Category: MATE Blog Archive Page 63 of 89

Posts that were imported from the historical MATE blog at marinetech.org

Almost on my Way!

On April 1, 2017

In MATE Blog Archive, Moss Landing Marine Laboratory, R/V Point Sur

My name is Amanda Dostie, a recent UConn BS graduate, and a soon to be MATE Intern. With only a number of days left before my departure, I am overwhelmed by a complex variety of emotions. Beyond all else, I am overcome by a deep sense of honor and excitement in beginning this wonderful opportunity. I will start my journey in New Orleans, LA, aboard the R/V Pelican and R/V Point Sur, at the LUMCON facilities. For approximately three months I will learn the ropes of a new world, become accustomed to the life of a marine technician, and in doing so, grow tremendously. Following my time in New Orleans, I will make my way to Bermuda, working alongside BIOS and other institutes.

My journey to where I am now began with my love for the ocean. From a young age, my childhood was enriched with vivid memories along the coastline- swimming, exploring and boating along the waters. Later, my passions lead me to pursue a career within marine science. During my undergraduate career, I immersed myself in a number of academic and personal endeavors surrounding the environment and natural sciences. I took advantage of the research opportunities within my institute, and worked as a research technician for over four years. I worked under several water quality projects studying nutrient pollution, eutrophication, algae blooms, hypoxia, TNT/RDX and other related biochemical interactions. My experience as a research technician exposed me to work aboard large and small vessels. My passion for working in the field, lead me to instruct marine science and other naturalist subjects within outdoor-education. During this time I earned my USGS 6-pak Captains License, and other useful certifications. I finished college deck handing for my institute’s vessels and pursuing personal research endeavors. My personal research endeavors involved algae bloom quantification, remediation, as well as NGO and municipal work, in the hopes of pursuing a business in algae remediation. Upon graduation I was intrigued by the MATE Internship- an exciting opportunity that will utilize and blend my research and mechanical interests. Although I will be extremely out of my element, I am excited to learn as much as I can, especially in fixing instruments!

I am spending my remaining days with friends and family, enjoying the simple moments we too often put on hold, and scrounging up any last-minute travel necessities. Oh, and of course, there are the copious amounts of reading I will be doing. To my surprise, a bulk of my packing was completed early- though I am still gathering together my smallest creature comforts, like books and personal items, which I will be especially grateful for on long cruises. As I wait through my last few days, I am overwhelmed with both nerves and excitement. In a short amount of time, my routine and perspective will completely change, and in lieu of my trepidation- I could not be anymore excited to take this step. My process will last a little over half a year; easy by no means, but perhaps one of the most rewarding adventures of my life.

Conclusions on the R/V Sikuliaq

By Kristie Okimoto

On October 12, 2016

In MATE Blog Archive, R/V Sikuliaq, University of Alaska Fairbanks

And so, my time on the Sikuliaq comes to a close. Many CTD lines and supersucker attempts later, we’re done collecting data.Since we got done early, we were able to set up an ice station off of the Wainwright line. After a day of searching, we found a piece of sea ice that was large enough to be stable. Paul, our boson, drove the landing craft to get to it. We drilled and sawed into the ice to take samples and see if there was any ice algae. Afterwards, we shuttled groups of crew and science back and forth to let everyone get out on the ice. I got in a snowball fight, made snow angels with some crew friends and generally had a good time out on the ice. Afterwards, we got a speedy boat ride back through the sea ice. Nothing as exhilarating as zooming through and around sea ice in a small boat in the Arctic!

We also were able to visit Point Hope, a small Alaskan Native village, for a day. We got to see the ceremonial whale burial grounds, and stopped in the town hall and grocery store. Afterwards, I walked around the north side of town for some alone time and a great view of the Brooks range. Those were some really gorgeous mountains. We took the landing craft back to the ship and set off again!

