temperature – Page 2 – NOAA Teacher at Sea Blog

July 31, 2013August 19, 2021

Julie Karre: A Day of No Fishing is Not a Day of Rest, July 27, 2013

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Julie Karre
Aboard NOAA Ship Oregon II
July 26 – August 8, 2013

Mission: Shark and Red snapper Longline Survey
Geographical area of cruise: Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic
Date: July 27

Weather Data from the Bridge
W TO NW WINDS 5 TO 10 KNOTS
SEAS 1 TO 2 FT.

We departed Pascagoula yesterday with calm winds and steamy temperatures. Our team decided that with storms developing in and around the Gulf, it was best for us to head out to the Atlantic. So we’re all loaded in to hang out for a few days before the fishing begins.

Science and Technology Log

It would be easy to think of these traveling days as days of rest. But they are far from it. The ship’s crew and fishermen are hard at work each day keeping the ship running as it should. One of the tasks the fishing crew is responsible for is dealing with the rust that builds up on the ship. (Ok, seventh and eighth graders – why is rust such a problem for a ship?)

Because of the constant moisture, rust is a persistent problem on the ship, exacerbated by the salt. Whenever docked, the crew works tirelessly to get the ship into prime condition. Any of the deck equipment that can be removed gets taken to a workshop where it is sanded down to raw metal again and then galvanized. This increases the life of the equipment because galvanized steel doesn’t rust. That leaves all the parts that cannot be removed to be touched up piecemeal, as Lead Fisherman Chris Nichols said. On a day like today – calm sea, light wind, and no fishing – the guys set to work on designated areas of the ship. Once an area of rust is identified, the rust must be removed. After removing the rust and vacuuming up all the dust and particles, the area gets primer painted twice and then its topcoat. The end result is a nice clean look to the boat.

Opening on the starboard side of the ship getting its rust removal makeover.

Removing rust from the railing on the starboard side. — Skilled Fisherman Mike Conway removing rust from the railing on the starboard side.

In addition to keeping the ship in tip-top shape, it is essential to make sure all of the equipment used during the survey works appropriately. Around 9:40am, the Oregon II stopped moving and deployed a CTD unit (conductivity, temperature, depth). These cylinder shaped units carry tanks that bring water samples back to the ship from designated depths while the sensors read the water for its temperature, depth, and salinity.

Alongside the crew hard at work, the science team is busy doing work on sharks that came with us from Pascagoula. According to scientist Lisa Jones, some of these sharks are from surveys done to collect sharks following the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf in 2010. Others are sharks that needed further identification and information from surveys like the one I am on. Each shark is weighed and measured, sexed, and then internal organs are removed for further analysis, tissue samples are taken, and the remains of the shark are thrown overboard to reenter the food chain.

Mike recording data as Lead Scientist Kristen Hannan dissects a Gulper Shark from a previous survey. — Scientist Mike Hendon recording data as Lead Scientist Kristin Hannan dissects a Gulper Shark from a previous survey.

During this down time I was treated to a visit to the bridge, where officers steer the ship, among other things. NOAA Corps Officer LTjg Brian Adornato was on duty and offered me a glimpse of the technology that keeps us headed in the right direction. The Oregon II has one propeller controlled by two engines, which are both running while we steam across the Gulf. The boat was on its version of autopilot while I was visiting, which means the navigational heading is programmed and the boat is steered on that heading automatically. Whether steered by hand or computers, the ship is rarely perfectly on its heading. (Come on seventh and eighth graders – what factors are also influencing the ship’s movement?)

All of the navigation equipment driving the Oregon II.

The wind and water are factors in how close the ship’s course over ground is to its heading. The waves, currents, and wind are all pushing the ship.

Personal Log

While the ship is buzzing with work, there is also lots of time to sit and share stories. I feel very lucky to be aboard the Oregon II at all, but to be aboard with such welcoming and friendly people feels like I hit the jackpot.

I share a room with NOAA Corps Officer ENS Rachel Pryor. She is on duty from 8 am – noon and from 8 pm to midnight. During those hours it is her job to drive the ship. I am on duty from noon to midnight, but during these days prior to fishing, I have a lot of free time. I have been reading, taking pictures, and hanging out with the others. The sleeping on the ship is easy and comfortable. And the food is delicious. Chief Steward Walter Coghlan is an excellent cook.

