Category: USCGC Healy Page 9 of 12

My second week on the USCGC Healy has drawn to a close with even more great learning experiences and moments of awe!

It began with us on-station and hard at work with the mooring retrievals.  The Woods Hole science party had now fallen into a rhythm and began to really crank through the long days of deck work recovering and deftly securing the instrumentation of the deep sea moorings.  We in turn continued with our twice daily CTD casts, also finding our own swing.   With each cast, I became more and more comfortable with the software and the routines involved with prepping, cleaning and storing the rosette.  We did receive word from the Scripps Institute that because we were not firing any of the Niskin bottles (used for collecting water samples) we should remove them from the carousel.  This would save any needless stress and strain placed upon them when descending to significant depth.   Since most of our casts were done in 3500 to 4000 meters, we complied and removed them.   We then had to place three 100 pound weights on the cage to compensate for the missing Niskin bottles.   Sending it down too light could cause it to tumble and tangle in the winch wire, so the addition of these weights would avert any such calamity.

This was also were I encountered the fantastic sense of humor of my coastguard shipmates!  During a certain evening CTD cast, they secured a rubber chicken (we named him, Steve…., I don’t know why) to the cage and sent him down 3900 meters.  Steve happily came back to us unharmed.  It made for a fantastic photo that I will forever treasure.  The whole CTD crew are an awesome group of people and have really added loads of laughter to all of the learning that I have done.  Apparently, another tradition I was able to participate in, was the “cup cast”.   This occurs when the entire crew decorates 20 oz. cups and then secures them in a dive bag to be sent down to the depths.  Cups colored with names, hand drawn flags, messages, you name it, become compressed at those depths.  Reduced to the size of a shot glass is how the once-20 oz. cups emerged from the dark ocean floor.  With all their glorious artwork intact and unmarred.  I guess they make fine Christmas tree ornaments.  It easily made for the most colorful CTD cast I’d ever worked on.  Like I said, a truly great group of people.

Week two also saw my first project come to full fruition.  I did vaguely mention these projects in my previous blog installment, but allow me to elaborate on the first of these.  The week past, Mike Coons (one of my supervising techs) had assigned me a project where I would install a float switch/alarm in the overflow sink of the ships Flow Through system.  The Flow Through system is common on many ships and is basically (so my mom will be able to read this) where a ship intakes sea water and pipes it through a series of sensor instrumentation, such as: a Fluorometer (measures chlorophyll and phosphorus), an air-seawater equilibrator (a holding tank for the PCO2 system), a dissolved O2 sensor (oxygen) and a flowmeter.   These all provide real-time water condition data constantly to the lab.  Water flows through these sensors and spills into a large 6 foot trough, which resembles an elongated industrial wash sink.

The problem with this set up is that water is constantly running through the system at a relatively high volume and once the ship enters the arctic, there is a potential for it to turn into slurry.  Even though it is running swiftly, as it cycles through, it often slows down enough in a section called the de-bubbler where it may quickly solidify.  This in turn can clog the system causing the slurry to build up in the sink and eventually leading to a spill-over into the hallway.  The float switch, by design, will trigger an alarm far before it ever reaches the point of flood and give the technician time to remedy the impediment.

I wish to note that when installing the termination strip into the control box some considerable modification to the plastic had to be performed.  This required the use of a Dremel which is, next to a soldering iron, my favorite tool of all time!

So after wiring in a converter to step the voltage down from 10 to 5 volts and also adding a pull-down resistor to the original circuit design, it was time to permanently install the float switch into the sink.  Now, for the layman, this could best be described as taking a small version of the float you would see in your own toilet tank and bolting it to the side of the wash sink in your basement.  (Providing you have a basement.  But I think you know what I mean.)  This was easier said than done.  This part of the project fought me every step of the way.  The cordless drill I grabbed did not have the proper bit or the power to penetrate the aluminum sheet splashboard that attached to the wall.  After swapping out for the proper drill and bit, I easily punched holes in it and was able to fit the bolts.  However, securing the bolts was a completely different story.  If I had any moments of this internship on video, this would definitely be in the comedy section.  After carefully choosing the materials and meticulously measuring everything, I somehow managed to get my arm stuck in between the aluminum sheet backboard and the unistrut of the bulkhead!!!   Yes.  It was a very tight fit and I had cleverly worked my arm back there and had no trouble securing the bolts.  However, during this, I had unwittingly wriggled my arm in there so far that neither my elbow nor wrist could seem to remember which way to bend in reverse.  Removing it was going to be quite a trick.   Now, it was only stuck for a couple of minutes but with that section of hallway being the main thoroughfare from the labs to the galley and cabin ladders, it seemed like an eternity.   I was very visible.  The last thing I wanted was everyone strolling by snickering at the intern!  I actually played it very cool and made it look like it was part of the task, but inside my head, I wanted to crawl in a hole.  As the clock ticked, I patiently, covertly choreographed it free of it’s entrapment.  And with that, the USCGC Healy had a new float switch.   The next day, Mike received the coding from STARC and our display in the lab had a new warning light!!  Project successfully completed!  Leaving only a tiny dent in my ego.  And this is how we learn, right?  Absolutely.

