Category: University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, SOEST Page 4 of 5

The stars aligned this week with the annual RVTEC conference in Honolulu while Hunter and I are on land here in Oahu. Our mentor, Carolina, was incredibly generous and let us attend the conference on Monday and Friday of this week to learn and meet marine technicians from other UNOLS ships. The first day of the conference was exciting and intimidating all at once. The theme of the day was cybersecurity and networks which was almost entirely new information for me but it was great to learn where the field is going in the future.

On Tuesday, Hunter and I helped Brandon clean most of the sampling bottles from HOT 345 in preparation for next week. We worked through the pile of bottles, rinsing each with a hydrochloric acid solution and then deionized water to ensure any microorganisms were all rinsed out and would not contaminate our new samples next week.

After our day of lab work, we rejoined the conference networking event in the evening. I loved meeting techs from other ships and hearing about their experiences as MATE interns and how they transitioned to a job afterward. Connecting with the alumni and current techs from boats like Scripps and WHOI has been a highlight of my internship. I feel reassured that this is the right path for me and it reinforced my enthusiasm to start applying for marine tech roles on these ships when I return home.

On Wednesday, we worked in the CMORE (biogeochemical research) labs on campus with Brandon analyzing chlorophyll samples with the fluorometer. The instrument we used was built in the 80s and is incredibly accurate and reliable…however, it took almost 3 hours to analyze a single rack of samples. Sometimes the older technology has pros and cons.  

After work, we attended the conference dinner at the Waikiki Aquarium which was unbelievably beautiful! The dinner was wonderful and I loved meeting even more people in the community including a technician visiting from Australia. It warms my heart to see a community of people who usually are all working in different oceans of the world all gathered in one place.

Thursday was our particulate inorganic carbonate analysis day. This was my first time doing a gas analysis to measure the CO2 as a proxy for the calcium carbonate in each sample—very cool! Hunter and I spent the afternoon carefully working through each sample from our sediment traps. It is amazing to see the data after everything is analyzed because you can gain more context for the work we do out at sea. The magic is absolutely in the data we collect and it is even more rewarding to collect samples at sea when you have the bigger picture in mind.

Our final day this week was a half-day attending the intro classes by Tom Wilson at the conference. Even though these classes were a bit more intense than I expected, I still learned a ton about electronic design and serial communication. I am excited to continue learning independently online and out in the field in my first job. One of the biggest takeaways from the week at the conference was that everything is specific to each ship. I can barely contain my excitement to get started in this world and learn how these systems are tailored to the next boat I have the opportunity to work on.

I’m looking forward to another week on land preparing for the HOT 346 cruise departing next Saturday!

Jenn

Howdy all,

Week two with the HOT team has managed to equip me with a greater understanding of how CTD data is processed, new equipment is made in preparation for research cruises, and instrumentation is maintained between cruises. 

On Monday we learned how the Hawaii Ocean Time team processes their CTD data by following a standard processing procedure after each cruise. This procedure involves removing duplicate data points, binning data, and communicating with databases to store the roughly processed data. After this is completed, a series of quality control checks is performed by the HOT team research associates and data reports are generated. The majority of this processing is fully automated using a mix of MATLAB, Python, and Bash scripting. After learning how HOT processes their data we were introduced to the Seasoft method of CTD data processing and learned the advantages and challenges of converting to this processing system. 

On Tuesday we learned how to properly splice different CTD-sensor connecting cables together for the next HOT cruise. With this introduction, we checked wire continuity, soldered connections, and properly waterproofed the connections to handle extreme pressures and temperatures. On Wednesday we disassembled, inspected, and cleaned a Seabird carousel. We learned how the device worked and the common maintenance checks that should be performed after each cruise to ensure its continued operation. On Thursday, we learned how to horizontally plumb a backup CTD to ensure that the temperature, conductivity, and oxygen sensors work properly. We also disassembled, inspected, and cleaned a LADCP system and learned how its data is recorded. 

Come Friday, we took a trip to the University of Hawaii Manoa Marine Center to install the new carousel on the HOT rosette, disassemble the Niskin bottles, and test new CTD orientations and mounting ideas. 

