Category: University of Miami/RSMAS

  Back in port this week after three back-to-back cruises, it was time to dive into some much needed maintenance on the R/V Walton Smith. During last week’s 5 day South Florida Ecosystem Restoration cruise, more than 80 stations were monitored while involving extensive utilization of the ship’s seawater flow-through system, along with the CTD. As a result, it was time to service the Turner C6 multi-sensor platform, which carries 5 Cyclops sensors to measure turbidity, CDOM, chlorophyll, phycocyanin and phycoerythrin.  Fortunately, the slot for crude oil wasn’t being utilized at this time.

  After separating all the components, meticulously cleaning them, and reassembling, the unit was reinstalled to ensure there were no leaks.  The next few days included fork lift certification training and general cleanup. 

  The next task was to begin testing of the main deck tie-down sockets.  In previous years, each socket required an entire page to document the testing results, which made it cumbersome to flip through page after page in order to find the document you were looking for.  To remedy this, I fired up Microsoft Excel and created a document that would incorporate up to 25 deck sockets per page, making it much easier to reference at a glance.

  UNOLS Research Vessel Safety Standards dictates proper standards for most shipboard operations performed, and in line with this we created a step-by-step procedure specific to the Walton Smith to be followed in the future regarding vertical, 45°, and horizontal load testing.

  As my many years as a union stagehand taught me, there’s no doubt that adventure and excitement (and in this case, on the high seas), frequently requires not so glamorous behind-the-scenes preparation, so I didn’t mind spending some time getting my hands dirty in the blazing sun.

  In the short time I’ve been Miami, I already feel like the Walton Smith is my home and the crew my family.  When I arrived, the ship had just taken on another new crew member, 2nd Mate James Sauers.  He and I hit it off immediately and quickly became good friends.  He was always quick to share his extensive seamanship knowledge with me and to crack a joke.  I watched and learned with admiration and tried to pick his brain for tips any time I had a chance.

  On Monday August 1, James failed to show, which was unlike him.  When he didn’t arrive the next day, we were concerned, but that afternoon we received word from his wife that he was OK, but that he had been in a boating accident in his sailboat and would be absent a few days.  Although he had suffered a head injury and was in Intensive Care, he was responsive enough to appreciate the card we had sent later in the week.  We were anxious for him to be released from ICU so that we could visit, which the doctors said should be the first part of the following week. 

  Early today, Monday August 8, barely a week after the incident, the Director of Marine Operations came aboard and called us all into the mess lounge for a meeting.  The room fell horribly silent as he explained how he had just received word that James had suddenly and unexpectedly succumbed to his injuries and passed away. 

  It is amazing how some people can make such an enormous impact on you in such a short time, and James certainly did.  I’m sharing this so that you all can know what a wonderful human being he was, and to say that we should appreciate and cherish those around us.  We are fortunate to walk the earth for a while with friends like this, and never should it be taken for granted.

  James leaves behind a loving wife and two young daughters, and I’ll never forget the time I had to work, laugh, and sail with the likes of him. I’m proud to have had the privilege of calling him my friend. RIP James. (photo below)

Along with a team of scientists from NOAA, we set out early Monday July 23rd from Miami with gorgeous weather and calm seas.  We were on a course that would take us west through the Florida Keys and up the coast of Florida Bay.  The mission was part of a greater effort referred to as South Florida Ecosystem Restoration.

  South Florida’s Everglades have been in grave danger, beginning in the late 1800’s, when humans began digging canals to drain the land so that it could be populated.  All through the Twentieth Century, up until the late 1980’s, these efforts continued on a large scale.  The projects were successful, but the precious ecosystem paid a terrible price.  As a result, the Everglades have shrunk to less than half the original size.  Approximately 90% of the native birds that were once abundant have disappeared, along with countless unique wildlife species.  Of the ones that remain, almost 70 species appear on the federal list of endangered or threatened wildlife.

  In 1993, the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration project was formed in order to curtail the damage being done and to attempt the reversal of the destructive process.  The initiative consists of federal, state, and tribal entities working together in effort to restore the priceless wetlands.

  NOAA’s role in the initiative is to monitor some 80+ stations throughout the Florida Keys and coastal regions of Florida Bay and Southwest Florida Shelf.  On this 5-day cruise we collected water samples around the clock at each of these locations using the ship’s CTD rosette, along with the on-board seawater flow-through system.  

  Lead Scientist Lindsey Visser explains, “The seawater was analyzed for chlorophyll, nutrients, and dissolved inorganic carbon as part of ongoing water quality monitoring that has occurred for decades in this region.  We also used nets to collect phytoplankton and zooplankton in order supplement chlorophyll levels measured in the seawater.  This dataset is used to analyze everything from the transport of nutrients and chlorophyll from the Mississippi River through the Gulf Stream off the east coast of Florida, or the conditions that are conducive to Harmful Algal Blooms off the Southwest Florida shelf.”

  Another one of the issues being monitored by NOAA is the toxic algae bloom crisis which began this past spring.  The toxic cyanobacteria bloom is driven by a combination of lack of infrastructure needed to raise the level of Lake Okeechobee, and runoff from manure, sewage, and fertilizer from the farming industry, namely the sugar fields, and it has taken over the Southwest Florida coastline.  The algae, which can be seen from space and has resulted in massive beach closings, contains nerve toxins and is not only a possible link to diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and ALS,¹ but also depletes oxygen levels, leading to massive dead zones.  Among a multitude of other health risks, contact with an open wound may result in a staph infection.²

  I’m grateful to have had a small hand assisting in a mission that will help further the efforts of the restoration of the environment.  With big business such as US Sugar and others contributing to political interests, it will surely continue to be an uphill battle.  In spite of this, it’s reassuring to know that groups like NOAA are vanguarding these issues in attempts to keep policymakers and regulators in check, and to help spread awareness of the urgent need to affect change before the ecosystem is lost to agricultural development and anthropogenic climate change.

