NOAA Teacher at Sea Peggy Deichstetter Aboard Oregon II August 29 – September 10, 2012
Mission: Longline Shark and Red Snapper Survey Geographical area of cruise: Gulf of Mexico Date: September 2, 2010
Me, tagging the shark
Finally, my first taste of shark.! My shift started at midnight. We baited 100 large hooks with mackerel. Then at a precise location the hooks were released one by one on a long line. The hooks were left in the water for one hour. Then the hooks were pulled out in the same order they were put in the water.
My first shark
We cleaned up everything because it is really good to wash fish slime off before it smells too bad. After our shark adventure, we did another plankton tow. This time we collected pounds of sea grass. A piece of discarded plastic about the size of a Frisbee blocked the plankton shoot so that grass accumulated.
We arrived at our next site and once again baited 100 hooks, released them and waited an hour. Our luck was a little better this time. We got two large sharks, one of which I got to tag, a couple small ones and a remora.
Mission: Sharks and Red Snapper Bottom Longlining Survey
Geographical area of cruise: Gulf of Mexico
Date: August 13, 2010
Calm seas in the Gulf off the coast of Florida
Weather Data from the Bridge
Latitude: 26.18 degrees North
Longitude: -84.07 degrees West
Winds: 5.25 knts.
Air Temperature: 30.5 C or 87 F
Barometric Pressure: 1013.84
Science and Technology:
Today we entered a fishing area that had once been closed to fishing due to the oil spill. Since the spill, NOAA scientists have the added responsibility of collecting data on the fish they catch and preparing them for return to a lab. Scientists will to keep up to ten fish of each species for each station they fish. There is a protocol that is followed in the handling of these fish. Basically, they are wrapped in a industrial strength aluminum foil, labeled, bagged, and placed in a freezer. Upon returning to port, the Chief Scientist with sign over each individual fish to the National Seafood Inspection Laboratory (NSIL) at Pascagoula. Toxicology testing will be performed on each fish to determine if chemicals from the oil have entered their body. The data will be analyzed and determinations will be made. Many marine biologists have been out to sea for long periods of time since the spill. They have been away from their family and friends, but feel that what they are doing is very important for marine life and the people along the Gulf. Their passion and dedication is much like the passion and dedication I see in teachers.
Ready for Testing
On a lighter note, yesterday I was able to tag my first shark. The sandbar shark was large enough to be brought up in the cradle. The Chief Scientist made the slit just below the dorsal fin, while two other assistants held the shark in place. I did not get the tag in on the first try, but finally did get it into position. The shark’s skin was so tough and full of razor-like scales. If a shark’s tail slaps and hits you, it can leave a burn-like mark that is very painful. Hopefully I will not have that experience while I’m here. Tagging the shark was amazing and frightening all at the same time. I was very aware that I needed to get it done quickly before the shark became restless. A shark’s movements are swift and powerful and you don’t want to be in their way. Everyone out here has a great respect for these animals and appreciates the beautiful creatures that they are. I, too, am learning what they already know.
Sandbar Shark in CradleTagging the Sandbar Shark
Personal Log
I almost never know where to begin as I write a blog. There is always so much going on, so much to see, learn, and write about, it is sometimes overwhelming. I always have questions for everyone here and they are willing to take the time to answer them with great detail. Today the Chief Scientist was explaining to me about the swim bladder on a particular fish that we pulled out at one of the stations. One of the lessons in the ocean unit is about swim bladders, so I was very curious to hear more about them. After listening to him, I came away with a better understanding, which I will be able to share with my students.
Well, we all like to eat and if you like really good food and lots of variety, the Oregon II is the place to be. Our chef served in the Navy as a Culinary Specialist and upon retiring joined NOAA. You can tell he loves his job and that he’s not just cooking. He creates meals that tickle all of your taste buds and some you never knew you had. No one misses mealtime around here. And if you think you may, he will put a plate aside for you so that you don’t miss his luscious meal. If you’re sitting in the mess hall you hear lots of “thank you’s” and if you look at the chef, you will see a wide, proud smile on his face.