Overall, this week was a great introduction to new equipment, data processing best practices, and hands-on technical experience!

Best,

Hunter

We are back on land this week to help Dan and Carolina in the lab. And with a view like this on my commute across campus, I cannot complain!

This past week we focused on physical oceanography with our mentor Dan. He worked as a marine technician on board the R/V Kilo Moana for 10 years before joining the HOT team so he is the go-to guy for marine tech questions! The first job for the physical oceanography team is analyzing the salinity samples we collected on the cruise using the Salinometer. Fernando explained how the instrument works and that it can be sensitive to changing temperatures in the room so we had not one, not two, but three different thermometers to ensure our samples stayed cool. It was high maintenance!

Fernando was also great at explaining how the team processes most of their CTD data. He broke down their methods and how they have stayed consistent in creating their time series over the last 35 years of the project—everything must be consistent! He gave us great resources to continue learning about data processing on our own time and I am looking forward to practicing my coding skills in my free time.

Back in the lab with Dan, we helped splice cables and switch the CTD configuration from vertical to horizontal. It was surprisingly difficult to move the oxygen sensors and tubing to a different position while still ensuring that water could flow without issues. There is a ton of detailed thinking that goes into how these systems operate and whether the data could be significantly affected by repositioning the instruments. This next cruise will be the second test run to see if the data is heavily impacted but we have faith in the new system because most other UNOLS ships use a horizontal configuration.

Thursday and Friday consisted of taking things apart to see how it works and putting it back together again. First up was the LADCP which is similar to the ADCP we would see on most ships. It was much heavier than I thought it would be and the circuitry was cool to see. Then, we fixed up a new carousel to replace the old one.

On Friday, we took a field trip to the marine center to work on the CTD rosette and take apart a Niskin bottle. Hunter and I took turns un-hooking the spring inside each Niskin (an often-neglected part of maintenance between cruises to prolong the lifespan of the springs). We were able to replace the carousel inside the center of the rosette with our newly fixed version. Accessing the screws to this part of the rosette is deceivingly difficult. I could not reach them by climbing on the top (this was clearly designed by a man with longer arms). Instead, I had to crawl under and inside the rosette like a rock-climber to unscrew the old parts. Dan said it is even more tedious on a moving ship but that maintaining the rosette is a huge part of a marine tech’s job.

This week with Dan was an incredible opportunity to learn more technical skills and do some hands-on maintenance that marine techs would do post-cruise. I cannot wait for next week with Carolina!  

Jenn

After leaving the rain behind in Seattle, I was thrilled to arrive in a sunny and warm Honolulu last week! My first stop was the R/V Kilo Moana to drop off my bags and get situated in my room on board.

The chief mate, Jamie, gave me a fabulous tour of the ship and introduced me to almost the entire crew. After my intern partner, Hunter, arrived and settled in, we took an Uber to Waikiki and spent the afternoon lounging on the beach before a busy work day on Friday.

The next morning, we woke up bright and early for the 6:30 am breakfast call and fueled up for Loading Day. Vans full of sensors and lab equipment pulled on to the dock ready for our help to set up the science labs on board. We carried box after box and carefully stowed them in their designated spaces in each room. The whole loading process was incredibly organized and efficient. This was the 345^th HOT cruise so they’ve got a routine down by now! We finished up after a few hours, ate lunch and headed back to the beach to enjoy our last few hours on land.

…And we’re off! We left port on Saturday morning around 9:00 am headed for our first station of the cruise at Kahe just off the coast of Oahu. I helped Hunter and Dan prepare the first CTD cast and then headed to bed after my shift ended at 3 pm. Hunter and I split up the day in shifts-I have the morning shift from 3am to 3pm, he covers the evening, and we will switch for the next cruise in November.

2:15 am. Rise and Shine! The first task of the day was recovering the primary production CTD cast and collecting water for the primary production array. The hard part? We have to collect it in the dark. Any white light could cause a spike in biological activity before we deploy the array. Luckily, we use these groovy red lights while we filled up the big jugs. The rest of the day included a trace metal cast, hyperpro and net tow before our big transit out to Station ALOHA.