Last Wednesday morning, I had just rolled out of my rack when the ship piped, “Two polar bears off the port rail!!”   I excitedly grabbed my boots and threw them on.  I started out the door and realized I forgot my phone (for pictures), so I retrieved it.  I started out the door and realized, I wasn’t wearing pants, so I kicked off my boots and threw on some pants.  With boots back on, I headed out to the rail and there, swimming beside the ship were a mother and her cub!  Incredible!!!  I could not believe my eyes.  Breakfast had just been served so I am assuming they smelled food and approached the ship.  I’ve seen so many new and astounding things on this cruise but this took the cake.  Polar bears in the wild.  I’ve only seen them on television.  They were now moving away from the Healy but apparently somewhere between my phone retrieval and my pants they were once right beside the ship!!  I snapped so many pictures and then just watched them in awe.  Everyone was.  In all the surrounding conversation I suddenly heard someone say, “They won’t make it.”  My elation immediately crashed into an awful gut twist when I realized we were out almost 250 miles from any land and about 150 from the ice.  What were they doing out here so far?  I sadly watched them turn and head away from the vessel.  Like a somber parting glance, the mother looked over her shoulder one more time and swam away.  Cub in tow.  It impacted me heavily.  In all my life I’ve never watched a creature so resolutely turn and head for impending doom.  All day long I had the worst feeling.  Until at dinner, I spoke with one of the science party who obviously knew a lot more about polar bears than I and he assured me that not only are they incredibly buoyant but they’re also known to swim hundreds of miles.  I do know that bears are formidable, stout creatures.  And being who I am, I simply chose to believe that they made it and are enjoying a meal of seal meat and doing what makes polar bears happy.   The gift of seeing them in their element was just too amazing for me to think otherwise.

A truly profound week indeed.

My first week on the Healy has concluded and WHAT a week it was!  I realize this post has an unusual title, however as you read on, it’s meaning will reveal itself.

Having only spoken to Brett Hembrough on the phone twice, I was a little nervous to meet everyone as I arrived in Dutch Harbor.  However, the second I met everyone on the STARC team, I began to relax.  All the outgoing and incoming techs had just wrapped up their daily meeting and took me out to dinner.  It was so interesting to learn how each of them, with their varying levels of experience and expertise had found their ways into this career.  Standing around a bonfire pit fashioned from an old crab pot was just the kind of meet and greet I enjoy.  As a fan of the television show, Deadliest Catch, I also found no small amount of humor in it.  After the bonfire, they showed me around the ship and the lab that would serve as home base throughout the cruise.  We also managed to get in a little sight-seeing.  The entire island is littered with bunkers, gun mounts and pill boxes still intact from WWII.  Being a huge WWII buff, I was completely thrilled to explore them as well as, walk right up to some of the crab boats that are featured on Deadliest Catch!!  The most powerful event of this day was a trip up into the mountainous area of Dutch.  There, with my brand new friends, I was able to scatter some of my father’s ashes over this breath-taking view of the ocean.  My dad was stationed in Alaska during the Korean War and forever commented on how it was one of his favorite places he had ever seen.  It completely defies words what this meant.  Simply put.  It was an amazing day!

We then departed Dutch Harbor and set about prepping all the gear and instrumentation for the cruise.  Activating the many systems that we use for data collection suddenly made the lab come alive.  Starting the echosounder, ADCP, multi-beam sonar, the MET (which displays all pertinent navigational data and much more).  We began the task of readying the lab.  We had barely made the turn northward at Priest Rock when suddenly the ADCP went absolutely haywire!

ADCP stands for acoustic Doppler current profiler and it, for the layman, basically provides data for the currents up and down the water column.  In other words if you had a tower made of water and each floor had a current, it would report data on the currents of each floor.  It’s important for many reasons, however, as explained by tech Liz Ricci, our most exigent need was that it also works in concert with the multi-beam sonar, in respect to fine-tuning it.  It aids the sonar by better focusing the pings.  In other words, it works like the focus feature on a camera, making the sonar image far more accurate.  So, its absence was a huge problem.