Some of the things that have caught me off guard should make perfect sense to my lovely seventh and eighth graders, like why I had a blurry camera. (Ok, kiddos – the ship is an air-conditioned vessel kept at cool temperatures to relieve the crew and scientists from the heat of the Gulf. What happens if you keep your camera in your room and bring it out onto the hot deck to take pictures?)

CONDENSATION! The cool glass of the lens becomes immediately foggy with condensation from the high temperatures outside.

It only took me one time of making that mistake and missing some great pictures because of it to learn my lesson. I now keep my camera in a room closer to the outside temperature so it’s always ready to take pictures – like this one of me in my survival suit! I’m also thrilled I didn’t miss the sunset.

The Abandon Ship drill requires everyone on board to get into a survival suit. It's not easy. — The Abandon Ship drill requires everyone on board to get into a survival suit. It’s not easy. – Photo Credit: Skilled Fisherman Chuck Godwin.

A beautiful sunset on my first night out at sea.

The sunset glistening on the calm water the second night.

Did You Know?

Fathoms are a unit of measurement commonly used to measure the depth of a body of water. One fathom is exactly six feet.

Animals Seen

Flying Fish

Pilot Whales

July 24, 2013August 13, 2021

Avery Marvin: Sound Off! From Noise to Nautical Charts, July 22, 2013

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:

“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.

Rainier launch — 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.

This is a chart of the Shumagin Islands showing the 8 sheets (highlighted in green) that we are surveying.

Polygons — 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.

Mowing the lawn — 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.

Plot room — Our chief surveyor works in the plot room cleaning and correcting data.

Data cleaning. — 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.

Sound speed artifact — 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.

HorCon station — 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.

Dirty data — 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.

Cleaned surface — 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°”

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.

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. 🙂

Operating the crane to get the davit ready to lift the launch out of the water — 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 Cribagge tournament — 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!

July 15, 2013August 19, 2021

Christina Peters: Casting Off with Oregon II, July 11, 2013

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Chris Peters
Onboard NOAA Ship Oregon II
July 10 – 19, 2013

Mission: SEAMAP Summer Groundfish Survey
Geographic Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico, leaving from Pascagoula, MS
Date: July 11, 2013

Weather and Location:
Time: 17:24 Greenwich Mean Time (1:24 p.m. in Rockville, MD)
Latitude: 28.6057
Longitude: -85.4277
Speed (knots): 9.70
Water temperature: 28.30 degrees Celsius
Salinity (PSU = Practical Salinity Units): 33.14
Air temperature: 30.80 degrees Celsius
Relative Humidity: 64%
Wind Speed (knots): 6.55
Barometric Pressure (mb = millibars): 1015.13
Depth (m) = 172.50

Science and Technology Log

Weather and Location Vocabulary

Some of the weather and location terms will be unfamiliar to you, so I will give some explanation and background.

Latitude: imaginary lines that run horizontally (think of the horizon) on a map or globe and are sometimes called parallels because they are always the same distance from each other. To remember which direction the lines run, think of the rungs of a ladder (ladder-tude). They begin at zero at the equator and continue to 90 degrees at each pole. Each degree is equivalent to about 69 miles.

Longitude: imaginary that run vertically. They are also called meridians. Longitude lines are not parallel because they meet at the north and south poles. Zero degrees longitude is found at Greenwich, England, and the meridians meet at 180 degrees in the Pacific Ocean and the International Date Line.

Latitude and Longitude — Latitudes are also called parallels and are horizontal. Longitudes are also called meridians and are vertical.
Photo credit to http://www.geographyalltheway.com/ks3_geography/
maps_atlases/longitude_latitude.htm

Knots: another way to measure speed, like miles-per-hour, often used by mariners. It is equal to one nautical mile, 2,000 yards, and approximately 1.151 mph. The word knots dates back to the days when sailors would toss a log, attached to a rope knotted at regular intervals, off the stern of a ship. The sailors would count the number of knots that passed through their hands in a certain period of time, and that number was used to express the ship’s speed. Students (and parents) who have visited St. Mary’s City have seen exactly how this works!

