but not least, Captain Guy Noll – quiet, thoughtful, sometimes serious, sometimes not, who shared his knowledge of Alaska and the ocean and history and fishing and who always showed a sense of the importance of his job and his personal commitment to it.
These were the real “Teachers” at sea: the people who helped make each day memorable and worthwhile as they took time to teach me.
Just what did they teach me? Well, I learned about life aboard a ship, planning and following through on those plans to accomplish big jobs, multi-beam sonar, working with data to make information useable, navigation and the importance of good charts, steering on water in a straight line (or not), the importance of understanding the basic science behind their job so it makes sense to use equipment correctly, the geology of the Aleutian Islands and the Ring of Fire, Alaskan wildlife, and lots more.
At this point, my mind is so full that I probably don’t realize how much I have learned. I do know that I am coming away from this last three weeks with new ideas and attitudes to share in my classroom and with my teaching colleagues. I know that I will encourage other teachers to apply for the NOAA Teacher at Sea program. I know that my experiences have reinforced my belief that learning by doing helps learners make sense of new experiences and ideas.
My assignment from NOAA involved recording my experiences to share on the Teacher at Sea web page. This task has been particularly valuable for helping me to clarify what I was learning and to store ideas for use with my students. Being a Teacher at Sea has given me a chance to be immersed in applied learning as the student instead of the teacher. I have a refreshed perspective on how it feels to walk into a new classroom with new classmates and an unknown teacher in charge. When I walk into my classroom to meet my new students in five days I hope that this insight will help me start the year off comfortably, kindly, and meaningfully for that room full of young minds.
I thank NOAA for the opportunity to be part of a unique and wonderful educational experience. Besides learning about the life and science aboard NOAA ship RAINIER, I have a new appreciation for how important it is that I do my job in the classroom well. Helping develop the curiosity and exploration skills of young learners seems even more critical after spending three weeks with a group of amazing people who are using those skills and attitudes in such a dynamic and impressive way.
To Captain Guy Noll, Executive Officer Julia Neander, and the wonderful officers and crew aboard RAINIER, my heartfelt thanks for all you have done to make my experience so remarkable. My memories of RAINIER and being Teacher at Sea will bring joy to my life for a long time to come.
Footnote: There are others in the crew of RAINIER, not mentioned specifically, that I just never got the chance to get to know for whatever reason: Time was short, schedules didn’t mesh, we didn’t move in the same orbits at the same times, the stars didn’t align… Whatever the reasons, I’m sure the loss is mine because everyone on the ship has been so great. Sorry I missed you guys…next time, OK?
