This post is part of a series chronicling the September 12-15, 2019 research cruise on board the R/V Oceanus, Oregon State University’s largest research vessel. This cruise was funded by Oregon Legislative funds through the Oceangoing Research Vessel Program. Coordination and additional support was provided by Oregon Sea Grant and the Oregon Coast STEM Hub.
Follow the adventures of the students, educators, and researchers who are on board engaging in #STEMatSea.
By Ava Owens
Imagine climbing into a small, six-person boat in the middle of the ocean. The ocean is rolling you with small whitecaps licking the underside of what is deemed the ‘Red Rocket’. This isn’t a rescue, escape or recon mission, but rather a research one.
At around eleven miles off-shore, whale watching on the flying bridge was busy. Humpbacks were being spotted left and right by their fluking and breaching. Marine mammal spotting surveys were happening on the flying bridge, cataloging information such as species, numbers of animals, their distance from the boat and their activities (feeding, breaching, etc.) Something you cannot do from the flying bridge is identify individual animals, so we donned our finest waterproof gear, hardhats, a camera with a telephoto lens, GPS and a notepad to write down sightings. We carried these items over the side of the Oceanus and into the Red Rocket. What we were looking for were identifying features on a whale’s body. The pattern on a humpback whale’s flukes (the underside of their tail) is unique to itself only, just like our fingerprints are unique to each of us. This is the reason for the camera, as researchers wanted to identify and document specific animals base on these patterns.
Launching the “Red Rocket”
The Red Rocket, once untied from the Oceanus, took off to follow some whales seen by the spotters on the flying bridge. The humpbacks we were following were about three times the size of our boat, meaning the experience was exhilarating and terrifying all at once. Once we got close enough for that crucial I.D. photo, it was off to find another whale.
Lots of our time spent in the Red Rocket was waiting to spot something. After that first initial whale I.D., the flying bridge had a lull. We used this time not just to search, but to mark the whale sighting on the GPS as well as write notes about the whales behavior, number of whales and what pictures were of that specific whale.
On one of our missions further away from the boat, a pair of humpbacks dove in a feeding behavior. They dive down and stay down for three to four minutes, feeding. We hadn’t gotten a picture of those whales yet, so we stayed in what is called a fluke print. When a whale flukes, it creates this still pattern in the water that disrupts the normal ocean waves. Chances are these two whales would resurface in the same general area, meaning the fluke print is a great place to wait and watch for the pair.
Looking for whales from the flying bridge
These I.D. photographs are extremely important for whale researchers as they can track individual whales’ migration patterns. These surveys are a great non-invasive way to catalogue individuals as well as estimate a total number of whales seen in one area. One of our researchers aboard has a permit to get closer to marine mammals, as it is illegal to approach any marine mammal without a research permit. Even with that research permit, there are still strict rules to follow to make sure no one disrupts the whales.
My time aboard the R/V Oceanus is my first experience with marine animal related hands-on research. My usual forte is marine education, giving public speeches to bridge the divide between people and the sea. I am so thrilled to be a part of this research cruise and to have more hands-on experience that I can relate to while speaking to the public. Lots of what I am passionate about has to do with microplastics in our ocean, so coming face to face with massive filter feeders that are getting plastic with their meals has given me even more insight on how we need to change our ways for the better.
Students relaxing in the ship’s lounge. Left to right: Ashley Brust, Genevieve Coblentz-Strong, Avarie Owens (blog post author), and Abbie Kirby.
Ava Owens is a high school student from Waldport, Oregon. She attends Baker Web Academy and is dual-enrolled at Oregon Coast Community College. Ava is also a youth volunteer at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, and is a member of one of two Aquarium teams competing in the “Salmon Bowl”, Oregon’s regional National Ocean Sciences Bowl competition.
This post is part of a series chronicling the September 12-15, 2019 research cruise on board the R/V Oceanus, Oregon State University’s largest research vessel. This cruise was funded by Oregon Legislative funds through the Oceangoing Research Vessel Program. Coordination and additional support was provided by Oregon Sea Grant and the Oregon Coast STEM Hub.
Follow the adventures of the students, educators, and researchers who are on board engaging in #STEMatSea.