Celsius: a way to measure temperature. The freezing point for Celsius is 0 degrees, and the boiling point is 100 degrees. Alternatively, the freezing point for Fahrenheit is 32 degrees, while the boiling point is 212 degrees. Celsius can be converted to Fahrenheit by multiplying the starting degrees Celsius by 9, then dividing that number by 5. The last step is to add 32, and your answer is the equivalent degrees in Fahrenheit.

Salinity: the amount of dissolved salt in the water. It is measured in PSU, which stands for Practical Salinity Units. Ocean water normally is made up of 3.5% salt, and contains 35 PSUs. The salinity of the water affects the electrical conductivity of the water (how well electricity can pass through water).

About the Oregon II

Oregon II is forty-six years old, having been launched in February 1967. It is 170 feet long and 34 feet wide, with a welded steel hull. Oregon II weighs 703 tons with all of its equipment on board. The ship has a cruising speed of 12 knots, and is capable of traveling 7,810 nautical miles, and staying out for 33 days. It was built for NOAA as a science ship and contains an oceanographic wet lab, a specimen lab, an instrumentation lab, and a hydrographic lab. With sleeping space for 31 people, up to twelve are usually scientists. Scientists include Teachers at Sea, college student volunteers, interns, and other volunteers. To learn more about the ship, visit the Oregon II website. You may also track our progress by visiting http://shiptracker.noaa.gov/shiptracker.html and choosing Oregon II.

Personal Log

Getting ready for departure

I arrived in the small town of Pascagoula, Mississippi on Monday night. On Tuesday morning I received an email from Kim, the chief scientist, letting me know that a welcome aboard meeting was scheduled for 12:30 the next day, but that a crucial piece of equipment, the J frame, was broken and we would be unable to leave before it was fixed. Either way, I was going to “check in” to my cabin on the ship on Tuesday afternoon, and hope our departure would not be delayed.

The J Frame on the dock, waiting to be repaired

Repaired J Frame — The J Frame, in good working order

I met one of the scientists, Alonzo, on Tuesday afternoon and he gave me a tour of Oregon II, as well as NOAA’s (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association) National Marine Fisheries Service, Pascagoula Lab. I met many people, from the unit leader of the trawl surveys, to the receptionists, who do much more than answer telephones. There were the plankton scientists, the marine mammal specialists, and the seafood inspection scientists, to name a few. The NOAA building was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina several years ago. After working out of trailers for about four years, the staff in Pascagoula moved into a beautiful new building overlooking The Pascagoula River.

The ship, though, was of even greater interest to me, since I would be spending ten days aboard her. As we approached the gangplank, I saw that the J frame, normally attached to the side of the ship, was dismantled on the dock. Things were not looking too hopeful. In spite of that, I was excited to see the rest of the ship. We saw the bridge, where the ship’s master, also referred to as the commanding officer (CO), and the NOAA Corps officers who pilot the ship spend a lot of time. The stern of the boat (the rear) is where much of the science work is done. The outriggers, a pair, sit high up on the ship, towards the back, and can be extended out to the sides for the groundfish collection. As we walked inside from the stern, we saw the wet lab, where fish and sea life are measured and sorted, and the dry lab, where much of the data is recorded.

Certain personnel onboard are important enough to have a private cabin (the master and the chief scientist, for example). Most of us, however, share a cabin with one other person, usually someone who works an opposite shift. For example, I am working the noon to midnight shift, and my roommate works the midnight to noon shift. This works to give us each a little bit of privacy and quiet while we are trying to sleep. As you can see, the beds are like little nooks built into the walls, and have heavy curtains to keep the light out if you are sleeping. There is actually plenty of storage space for our clothes. As you might expect, everything that opens has a hook or a locking mechanism on it. When the seas are rough, you don’t want drawers flying open!

A room on Oregon II — I share this room with a volunteer scientist. I work from noon to midnight, and she works from midnight to noon.

Those of you who know me won’t be surprised that one of my favorite spots onboard is the galley! It only seats twelve, so with twenty-nine people onboard, the general policy is to “eat it and beat it”. There is a “chief steward” and a “second cook”, who make delicious meals and keep the galley stocked with snacks! Of course they do much more than that.