The following day started with a tense moment when the hydraulics on the Hawboldt CTD winch failed, spraying oil on deck. Big efforts by the science team and crew were made to move the CTD casts to the A-frame which involved re-terminating the CTD wire and moving the CTD rosette into the staging bay–both deceivingly difficult to do. Many hours later, the other winch failed too. Ultimately, the team fixed the original winch and moved everything back to its original position.

The rest of the cruise was fantastic! I was so excited to help recover the sediment traps and the gas array. Dan gave me a shot at throwing the grappling hook around the floats in the water (which is much harder than it looks) and we eventually got it back on deck.

The two marine technicians on board were amazing resources to learn from too! Trever walked me through the steps for CTD cast deployment and recovery, teaching me all of the hand signals to communicate with the winch. Then, to my surprise, he handed ME the walkie-talkie and said “you try!” That was the highlight of the cruise. I loved stepping into the shoes of a marine technician and communicating with the winch and the bridge to conduct a safe and successful deployment (and then recovery too).

On our way back into port, we watched the most amazing sunrise over Oahu, silhouetting Diamond Head in the distance. The clouds never fail to amaze me in Hawaii.

When we arrived in port on Wednesday morning, the whole team quickly packed up boxes and sensors back into vans to drive back to campus. Hunter and I did our best to help Dan unload all of the equipment and stow it back in the lab on land. We settled into our respective apartments here on the UH campus and went back the next day to continue helping Dan with post-cruise tasks like making new cables and organizing all of the cruise notes.

I cannot wait to keep learning from Dan and Carolina for the next few weeks on land. There are plenty of samples to keep us busy before we prepare for HOT cruise 346 in November!

– Jenn 🙂

Howdy all,

This first week in Hawaii has already been an invaluable experience in helping me understand the role and responsibilities of a marine tech in contributing to a vital oceanographic time series. 

For the first two days of my internship, I was able to spend some time aboard the R/V Kilo Moana where I got to meet the crew and better understand the ship itself. While loading and preparing for HOT 345 with the science team, I learned how a CTD termination is performed, a basic job requirement for any marine technician. After helping the science team and crew pack for the cruise we were off to Station Kahe the next day to weight test the Hawboldt LARS wench system, perform a Hyperpro cast, CTD cast, and a trace metal cast. Even on the first day of the cruise, I was already being exposed to new scientific equipment and sampling techniques. After performing these preliminary tests and sampling we were off to Station Aloha, the primary sampling site for HOT cruises.

At Station Aloha I was introduced to even more new equipment and sampling techniques while learning about directing deck operations and getting to know my cruise mates better. The cruise was business as usual until there was a malfunction in the Hawboldt hydraulics system forcing the rosette and CTD to be moved to an alternative tension-based wench system that routed through the ship’s A-frame. Unfortunately, soon after this new wench system was set up it also malfunctioned when proof of tension was not maintained for the system, forcing the repair of the original Hawboldt system. This series of events required a new termination and hours of work, wasting valuable ship time. While this was not an ideal situation, it showed that anything can go wrong on a cruise and that complex problem-solving is a requirement for a marine tech. In this way, it was a valuable learning experience for me. 

The rest of the cruise remained relatively uneventful, and I was able to learn about computer networking systems and using Linux from one of the marine techs as well as discuss what a career as a marine tech might look like. We were able to complete our sampling at Station Aloha, the WHOTS mooring, and Station Kaena and return to Honolulu without any other issues. I am excited to continue updating this blog with the new skills and experiences I gain over the next week working with CTD systems and processing data.

Best,

Hunter

Hi Everyone!

My name is Jenn Willson and I am very excited to join the HOTS team this week on the R/V Kilo Moana as a MATE intern. I recently graduated from the University of Washington with a B.S. in Oceanography. In my time at UW, I worked as a research assistant with the Ocean Observatories Initiative where I spent two summers on board the R/V Thompson performing maintenance on the Regional Cabled Array. In my senior year, I worked at the Applied Physics Lab with the NW Environmental Moorings Team where I gained more technical experience. Both of these experiences inspired me to continue learning about marine technology as a MATE intern this fall!