Though I knew what it was, I had never worked with an ADCP before but was so pleased when the first task was to check the fiber connections and boxes.  You see, after several days of acronyms and terminology pretty much overwhelming me, they mentioned fiber optics!!!  Finally!!!  Something I know.  So I dug right in, checking and cleaning ST connectors and checking the serial to fiber converter boxes.  However, no matter what combination of swapping cables and power cycling and re-routing we tried,  nothing seemed to eliminate the check sum errors that were printing on the display.  It was one of those strange moments, where you walk into the room and everyone is staring at the display screen scratching their heads in puzzlement.  Not wanting to be left out, I started scratching my head too.  Just to fit in.

(if that joke didn’t play, I promise to fire my writers upon returning to Dutch!).  It took several shifts (two days worth), with a new updated report at each shift change and all three techs plus myself to finally solve this mystery.  At one point, so many different things had been tried at different times, by different technicians that we went to a white dry-erase marker board and just laid it out.  When trouble-shooting, you begin with what actually IS working and whittle it down until you find the culprit.  As it turned out, technician Mike Coons, during the midnight shift, took a guess that although the fiber to serial converters were shown to work, perhaps that particular brand didn’t function well with the ADCP’s baud rate (rate of data transfer) so he swapped them out with another brand.   And VIOLA!!!!  It worked and the Healy once again was sailing with a functioning ADCP.  It was one of the finest examples of problem-solving and teamwork I’ve ever witnessed.  These techs are rock stars.  I’m going to learn so much!!

Now with that dilemma past, we settled in and I was assigned several projects: 1. Continue the improvement of the lanyards for the Niskin water sampling bottles and 2, Develop, rig, test and install a float switch overflow alarm on the sink for the ships Flo-Thru system.  I was excited to do both.  The previous intern had developed a great manual for the specs on the Niskin lanyards and I found it massively helpful.  I began experimenting with them on extra Niskin bottles as time permitted.

Once on station, the Woods Hole Institute scientists began the recovery of several deep sea moorings that had been submerged as deep as 4000 meters for an entire year.   These are terribly impressive feats of science.  They sent a single acoustic ping signal down to a release and a buoy appeared within minutes.  The buoy was recovered by the coastguard in a zodiac small boat and winched aboard.  This is a slow process as these moorings are almost 2 miles in length and contain almost 50 hydrophones, current sensor packs and many other types of oceanographic equipment.  An incredible amount of data to retrieve.  It was truly a sight to see, watching them run that deck with amazing precision and care.

We also began the CTD casts, which I’ve been chomping at the bit to get started.  In an attempt to become more familiar with what I discovered to be an extremely prevalent aspect of the marine tech field, I built a very small, inexpensive (by comparison) CTD my final semester at school.  Since boarding Healy, I’ve been anticipating these operations with a great deal of excitement.  Crawling all over the rosette, taping it up and checking the harness and bottles was the very thing I had been waiting for all summer.  Now the time was here and the first casts went perfectly.  Actually learning the software for it filled a hole in my experience that simply building one couldn’t do.

Now to the title of this post!  It must be said, that the Arctic is a magical place.  In our transit this far north, adding to the thrill of crossing the Arctic Circle for the first time, I observed a handful of events that were brand new to me.  From passing a remote island with an eerie ghost town on it, to seeing the tail of a whale slap the water with a crack!!  We also passed two islands, one belonging to the U.S. and the other to Russia!!!  All this and a walrus in the same day!   But it was that night that wrote the title to this post.  That night shift, I stayed late working on lanyards when Croy Carlin (the tech on duty) told me the auroras were out.  We went out onto the helo deck and what I saw in the sky was the most amazing display of light I can ever remember witnessing.  Being from northern Michigan, I had seen auroras before but nowhere near as brilliant!!  I just stood there completely speechless as clouds moved in and out, enhancing the effect.  I then went down to the ships rail and noticed bio-luminescent diatoms glowing like little dancing spots along the side of the ship.  Like a dancefloor with a disco ball spinning, these green spots swirled and the sky just flashed and flashed to the music of Healy’s whistling ventilation fans and ever-constant rumbling power plant.  It painted this incredibly stunning, living portrait that froze time itself.  Nature’s discotech.

I am sitting in the pinestead reef hotel on Grand Traverse Bay on Lake Michigan nervously waiting for when it’s time to head to the airport.  I’m so excited I cannot sleep.  I’ve waited for this all summer.  I’ve always wanted to see Alaska and am chomping at the bit to start working with all that glorious gear.  I’ve been reviewing notes sent via email from Brett Hemborough and am attempting to become as familiar with the goals of this cruise.

I also recieved some great advise from Royhan, the current MATE intern aboard.  Thank you so much.  I guess I will see them both tomorrow afternoon.  So excited!

