underwater images – NOAA Teacher at Sea Blog

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Lisa Werner

Aboard NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada

August 29-September 13, 2024

Mission: EXPRESS Project

Geographic Area of Cruise: Pacific Coast, near Oregon

Date: August 30, 2024

Weather Data from the Bridge (Daisy Bank)

Latitude: 44.37 º N

Longitude: 124.44º W

Wind Speed: NW at 3.17 knots

Air Temperature: 15.7° Celsius (60.26° F)

Conditions: Foggy

Science and Technology Log

Today was the first deployment of the autonomous underwater vehicle (or AUV) for this sailing. The AUV’s name is Popoki ‘Eiwa (which is Hawaiian for ‘Cat Nine,’ and refers to Popoki’s catlike stealth, and the fact that this is the ninth one of this class of AUVs). There was a lot of prep work done yesterday to make sure Popoki was ready for her first outing for this trip (though she has had close to 300 deployments, according to Chief Scientist Dr. Elizabeth Clarke).

Crewmembers on the deck of the ship surrounded a large piece of scientific equipment suspended above the deck's surface by a cable. It is made of two yellow cylinders, each tapered on one end, mounted one above the other by metal beams. There is propeller mounted vertically midway across the front metal beam. There is another propeller mounted horizontally atop the lower cylinder. We can also see instrumentation, a red flag sticking up out of the bag, the NOAA symbol and the name Popoki. Crewmembers wear hard hats and float vests or life vests. — *Preparing to deploy Popoki*

An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is unique because it is not tethered to NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada in any way. The AUV must be programmed to do what the scientists want. The advantage of Popoki over other submersibles is that Popoki hovers a few meters over the ocean floor, so it can handle rocky terrains better. While underwater, Popoki takes pictures of the ocean floor every few seconds, allowing scientists to see fish, coral, and the marine habitat of the location.

Images from Popoki

underwater image of what must be corals - a few small fish swim nearby — Small fish swim among the deep-sea corals

underwater image of a skate swimming across sandy bottom — A skate swims along the ocean bottom

underwater view of an orange sea star with as many as 22 arms, on sandy bottom — An orange sunflower sea star

underwater view of a striking orange and pink fish, probably a rockfish of some sort, above ocean floor with some rocks and corals — A rockfish

underwater view of a mottled brown fish resting on a rocky bottom, near a white coral — Fish spotted near the ocean bottom

The first thing necessary for Popoki’s deployment today was to have a Green-Amber-Red (GAR) Daily Risk Assessment Meeting. This took place on the bridge, and Chief Scientist Dr. Clarke and her science team met with Commanding Officer Gibson and her ship crew. Both parties looked at current conditions and the necessary actions of the deployment, mission, and recovery of the AUV. They assessed categories such as resources, weather, and mission complexity to determine whether conditions were acceptable for a deployment today. Everyone communicated questions and concerns about the mission objectives. In the end, it was decided the mission was an Amber level – meaning to use extra caution. This is normal for the first deployment of a sailing, as there are new crew involved who have never dealt with Popoki before. Also, during the dive, the ship needs to be able to stay in a position to communicate with the AUV. The risk assessment served as a reminder to everyone to pay very close attention to everything that was going on and to communicate effectively and efficiently to get the job done.

After some deck testing, it was time to get Popoki to sea. She was hoisted off of the deck using the ship’s winch and side a-frame, and then gently lowered to the water. It takes many crew members to make sure that the 600-lb. Popoki does not get hurt or that she does not rub along the side of the ship.

Popoki was deployed a little before 10 am, and recovery started around 2:30 pm. She has a very busy work day (the subsequent dives for our trip will be around 7 hours), and Jeff Anderson, AUV pilot and scientist, will have a busy evening of analyzing the pictures she is bringing back. The recovery process is fascinating to watch, as it is an intricate dance of ship control by the highly skilled bridge of the ship, and the scientists and deck crew with impressive skill trying to wrangle the AUV with lines, hooks, and the winch. No easy feat for sure, though they certainly made it look less difficult than it was! Popoki will be deployed every day of this sailing, weather permitting.

view over the ship's railing of the autonomous underwater vehicle in the water on its return. from the surface, we can only see one of the two yellow cylinders that make up the instrument's body. We also see the red flag mounted on the back. Crewmembers farther down the deck extend hooks on poles, connected to winch cables, toward the swimming AUV. The ocean is fairly calm, and gray, reflecting a foggy gray sky. — *Hooking the Popoki to bring her back*

view down the ship's railing as crewmembers wearing hard hats and life vests use hooks on poles, and cables, to hoist the autonomous underwater vehicle out of the water; in this view it is suspended just above the ocean surface, dripping water. The ocean is calm and gray, reflecting a gray foggy sky. — *Hoisting Popoki back onboard to the ship*

Popoki does not just bring back pictures – she has a sophisticated collection of sensors that will graph the salinity, dissolved oxygen, and temperature, along with graphs that monitor the use of her propellors, battery usage, buoyancy, etc. It is really impressive to see all that she has encountered during the entirety of her dive.