Wednesday morning there was much to do to be prepared for departure. Imagine going on a vacation to the beach for a week, but being unable to make a trip to the grocery store, drug store, mall, or even the doctor if someone gets sick. You must think of everything you need for ten days and bring it with you. The galley had to be stocked, as well as all paper products needed in other areas of the ship. The repaired (we hoped) J frame had to be re-installed, everyone who had not yet boarded and settled in had to arrive, cars had to be moved and people shuttled back, science materials had to be loaded and stored, and many other little things had to be done.

At 12:30 p.m. we met in the crew’s lounge for a welcome aboard meeting, still assuming an on-time departure. The J frame had been installed and was being tested. At that time I met the other scientists, volunteers, and an intern. At 2:00 we all went out to the well of the boat to wave to those seeing us off, and we actually started to slowly pull away from the dock a little after 2:30. The tropical storm, Chantal, was at the back of the minds of many of us, and we would be heading in her direction. I knew, though, that if the storm looked like a problem, we would find a safe place to wait her out. We were on a NOAA ship, after all.

Safety First

Abandon ship suit — I am wearing my survival (or gumby) suit. It is a flotation device and keeps you warm, too.

Emergency Escape Breathing Device — These are found in each cabin. They provide at least ten minutes of air in the event of a fire or other emergency.

Did you know?

Did you know that the bridge uses sonar, radar, AIS (Automatic Identification System), GPS, a magnetic compass, and electronic and paper charts to navigate to new locations? Charts are similar to maps, but include much more information such as the contours of the land below the water, obstructions in the water, buoys, oil rigs, rocks, and shoals.

Questions for my students:

If the Oregon II is 170 feet long, about how many meters long is it?

If the water temperature is 28 degrees Celsius, what is the temperature measured in Fahrenheit?

We will be collecting plankton on this leg of the mission. How do you think we will preserve the plankton in order to get it back to the scientists?

What questions do you have for me? I’ll do my best to answer them in my next blog entry.

Thank you for visiting my blog. I hope you will check back in a few days for an update!

June 23, 2013August 11, 2021

Sue Cullumber: Drifting Away, June 21, 2013

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Sue Cullumber
Onboard NOAA Ship Gordon Gunter
June 5–24, 2013

Mission: Ecosystem Monitoring Survey
Date: 6/21/2013
Geographical area of cruise: The continental shelf from north of Cape Hatteras, NC, including Georges Bank and the Gulf of Maine, to the Nova Scotia Shelf

Weather Data from the Bridge: Time: 21.00 (9 pm)
Latitude/longitude: 3734.171ºN, 7507.538ºW
Temperature: 20.1ºC
Barrometer: 1023.73 mb
Speed: 9.6 knots

Getting ready to launch the buoy – photo by Chris Taylor.

launchingdrifter — Launching the buoy from the ship’s stern – photo by Chris Taylor.

Science and Technology Log:

This week we launched a Global Drifter Buoy (GDB) from the stern of the Gordon Gunter. So what is a GDB? Basically it is a satellite tracked surface drifter buoy. The drifter consists of a surface buoy, about the size of a beach ball, a drogue, which acts like a sea anchor and is attached underwater to the buoy by a 15 meter long tether.

Drifter tracking: The drifter has a transmitter that sends data to passing satellites which provides the latitude/longitude of the drifter’s location. The location is determined from 16-20 satellite fixes per day. The surface buoy contains 4 to 5 battery packs that each have 7-9 alkaline D-cell batteries, a transmitter, a thermistor to measure sea surface temperature, and some even have other instruments to measure barometric pressure, wind speed and direction, salinity, and/or ocean color. It also has a submergence sensor to verify the drogue’s presence. Since the drogue is centered 15 meters underwater it is able to measure mixed layer currents in the upper ocean. The drifter has a battery life of about 400 days before ending transmission.

decoratingdrifter — Attaching the stickers to the buoy – photo by Kris Winiarski.

Students at the Howard Gray School in Scottsdale, Arizona designed stickers that were used to decorate the buoy. The stickers have messages about the school, Arizona and NOAA so that if the buoy is ever retrieved this will provide information on who launched it. In the upcoming year students at Howard Gray will be tracking the buoy from the satellite-based system Argos that is used to collect and process the drifter data. You can follow our drifter here, by putting in the data set for the GTS buoy with a Platform ID of 44932 and select June 19, 2013 as the initial date of the deployment.

Why are drifter buoys deployed?