When I can, I try to head up to the bridge to learn about all the complicated and sophisticated electronics that this ship is furnished with. The equipment provides a staggering amount of information that the officers must analyze prior to making decisions about how to manuever their way from station to station. I was told that it is very unlikely a NOAA ship can get lost at sea. There are multiple systems in place, so that if one fails, there is at least one other to take its place. Even though the ship has navigational and radar systems, the officers continue to use paper nautical charts as a backup. The Captain and all of the officers who sail this ship love what they do and put safety for everyone above all else.
The Bridge on the Oregon II
“Answer to the Question of the Day”
The wet lab of the ship is where the scientists process marine life and store supplies they will need to work with while they are out to sea. In the dry lab you will find computers that are used entering data and for general communications. “Question of the Day” Is there a fish that really flies?
Saturday May 5, started off ordinary, as ordinary as a Saturday on an icebreaker in the middle of the Bering Sea can be. I was lingering over lunch with Gavin Brady and Dr. Michael Cameron, two members of the NOAA National Marine Mammal Laboratory ice seal team. They were telling leopard seal stories and fun factoids about other seals. Unfortunately, I had to excuse myself, as it was time for me to make an ice observation up on the bridge.
In that very short period of time that it took me to lumber up the five flights to the bridge of the Healy, something happened. We were stopped at a station, a ribbon seal had been recorded close to the ship, and the ice seal team was going to try and tag it.
Much of the ice we encountered last week was soft and honeycombed. You wouldn’t want to go ice hopping on this.
I stopped right smack dab in the middle of my observations and flew down three flights to the hanger, where the seal team was hastily putting on their zodiac safety gear. Our last week on the Healy had us in rotting ice, or fog, or no ice at all with few opportunities to tag ice seals. This was a golden opportunity, as the boat was stopped and on station. Zodiacs away!
Jay Ver Hoef, the newest member of the ice seal team, geared up in a MS 900, bunny boots, white stocking cap, helmet, and ice camoflage overshirt.
Permission was granted and the seal team was good to go.
Dr. Mike talks netting strategy to the ice seal team.
They met together, refreshed their netting strategy, and waited.
The purpose of a strategy meeting is to review boat approaches and answer any questions that might arise.
The Coast Guard worked as quickly as it was able to.
Lee Harris stands next to Captain Lindstrom. The Healy supports scientific research by facilitating technology and equipment dispersal.
This was only the second time these zodiacs were launched; the crew was working out protocol and safety procedures.
The ice seal team rolled the zodiacs onto the deck so that they could be lifted into the icy Bering Sea.
Time ticked, ticked, ticked away.
The ice seal team tracked the ribbon seal as they waited patiently for the Coast Guard to get the three zodiacs into the water below.
Each zodiac had to be lifted by crane up and over the helo deck fencing.Zodiac one contained Dr. Mike and his driver Dave Withrow.Sean Dahle and Lee Harris scooted off in zodiac two.This was Jay’s first decent down the Healy Jacobs Ladder.
Gavin Brady with driver Jay Ver Hoef descended the Jacobs ladder into the zodiacs below. They chugged off into the frosty fog, and were gone.
The zodiacs slipped into the fog and out of sight.
They had radios, GPS and other contact equipment. We knew they would be safe.
Steven Elliot, Tom Bolmer, and Captain Lindstrom help the zodiacs find the seal in the ice-maze.
The rest of the seal tagging was done within a quiet and serene ice flowscape.
Dave Withrow, one of the ice seal team, took pictures of the Healy from the zodiac.
The three boats split up and surrounded the ice piece upon which the ribbon seal reclined. Sean Dahle and Gavin Brady quickly took control of the animal, it was a juvenile male.
The ice team wasted no time in getting measurements and data from the juvenile male ribbon seal.
The rest of the team measured its weight, some blood, it’s length, sex and attached the flipper tag.
The team attached the tag on the right rear flipper.
Ribbon seals are willing subjects. They are true ice seals; they never touch land and rarely encounter humans. Because of their naivety of humans, they can often be approached more easily than other arctic species.