I am incredibly grateful and excited for the opportunity to join the team of the R/V Kilo Moana for two research cruises this October. I’m looking forward to writing all about it on this blog in the coming weeks!

Jenn

Hello everyone,

My name is Hunter Adams and I recently graduated from Texas A&M University with a BS in Oceanography and MS in Business. During my time at TAMU, I dedicated three years to researching methane and nitrous oxide concentrations in the northern Gulf of Mexico and participated in multiple research cruises as a result. Additionally, I spent two summers working at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where I studied reduced biogeochemical modeling for the Arctic region. Through these experiences, I’ve developed a special appreciation for ocean research and the importance of shipboard operations in generating consistent datasets for researchers. Outside of studying salty water some of my hobbies include riding motorcycles, spelunking, camping, rowing, and anything that gets me outdoors!

Now, I’m excited to embark on a new adventure by joining the Hawaii Ocean Time-series (HOT) program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. This opportunity allows me to combine my interests in fieldwork and ocean biogeochemical research while learning the essential skills needed to become a successful marine technician. In just three days, I’ll be on the R/V Kilo Moana in Honolulu to prepare for the upcoming October HOT cruise. I’m excited to finally meet the crew, my internship mentors, and my fellow MATE intern in person after months of planning.

Over the next month, I look forward to keeping you all updated through these blog posts, sharing the incredible experiences and knowledge I gain during this exciting internship!

Special thanks to Dr. Shari Yvon-Lewis, Dr. Chrissy Wiederwohl, Dr. Nicole Jefferey, Maria Osiadacz, Carolina Funkey, Dan Fitzgerald, and everyone who made this all possible.

Hello hello,

  Well I have certainly gotten behind with the story of this journey (stupid internet) and instead of catching up with one giant novel of a blog entry I had tried to spread out the tale in several short installments.  Now I find myself in a weird situation where here in real time the cruise is ending (seriously it is 5am and we are just waiting until our 6:30am call in to the harbor for permission to move on in) and in story time I still have some science things to recap!  Ok ok so I guess I will give you an abbreviated version of the science and go from there.

One of the last major sample collection things we did on this cruise was multicoring.  This is quite similar to the box core method except instead of one giant scoop of sediment they pull up 12 smaller cylinders at a time.  The biggest challenge with the multicorer is that the weather conditions play a huge role in success or failure.  If the swells are too big (and by too big I mean if there are waves at all!) the multicorer will hit the seafloor at an angle and they will only recover a few samples or the whole contraption will get jostled around enough to either spring the trap too early or dump out the samples entirely.  It really needs to be very calm for the multicorer to be successful.  The reason the scientists were very eager to use the multicorer is that while the box corer is more reliable and delivers more sample in sheer mass, the multicorer brings up samples with the sediment/water interface still intact.  This little top layer of sediment is really important biologically and is preserved well in a multicore but not in the boxcorer.  A tricky set of pros and cons…

Anyways…the multicorer was very easy to get into the water and later recovered.  Not extra steps, no weird system or extra equipment.  Just grab it and pull it on board.  The hard part is that it moves through the water very slowly.  Only 45 meters per minute to go down and come back up and when it has to go 5000 meters (that is 3 miles for all those non-metric users)…well it takes a while. 

So for a couple of weeks we basically switched between box coring and multicoring all day.  And yes, all day really does mean 24 hours a day.  We just kept putting down corers, waiting, pulling up sediment, and putting the equipment right back in again.  It was not a bad routine at all.

