Month: August 2017 Page 1 of 2

Week 1 Aboard the USCGC Healy

On August 29, 2017

In MATE Blog Archive, US Coast Guard, USCGC Healy

Week one aboard the USCGC Healy has been a wealth of knowledge. The first day aboard I was given a tour of all STARC related equipment, the ship is a massive maze and it took me a few tries traveling between my stateroom and the lab not to get lost. We left port at 1000 on Saturday the 26. We then headed to Nome to pick up a few more scientists before we began collecting data. The weather so far has been pleasant with somewhat sunny days and not too much breeze. The ship’s movements are hardly noticeable compared to the fishing vessels I have worked on. There are numerous science teams aboard and the instruments which are being used include the CTD with 24 Niskin bottles, a van Veen grab and Haps core for sediment samples, as well as zooplankton net tows known as the bongos. The onboard network has plenty of reading material regarding manuals relating to STARC operations and daily ship operations.

The first two days at sea, we were setting up the scientist’s equipment in preparation for the test launch of the equipment. We replaced the Nitrogen bottle in the pCO2 system and once underway all systems were fired up and recording of data began. Tony and I re-terminated the 32 cable for the zooplankton toe equipment, in addition the deck unit had to be wired into the system; between all the meetings this, was an all-day project and was very satisfying to complete in a successful and clean manner. Yesterday, after retrieving the scientists from Nome, a test run of equipment was carried out, the CTD was launched and sediment samples were gathered. In between STARC projects, I have been working on creating a manual of how to aesthetically mosaic satellite ICE imagery via Global mapper, Qgis and Arcmap, the computers onboard however are lacking Arcmap which makes things more difficult but luckily, I have a student version of the software on my laptop.

Overall, I feel I have already gained a lot of experience, everyone is very friendly and willing to teach, as the MATE intern my supervisor has given me the freedom to help in whatever interests me. I assisted in the first zooplankton specimen gathering, seeing crab larvae and other specimens under the microscope was extremely fascinating. Today we Started on the first DBO line southwest of Point Hope Alaska. I feel overwhelmingly fortunate to have this opportunity and will make the most of this experience. I have been waking up at 0700 every day for breakfast and work, I usually rack out between 2100 and 2400.

The food has been great so far, and morale seems to be high among the science and coast guard crews. As we head north, the temperature change is noticeable affecting the temperature of our staterooms.

PhotoCredit: Amanda Norcross

Surprise Mooring Cruise

By Amanda Dostie

On August 27, 2017

In Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences & Arizona State University, MATE Blog Archive, R/V Atlantic Explorer

We made it in early Friday, and after a long and relaxing weekend, demobilized Monday. The beginning of the week was spent catching up on tech duties, our first priority: installing our new milli-q system. While the process was a good learning experience, it was prematurely retired when a mooring broke loose off of Bermuda.

Two days later, scientists from Woods Hole (WHOI) flew in for a surprise cruise. We left mid-week and arrived on site early evening. Once we arrived on location, we lowered our transducer to the haul of the boat and sent out several acoustic pings from a benthos release box. Using acoustics, the device triggers a release- causing the mooring to float to the surface. Once the mooring was spotted, we spooled several hundred meters of mooring wire, which was later used during the reassembling process. The mooring is several thousand meters- consisting of sediment traps, transducers, pumps, and sensors. The process was an all-day operation.

We spent the morning reassembling the mooring, re-terminating connections, replacing the line and releasing the mooring. The process is tricky because you have to be very careful which terminations you disconnect while the mooring is overboard, or you can lose thousands of meters of cable and instruments. Overall, the trip was a success and a great learning experience.

Week 4 Aboard the Armstrong

By Lauren Kowalski

On August 25, 2017

In MATE Blog Archive, R/V Neil Armstrong, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Hi all,

This week was full of transiting back to WHOI. I finished up my 10pm – 2am ice watches, which was nice because I got to go back to a regular schedule. In the morning, around 0700ish , the bridge spotted a LARGE ice berg that was miles away. I was asleep at this point so I didn’t see it, but I saw pictures from the crew.

On August 21, we were near Halifax, Nova Scotia and scientists predicted about ~40% complete eclipse at that location. The best time to view the solar eclipse was at 3:55pm. The morning was foggy, but thankfully throughout the day it cleared up and it turned out to be a beautiful day and an even better day to see the solar eclipse! Around 3:45pm I went up the bridge to take a peak, and one of the scientists had special eclipse glasses so I could clearly see the partial eclipse! Later that night the sky was still clear and it was perfect for stargazing. I saw the Milky Way, the Big Dipper, stars that may have been planets, satellites, shooting stars, and so much more. It was a nice clear and not too cold night.

We finally finished installing the incubator pump and it works and the area looks great!

