sunset – Page 2 – NOAA Teacher at Sea Blog

November 12, 2019

Kathy Schroeder: My Journey Ends, but will Never Be Forgotten, November 2, 2019

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Kathy Schroeder

Aboard NOAA Ship Oregon II

September 15 – October 2, 2019

Mission: Shark/Red Snapper Longline Survey

Geographic Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico

Date: 11/2/19

Weather Data from Naples, FL

Latitude: 26.17
Longitude: 81.34
Temperature: 89° F
Wind Speeds: ESE 11 mph

Personal Log

Our last day on Oregon II together was filled with lots of hugs and new Facebook friends. I left Pascagoula, MS and arrived back in Naples, FL around midnight. It was nice to be back in my big bed but I really missed the rocking of the ship to put me to sleep.

The next morning I was greeted at my classroom door at 7 am by my students who had a lot of questions. They all had been following along on my blog and have seen a few pictures that were posted. I made a PowerPoint of pictures from the ship so they could see what my living and working arrangements were like. The funniest part was when I showed them my sleeping arrangements. They thought it was great that I was on the top bunk, but surprised at how small the room was and how I didn’t have a TV. (I think some thought it was more like a hotel room – boy were they wrong.) The part they were shocked the most was the size of the shower and the toilet area. I was able to organize my pictures into folders of the same species. I was then able to show them all of the wonderful pictures that the crew, scientists, volunteers and I had taken during our excursion.

The following week a reporter from the Naples Daily News and her photographer came to my classroom to interview me about my trip as well as what the students were learning in AICE Marine.

Screenshot of post about Naples Daily News article — Read the full article at: https://www.naplesnews.com/story/news/education/2019/10/22/palmetto-ridge-teacher-noaa-research-program-at-sea-collier-county-education/3946496002/

I was able to bring back with me the one of the 12 foot monofilament line and hook that is attached to the longline. I was able to explain to them how the lines are attached and the process for leaving the longline in the water for exactly an hour. We also started a lesson on random sampling. I discussed how the location for the longline deployment is chosen and why scientist make sure they are randomly chosen.

My biggest surprise was a package I received from my Uncle Tom a few days after I returned home. He is a fantastic artist that paints his own Christmas cards every year. In the package I received he painted the sunset picture I had taken of Oregon II when we were docked in Galveston. It is now hanging in my classroom.

NOAA Ship Oregon II — NOAA Ship *Oregon II*, September 16, 2019. Photo by Kathy Schroeder.

Kathy's uncle's painting — Painting by my Uncle Tom Eckert from the picture I took

In December I will be presenting about my experiences with NOAA. Students, their families, and people from the Naples community will all be welcome to attend. I will be working with fellow colleagues from other high schools in Naples that also teach marine to spread the word to their students. My goal is to get as many students who are interested in a marine career to attend the presentation so that going forward I will be able to work with them in a small group setting to help with college preferences and contacts for marine careers.

I can’t thank NOAA enough for choosing me to participate as the NOAA Teacher at Sea Alumnus. The experiences I have received and the information I will be able to pass along to my students is priceless!

Science and Technology Log

My students have been able to see and touch some of the items I was able to bring home from Oregon II that I discussed. I was able to answer so many questions and show them a lot of the pictures I took. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of a sharp-nosed shark that is being sent to us from the lab in Pascagoula, MS. For students that are interested I will be conducting a dissection after school to show the anatomy of the shark as well as let them touch and feel the shark. (An additional blog will be posted once the dissection is competed)

June 17, 2019

Jill Bartolotta: Sea You Later, June 13, 2019

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Jill Bartolotta

Aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer

May 30 – June 14, 2019

Mission: Mapping/Exploring the U.S. Southeastern Continental Margin and Blake Plateau

Geographic Area of Cruise: U.S. Southeastern Continental Margin, Blake Plateau

Date: June 13, 2019

Weather Data:

Latitude: 29°44.7’ N

Longitude: 080°06.7’ W

Wave Height: 2 feet

Wind Speed: 21 knots

Wind Direction: 251

Visibility: 10 nautical miles

Air Temperature: 26.6° C

Barometric Pressure: 1014.4

Sky: broken

As I sit here on the bow, with the wind blowing in my face, as we travel back to land, I think about the past two weeks. I think about all the wonderful people I have met, the friendships I have made, the lessons I have learned, and how I have grown as a person. The sea is a truly magical place and I will miss her dearly. Although I am excited to trade in some tonnage and saltwater for my paddleboard and Lake Erie, I will really miss Okeanos Explorer and everyone aboard.