By Tracy Crews
Four high school students, one high school teacher, one community college student, and three graduate student will accompany OSU researchers on this cruise that will study seabird and marine mammal distribution off the Oregon Coast and correlate sightings with prey abundance and oceanographic data. On this trip, we hope to deploy drones to help quantify sightings and document marine mammal behavior, and to launch a smaller boat from the research vessel to collect fecal samples from whales. In addition, students will work with benthic ecologists to collect box core samples to learn about oceanographic sediments found in various locations and the organisms living within.
This cruise is not just an opportunity for researchers to collect valuable information about Oregon’s marine ecosystems and the diverse organisms that call these areas home, but an amazing opportunity for students to participate in hands-on, career connected learning. While serving as part of the science party, they get a unique glimpse into life at sea and the lives of the female researchers leading this expedition.
Mobilizing
Wednesday was a busy day for researchers, their graduate students, and the ship’s crew aboard the R/V Oceanus, as they worked together to “mobilize” for their four day STEM research cruise. Oceanographic equipment was loaded, tested, and tied down. Duffle bags full of boots, rain gear, gloves, cameras, and binoculars were hauled up the ship’s gangway and down multiple flights of ladders to small staterooms with bunk beds that would serve as our homes for the next five days. Packing for a research cruise is much more intense than packing for vacation. It’s not just the extra amount of gear required to live and work comfortably at sea, but the knowledge that once you leave the dock there is no way to replace what is missing or what might break. So we pack multiples of almost everything.
Getting Underway
On Thursday, students and other cruise participants spent the first hours of the morning going through safety drills, donning life jackets and immersion suits and learning how to use a fire hose.
Once safety drills were complete, the ship left the dock and headed out under Newport’s Yaquina Bridge to the open ocean!
Coming up next: Learning to conduct research at sea on the very first day of the cruise.
Tracy Crews manages Oregon Sea Grant’s marine education program and is responsible for coordinating the R/V Oceanus shipboard experience for students and teachers.
NEWPORT,
Ore. – High school and college students and a science teacher will learn to
conduct research at sea Sept. 12-15 aboard a ship operated by Oregon State
University.
The
three high schoolers boarding the Oceanus
are from Newport, Waldport and North Bend. The teacher, Carisa Ketchen, is from
Toledo Jr/Sr High School. They will be joined by two undergraduates from OSU
and Oregon Coast Community College as well as three OSU graduate students. The
graduate students – two of whom have been on research cruises before – will
serve as mentors for the other students.
Participants
will learn about marine-related careers, what it’s like to live and work at
sea, and how to work as a team to accomplish a variety of research tasks, said Tracy Crews, who manages Oregon Sea Grant’s marine education program and is coordinating
everyone’s participation in the cruise.
“We’re
trying to get the next generation of researchers excited to join the ranks,”
she added.
The
lead researchers will be Leigh Torres, a marine mammals scientist with
Oregon Sea Grant and the OSU Extension Service; Sarah Henkel a seafloor ecologist in OSU’s
College of Science; and Jessica Porquez, a seabird researcher at OSU.
The
students will learn to collect sediment and animals from the ocean floor at a
future wave energy test site off the coast of Newport. The goal is to collect
baseline data to see how conditions might change over time after the wave
energy devices are operating.
Coastal students and teachers participating on the 2018 research cruise deploy a CTD.
The students will also learn to collect plankton and to deploy equipment that records oceanographic data at different depths. They will also identify and count seabirds and marine mammals off the Oregon coast, with the aim of correlating their distribution to oceanic conditions and the location of prey. Additionally, the students will learn how researchers use camera-equipped drones to film whales. Torres hopes to launch a small boat from the Oceanus to collect whale poop. The samples would later be analyzed in a lab to understand the whales’ diet and stress levels.
“Since blue whales are being seen in significant numbers, we are hoping to encounter them in addition to gray whales and humpbacks,” Crews said.
The crew will also launch an unmanned, 5 ½-foot sailboat built and decorated by students at the Career Tech High School in Lincoln City. It contains a GPS unit that will allow students to track the boat’s location. The aim is to for students to monitor forecasted wave and wind conditions and predict where the boat will go. A note inside with contact information will encourage anyone who might find the boat to correspond with the students at Career Tech.
