temperature study – NOAA Teacher at Sea Blog

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 formula

For 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

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.

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.

Tag: temperature study

Kristin Joivell, June 23, 2009

Kristin Joivell, June 16, 2009