Because we had time during the transit, Joe and I started some end of cruise tasks like prepping our data disc that we give to the science party and starting our SSSG cruise report.

Fun fact – my internship has been extended to include a short 2 day cruise over Labor Day Weekend! Since that doesn’t depart until 2 September, I’m going to be working in port next week prepping for the cruise and doing some other SSSG tasks.

We docked yesterday but we didn’t start doing the majority of the demobing until today. Because we had some down time yesterday Joe showed me around the R/V Atlantis. The Atlantis, for those of you who do not know, is the sister ship to the University of Washington’s R/V Thomas G. Thompson, and it’s home to HOV Alvin! I got to see Alvin! My oceanography dreams are coming true!

Posing with the R/V Armstrong, while on the R/V Atlantis! Photo credit: Joe McCabe, WHOI.

~Lauren

Pictures Galore!

By Lauren Kowalski

On August 25, 2017

In MATE Blog Archive, R/V Neil Armstrong, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Hi all,

We have made it back to WHOI a smidge early. Now that I’m connected to the shore network, I can finally share some photos!

R/V Neil Armstrong docked at WHOI. Photo credit: me.

Sailing through the North Atlantic. Photo credit: me.

Supervising CTD recovery. Photo credit: Rebecca Travis, WHOI.

Surface mooring deployment. Photo credit: me.

R/V Neil Armstrong and long finned pilot whales during surface mooring deployment. Photo credit: James Kuo, WHOI.

Operating the a frame during an instrument deployment. Photo credit: Rebecca Travis, WHOI.

Rebuilding the Saturn V Lego rocket that was damaged during transit. Photo credit: Joe McCabe, WHOI.

Working on the incubator pump. Photo credit: Vasile Tudoran, WHOI.

Cleaning behind the rack in the main lab. Photo credit: Rebecca Travis, WHOI.

Using the rescue boat to attach a tag line from the ship to the glass floats at the base of the old surface mooring. Photo credit: me.

Helping recover synthetic line used at the base of the surface mooring. Photo credit: Rebecca Travis, WHOI.

More pics to follow in regularly scheduled blog! 🙂

~Lauren

BATS: Round Two!

By Amanda Dostie

On August 20, 2017

In Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences & Arizona State University, MATE Blog Archive, R/V Atlantic Explorer

After a week well-spent at the docks, we set out early Monday afternoon for another BATS cruise. As briefly aforementioned in my previous blog post, BATS is an ocean data time-series established in 1988, which provides long-term data for the open ocean of Bermuda. Similarly, a nearby relative HYDRO is another data-time series established in 1954. Together, these two regions have been supplying innumerable data, insight, and measurements within the field of oceanography. Every month we go to these stations to conduct work with a BATS crew and other scientists from BIOS.

A standard BATS cruise involves CTD work, PITS sediment traps, in-situ pumps, primary production arrays, as well as, zooplankton and phytoplankton net tows. Every trip entails 24-hour operations, specialized BATS techs and a very tight schedule. I will briefly describe each process, but for greater details, visit my prior blog posts!

Because this is my second BATS cruise, and we have much more in the foreseeable future, I took on a greater amount of responsibility. Over the duration of our cruise, I led several CTD casts, pump casts, and other associated deck operations. In addition to BATS work, I programmed and configured our R2R event logger- a system which “logs event” during the cruise as a means of electrical back-up- and ran cruise start-up and shut-down processes. Experience is the best way to learn, and I have gained a great amount of knowledge, experience, and confidence in leading several operations.

While CTD casts and profiles are an all day operation, some are time sensitive. For example, our PITS sediment traps and primary production arrays must be deployed before the sun and retrieved during dusk or before dawn. Our pumps and net tows may occur during the day.

Week 3 Aboard the Armstrong

By Lauren Kowalski

On August 18, 2017

In MATE Blog Archive, R/V Neil Armstrong, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Hi all,

This week we finished up mooring recoveries and have started our transit back home. We’re heading home early because we had great weather during science operations and needed no weather delays. There’s a hurricane coming through the North Atlantic and we have altered our route so that we can avoid as much of the bad weather as possible. Because of that we are sailing through a big chunk of ice country, and the captain has requested that I assist watches on the bridge from 10pm to 2am so there are extra eyes looking for ice.

The last flanking mooring recovery went as usual, however, operations changed when it came time to recover the surface mooring. Typically we bring the buoy on first and then the cable, however, since the surface mooring has a large buoy and it’s the last buoy to recover there wasn’t much deck room. So we triggered the acoustic release and deployed the rescue boat to attach a tag line to the end of cable to bring the cable up first and the buoy last.

During deck ops for the surface mooring recovery I helped pull in the synthetic line that was at the base of the mooring as well as operate the winch that was spooling up the mooring’s cable.