The ship navigated some choppy waters back through the Bering Strait. We anchored off shore near Teller to weather the storm. The next day, we finally docked in Nome and went to go celebrate a good cruise. It’s been a good time; I’ve learned a lot about CTDs, coring, nitrogen fixation and primary productivity, the Arctic, maritime life, how rigorous science is, and what it means to be a marine technician. I learned a lot about this cruise’s experiments, the ship’s seawater system, sonars, pco2 monitoring system and other underways. I also got to see the glider and super sucker and learn about both of them. I learned about deck ops and the AON morning. I got to help with sampling and even learned some about engineering. Interning has also taught me how to be more proactive, communicate professionally and work in a team. I mostly like the biological aspects and the technical aspects, and could be interested in specializing in one or both. I could be really interested in deep sea work, which would be very biological and technical. I’m also interested in doing work that’s more people oriented, working with local communities or front-line communities, perhaps implementing traditional knowledge or working with them on climate justice issues. All in all, this was a great internship to take right after school. It taught me about professionalism and oceanography, exposed me to marine careers, and gave me a better idea of what I want to do. But for now, I’m off to venture around Alaska!

P.S. I’ll put up one more photo blog. Stay tuned for pics! 🙂

Sheets and Ice Sheets: Taking the Plunge

By Kristie Okimoto

On September 16, 2016

In MATE Blog Archive, R/V Sikuliaq, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Hey there!

This week, we’ve gone through lots of sea ice as we sail through the Arctic, to the north of Barrow and Wainwright. The Arctic Ocean views have been really gorgeous and tranquil, with the water’s surface as still and smooth as glass, reflecting the oh-so-blue sky. We’ve also gotten to see polar bears, a whole walrus colony, and a few auroras!

With all this sea ice, the ship has been going a maximum of 2-3 knots, meaning there is more time between CTD stations.This week, I’ve learned to plot points in the Olex system, which helps us know our time to station. I’ve also relearned how to tie a bowline and a sheet bend. Sheets are ropes, or lines on a boat.

After getting through the ice, we’ve finally been able to start coring and using the supersucker. I really enjoy using the multi-corer because our camera system allows us to see what’s on the bottom. The multi-corer is also more hands-on than our CTD. It’s been fun to hop on the buddy lines, and use poles and hooks to safely deploy and recover the multi-corer.

I’ve also gotten to cut cores and sample water with Miguel Goni, a professor at Oregon State University, and his students. It’s been nice to be involved in science as well as science tech, particularly as someone interested in pursuing oceanography in graduate school. I’ve also gotten more involved this week overall. I finally got to operate the CTD, meaning that I got to direct the winch operator and tell them how deep to send the CTD, where to wait, etc. I think I was too laidback the first week, so other people got to operate the CTD and handle lines. I’ve realized that I just need to jump in more and ask to do things, rather than being shy and letting other people take the lead. Gotta take that plunge!

We’ve been sampling lots of lines: the Wainwright, Barrow, DB06 and DB04 lines, which means lots and lots of CTDs and a good bit of coring. The marine techs keep pulling intense hours, then resting when we tow the super sucker. The super sucker has to be towed continuously for 24 hours, so we can’t stop do CTDs or multi-core. This gives science a nice break, as there’s no water to process, and no cores to cut.

We’ve mostly been doing shallow water casts – 40 to 50 meters, but we also got to do some deep casts. These casts ranged from 1000-3900 meters, taking about 1 to 4 hours, respectively. We got to make souvenir cups on the deepest of the casts. We all decorated Styrofoam cups, packed them with paper towels, put them in mesh bags, then tied them onto the CTD rosette frame. We cast the CTD to 3930 meters, then pulled it back up. The cups came back bigger than a thimble, about the size of shot glasses. We all got to keep them for cruise souvenirs.

We also did test runs of the UAF carbon glider. My roommate, Brita, is the lab technician working on the glider project. Gliders are nice because you can launch them and they’ll continuously gather data for up to 4 months. One of the microcomputers on Brita’s glider went down though. We’re going to try launching it again tomorrow. We’ll do small boat ops to launch it. If we’re in the right area, we might also pick up another glider that is currently gliding around the Chukchi Sea to the North of us.

We’re at the midpoint of the cruise. I want to check in with the two marine techs for mid-internship feedback. I’ve also continued to appreciate the company of both science and crew. We’ve all gotten into a nice rhythm, and ops and data are flowing nicely. I’ve definitely made some great friends on the ship so far. Time on the R/V Sikuliaq is going far too quickly, if anything.