photo of a computer screen displaying a graph labeled "Depth vs Time," with Mission Time as the x-axis and Depth as the y-axis. There is a dark purple line and a green line displaying the data. — Data showing Popoki’s different depths over the time of her dive – notice how many peaks and valleys occur – that’s a lot of shifts for ocean floor terrain, telling us it is very rocky and a lot of terrain changes below Popoki

Personal Log

I really enjoyed being a part of the risk assessment meeting and noticing how important it was that every person involved in the deployment, operation, and return of Popoki had all of the information of the day’s agenda. Every aspect of the day’s goal was planned, with every person aware of which portion he/she was responsible for. Although I don’t necessarily need to assess the risks involved with holding a music concert, the coordination of communication reminded me a lot of how big music events run at our school. Every person in our school – teachers, students, custodians, parent volunteers – all have a very important role to play in the success of the concert. The risk assessment for Popoki gave me a new perspective on how to best address all of the moving pieces necessary to communicate the needs for the concert, and the involvement of everyone in the success of the event!

Additionally, the pictures that came back from Popoki were so impressive to see, even while unedited (the computer runs a color-correction program). It is truly remarkable how the majority of people can be floating above 300 meters of water and never know what is directly below us! It was like looking at pictures from an oceanography documentary, except knowing that I was right above what was being shown on the screen. Seeing something that so few people get to see while being in the location the pictures were taken is an incredible experience! I am just in awe!

view over a man's shoulder of the laptop that he is working on. The laptop displays a black-and-white image of coral. The man sits at a metal desk or bench and uses an attached computer mouse with his right hand. In front of him is a cloudy window through which we can see an exterior ship railing. — *AUV Pilot and Scientist Jeff Anderson looking at initial images from the AUV.*

Music Connection

I did not talk about this up above, because I really wanted to discuss this here in the Music Connection: How do you think scientists on NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada communicate with Popoki?

If you guessed through the use of sound, you are correct! The technology is similar to that of a fax machine – a computer translates the programming from the scientist into a series of audio tones that are sent to Popoki. Popoki communicates back with a set of digital signals. It is a complicated oscillation of pitches in a variety of rhythms from the scientist doing the programming, a handoff period (because you do not want both the ship and Popoki transmitting at the same time), and then tones of different durations from Popoki responding with what actions she is doing (confirming the commands being followed, documenting images being recorded, recording position, etc.).

This is a sample of the audio coming from Popoki during her testing on the deck of the ship before deployment.

Student Questions

The students I teach made up a list of questions for me to get answers for them, which I called “Homework for your Teacher.” One of the questions they asked was if there were any jellyfish in the area I was going to be. After my visit to the aquarium, I learned that Moon Jellyfish were in the area. Today, while I was on the bridge, Ops Officer Lt. Jaime Hendrix showed me a jellyfish that we could see in the water, as it was near the surface. It was incredible to see a jellyfish outside of an aquarium, and I was impressed I could see the Moon Jellyfish all the way up on the bridge!

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Jordan Findley

Aboard NOAA Ship Pisces

June 9-22, 2022

Mission: SEAMAP Reef Fish

Geographic Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico

Date: June 20, 2022

Science and Technology Log

Allow me to provide a summary of the survey and what was accomplished on this leg. June 9, we departed from Galveston and made our way out to sea. The survey started the next day. We traveled 1,866.6 nautical miles (or 2,148.04 miles) along the continental shelf. That’s like driving from Florida to California! On this leg of the survey we (they) deployed 169 cameras, 22 CTDs, 13 bandit reels, and 12 XBTs (still don’t know what that is). We collected 15 eDNA samples (go Caroline!) and mapped 732 nautical miles. This year’s survey started in April, and this was the last leg. We’re making our way back to Pascagoula (yes, I can pronounce it now), a near 28 hour transit. We will be docking and unloading at the Gulf Marine Support Facility. The next survey on the Pisces starts next week, deploying Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs). The science never stops, folks.

The SEAMAP Reef Fish Survey began as a fish trap survey in 1980’s and transitioned to a video survey in 1991, and the technology continues to evolve year after year. This over thirty years of data provides abundance and distribution information on Gulf of Mexico reef fish. Reef fish abundance and size data are generated directly from the videos. So though the work feels slow, it is essential. An index of abundance for each species is determined as the maximum number of a fish in the field of view in a single video frame. Here are some snippets of the footage recording during our trip.

A school of amber jacks recorded on the camera array.

three or four marbled grouper as seen through the bars of the underwater camera array — Marbled grouper

a group of snappers swimming underwater as seen through the bars of the camera array — Marbled grouper

a tiger shark swims past the bars of the camera array — A stunning tiger shark

*NOTE: The tiger shark shot was not from our leg of the survey, but too cool not to include.

This survey combined with all research approaches (i.e. traps, bandit reels, eDNA) allows for a comprehensive stock assessment of the fish populations in the Gulf of Mexico. Stock assessments collect, analyze, and report demographic information to estimate abundance of fish, monitor responses to fishing, and predict future trends. This significant data is used in managing fish populations and preserving our oceans resources.