Ribbon seals can often be approached more easily than other arctic seal species.
This young male waited patiently for the ice seal team to finish taking data.
This young male was true to its breed.
The ribbon seal slipped off the ice and into the Bering Sea. The tag will send out valuable information for a year.
So tagging number two can go down in the ice seal journal and in the event log of the 0701 Healy Science cruise as uber successful. Ordinary days? There are none, when you are on an icebreaker somewhere the middle of the Bering Sea!
I have watched a lot of science happen these past three weeks. I have asked a lot of questions and taken a lot of pictures. See I needed to understand what was happening here in the middle of the Bering Sea. And I need to know it so well that I can go back home and tell my students all about it.
The producers in the Bering Sea ecosystem are diatoms and other phytoplankton. They are productive because there are lots of nutrients in the water.
I have been trying to synthesize ecosystem science and understand. Gradually, oh so slowly, I can see. And it hasn’t been easy. Scientists often do research with a very specific topic or organism. They work in small teams. They need to gather accurate data during the mission and/or store samples to continue research back in their labs.
The scientists on-board Healy work in small teams, with one scientist named again and again as contributing essential data to the Bering Sea Ecosystem STudy. This scientist works alone but is a huge team player. Meet Dr. Calvin Mordy.
Dr. Cal Mordy figures out what nutrients are in the water samples pulled from the Bering Sea.
Cal figures out what nutrients are in the water samples pulled up from the varying depths in the Bering Sea. These nutrients are like fertilizer for the tiny phytoplankton producers that cling to the bottom of the ice that covers the Bering Sea. Understanding why, how and when these tiny green food factories grow and multiply is another researchers problem. Yet another researcher is cataloging what zooplankton consumers are present and in what quantity. Cal? He’s all about the nutrients in the water of the Bering Sea.
Cal tirelessly and exactingly tests hundreds of samples of Bering Sea water.
Remember that the zooplankton (consumers) depend on the phytoplankton (producers) for food. Nutrients are key in this research. Cal tirelessly and exactingly tests hundreds of samples of Bering Sea water, at different depths in the water column, and returns information back to the BEST (Bering Sea Ecosystem Study) scientists so they may integrate that information in their research. Lots of people depend on him for their data. They make calculations of different solutions from his cue.
Many researchers on the Healy depend on Dr. Mordy for his data.
With so many people depending on him for data, does he ever make a mistake? ‘Never,’ he says, and I believe him. Mistakes advertise themselves, he explains. Any data that is out of sort is flagged. Those samples are run again, to verify the data in question. Often those samples are the result of a leaky bottle or a misfired bottle. That data is pulled. That’s that.
Somehow it is so comforting to know that Cal has such a strong grasp of this key piece of the Bering Sea Ecosystem Study. Deep in the lab onboard the USCG Cutter Healy, there is a scientist at work. Cal systematically finds out what nutrients are in this icy cold water and in what concentration. In the BEST cruise, it all starts here.
I stuffed the cups with some sturdy brown paper towels to keep them separate and then placed them in a mesh laundry bag.
Here is Claire’s cup before we sent it down.
The Marine Scientist Technicians (MSTs) connected them to the CDT sampler that was dropped below 3300 meters!
I took this picture of the screen as the CTD was reeled up from the bottom.
How much pressure was down there? Scott Hiller, from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, plugged some numbers into an equation and told me that there was some 5100 psi (pounds per square inch) acting on those little white cups. The temperature was just above freezing.
Cups are strapped onboard the CTD
Two hours after dropping them down to the bottom of the Bering Sea, they emerged strapped and dripping.
And MUCH smaller.
Oh how CUTE!
It will be a lot easier mailing these to the St. Paul students. My have they shrunk!
So what did we learn from this?
Well, there are lots more questions that arise. How far do the cups have to drop in order for them to compress? What is the tipping depth, the depth that they begin to compress? Does the length of time that they are submerged make a difference in how they compress? Where does the gas that is in the cup go?
Ah, science, sweet science, raising more questions than answering once again.