Blog 6: Day 28 – The End in Sight

By Justin Miyano

On September 11, 2016

In MATE Blog Archive, US Coast Guard, USCGC Healy

Hello World,

Well where did the time go. It has been almost a month since I began my adventure in Alaska and the Arctic through the MATE program. Tasks have been checked off lists, and we are closing in on the completion of this research mission. Today, we had initially planned on deploying a mooring at our Southeast station, which we had to recover once, due to the sound source malfunctioning. Because we also already deployed transponders around the mooring to triangulate, when we re-deploy this mooring, it has to be within the triangle of the 3 transponders, making this re-deployment a little tricky. The weather has been on the rougher side, so the mooring deployment was postponed until tomorrow, and instead, we are testing a different sound source, in preparation for our final mooring deployment station.

In case I was confusing with my wording, we have 2 more moorings left to deploy. And upon completion, we will head down to Nome, Alaska.

It has been a very calm week for the techs. Every system has been running well with no issues, thank goodness, but it has also been a little slow. When there are problems to solve and devices to prepare for deployment, there is more action and things to learn, and I have been missing that a little bit. So, my main mentor Brandon and I decided today that our final week, we will review all the equipment and systems that the marine technicians maintain on the ship, and also work on preparing to store away the CTD rosette. I am pretty excited about that.

Here is to one last week of learning and finishing up this Arctic adventure!

Aloha,

WEEK 9- Breakdown, Bottles and Bees

By John LaCross

On September 10, 2016

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

WEEK 9
September 4-10

As I mentioned in the previous blog, R/V Walton Smith is scheduled for a month-long cruise to Cuba in October in order to conduct studies on the coral reef using an ROV. One of the many preparations requires all of the scientific equipment to be inventoried. An Export Control Classification Number, (ECCN), must be provided for each piece of equipment.

I was given the responsibility of tracking these down, which involved speaking with each manufacturer. I also had to record all serial numbers for each item, original purchase price paid, quantity, and a basic description. After all the data was entered into an Excel file, it was sent through the governmental channels for approval.

Early Wednesday morning we prepared to depart for a two-day cruise with NOAA as part of their continuous studies on the Gulf Stream current. The Chief Engineer was absent due to jury duty, and it appeared that the ship did not want to leave without him. Before we had even left the dock, problems with the electrical system forced us to abort.

It was later determined to be an issue with a breaker, and it was promptly replaced. Since next week’s schedule only consists of a three-day cruise beginning Wednesday, NOAA’s cruise is deferred to this coming Monday and Tuesday.

I spent the rest of the week fitting our CTD with brand new Niskin bottles, part of the shipment that arrived from Brazil last month. With new bottles and freshly calibrated sensors, and a newly terminated 322 cable, the CTD is now in tip top shape.

On Friday we were given the opportunity to attend shipboard crane operation training, conducted by Captain Lake. We were instructed on proper rules and safety involving crane operation and will be given the chance to be tested in order to obtain an official certificate.

Captain Lake is also a beekeeper on the side and I have had the opportunity to assist him in several related activities. This weekend we began a removal job that involved hives located in two different spots up inside a soffit of a house in North Miami.

It always impresses me that people spend the time and money to have honey bees removed, rather than simply killing them. By the end of the weekend we had one of the hives relocated into frames and placed into a special wooden hive, which was left in the yard in order for the stragglers to move into. We’ll return next weekend and tackle the other hive.

Stripping the CTD of the old Niskin bottles

Blog 5: Day 26 – Pictures!

By Justin Miyano

On September 9, 2016

In MATE Blog Archive, US Coast Guard, USCGC Healy

Myself, troubleshooting met data networks.

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency analyst, Jason Otero (left) and Oregon State Univ. marine technician Brandon D’Andrea (right)

Jason and two sea gliders that were deployed this cruise.

The ships crew craning one of the acoustic sources from up above to the back deck.

Scientists and technicians attaching floats to the mooring line as they are deployed.

The USCGC Healy bridge and some officers and crew on watch.

Healy crossfit coach, BM2 Ben Ahlin, during a workout.

The lowest the sun went one day, somewhere in the Arctic.

CTDs, Sea Ice and Polar Bears

By Kristie Okimoto

On September 8, 2016

In MATE Blog Archive, R/V Sikuliaq, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Hey there all!