Eventually we got to a point where one of the scientists was ready to collect phytoplankton samples with a big net (cleverly called a phytoplankton net).  The idea here is that the net, which is about 2 meters in diameter at the top and tapers down into a small collection cylinder at the bottom, is very light weight and goes into the water and down to 200 meters.  From there the ship moves ahead very slowly and the net is towed horizontally to collect phytoplankton.  That was the plan.  What actually happened was that the net went down 200 meters, was immediately caught in the current and pushed up against the propeller of the ship and the line was severed.  The net was lost at sea within the first 10 minutes of its first deployment.  Yikes.  I don’t even have a picture to include here because it happened during the wee hours of the morning while I was off shift so I didn’t even get to see it!  Things can happen really fast around here sometimes.

Well so mostly that is the story of the cruise.  By the end of the trip the German scientists have put equipment into the water 106 times during their working window of 21 days.  That is a very very impressive number considering how long it took for each piece of equipment to do its thing.  With the exception of the phytoplankton net, everything else was ultimately successful and the scientists were able to collect everything they wanted to and more.  Even phytoplankton was eventually collected using a different smaller net that was modified so that the scientist would be able to get some amount of sample. 

None of the equipment broke down to the extent that we couldn’t use it.  There were a few mechanical issues that cost us a few hours here and there but nothing that the engineers and deck hands couldn’t fix eventually. 

There were no medical emergencies and everyone has come back safe and whole.

Hard to ask for a whole lot more for a 44 day long voyage at sea:)

For now I have 1 more day here in Hawaii and then I am off to have a short break back home in Minnesota.  I won’t be adding another blog post until I am on my way to my next tropical destination…BERMUDA! Yay!

So with that I bid you all a farewell for now:)

Elizabeth

Hello hello,

 Things continue to move right along here.  The video sledge did its thing for a couple of days until the science team was confident that they had collected enough footage.  Once they gave the ok we hauled the thing up and began another round of musical chairs to get to the next piece of equipment.  This time it was the epibenthic sledge and, again, it took quite an effort to get the video sledge out of the way and the epibenthic sledge front and center.  This particular contraption is larger than the others and for deployment out into the water it is meant to stand vertically maybe a little over 3 meters (10 feet or so) tall.  The goal of this thing is to sink down all the way to the bottom of the seafloor until it is actually settled on the ground.  The ship will then move ahead slowly and drag it across the bottom collecting the surface layer and the very small life forms that live there in a filtered net sort of thing.  The bottom of the sledge itself has a big latch release on it that opens the nets for collection but is only OPEN if the latch is depressed (ie if the sledge is firmly settled on the bottom of the sea floor) and that way they know they aren’t collecting samples from the water column on the way down to the bottom or on the way back up to the surface.  It’s a pretty clever way to ensure they are getting samples just from the bottom. 

  So anyways the deck rearrangement completed we got the epibenthic sledge into the water without any trouble.  It is large and heavy but rectangular in shape with plenty of places for tag lines to ensure a safe and controlled entry into the water.  All in all…no problems.  But again, once it gets into the water it takes about 7 hours to complete a run.  With these ones it is mostly getting the sledge to the bottom and back up that takes the most time.  We put out over 6 kilometers of wire from the winch at a rate of between 30-45 meters a minute.  It takes about 3 hours for it to go all the way down and another 3 to get it to come back up.  Yikes. 

Once the epibenthic sledge was recovered we moved into a long long series of playing with sediment.  The scientists brought 2 main pieces of equipment to collect seafloor sediment; A box corer and a multicorer.  We started with the box corer.  This is a tall piece of equipment consisting of a large base to “land” well on the seafloor and a central core that has a big box and scoop at the bottom of it.  The corer is cocked in an open position with the scoop stretched back behind the box and it is deployed into the water and down to the bottom.  When it reaches the bottom (which is determined by the depth reading we have for that location, the length of wire we have put out through the winch, and by the eagle-eye attention of scientists watching the tension readout of the winch.  When the corer hits the bottom there is a dramatic lessening of the tension that the scientists eagerly wait for) the box sinks into the sediment and the scoop snaps over the bottom trapping the sediment in the box.  We then begin the long haul to get it back to the surface. 