This will be the third year that faculty with Oregon Sea Grant have led cruises on the Oceanus for students and teachers. Crews and Torres led expeditions in 2016 and 2018.
Andy Bedingfield and Calan Taylor are high school teachers participating in the Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program on board the R/V Atlantis.Below are more selections from their daily journals:
July 23 – Andy
plankton
It is Tuesday at 3:00 PM and my
shift is just starting. We are back on 15 minute shifts on the ISIIS. This is
our high definition camera system that we tow behind the boat and lower and
raise as we travel. There are two jobs when we are running this system, “flying
the ISIIS,” and running the winch. Flying the ISIIS means watching the computer
control panel in the main lab and using the radio to tell the winch operator
out on the back deck whether to pay out cable, haul it in, and how fast. For
instance, I am sitting in the lab typing this and Megan, the PhD student who is
currently flying ISIIS just picked up her radio and said, “winch, lab please
pay out at five zero,” and the winch operator called back, “copy that, paying
out at five zero.” This mean that the ISIIS just got to its minimum depth of 10
meters, and the winch operator needed to stop pulling cable in, reverse the
winch, and start sending it out again so that the ISIIS will start going down
again. Once the ISIIS gets down to its maximum depth of 100 meters, Megan will
call the winch again and have them start hauling in again so that it will start
to rise towards the surface. We did this all night last night from 10:00PM to
3:00AM. You would think this would get monotonous, and it does, but we have
figured out a pretty good system to minimize the boringness of it. We are in
two member teams, and we all work one 15 minute shift per hour. Something seems
to be pretty magic about this schedule. The hours really seem to fly by.
July 24 – Andy
It is 8:00 PM right now,
and the night crew is very happy to be on their last 3:00PM to 3:00AM shift! We
started the night at station #1, which is the closest one to Newport, and we
used all of our data collection methods.
July 24 – Calan
We caught a decent size
squid this morning (roughly 6 inches). I put it in a tank and watched it swim
around for a bit which was fascinating. It’s eye was huge and seemed to be
looking right at me. The biologists assure me that squid intelligence pales in comparison
to octopus but the eyes still freaked me out a bit.
squid have big eyes
July 25 – Calan
There is an artist on the ship named Sarah. She does mixed media that involves lo-fi photography using cyanoprinted photograms. She prints these images onto steel and attempts to represent time in various manners. Today she taught me how to do the photogram process. I made a print of a squid and shrimp that we caught yesterday. Sara gave me the info for a company that sells kits to make the prints. I think kids would get a kick out of it, and I’m pretty sure I’ll include it as part of my curriculum.
July 25 – Andy
Wow, last day of the
cruise! We just have to finish off towing in to Newport, and the science work
will be done for the cruise.
After lunch, the other teacher and I cal had a meeting with two of the principal investigators, Kelly and Bob. I was very impressed with them throughout the cruise, and I really couldn’t speak more highly of them. They were both very nice and helped Cal and I learn a lot of marine science. We had a great discussion about how Cal and I can create a curriculum based on the science that they do, and we are excited to get started.
“We had a great discussion about how Cal and I can create a curriculum based on the science that they do, and we are excited to get started.”
– Andy Bedingfield on the last day of the cruise
R/V Atlantis
Calan Taylor teaches Physics, Chemistry, and Physical Science at
Bandon High School and Andy Bedingfield teaches Science at Taft 7-12
High School in Lincoln City. They are part of the Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program on the R/V Atlantis cruise taking place July 13-27, 2019.
Andy Bedingfield and Calan Taylor are high school teachers participating in the Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program on board the R/V Atlantis.Below are more selections from their daily journals:
July 21 – Calan
I learned quite a bit today. Had a couple nice conversations with Bob Cowen relating to patterns in upwellings. ISIIS was picking up some interesting bifurcations in the fluorescence which may have been a malfunctioning sensor, or could possibly be an indication of more mixing and the beginning of an upwelling. The strong northerlies that have brought on the seasickness the past couple days should start to move surface water out to sea and begin the upwelling process.
I also talked to Kelsie (Who is completing her PhD in Larval Fish Ecology at OSU/Hatfield) About logarithmic relationships between plankton and larger species. She taught me about how and why upwellings generally occur on the west coast of continents and how headlands can create micro-upwellings. She also taught me a lot about the history and current status of marine sanctuaries and reserves in Oregon and Washington.