In 1982 the World Climate Research Program (WCRP) determined that worldwide drifter buoys (“drifters”) would be extremely important for oceanographic and climate research. Since then drifters have been placed throughout the world’s oceans to obtain information on ocean dynamics, climate variations and meteorological conditions.

The Howard Gray School drifter on its ocean voyage.

NOAA’s Global Drifter Program (GDP) is the main part of the Global Surface Drifting Buoy Array, NOAA’s branch of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). It has two main objectives:

1. Maintain a 5×5 worldwide degree array (every 5 degrees of the latitude/longitude of world’s oceans) of the 1250 satellite-tracked surface drifting buoys to maintain an accurate and globally set of on-site observations that include: mixed layer currents, sea surface temperature, atmospheric pressure, winds and salinity.

2. Provide a data processing system of this data for scientific use.

bongossunset — Bongo nets going out for the plankton samples.

meshsamples — Plankton from the different mesh sizes. The left is from the smaller mesh and contains much more sample. Photo by Paula Rychtar.

EcoMon survey: We are continuing to take plankton samples and this week we started taking two different Bongo samples at the same station. Bongo mesh size (size of the holes in the net) was changed several years ago to a smaller mesh size of .33 mm. However, they need comparison samples for the previous nets that were used and had a mesh size of about .5 mm. They had switched to the smaller net size because they felt that they were losing a large part of the plankton sample (basically plankton were able to escape through the larger holes). We are actually able to see this visually in the amount of samples that we obtain from the different sized mesh.

dolphinflying — Common Dolphins were frequent visitors to the Gordon Gunter.

Personal Log:

It’s hard to believe that my Teacher at Sea days are coming to a close. I have learned so much about life at sea, the ocean ecosystem, the importance of plankton, data collection, and the science behind it all. I will miss the people, the ocean and beautiful sunsets and the ship, but I’m ready to get back to Arizona to share my adventure with my students, friends and family. I want to thank all the people that helped me during this trip including: the scientists and NOAA personnel, the NOAA Corps and ship personnel, the bird observers and all others on the trip.

Did you know? Drifters have even been placed in many remote locations that are infrequently visited or difficult to get to through air deployment. They are invaluable tools in tracking and predicting the intensity of hurricanes, as well.

Question of the day? What information would you like to see recorded by a Global Drifter Buoy and why?

shipsunset-2 — Another beautiful sunset at sea.

May 6, 2013August 11, 2021

Frank Hubacz: Unimak Pass, May 4, 2013

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Frank Hubacz
Aboard NOAA ship Oscar Dyson
April 29 – May 10, 2013

Mission: Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory Mooring Deployment and Recovery

Geographical Area of Cruise: Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea

Date: May 5, 2013

Weather Data from the Bridge (0300):

Partly cloudy, S Winds, variable, currently 3.71 knots
Air Temperature 2.8C

Relative Humidity 73%

Barometer 1025.1 mb

Surface Water Temperature 0.10 C

Surface Water Salinity 31.66 PSU

Seas up to 5 ft

Science and Technology Log

Once we completed our mooring work from Gore Point through to Pavlof Bay, we sailed on to Unimak Pass, nearly 400 miles away, and then entered into the Bering Sea. Unimak Pass is a strait (wide gap) between the Bering Sea and the North Pacific Ocean in the Aleutian Island chain of Alaska. Upon arrival at our first station, we started the process of deploying our CTD sampling unit at predetermined points as well as MARMap Bongo casts(discussed in my next blog) when specified, within a region forming a rectangular “box” north of the pass. If you have been following my voyage using NOAA ship tracker, hopefully you now understand why we appeared to have been “boxed in” (I can hear the groans from my students even out here in the Bering Sea). It is important to understand the ocean waters of this region given that it is a major egress between the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Therefore it serves as an important pathway between these two water bodies for commercially important fish stock as well as serving as a major commercial shipping route.

A CTD (an acronym for conductivity, temperature, and depth) is an instrument used by oceanographers to measure essential physical properties of sea water. It provides a very comprehensive profile of the ocean water to help better understand the habitat of important marine species as well as charting the distribution and variation of water temperature, salinity, and density. This information also helps scientist to understand how variations in physical ocean properties change over time. The CTD is made up of a set of small probes attached to a large stainless steel wheel housing. The sensors that measure CTD are surrounded by a rosette of water sampling bottles (niskin bottles) that individually close shut by an electronic fired trigger mechanism initiated from the control room on-board the ship. The rosette is then lowered on a cable down to a depth just above the seafloor. The science team is able to observe many different water properties in real time via a conducting cable connecting the CTD to a computer on the ship. A remotely operated device allows the attached water sampling bottles to be closed (sample collected) at selective depths as the instrument ascends back to the surface.