Currently, the ship is positioned on the last Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) line southwest of St Lawrence Island. This will be the last area where science sampling will take place and the cruise will come to an end after we arrive in Dutch Harbor on the 15th. We have been transiting for the past few days after completing the “wheel spokes” shaped sampling sites. This past week, I have been staying busy finishing up my manuals relating to the Niskin Bottle lanyards and ICE Imagery. I also created a graphical manual on deploying the CTD aboard the USCGC Healy for future reference during different cruises. I have finished my tool in ArcMap, it can be used to help future navigational operations allowing the user to convert multiple satellite images of sea ice into a single blended image.

Also this week I learned how to use a Micro scanner which is used to map out network connections. An Ethernet cable can be connected to the Micro scanner and then a wand like device creates a tone if touched to the connected Ethernet cable allowing me to identify cables by sound. I used this device to trace out network connections of cables in Aft Con (the aft bridge) as well as the scoreboard cables. The Micro scanner also displays the length of the connected Ethernet cable.

Earlier this week, I continued to assist with science operations on deck, helping collect sediment and zooplankton samples. I also disassembled the magnetic carousel, which triggers the Niskin bottles to close, on the back up CTD rosette. After disassembling, I cleaned different components of the carousel. In addition, I learned about the components of a Benthos Pinger which was used on the multi-Haps core in the deep sampling sites which were over 1000m deep. I disassembled one of the pingers, to clean the parts and check the batteries. The Benthos Pinger creates a sound, similar to sonar, which bounces off the ocean floor. Using a transducer, we can listen to the sound and calculate the distance from the seafloor to the location of the package (deployed equipment). The Knudsen echo sounder is normally used during equipment deployment to determine the distance from the ship’s location to the bottom. If the winch operator were to wire out too much, in compensation for the ocean’s current which angles the package, then the possibility of entanglement between the cable and package increases. Between monitoring the Benthos Pinger and the wire tension, we successfully retrieved multiple cores from the depths of the Arctic ocean.

On the deepest CTD cast of the cruise, around 3000m, we sent down pillow cases full of Styrofoam cups to be shrunk under the pressure. We decorated them before sending them down, and now I have a cool souvenir from this trip. With less than a week left of my internship I am wishing it was longer. I have gained a lot of experience and have made professional connections which will hopefully lead to a career.

Photo Credit: Amanda Norcross

With the cruise under full swing there has been science 24/7 around the clock, I have drifted towards the noon to midnight or later shift. Most people have 12 hour or 8 hour shifts, the weather was much colder and more windy earlier this week, currently it has been foggy and less cold as we are northwest of Barrow. As shifts rotate, I am constantly seeing new coast guard faces. Most of my time recently has been consumed with GIS related projects. I have been collaborating with the sediment scientists to create a map of past cruises, comparing past sampled site’s biomass in grams per carbon and overlaying the current cruise sites. I have been assisting with the sediment scientists helping sample sediment from the Van Veen grabs, and collecting live specimen from them as well. In addition, I have continued to assist with the bongo net toes, seeing some interesting specimens such as copepods, arctic cod, prickleback, other fish larvae and jellyfish.

This week I aided in repairing the Salinometer; removing, cleaning, and replacing the conductivity cell as well as calibrating the system. I also disassembled and reassembled a Benthos Pinger, making sure it is in working condition for deeper water Haps Core samples. On average, most of the area we have been in has been no deeper that 100 meters. Today we have been in waters over 1000m deep. For the deep-water core sampling Brett and I securely attached the Benthos Pinger allowing for a more accurate depth reading to help successfully retrieve cores.

I have also been monitoring the CTD casts and ensuring the casts go smoothly. I have learned how to clean fiber optic cables and create fiber optic connections thanks to STARC’s fiber optic crash course. Currently, I am optimizing some of the niskin bottles and writing a manual on the proper specifications. In addition, I have some GIS manuals to write up on how to mosaic and import ICE imagery into the QPS system so they can be overlaid with the live location of the ship. I have been attending the nightly planning meetings with the head of the departments, usually nothing interesting happens but it is nice to be involved and see how the operations are planned.

It looks like no ice will be seen on this trip, global warming is very visible compared to previous summers. Scientists have shown me pictures of walruses and polar bears with plenty of ice around from previous years at the same location we are currently at. In addition, earlier this week we rendezvoused with the two sail drones, there is a picture going around with a seal catching a ride aboard one of them. One of the Coasties convinced me to hit the gym with him earlier this week and I am still sore. I am still learning a lot every day, my mentor is a great teacher and my co-workers are always willing to explain present issues to me.

They filled the ice cream freezer with ice cream bars, it’s hard for me to stay away from all the Blue Bunny treats! For Labor Day yesterday, I attended the celebration in the hangar, enjoying some snacks and games with both scientists and crew. The northern lights were visible a few nights ago, but sadly I was not awake to see them, I am hoping I will get to see them before the end of the cruise. Time seems to be flying by with only about 10 days until we return to Dutch Harbor.

Photo Credit: Amanda Norcross

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

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

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,

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.

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.