I find myself taking a lot of my free time trying to think of questions to ask the folks that I’m around on the ship while the opportunity is here. It’s cool to have access to the input of folks that are on the ground, doing the research right now. I’ve been really impressed not only with their knowledge, but also with their openness and willingness to talk/explain their work in a manner that is understandable for the masses. I just wish I could think of more great questions. I’m sure that the moment I’m off the ship, several will come to mind.
July 22 – Andy
It is 9:00 PM. I have been working on the deck for 6 hours already, and I have 6 hours to go. We had great weather today though, and that makes all the difference. Last night we hauled the MOCNESS nets all night. This makes the time go much faster than some of the other things we do, but you are super worn out by the end of your 12 hour shift. The crazy graduate students that I am working with are actually working out for an hour from 3:00AM to 4:00AM and then going to bed. Not me! I am fine with sleeping as long as I can and working out in the morning.
It was a truly stunning
all day today. Many crew members who I have never seen came out of the depths
of the ship to enjoy the sunshine and light wind. At one point, we had a pod of
about 100 dolphins racing the ship and playing in the wake.
Two of my night crew buddies (Megan and Will) and I started brainstorming about how we can create a curriculum based on the Next Generation Science Standards that highlight their work. I showed them the standards and an example High Adventure Science module, and they had some great ideas. We made plans to work on something when we get back to shore.
One last highlight from last night, and a memory that I would like to keep: It was 3:00AM and we were just finishing our shift. We had been pulling the MOCNESS net system all night, and we finished with one final tow. My job was to put the samples we collect in jars in the lab. When I got done with that, I went back on deck to see how the crew was doing re-setting the net. When I got out there, Will, a huge 6’6” hulk of a human was sitting on a bucket sewing up a huge tear in the net. All the rest of the crew, Rick, Megan and Blair were sitting with him, and the almost full moon was lighting up the scene. I asked, “what can I do to help,” and Rick said, “why don’t you grab your guitar and serenade us?” He was joking, but I never pass up an opportunity to play for people, so we closed out the night with a round of Wagon Wheel by Bob Dylan under the moon cruising about 50 miles west of Newport at 3:00AM.
Calan Taylor teaches Physics, Chemistry, and Physical Science at
Bandon High School and Andy Bedingfield teaches Science at Taft 7-12
High School in Lincoln City. They are part of the Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program on the R/V Atlantis cruise taking place July 13-27, 2019.
Andy Bedingfield and Calan Taylor are high school teachers participating in the Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program on board the R/V Atlantis.Below are more selections from their daily journals:
July 19 – Calan
No entry yesterday, seas and wind picked up and I was too close to sea sickness to get onto a computer. The ship is big, the biggest I’ve ever been on at sea. It was blowing 30+ knots by the end of the day yesterday and the combined seas were 8-10 ft. On a seiner or sailboat it would have been challenging conditions. On Atlantis, it was relatively workable. There were definitely a few waves that came over the gunwales and a few crew that ran for the Dramamine…but relative to other boats I’ve worked on, it was smooth.
As far as the science/work, I spent the morning helping set, reset, launch and retrieve the MOCNESS. I sewed a couple holes in the trawl net using needle/thread, and a sailors palm. Shout out to my high school Home Ec Teacher Ms. Haskins for helping me get my sewing license. It’s come in handy out here. I also helped sort, label and process samples from the MOCNESS. One of the most educational parts of the day was talking to Bob Cowen about trends in species diversity in aquatic ecosystems vs terrestrial with relation to latitude. One thing I hadn’t realized was that the tropical regions are filled w/an abundance of genus while the higher latitudes have relatively few genera but many species to fill niches. A good example is rockfish where there are approximately 160 species in the North Pacific alone.
“Shout out to my high school Home Ec Teacher Ms. Haskins for helping me get my sewing license. It’s come in handy out here.”
I haven’t been able to create a blog post for two days now due to the weather. The first night of this weather, they called off operations. When they called off work for the night I was super relieved. I just went back to my bunk where I had spent most of my day. Flat on my back in my bunk is where I deal with the movement the best!