My time aboard Okeanos Explorer has been wonderful. I learned so much about operating a ship, the animals we have seen, and about ocean exploration. I have stared into the eyes of dolphins as they surf our bow, watched lightening displays every night, seen Jupiter’s moons through binoculars, watched huge storm clouds roll in, seen how sound can produce visual images of the ocean floor, had epic singing and dancing parties as we loaded the XBT launcher, done a lot of yoga, learned a lot about memes, eaten amazing food, taken 3 minute or less showers, smacked my head countless times on the ceiling above my bed, watched the sunrise every night, done laundry several times because I didn’t bring enough socks, looked at the glittering plankton on the bow at night, and laughed a lot.

Words cannot express it all so below are some of my favorite images to show you how awesome this entire experience has been. I will not say goodbye to the sea and all of you but I will say, “Sea You Later. Until we meet again.”

Jill's Birthday Cake — Blowing out the candles on my birthday cake. Still so touched by the kind gesture. Photo Credit: Lieutenant Commander Kelly Fath, PHS

Jahnelle and ROV — Meeting the ROV, Deep Discoverer. Pictured is Explorer in Training, Jahnelle Howe.

Looking at dolphins — Looking at the dolphins on the bow.

Jill looks at dolphins — Watching the dolphins surfing the bow waves. Photo Credit: Kitrea Takata-Glushkoff

dark storm cloud — The calm before the storm.

The final sunset with some of the amazing people I met at sea. Pictured from left to right: Jill Bartolotta (Teacher at Sea), Kitrea Takata-Glushkoff (Explorer in Training), and Jahnelle Howe (Explorer in Training). Photo Credit: Lieutenant Commander Faith Knighton

September 19, 2017

Kate Schafer: Setting off for Brownsville, TX, September 18, 2017

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Kate Schafer

Aboard NOAA Ship Oregon II

September 17 – 30, 2017

Mission: Shark/Red Snapper Longline Survey

Geographic Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico

Date: September 18, 2017

Weather Data from the Bridge:

Latitude: 27^o 02.5’ N
Longitude: 94^o32.6’ W

Scattered clouds

Visibility 14 nautical miles

Wind speed 10 knots

Sea wave height 1 foot

Temperature Seawater 29.9 ^oCelsius

Personal log

Sunday afternoon, September 17

I arrived in Pascagoula, Mississippi in the late afternoon on Saturday after a long day of travel. Things were so quiet on the ship that evening as most of the crew had gone home during the break between legs of the survey. It was great to be met and shown around by a friendly face, the Officer on Duty (OOD) David Reymore. I definitely was feeling a bit like a fish out of water, even though we hadn’t even left the dock yet. As people start to arrive back on the ship, they all know their role and are busy getting ready for our departure later on today. It’s a good experience to feel like you’re out of your element every now and again and I guess a small part of why I decided to apply for a Teacher at Sea position in the first place.

NOAA

As I was preparing to depart on this adventure and was explaining that I was going to be a NOAA Teacher at Sea, I had a number of people ask me what NOAA stood for, so I thought I’d provide a bit of information about what they are and what they do. First, NOAA stands for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the name definitely suggests the broad mission that the agency has. Their mission involves striving to understand the oceans, atmosphere, climate, coastlines and weather and making predictions about how the interactions between these different entities might change over time.

That is a tall order, and the agency is divided up into different offices that focus on different aspects of their mission. The National Weather Service, for example, is focused on forecasting the weather and makes predictions about things like where hurricanes will travel and how intense they will be when they get there. The National Marine Fisheries Service is tasked with studying the ocean resources and habitats in U.S. waters and to use that understanding to create sustainable fisheries.

So far, I’ve met many people that I’ll be sharing the boat with over the next two weeks. They have all taken time to introduce themselves and talk for a bit, even though I know that they’ve got tons to do before we sail.