Mapping Operations

One of the scientific operations I have not yet mentioned is bathymetric mapping. Senior Survey Technician Todd Walsh works the night shift running the mapping show – multibeam echo-sounder hydrographic survey to be precise. An echo-sounder determines the depth of the seafloor by measuring the time taken for sound echoes to return. The technology is impressive. Todd is straight up 3D mapping the bottom of the ocean. He watches it come to life, line by line. That’s freaking cool. I see you, Todd.

Though mapping occurred overnight, Todd was sure to point out any interesting finds in the morning. The Pisces mapped an area south of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary and found an impressive geological feature hosting two mud volcanoes. A mud volcano is a landform created by the eruption of mud or slurries, water and gases. Man, the ocean floor is like a whole other world. It was so interesting to watch the mapping unfold right before your eyes. Maybe the seafloor will be my next destination.

screenshot of a close-up of recently collected bathymetric data (showing underwater landforms) superimposed on a nautical chart (with numbers representing depth measurements) — Photo Credit: Todd Walsh

A man sits at a desk reviewing a collection of computer screens showing the multibeam sonar data — Photo Credit: Todd Walsh

Personal Log

The long days take their toll. This crew has worked so hard and is ready to decompress. Some have been out here for months and are counting down the days. You really can’t blame them. You ask anyone out here, “how many days?” and you will hear “three days and a wake up.” “Two days and a wake up.” “One day and a wake up.” They have all earned some serious rest and recovery, and long awaited time with their families and friends. I mean, I’d like to call them friends, but I get it, you can have lots of friends.

I cannot believe it is already my last day out here. Though each day felt like 100 hours, somehow it still flew by. The last CTD hauled out of the water last night marked the end of the SEAMAP survey. I cheer and shout in solitude and run round giving high fives. Good work, everyone! They are all exhausted, but certainly excited and proud of the work they have accomplished. Listen guys, if you aren’t proud, let me remind you that you most certainly should be.

The last day is the first sunrise I didn’t catch – sleeping in was just too tempting. Friends at home have to literally drag me out of bed to catch a sunrise, but out here, it just feels right. We ease into our day and clean and prepare the working spaces and equipment for arrival. I mop. That’s about all I am good for. TAS card. I spend the day roaming as usual, this time reflecting on my arrival and experience at sea. Time slows down even more (if you can believe that) when it’s your last day. I do my best to take in every last moment. I balance the day with some relaxation, a nice game of “bugs” with my pals, a good deal of snacking, revisiting the views, and saying my goodbyes.

Though thrilled to be heading back, most everyone finds their way outside for the last sunset. I soak up every colorful ripple. Mother Nature does not disappoint in those last hours. Dolphins put on a show jumping out of the water at a distance. The stars start to appear, not a cloud in the sky. I stargaze for what felt like hours. We’re greeted by multiple shooting stars. These are the moments I live for – when I feel most at rest. I am overcome with humility and gratitude.

Sunrise over the Gulf of Mexico — Some of the most memorable moments.

Jordan holds up a queen snapper toward the camera — Some of the most memorable moments.

I consider myself lucky to have met and worked with the Pisces crew. Every person on this trip has left an impression on me. From day one, the crew has been so welcoming and willing to let me participate, committed to providing me an exceptional experience. For that, I am grateful. I had so much fun learning from each department and goofing off with the best of them. The work that goes in to the research is remarkable, from navigation, the science, to vessel operations. I learned much more than expected. It’s hard to summarize my experience, but here are some valuable takeaways, in no particular order.

NOAA research is vital in protecting our most precious natural resource.
Ocean conservation is the responsibility of every one of us.
Remember why you do the job you do and the impact you have.
Never pass up an opportunity to learn or do something new.
Everyone should have the opportunity to connect to our natural world.
You can never see too many sunsets.
Expose your toes to the great outdoors.

I can’t express enough how grateful I am to have been selected for the NOAA Teacher at Sea Program and be a part of its mission. The experience was so much more than I could have even imagined. Participating in the research was so rewarding, and offered valuable insight into fisheries research and scientific operations. The questions never stopped coming. The novelty of the work kept me hooked. If there is one thing above all that I took away from this trip is – never stop learning. Continuous learning is what enhances our understanding of the world around us, in so many ways, and why I love what I do.

I look forward to sharing my experience with the many students I have the opportunity to work with, and hopefully inspiring them to continue to learn and grow, building a better understanding and appreciation for our planet. NOAA, your investment in me will not go unnoticed. The biggest THANK YOU to all involved in making this experience a reality.

We ride together, we die together. Pisces for life. – Junior

Lightning storm from afar.

Three dolphins surface for air.

Tag: underwater images

Lisa Werner: Popoki Goes to Sea, August 30, 2024

Jordan Findley: One and a Wake Up, June 20, 2022

Science and Technology Log

Mapping Operations

Personal Log