I spent the whole next day in my bunk. When I came down to work at about 9:00PM, we launched ISIIS and towed in up and down the transect all night. I was able to work by staying on the open deck. Our main job during ISIIS tows is to work the winch on the deck, paying out cable and hauling it back in. This night we were super careful. If someone went over the side in this weather in the dark, there would be very little chance of finding them. In fact one of the scientists went missing last night, and we all went looking for him. After about five minutes, we found him in the bathroom.
Today, the seas are still rough, but only about half as bad. While yesterday, I had to either be flat on my back in my bunk or outside looking at the horizon, today, I have been able to fire up my computer and actually get some work done. Hopefully my body is finally able to handle this movement. People say that seasickness gets better with time, and I hope they are right!
“People say that seasickness gets better with time, and I hope they are right!”
-Andy Bedingfield
Andy Bedingfield on deck
July 20 – Calan
Seas have started to calm after two days of rougher weather. I hadn’t taken sea sickness pills since I was a teenager but I caved yesterday as did the majority of the crew. I think the combination computer screen time, diesel/hydraulic fluid smells, not being able to see much, and the unfamiliar roll of a big ship combined to put me on the sick side. The good thing about sea sickness pills is it makes it easy to go to sleep. My best night yet in that regard.
July 21 –
Andy
My watch last night was very, very, very much better than the night before. The seas and wind had calmed down quite a bit, and I had zero seasickness symptoms. On top of that, we were running the MOCNESS net system all night. In addition, I’m finally getting used to being up until 3 in the morning.
Calan Taylor teaches Physics, Chemistry, and Physical Science at Bandon High School and Andy Bedingfield teaches Science at Taft 7-12 High School in Lincoln City. They are part of the Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program on the R/V Atlantis cruise taking place July 13-27, 2019.
Andy Bedingfield is a high school teacher participating in the Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program on board the R/V Atlantis. See other posts in this series using the navigation tools at right.
Heading Out to Sea, July 13-16, 2019 By Andy Bedingfield
Andy Bedingfield
July 13-14, 2019
Lisa Blank, Director of the Oregon Coast STEM Hub, recruited me for this mission and will be helping me turn the experience into something I can share with my students. On Saturday morning, July 13th, Lisa and I got a tour of the R/V Atlantis, learned about the science, and starting shooting videos to potentially use as part of our curriculum.
The ship was docked in Newport Oregon for two set-up days. In the chemistry world, you get to set up your lab space and use it for years to do your research. These scientists have just 48 hours to get all of their equipment on board and set up their gear, and only two weeks to collect their data. According to one of the graduate students, it is common for a graduate student to collect enough data in these two weeks to complete a PhD.
This puts a ton of pressure on everyone to make sure they bring everything that they need, and that it all works flawlessly during the cruise. That said, nothing ever works flawlessly, and a big part of their job is to stay calm and fix issues as they arise. For instance, Jami, the lab manager, and her sister Megan (a PhD physicist) have been working really hard to get the pressure sensor to work on the multiple opening net system. This one of the main pieces of equipment they will be using on this cruise, so if they can’t get it to work, we will be in big trouble.
Since the ship wasn’t scheduled to depart until 8:00AM on the 15th, I was able to go home after I got my gear stowed on board and had lunch with the crew. I was really grateful to be able to spend one more night on shore because I have two year old daughter and every minute with her is precious. Also, my in-laws flew in from Texas to help my wife take care of Fox while she works. Since I could go home, I was able to spend time with them. Without their help, I wouldn’t have been able to go on this cruise, so I am super grateful.
July 15
I arrived on the RV Atlantis at about 06:00AM. Not
much was going on, and there was a light rain. Then, slowly but surly the
science crew started to wake up. By 7:00AM Jami and Megan were trying to get
the pressure sensor system on the net system to work. This must be super
stressful for them! This system is pretty old, Jami was having to take pictures
and screen shots to send to the only guy in the world who really knows how it
works. Science is always like this, much of your time is spent trying to get
weird and wonky equipment to work so that you can collect the data that you
need to answer the question that you are after.