The deployment of the box corer is relatively straight forward even though it is awkwardly shaped.  The recovery of it is a little more involved but still fairly basic.  When the scoop has been triggered the central core of the contraption stands almost a meter taller than when it is cocked.  This means that when we want to bring it back onto the ship it is too tall to go under the A-frame.  So to get around that we have to use the A-frame to lift the box corer out of the water and bring it close to the ship, attach a different line to the shackles, move it back away from the ship, then use the different line attached to a different winch to pull it on board.  Really it isn’t overly difficult it is just a few more steps and another piece of equipment thrown into the mix.  Keeps things interesting:)

The box corer is one of the fastest pieces of equipment the scientists are using and it takes just about 3 hours to get one in the water, down, back up, and on deck.  Then the ship moves to the next station while all of the scientists begin to process the sample and re-cock the corer.  By the time we are in position the corer is ready to go down again.  All in all the scientists want 40 box cores so we have been doing this for several days already with many more to come.

Before I let this post get to long I will cut it off here.  Next installment; the multicorer…and maybe some phytoplankton net action:)

Elizabeth

Hello all,

Another installment of the story.  Still trying to catch up from our internet lull so just stick with me here.

Finally the seafloor mapping has been finished!  Don’t get me wrong, the data that was collected was super cool and the map that they are assembling is really amazing but it wasn’t a very interactive process.  Once Homeside was in the water we really didn’t need to do anything else.  It was towed behind the ship in very specific straight line.  We got to the end of one line and the ship turned around and we towed it in another straight line the opposite direction.  Not really much to it for 8 days.  Finally the scientists confirmed that they had covered the whole area they were trying to map and we could bring the Homeside up.  Very exciting moment.  Once it was finally up on deck there was a whole new game to play in terms of rearranging equipment.  We had to get Homeside tucked away on one side of the large A-frame, bump the multi-corer and box corer forward a few feet to make some extra room, and then pull out the video sledge from the other side of the A-frame to get ready to deploy.  Now…these things all seem really straight forward until you consider a few extra details. 1) All of these pieces of equipment are large and weigh hundreds of KILOS (our scientists are German so I figured as a nod to them I would keep my figures metric) which means using cranes, winches, and cables to lift and move things.  2) We are on a moving vessel here.  Even on calm days there is still pitch, roll, and heave motion from the swell.  Ever seen a large crane in action while it is rocking back and forth?  Certainly adds a whole new layer of excitement.  3)  There isn’t a whole lot of free space on the deck.  This science team brought a bunch of large equipment that is strapped down on the deck.  It takes a fair amount of precision to maneuver anything around and so I refer you back to points 1 and 2 to see some of the difficulties that arise.  Earlier I gave a strong nod to the technician for being able to do his job very well and save the day.  Here and now I have to acknowledge the stellar group of guys working the deck.  They are really good at what they do and it is impressive to watch.  Their skillful manipulation of the gear and equipment makes even the most complicated transfers go smoothly and safely so hats off to them every single day!

Ok ok I digress.  Back to the action.  Moving the Homeside out of the way and bringing the video sledge front and center took some time but was eventually accomplished.  The video sledge is a rectangular contraption that has several different motion video cameras and one or two still cameras attached to it (See picture below!).  The idea is that it will go into the water and sink down over 4000 meters until it gets near the bottom (near…not actually touching down) and then the scientists are able to use the cameras to actually look at the seafloor while we are moving over it.  The sledge stays down for 8-10 hours at a time and the scientists monitor and document the video feed looking for the manganese nodules that are the focus of their work right now.  It was pretty easy to get into the water and then we just had to wait some more.  Personally I really enjoyed invading the lab space and watching the video.  The scientists had most of the lights off in the lab and everyone gathered around to see the “action” like it was a show at the theater.  The addition of the quotation marks there is because the video itself didn’t actually have a lot of action.  Every now and then there would be a fish, brittle star, or little sea cucumber that would make a quick appearance but mostly it was just looking at rocks on the seafloor.  But it was looking at rocks on the seafloor over 4 KILOMETERS under the sea that made it special to me…in a nerd sort of way:)

Next installment: the epibenthic sledge and sediment collection.  Oooooooooh

Elizabeth