After being in port in Nome, seeing some Northern Lights, swimming in the Bering Sea, moving lots of equipment onboard and singing karaoke with science and new crew, we’re finally underway! It’s been really nice to be cruising this week and getting into the flow of things.

The first couple days were mostly transiting, with some CTD (Conductivity Temperature Depth) casts and preparing an AON (Arctic Observation Network) mooring. We went through the Bering Strait, past the Chukchi Sea and into the Beaufort. At our max, we hit about 72.5 degrees North. We lost internet right as we went into the Arctic Circle. Due to our heading, our mainstay blocks our satellite dish at a very specific angle. You’re reading this because it’s gone back up though, intermittently at least. It’s actually been nice getting away from the internet though.

In the past week, I’ve learned to prepare, check, operate and clean a CTD. I’ve learned how we process CTD data and utilize that to reset our sound velocity profile. Knowing the speed of sound at a particular site is important because it helps us recalibrate our multi-beam sonar. Our TOPAS system and multi-beam sonar are used to map both the bathymetry of the sea floor, and the substrate beneath it. These both operate whenever we’re underway, helping add to worldwide knowledge of the seafloor, one cruise at a time.

I also got to help recover and deploy this Arctic Observation Network mooring. Moorings like this are used to monitor temperature, salinity and other environmental conditions in a location over a long period of time. This helps scientists track climate change or other continued patterns in an area over time. In the Arctic and off the Alaskan coasts for example, scientists are doing research into what role increased glacial melt plays in the ecosystem. In recent years, there has been a coccolithophore bloom off the Alaskan coast, turning the normally dark blue Bering Sea a pale shade of turquoise with their calcium carbonate shells. As we passed through the Bering Sea, we were actually able to observe this, registering an increased amount of carbon at that micron size and seeing the clear blue turquoise of this bloom. Our research ties into this, monitoring nitrogen fixation and primary productivity of the Arctic. This helps us to gauge the Arctic’s importance in fixing carbon and nitrogen, and what the Arctic ecosystem’s role is globally.

In other cool things, the AON mooring also had an ADCP (Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler) and an Aural whale recorder. Although tricky at times, it was really cool to work with the deck crew to both recover and deploy the AON mooring. We worked together in the stormy Arctic weather to get everything in and out safely. After that, science, science tech and ABs (able-bodied sailors) have come together to make CTD casts happen 24 hours a day for the next 3 days. I really enjoy how the boat pulls together for these operations, it makes the boat community that much more tight. All in all, it’s been really great learning a lot this week, finding my niche and becoming a part of the R/V Sikuliaq family.

Blog 4: Day 22 – White September

By Justin Miyano

On September 5, 2016

In MATE Blog Archive, US Coast Guard, USCGC Healy

Hello World,

Justin Miyano reporting from the Arctic again. It has been almsot 3 weeks at sea, and I seem to be the only remaining person excited about it. This morning, we woke up to some snow on the outside decks. The temperature has been fluctuating between 28 and 32 degrees, and it is quite cold, but I suppose it is way better than cold rain. Ugh, just the thought of it is giving me chicken skin.

Yesterday, we completed the deployment of our 5th acoustic mooring. Between the last blog I wrote and this blog post, I have communicated with some of the scientists to better understand this project better, and I have learned that, after the acoustic source mooring is deployed, 3 transponders are deployed so that at any given time the acoustic source produces sound, the transponders can triangulate the exact position of the source, which anables the scientists to calculate the distance and speed of the sound traveled between the moorings. Once the 3 transponders are deployed, we use an echosounder to locate the precise positions of the three.

On the tech side of things, everything has been working well and our days have been mellow, until 2 days ago, when we attempted the troubleshoot what could be the problem with our faulty GPS system and antenna (the POS-MV system). We power cycled the system (a fancy tech word for turn off and on) so that we could attempt various combinations of the 2 antennas, cables, and extensions to find the broken component, but then the whole system stopped functioning. For hours, we tried powercycling and looking at all the connections, reading the computer outputs to see what could have gone wrong but there were no obvious signs. After a long battle with the POS-MV and sending out an email to the manufacturer’s representative who had helped us in the beginning of the cruise, we called it a night. Then, we woke up to a see the POS-MV working again. The computer said that it had started logging information a couple hours prior to us noticing this morning. What a magical white September morning.