Just after breakfast, I went up to my stateroom to make a protein smoothie, and I just barely felt a different movement. When I looked out the window, I could see we were making our way to sea. I ran outside to join the crew on the bow of the boat to watch our transit down the Yaquina River and through the bar. The bar is a shallow area of sand that happens anytime a river meets the sea. We had a tugboat lead us out, and he stayed with us for a while as we made our way out to sea. At 9:00AM we had a meeting in the library and spent the next two hours learning about the ins and outs of the ship, safety, how to put on a survival suit, and how to evacuate and get on life boats. At 1:00PM, we had a science team meeting and everyone got to introduce themselves. I found out that starting tomorrow I will be on the night crew, working from 3:00PM till 3:00AM. I’m pretty worried about it, but I’m also excited to push the limits of my body.
For dinner I had some tofu, salad, green beans and asparagus. After dinner, I got my guitar out of my state room. I went down to the main aft deck where they send equipment over the side, parked myself in front of ALVIN, and played my songs. After a couple of songs, the reporter come by and asked me a few questions for his article. Then the artist showed up, and she sang along with me while I played. It was a lovely evening on the deck. We had a bit of south wind and chop through the middle of the day, but that cleared on in the evening.
After playing, I headed back to my stateroom. Cal and I chatted for a while, and then we took a quick tour of the bridge. Two guys were on watch up there, and we had a fun time chatting with them about how they run the ship.
July 16
I start my first watch at 3:00PM today and it will go to 3:00AM the next morning. A lot of people were talking about staying up as late as possible so that they will start adjusting to the night schedule, but I decided to just go to sleep when I was tired knowing that I would probably wake up at my normal 5 to 6. I slept great on the boat, though. We had just a gentle rocking and some nice airflow background noise from the ships operation. I’m sharing my stateroom with Cal, the other teacher on board. He is in the bottom bunk and I am in the top. It is pretty tight, but fine once you lie down. I have trouble getting in my bunk, though, since the roof is so low; there is only about 2.5 feet of vertical space. It is so low that I often hit the roof with my head as I’m turning over in my sleep, making a loud crashing noise. The roof is a metal tile like nothing I have seen and it is sort of like a steel drum if you bash into it in the night.
I woke up about 6:00AM, meditated in my bunk till about 7:00AM, and then wandered the ship until breakfast. During that time Kelly (one of the Principal Investigators) and I ran into each other and had a nice 20 minute chat about education. After tofu, home fries and fruit for breakfast, I made my way onto the aft part of the main deck. When I got there, a few of the science team members and a few of the boat crew members were getting ISIIS (the camera system) ready to be deployed over the side of the ship. I conducted a few interviews of science crew members as they were setting up. They used a two-part system: a crane boom that was operated by one person, and a winch operated by another person. Luckily everything went to plan and they got ISIIS over the side and towing without anyone getting hurt or damaging the equipment. As soon as the instrument was in the water, they began collecting data with the two high resolution cameras on ISIIS. After I finish this sentence, I’m going to go back down and see how things are going.
When I started my watch at 3:00PM they were just stowing the ISIIS on the deck. After that, we got trained on how to set up the CTD (conductivity, temperature and depth) recorder.
The CTD has 24 large plastic tubes that can be opened to collect water samples. To prime it to collect, you have to open up the end caps and set up the automatic closing device. There is a bungee — a really tight one– that runs down the middle of the pipe and is connected to both endcaps. To set up to take samples you pull the end caps off and put a restraining cord on the automatic trigger mechanism. One you drop it over the side, you can tell it to close one of the tubes, and you have a sample of water at that depth.
After that, we set up and lowered the neuston drag net for a
test run. The neuston is the name of any plants or animals in the ocean region
right on the surface. This net looks like a manta ray with a big aluminum
mouth. After about a 5 min drag on the surface at 2 knots or so, we reeled it
in and took a look at what we caught. First off, I was amazed at how much human
detritus we caught, bits of plastic, paper and paint. Even though it was a test run, we still
caught a ton of critters as well. We saw a ton of fish eggs (almost translucent
spheres), and two
baby Velella velella or “by-the-wind-sailors”. The latter are colonial
organisms that have a hard gelatinous top with a sail.