Acknowledgment

Special thanks to NOAA Affiliate and Head Scientist Lindsey Visser for consultation/contribution regarding this post

Sources

¹ TCPalm April 14, 2016

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/indian-river-lagoon/health/scientists-toxin-in-blue-green-algae-could-trigger-neurological-diseases-2fbede92-2377-08de-e053-010-375718471.html

² Tampa Bay Times July 1, 2016

http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/water/toxic-algae-bloom-crisis-hits-florida-drives-away-tourists/2283838

Week 2

In the afternoon of Saturday July 16, scientists supported by a grant from the NSF arrived at the dock and began loading their equipment.  The main instruments that were brought on board were two Tucker Trawl net systems- one full sized, referred to as Mother Tucker, and a smaller one, Baby Tucker.  The smaller one was included because no one was sure we would be able to deploy the full sized system from the Walton Smith, because our A-frame is not as tall as the other vessels they had used.    
  We worked all day Sunday preparing the larger trawl system for deployment, most of the time trying to devise different methods that would work.  
  We departed from Miami at 2000 hrs and headed northeast into the Florida Straits.  We endured some pretty rough seas and lightning, and by 0100 we arrived at the first station.  Due to the inclement weather conditions, the first cast was scrapped. 
  By Monday morning the weather had cleared and we were able to deploy around 0900.  The Tucker Trawl consists of a long tapered net with an aluminum frame at the top, which incorporates the underwater CTD unit, 3 bars at the opening- one at the top below the frame, one at the bottom, and furthest down a 400lb weight bar.  The frame and upper 2 bars slide up and down two cables, which serves to open and close the net. When the cables are pulled up, all three bars collapse together with the frame.  This was our challenge, since the A-frame was not tall enough to lift them out of the water.  
  The first retrieval was somewhat awkward and precarious, but the system was finally brought on board by brute manpower force.  During that night we made three more casts, each time modifying our approach, and the retrievals became easier.  The yield in all four casts wasn’t quite what the science party was looking for, so we made our way south to the next station.
  By Tuesday our method had been perfected and the new fishing ground was yielding results that had the scientists smiling.  The bioluminescent sea creatures that were caught were fascinating.
  By the end of the week we had racked up eleven successful casts and collected some pretty amazing specimens.  The science party departed happy and armed with many new photos of bioluminescent sea life. 
  On Saturday I was finally able to perform some original music at Luna Star Cafe and had a great a great time doing so.  I also made a lot of new friends and musical contacts in the Miami area.
  Till next week, enjoy the beautiful summer days and nights wherever you are.
 

  Hello again.  After a 1600 mile drive from my home in Michigan I arrived in Miami July 10th.  I made my way to the Walton Smith, which docks off the Miami coast on Virginia Key at University of Miami Rosensteil School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.  I became acquainted with the crew members who were present- Captain Shawn, Chef/1st Mate Pete, and 2nd Mate Steve.  Everyone was very welcoming and I felt right at home.
 By the next day, the rest of the crew of seven were aboard and we began preparing for the upcoming cruise. Marine Tech Denis and I began work right away.  The first order of business was to replace the pump on the reverse osmosis filter in the deionization system aboard the ship, which had broken down.  
  Once we had that reassembled and functioning properly we began to remove various components of the ship’s sea water flow-through system.  Just a bit of routine cleaning and inspecting, which ate up the rest of the day.
  Day 2 consisted of general maintenance tasks.  I spent most of the day removing the deck tie-down plugs from the 01 Deck.  After tapping all the threads, cleaning the plugs and applying anti-seize compound I returned them all to their happy homes.  Later that evening the NOAA scientists arrived and settled in to their state rooms.
  At 0600 the following morning we set out for the 12-hour transit northeast to the 27th parallel.  Around dinner time that afternoon, somewhere in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle, we deployed CTD rosette.  This was the first of nine stations that we would hit as we made way east along the 27th parallel against the Gulf Stream current.
  NOAA has been monitoring the Gulf Stream since the Eighties via a decommissioned telephone cable that stretches from West Palm Beach to the Bahamas.  The CTD data, along with ADCP (Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler) readings, help them to calibrate the cable, which uses a magnetic field to measure the volume and rate of current that flows through the Gulf Stream.
  All nine deployments went smoothly, the deepest being around 800 meters.  The science party was very pleased with the cruise and departed happy.  

  The next day, back in port, we removed the main underwater electronics unit from the CTD rosette and replaced it with a new one after cleaning all the cables and connectors.  The underwater unit we removed will be used to attach to the science party’s equipment during the next cruise.

  Stay tuned for this week’s cruise as a group with NSF collects bioluminescent sea life using a Tucker Trawl…
  

Hello everyone, John LaCross here from Alpena, Michigan.  I just arrived in Florida, a few days before I board R/V Walton Smith for an 11-week internship.

The ship is owned and operated by University of Miami and ported at Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science on Virginia Key, just south of Miami’s South Beach.

I recently returned to my home town of Alpena and graduated from Alpena Community College’s Marine Technology program and I’m very excited and grateful for the hands-on experience I’m about to gain.

Hope everyone has a great day and I’ll be back in touch soon!