Once those operations were over and we were transiting back to WHOI, I finished a label project that I had started earlier in the cruise. In the transducer room, where most all scientific transducers are, I created permanent labels to show type of water (fresh or seawater) and direction of water in the pipes. (The new labels look pretty good, if I say so myself!)

We’re hitting some weather today, but we plan on being back at WHOI in about a week’s time!

~Lauren

Pre-Internship USCGC Healy

By Royhon Agostine

On August 17, 2017

In MATE Blog Archive, US Coast Guard, USCGC Healy

Royhon Agostine – USCGC Healy

I will be flying up to Dutch Harbor on August 22 and flying back on September 17; I will be an intern aboard the first cruise which is a biological mission involving CTD casts. The USCGC Healy will be the largest ship I have worked on, https://www.uscg.mil/pacarea/cgcHealy/. I am looking forward to heading North and am excited to gain as much experience and knowledge as I can. I have been all around Alaska for the commercial fishing industry, from Bristol Bay and False Pass to Southeast and everywhere in between. However, this will be much farther North than I have ever been.

I have packed my gear and am counting down the days in anticipation. Earlier this summer I was in Bristol Bay on a 32ft boat for fifty days, I am excited to get back out on the water in a much larger ship. I am thankful for everyone involved in making this internship oppurtunity available. My next blog will describe the day to day aboard the ship.

More to come,

Royhon Agostine

A Welcome Return from Canada

By Amanda Dostie

On August 13, 2017

In Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences & Arizona State University, MATE Blog Archive, R/V Atlantic Explorer

To give some added background to my summary- we have spent this week preparing for our upcoming BATS cruise- BATS, an ocean data time-series established in 1988, provides long-term data for the open ocean of Bermuda. Similarly, a nearby relative HYDRO is another data-time series established in 1954. Together, these two regions have been supplying innumerable data, insight, and measurements within the field of oceanography. Every month we go to these stations to conduct work with a BATS crew and other scientists from BIOS.The cruise and team are called BATS because we spend a majority of our time around this particular sight.

After arriving back to land, we spent two days demobilizing: removing our fish-tow from the crane, recovering its tubing and pumps, removing chemical waste, backing up cruise data and documenting additional paperwork.

Following the demobilization process, a majority of our time has been dedicated to preparing for our very important BATS cruise. The director of BATS, Rod Johnson, and our Port Captain will be accompanying us during our travels, so it is very important to be in tip-top shape. I spent the beginning of the week changing out all our CTD sensors, with freshly calibrated ones: 2 O2 sensors, 2 conductivity sensors, and 2 temperature sensors. The process was long and tedious- involving the removal of several Niskin bottles- but was a very helpful learning process as I changed them all out myself- with limited assistance. After swapping out the sensors, I made a new configuration file in sea save and printed out several cast and SCS sheets for our casts (a paper back-up method we use). In addition to CTD prep, chemical disposal, and other duties, I set up an event logger for future cruises. An event logger will help us log and back up data electronically- eliminating our some of our paper methods. This week has been very hectic and busy, but I am very excited to go on another BATS cruise, as the repetitive and similar work will help me learn well!

Week 3 Aboard the Walton Smith: Everglades, waterways, and CTDs

By Jessica Gronniger

On August 12, 2017

In MATE Blog Archive, R/V F.G. Walton Smith, University of Miami/RSMAS

A new cruise is underway and we were loaded up and off the docks by 7:00 am. This week we are back to CTD measurements, but this time we are doing shallow water deployments down along the Florida Keys and in the Gulf. The objective of this cruise was to characterize changes in water quality and conditions along the Everglades outlets by measuring oxygen content, salinity, temperature, and collecting planktonic samples for later processing. The majority of data collection was gathered from flow through surface measurements. We spent our first day sailing down the keys and occasionally deploying the CTD. However, we quickly found out that the altimeter mounted on the CTD was faulty and was off by 10 meters, which we unfortunately discovered when the CTD hit bottom. Once we recovered the CTD we visually inspected the sensors for damage and flushed them out with fresh water. Luckily, it looked like we pulled the CTD off the bottom fast enough to prevent any damage.

The treat of the day was getting to release a tiny baby loggerhead turtle into the wild for the Seaquarium. We waited until we were in relatively shallow waters and around a decent seaweed trail and gingerly lowered the little guy into the water. We all watched as the tiny turtle swam away quickly disappeared into a little pile of sargassum.