At 9:00PM we did our first official 5-minute neuston haul. It was a great one! They got about five live baby rockfish that were just past larval and moving towards the juvenile stage. After that, we put ISIIS back in the water under a newly-risen full moon. When we started at about 9:45PM the moon was blood red and we all saw a UFO (unidentified flying object). It was a bright light just as the sun was going down and you could only see the moon and a few stars. This bright object –as bright as Saturn –was moving erratically, but on a steady path to the north. I think it was a satellite on a north-south path and the erratic nature of its motion was due to our motion.
Hello everyone, my name is Andy Bedingfield, and the following is a journal style blog of my science adventures at sea on the Research Vessel Atlantis. My goal is to capture what it is like to live and work onboard a scientific research vessel. In My blog posts, I will talk about the science mission we are on as well as what it is like to live, eat and sleep on a moving hunk of steel in the middle of ocean with 50 of your new best friends.
Andy Bedingfield
SETTING THE STAGE, July 13, 2019 By Andy Bedingfield
I am a high school science teacher, and I was lucky to receive a research experience for teachers (RET) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to have an at-sea experience on the R/V Atlantis. My goal for this trip is to learn as much as I can about the science and lifestyle that goes on in an NSF funded oceanographic research cruise. When I get back to land I will turn everything I know into a learning experience for middle and high school students.
We are going to sea for two weeks to study plankton and neuston. Anything that is alive and drifts through the ocean is considered plankton. This word comes from the Greek word for wanderer.
Plankton can range from single cell viruses and bacteria, to tiny
plants, to tiny complex animals like baby fish. If it is in the ocean,
is alive, and can’t swim against the ocean’s current, it is plankton.
Neuston (one of the new words I learned on this cruise), have pretty
much the same definition, but with the caveat that they only live on the
surface of the water right were the ocean meets the air. The word
neuston comes from the Greek word for swimmer.
At its heart, science is about answering questions by collecting data (information) and then using that data to figure out how something works. The big question that we are trying answer on this cruise is:
How are the plankton and neuston populations faring as humans have a larger and larger impact on the environment?
To accomplish this, we need fully understand their lifecycles
and look for long term changes over the years.
We are collecting data in two locations: off Newport, Oregon, and off Trinidad Head in Northern California. In both of these locations, we sail east and west along a line known as a transect. Scientific studies have been done on these same transects for years. This is a good example of scientists controlling variables. If we just wondered around the ocean collecting samples in different places, it would be really hard to see if there was an increase or a decrease in plankton populations over time.
Visit Ship Tracker to see how the R/V Atlantis is moving along a transect line.
There are five ways we will be collecting data on this research cruise:
MOCNESS (multiple opening and closing net and environmental sampling system): a multiple opening net system that allows us to catch our study subjects and bring them on board. With this system there are two sets of nets with different mesh sizes, MOC 1 is 333 microns, MOC 4 is 1000 microns. In addition to the nets this system collects data about the water such as temperature, salinity, and depth. This device is lowered to 100 meters while the ship is moving very slowly, about 2 miles an hour. When we send it over the side, the first net, called net zero is open. Once the net gets to 100 meters, we close net zero and open net one, and then bring it up to 75 meters. At 75 meters we close net one and open net two, and then bring it up to 50 meters, and so on until we reach the surface. Once we get the net system back on board, which in itself is a complex and dangerous operation, we take the all of the samples on board sort them into jars and preserve them in ethanol for later analysis.
ISIIS (in situ ichthyoplankton imaging system): an underwater high definition camera system that we tow through the water. In plain language this is an underwater camera system (imaging system) designed to take pictures of baby fish (ichthyoplankton) where they live (in situ).
A neuston net system: a single opening net system that sits right on the surface to collect neuston as we tow it through the water. Neuston are what the we call any plants or animals the inhabit the surface of the water. We tow this through the water at a slow speed. I sits right on top as it is towed and looks like a manta ray.
CTD (conductivity, temperature, and depth) device: this gets dropped straight over the side while we are stationary. This system is measuring these parameters in real time, and it also has 24 bottles that can be open and closed automatically. This way scientists can collect water samples at different depths and bring them back to the lab for analysis.
A vertical net: this also looks like a wind sock. This net is dropped down to 100 meters and pulled back up to the surface while the ship is stationary.
The data collected by these instruments will help answer big Science Questions posed by researchers. One question is:
What is the interaction between the different types of plankton and their food (which is also mostly other plankton)?