Sunday evening

Well, we’re underway towards our first sampling sites off the coast of Brownsville, Texas. The seas are really calm, and I’m sitting up on the deck enjoying the light breeze and digesting the delicious dinner of jambalaya, vegetables and blackberry cobbler. On our way out from Pascagoula, we saw a few dolphins, beautiful white sand barrier islands and mile after mile of moon jellies, but now we’re no longer in sight of land.

P1030600 — Barrier island off the coast of Mississippi

We’ve passed an occasional oil rig off in the distance but haven’t seen much else. The sun just set behind just enough clouds to make the colors spectacular and then as I was climbing down the stairs, I saw a handful of dolphins playing in the boat’s wake.

Monday, September 18

Today will be a full day of travel to reach our fishing grounds. Assuming we continue to make steady progress, we should arrive in the late afternoon or early evening on Tuesday to begin fishing. We will be baiting 100 hooks that, once deployed, will remain in the water for an hour before we pull them back in. We’ll be fishing in a variety of depths while working our way back towards Pascagoula. We practiced some drills this afternoon, including a “man overboard” simulation, using a couple of orange buoys. They deployed a rescue boat and had retrieved the buoys in a matter of minutes. I have to admit that watching them get out there with such speed and skill put me at ease.

Rescue boat deployed during the “man overboard” drill

September 10, 2017

Jenny Smallwood: Can I borrow a cup of sugar? September 8, 2017

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Jenny Smallwood
Aboard Oscar Dyson
September 4 – 17, 2017

Mission: Juvenile Pollock Survey
Geographic Area of Cruise: Gulf of Alaska
Date: September 8, 2017

Weather Data from the Bridge
Latitude: 55 20.5 N
Longitude: 156 57.7 W
Clear skies
Winds: 12 knots NNW
Temperature: 11.0 degrees Celsius (51.8 degrees Fahrenheit)

Can I borrow a cup of sugar? Just what does a ship do if it starts running low on critical supplies? In our case, the Oscar Dyson met up with the Fairweather on a super foggy morning to swap some medical supplies and other goods that will be needed on the next leg.

The Fairweather’s fast rescue boat heads out towards us. Photo courtesy: Jim McKinney

Photo courtesy: Jim McKinney

Coming in on approach..

Fairweather’s fast rescue boat pulled alongside and was tied up to us.

Science and Technology Log
You might remember from my first blog post that Alaskan Walleye Pollock is one of the largest fisheries in the world and the largest by volume in the U.S. Because of this, Walleye Pollock is heavily researched and managed. The research cruise I’m on right now is collecting just a small portion of the data that feeds into its management. Being a plankton nerd, I’m interested in the relationship between year 0 Pollock and its zooplankton prey. Year 0 Pollock are the young of the year; fish hatched in Spring 2017.

IMG_20170908_194023 - Edited (1) — Year 0 Walleye Pollock

Year 0 Pollock feed on a variety of zooplankton some of which have greater nutritional value than others. Certain zooplankton, such as Calanus spp and euphausiids, are preferred prey items due to high lipid content, which yield fatter year 0 Pollock.
Other less lipid rich zooplankton prey, such as small copepod species, yield skinny fish. The fat, happy Pollock are more likely to survive the winter, and the scrawny, skinny fish aren’t likely to survive the winter. So why is this important to know? Well, surviving its first winter is one of the biggest hurdles in the Pollock’s life. If it can survive that first winter, it’s likely to grow large enough to be incorporated in the Pollock fishery. So you just want to make sure there are lots of Calanus spp in the water right? Wrong….

Knowing Calanus spp and euphausiids possess higher lipid content is just the tip of the iceberg. It turns out that in colder years they have higher lipid content, and in warmer years they have lower lipid content. So it’s not enough to just know how many Calanus spp and euphausiids are out there. You also need to know what their lipid levels are, which is related to water temperatures. Clearly a lot goes into Pollock management, and this is only a small portion of it.

Personal Log
I have a theory that like minded people tend to seek out similar life experiences. For example, yesterday I was in the bridge getting the scoop on Fairweather meet-up when I met one of the fishermen, Derek. Turns out Derek and I both attended UNC-Wilmington, both graduated in 2003, and both majored in environmental studies. For a while growing up, we lived just a couple of towns over from each other too. What. In. The. World. What are the odds that I run into someone like that? It’s such a small world….or is it?