On another note, we recently learned that we have a protp-type buoy onboard from a project called UpTempO (Upper Layer Temperature of the Polar Oceans: http://psc.apl.washington.edu/UpTempO/). They study the seasurface temperatures in the polar oceans to help monitor global warming, using these simple buoy systems. The buoys have temperature and pressure sensors from 2.5 to 60 meters deep! The deployment of this buoy is STARC’s (Oregon State University and Scripps Institute of Oceanography) responsibility, so the two techs, Brandon and Keith are pretty excited that we will be working on the deck for a change!

Other than that, we have corn hole and ping pong tournaments to celebrate Labor Day! Woo for some fun. Happy Labor Day weekend everyone.

P.S. It took me 3 attempts to write this blog because the site kept freezing up when I would try to upload a photo so I am not going to upload a photo this time, sorry.

WEEK 8- Cable Termination, Nearing the End

By John LaCross

On September 3, 2016

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

WEEK 8
August 28-September 3

The end of my stay here aboard R/V Walton Smith is in sight, and I’m pretty sure they are going to have to drag me away, kicking and screaming. I’ve really become attached to my new home and family. We are preparing for my final 3 cruises, making sure the dockside projects are all completed and that the vessel is in ship-shape.

We are still having issues with a monitor in the bridge, and we have replaced all the components and cables…twice. I’m beginning to think there is a ghost in the machine.

Denis, the ship’s Marine Tech, and I cut a 15 meter section from the 322 cable used to deploy the CTD. On the cruise that involved deploying the Tucker Trawl, it had become damaged as a result of the clumsy retrieval method.

A short section of the counter-torque cable was unraveled, exposing the wires inside. The stainless steel termination was heated to melt the cerrobend inside, a metal alloy with a very low melting point of 158 degrees, comprised of bismuth, lead, tin and cadmium. The strands of the counter-torque cable are wrapped in opposite directions, preventing the cable from twisting under a load. Individual strands were separated and peeled back, then secured back to the cable with a winding of wire. The exposed wires were fed through the termination and out a hole in the side, and the exposed strands of cable were inserted into the bottom. When the fresh cerrobend was melted and poured in, the splayed cable array served to secure the cable in place, much like rebar in cement. When the cerrobend solidified, the three wires protruding from the side were then terminated and the cable was once again ready for use, as good as new.

During the week we completed the horizontal testing of the deck tie-down sockets, using a load cell secured with shackles in line with a chain fall. The new records were updated and filed for future reference.

The ship is scheduled for a month-long trip to Cuba in October, and the extensive paperwork has been a nightmare for those involved in handling the logistics. Next week I’ll be tasked with inventory duties in order to assist with this daunting effort.

Preparing the 322 cable for termination

Transiting on the R/V Sikuliaq!

By Kristie Okimoto

On August 30, 2016

In MATE Blog Archive, R/V Sikuliaq, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Hey there!
This is Kristie Okimoto, the final MATE Summer Intern! I’m on the R/V Sikuliaq, also headed up to the Arctic. We are somewhere in the Bering Sea at the moment! Tomorrow, we’re docking in Nome, and will be loading equipment, food and fuel for the upcoming cruise.

The transit from Seward to Nome has gone pretty smoothly. This week has mostly been an orientation week of sorts. The science party has gotten safety talks, an engine room tour and done fire and abandon ship drills. Ethan, one of my two mentors on the ship, showed me around some of the ship systems I’ll be helping to maintain. We looked at the ship multibeam sonar, the TOPAS system, the pCO2 system and the seawater inflow system. These systems operate at all times on the ship, gathering data whenever the system is underway.

As the upcoming cruise will be researching nitrogen fixation and primary productivity of waters in the Arctic, the seawater inflow system will be super important. Scientists will continuously measure the nutrients and gasses of this seawater. The researchers will also utilize a CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth) rosette and an ADCP (acoustic doppler current profiler) to help gauge nutrients throughout the water column and to help gauge the related currents. As marine technicians, we will be supporting all of these instruments.

I am excited for the actual research cruise to get underway! All in all, I have really enjoyed being at sea so far. There really is something amazing about being surrounded by a vast expanse of blue, blue water on all sides. Alaska was also really beautiful! Well, onward to Nome, and then onto the Juranek cruise!