Here I am in my hot rain pants helping to deploy the CTD — Here I am in my hot colored rain pants helping to deploy the CTD. Notice the niskin bottles?

Monitoring the CTD deployment — Data screens in the lab

On this cruise, our CTD was equipped to collect real-time water column measurements of conductivity, temperature, density, dissolved oxygen, salinity, chlorophyll levels, and light as the unit traveled down through to a set point just above the ocean floor. Additionally, water samples for determining concentrations of nutrients (nitrate (NO₃^-1), nitrite (NO₂^-1), ammonium (NH₄⁺), phosphate (PO₄^-3), and silicates (SiO₄^-4), dissolved oxygen, dissolve inorganic carbon, and chlorophyll were measured at specified depths within the water column as the unit was raised back to the surface. Replicate measurements of some chemical constituents measured on the ascent are completed to help support the reliability of the dynamic measurements of these same species made on the drop. All of the nutrient samples are then frozen to -80C and brought back to the lab on shore for analysis. Dissolved oxygen, dissolved inorganic carbon, and chlorophyll samples are also treated according to unique methods for later detailed analysis.

The sampling begins! — The sampling begins from a niskin bottle!

Filling the sampling vials to be stored for later analysis

Our first CTD cast from the “Unimak Box” began with my shift, a bit after midnight, on May 3^rd and ended 32 hours later on May 4^th. The science crew worked nonstop as they completed 17 different CTD casts. Again, it was impressive to see the cooperation among the scientists as each group helped one another complete CTD casts, launch and retrieve Bongo nets, and then collect the many different samples of water for testing as well as the samples of zooplankton caught in the bongo nets. My task was to collect nutrient water samples from each CTD cast. As the water depth increased so did the number of samples that were collected. During our sampling water depths ranged from approximately 50 meters (5 samples) up to 580 meters (11 samples). On our last cast the air temperature was -2.3^o C with water temperature reading 2.9⁰ C. Seas were relatively calm and we were able to see many different islands in the Aleutian chain.

Personal Log

It was rewarding to be able to help the team collect water samples for nutrient testing, especially given that we are able to sample many of these same nutrient species in our chemistry lab at Franklin Pierce. I want my students to know that I practiced “GLT” when collecting nutrient samples making certain to rinse each sample bottle and sampling syringe at least three times before each collection. Want to know what “GLT” references…ask one of my students!

My most “interesting” time on board ship happened during our first night of CTD testing along one of the lines of the Unimak Box. At 2:45 am Peter, Douglas, and I were recording flow meter values from the previous bongo net tow on the side quarter-deck. I was writing values down on a clip board as Peter read the values off to me. I happened to glance over the deck towards the sea when I noticed an unusually large wave about 2 meters out from the boat traveling towards us. Suddenly it crashed on top of us knocking us to the deck floor. Water flooded all around us and through the doors of our labs. I immediately grabbed onto one of the ship’s piping units and held on tight as the water poured back off the deck. In an instant the sea was calm again after the “rogue” wave released its energy on our ship. Because Peter and I fell onto the deck our clothes became completely soaked with icy cold seawater. Upon standing, we checked on each other and then immediately began retrieving empty sampling bottles and other lab paraphernalia as they floated by in the water emptying off the deck. Douglas was able to hold-on to the CTD and remained standing and dry under his rain suit. This is the first, and I hope the last, “rogue” wave that I ever experience. Fortunately, no one was lost or injured and we were able to retrieve all of our equipment with one exception…the clip board of data log entries that I was holding!

I must admit that I am disappointed at the limited internet access while on board ship. I find it somewhat disheartening that I have not been able to write the consistent blogs promised to you telling of my adventures. Hopefully this will improve as we change course and you will continue to follow along.

Not all islands are completely snow covered.

Do you know what this is?

Read my next blog to find out what this is! — Read my next blog to find out!

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