Since a significant amount of data was being collected from surface flow, I got an opportunity to learn to troubleshoot the salt-water intake. We observed a drop in the intake on the computer display and went down into the bow to shut off the intake for a couple minutes. Since we were sampling so close to shore, debris, sargassum, and seagrass can often clog the intake valve, so simply turning off the suction should clear the intake, and indeed it did. We also had some slightly rougher weather, which complicated CTD deployment and recovery. We had to set up a cleat on the back deck and run a tag line through it. Once we did that it was much easier and safer to control the wildly swinging CTD as we tried to drag it back on board.

The week seemed to fly by in a series of rapid-fire CTD deployments interspersed with flow-through measurements. The majority of stations were no deeper than 10 meters so the CTD measurements never took long.

We did have a bit of good luck while out by Shark River on the southern coast of Florida as several dolphins started following the boat around. Crew and scientists alike crowded to the back deck to watch the dolphins play in the wake of the boat. It was a great experience and very fun to watch. Eventually the dolphins got distracted by something more entertaining and were off to other endeavors, and the crew and scientists followed in suit.

On the longer transits between station, Don took some time to walk me through the Seabird software and the sensor outputs, teaching me the electronic side of CTD deployment and data collection. It was fascinating to see the real-time data outputs and the ease with which the software allowed us to trigger the Niskin bottes for water sampling.

We also got our first swim call on this cruise when we found ourselves in calm waters near shore. Since we had to take out the dingy to ensure it was still fully operational, I got a quick ride out around the boat and manage to get a great picture of the Walton Smith out on the water before joining the rest of the scientists on the refreshing and much needed swim call.

The technical highlight of this trip was that, after assisting with several CTD deployments, I was allowed to run the deck and, under Don’s supervision, I was in charge of deploying and recovering the CTD. I learned all the hand signals to direct the crane operator, the safety measures taken to ensure none of the equipment was damaged, and how important communication is for successful deployment and recovery. I felt like a true marine technician.

On the last couple of days of the cruise I took the opportunity to hone my skills with the CTD. Don walked me through all the sensors again and the expected outputs. We also tried to fix the altimeter but to no avail. While waiting to arrive at each of the final CTD stations I helped the engineers on board check and perform some maintenance on the ship’s air conditioners. I also had the opportunity to speak with the scientists onboard about their projects, which ranged from physical oceanography and marine biology.

Once we were done with the CTD stations and making our way back up the Florida coast, I spent some time up on the bridge where I got my final lesson on knots. I learned several ornamental knots, such as the Turks Head know and Carrick Bend. I also helped the first mate make new mooring lines for the ship, which turned out to be a great opportunity to learn the eye splice.

We made it back to the docks that afternoon and as we helped the scientists unload all their gear I was hit with a bittersweet sensation. That had been my last time out at sea, perhaps for a while, and I will truly miss the sensation of a swaying boat at sea. The internship was an invaluable experience full of lessons learned, skills acquired and amazing characters met, all of which will not soon be forgotten.

Week 2 Aboard the Armstrong

By Lauren Kowalski

On August 11, 2017

In MATE Blog Archive, R/V Neil Armstrong, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Hi all,

This first full week of science operations has been a busy one!

On Day 8 we finally made it out to the Irminger Sea Array and deployed our first mooring – the surface mooring. During the deployment, the first mate called me up to the bridge two times because there were long finned pilot whales all around the ship – I swear they were following us! One of the scientists, has a drone and he flew it out during the mooring ops and got some great footage of the whales and the R/V Armstrong (and of course the mooring ops)!

A scientist adapted a spare acoustic communications device so that his modified one can be deployed in the water and talk to the moorings and collect data autonomously. After mooring ops are done each day we have been deploying his instrument to test its range and how good it can collect the moorings’ data.

Between mooring deployment and recovery three sea gliders were deployed with the intent of collecting and transmitting mooring data over the course of a year.

The night before we started mooring recovery, the night of Day 12, we did an EK80 survey of the mooring locations to make sure that the buoys and instrument cages were at their respective depths. The EK80 is a sonar and when in use over the moorings there is a strong return at each of the buoys/instrument cages. We can then see what depth those returns occur at and verify with what they should be based on the mooring structure and water depth at that location.

So, by today, Day 14, we have deployed all of the new moorings, deployed all sea gliders, and have recovered two of the old moorings.

A couple days ago, a leak was noticed in one of our underway seawater pump’s housing, so we need to replace the whole pump. I have been helping out the third engineer with replacing this pump. We first removed the pump and are now cleaning up and priming the stand where the spare pump will go. In the next couple of days we will actually replace the pump.

Joe and I have started having daily Linux lessons to help familiarize me with the system as well with the servers that we work with on a daily basis. I have also been reviewing and editing instruction sheets for operating and data recording on some of the acoustic instruments, like the multibeam and the EK80.

In my down time I have been watching Planet Earth II with some the crew!

We still have ~3 more weeks to go – stay tuned.

~Lauren