This is where I get back to the theory that like minded people tend to seek out similar life experiences. There are those people in your life that seem to orbit in the same sphere as you. Maybe it’s shared interests, backgrounds, or experiences, but these are the people that totally “get you.” I feel lucky to have so many of them, from my co-workers at the Virginia Aquarium to the Teacher at Sea folks, in my life right now.

Did You Know?
Did you know Alaska has beautiful sunsets?

August 6, 2017August 6, 2017

Brad Rhew: The Sounds of the Sea, July 31, 2017

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Brad Rhew

Aboard NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada

July 23 – August 7, 2017

Mission: Hake Fish Survey

Geographic Area of Cruise: Northwest Pacific Ocean, off of the coast of Oregon

Date: July 31, 2017

Weather Data from the Bridge

Latitude: 44 49.160 N
Longitude 124 26.512

Temperature: 59^oF
Sunny
No precipitation
Winds at 25.45 knots
Waves at 4-5ft

Science and Technology Log

TAS Rhew 7-31 acoustics lab2 — Inside the acoustics lab

The scientists on the Hake survey project are constantly trying to find new methods to collect data on the fish. One method used is acoustics. Scientists Larry Hufnagle and Dezhang Chu are leading this project on the Shimada. They are using acoustics at a frequency of 38 kHz to detect Pacific Hake. Density differences between air in the swimbladder, fish tissue, and the surrounding water allows scientists to detect fish acoustically.

The purpose of the swim bladder in a fish is to help with the fish’s buoyancy. Fish can regulate the amount of gas in the swim bladder to help them stay at a certain depth in the ocean. This in return decreases the amount of energy they use swimming.

TAS Rhew 7-31 echosounder — The screen shows the data collected by the echosounder at different frequency levels.

Larry and Chu are looking at the acoustic returns (echoes) from 3 frequencies and determining which are Hake. When the echosounder receives echoes from fish, the data is collected and visually displayed. The scientists can see the intensity and patterns of the echosounder return and determine if Hake are present.

The scientists survey from sunrise to sunset looking at the intensity of the return and appearances of schools of fish to make the decisions if this is an area to fish.

TAS Rhew 7-31 scientists Larry and Chu — Scientists Larry Hufnagle (left) and Dezhang Chu (right) monitor the nets and echosounder while fishing for hake.

The ultimate goal is to use this data collected from the echosounder to determine the fish biomass. The biomass determined by the survey is used by stock assessment scientist and managers to manage the fish stock.

Personal Log

Everyday aboard the Shimada is a different experience. It has been amazing to be able to go between the different research labs to learn about how each group of scientists’ projects are contributing to our knowing more about Hake and marine ecosystems. My favorite part so far has been helping with the sampling of Hake. Some people might find dissecting fish after fish to determine length, sex, age, and maturity to be too much. However, this gives me an even better understanding and respect for what scientists do on a daily basis so we can have a better understanding of the world around us. We have also caught other fascinating organisms that has helped me explore other marine species and learn even more about their role in the ocean.

Even though the wind is a little strong and the temperatures are a little chilly for my southern body I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything…especially these amazing sunsets…

TAS Rhew 7-31 sunset — View of sunset over the Pacific Ocean from NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada

Did You Know?

Before every fishing operation on the boat we must first do a marine mammal watch. Scientists and other crew members go up to the bridge of the boat to see if any mammals (whales, seals, dolphins) are present near the boat. This is to help prevent these animals from being harmed as we collect fish as well as making sure we are not running a risk of these mammals getting caught in the fishing nets.

Fascinating Catch of the Day!

Today’s fun catch in the net was a Brown Catshark! These creatures are normally found in the deeper parts of the Pacific Ocean. They are typically a darker brown color with their eyes on the side of their head. Their skin is very soft and flabby which can easily lead to them being harmed. They have two dorsal fins and their nostrils and mouth on the underside of their body. One of the sharks we caught was just recently pregnant.

Two brown catsharks

Catsharks have two dorsal fins (on their backs)

Catsharks’ nostrils and mouths are on the undersides of their bodies

Catshark egg sacks

Notice to yellow curly substance coming out of the shark? That is from the egg sac. Sharks only produce one egg sac at a time. It normally takes up to a full year before a baby shark to form!