Hi all, my name is Lauren Kowalski and I’ll be interning aboard the R/V Neil Armstrong!
Sailing on the R/V Clifford A. Barnes collecting oceanographic data at the mouth of the Elwha River in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Photo credit: Mark D. Stone.
I am a recent graduate from the University of Washington with a B.S. in Oceanography. Up until now I have gathered about 12 weeks of ship time aboard various research vessels as a part of the scientific party. Now as a marine technician intern, I have been given an exciting opportunity to expand my knowledge and experience and work as the interface between the ship’s crew and the scientific party.
My internship will be focused on recovering and replacing moorings and other scientific instruments from an OOI site off the coast of Greenland called the Global Irminger Sea Array! (I really hope we get close enough to see land!) OOI stands for the Ocean Observatories Initiative, where ‘underwater observatories’ have been established at different locations across the globe. Each site includes a number of fixed scientific infrastructure at the seafloor and throughout the water column to collect real-time data. In addition to the fixed infrastructure there other scientific instruments deployed by scientists aiming to collect data on a specific aspect of that site.
Map of established OOI sites. Photo credit: http://oceanobservatories.org/research-arrays.
Quite fortunately, while at UW, I had the privilege of working at another OOI site called the Cabled Array which is located off the coast of Oregon. In fact, I completed my senior thesis using data collected from a methane seep site, called Hydrate Ridge, which is one of the sites within the Cabled Array.
Now I get to continue my involvement with OOI in a different ocean at a new site with different oceanic processes!
I am very excited to have been given this opportunity and I can’t wait to share my experience with you!
Lots of pictures to come!
~ Lauren