The specialized MOCNESS has multiple nets that can be opened and closed, enabling the crew to take samples at different depths. This issue with this method, though, is that if you drag the net for a 1000 meters, you smash everything in that stretch together. The baby fish can’t really swim against ocean currents and neither can their food. They are both at the mercy of the current. This fact determines if we consider them plankton or not. When you pull up your net, you may see food and baby fish, but you don’t really know if the food was close enough to the baby fish for them to eat it.
That’s where the ISIIS system comes into play. This is basically a high definition camera system we tow behind the boat which takes photo images of plankton in the water column. In the old days, graduate students used to look at thousands of images and count critters by hand, but now this is done automatically using a very smart computer system. With this system, researchers know not only how many baby fish are in the water and how much food, but where they are located in relation to each other.
My job on board will be two help the science crew (a mix of college professors, post docs, graduate students and one undergraduate student) work on the deck collecting the samples and running the equipment outlined above.
TWO high school teachers from the Oregon Coast are participating in the Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program on board the R/V Atlantis this month. See other posts in this series
Not only are two high school science teachers from the Oregon Coast on board the R/V Atlantis right now, but also the managing editor for the Newport News Times. The newspaper is running a series of reports about the research cruise as it unfolds, and the first article features Taft High School science teacher Andy Bedingfield:
The scientific stakes are high, but Bedingfield’s mission is more personal and comes down to the individual Taft High School chemistry students who he will try to draw into a net of wonder.
Calan Taylor is a high school teacher participating in the Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program on board the R/V Atlantis. See other posts in this series using the navigation tools at right.
DAY THREE July 16, 2019 By Calan Taylor
Second night at sea went well. I always sleep better on
boats. The coziness of the rack (that’s what a bed is called on a working ship)
coupled with the rhythm of the waves rocks you like a baby in a womb. I ended
yesterday with a workout at the “Gym,” which is a modified storage room in the
bow of the ship. I thought I’d be alone, but was actually joined by Jami (the
lab director from Hatfield), her sister (a nuclear physicist from the Sandia
Lab in Albuquerque), and Ronnie (the Bosun/Deck Boss) They suggested that we
all do “a light insanity workout together”. It went about how you’d
expect…not light. The interesting part was doing burpees and plyometrics on
the bow of a moving ship. After dinner I watched part of Good Will Hunting
with some of the crew, then went for a tour of the Bridge which was impressive
and expansive. The first time I’ve ever seen the bridge on a big ship. Fun
fact? The 278ft ship was built in Mississippi in the mid 90’s, gets 10 gallons
to the mile (not a typo), and is actually a Navy vessel (which explains the
wild interior layout reminiscent of a Rube Goldberg Machine).
This morning we commenced with our first transect by launching ISIIS (In Situ Ichthioplankton Imaging System) which is basically a fancy submersible with advanced imaging capabilities. The ROV is driven between depths of 100-0 meters every 20 minutes as the ship crosses the transect at 5 knots heading east to west. There are fiber optics in the core of the cable that tethers ISIS so that real time data can be communicated to the onboard lab. There are two cameras (which use shadow imaging similar to the old slide shows from my childhood) to capture 60 and 100 Frames Per Second of plankton ranging from 400 micrometers up to 50-60 mm, respectively. The shadow imaging allows the cameras to collect images across a relatively large depth of field which is important for two reasons. First, there’s a lot of empty space, and second, data on spatial relationships between organisms can be collected.
ISIIS on deck
There are 3 stations that we rotate through at roughly 20-30 minutes. The first job is on the back deck running the winch by either paying out or hauling in cable at speeds of 20-50 cm/sec depending on instructions received from the lab. This job looks easy until you actually get behind the joystick and realize how touchy it is. The second job is called “Flying ISIIS” which sounds like something you’d do in a Drone over Yemen but actually involves monitoring speed over water of the ROV in the lab and communicating instructions to adjust winch speeds to the operator on deck. At this station you also monitor salinity/conductivity, dissolved oxygen, Fluorescence/PAR (Which are proxies for photosynthesis), density, and salinity. The final job is watching the stream of real time data and annotating “Events” which are just things that look interesting such as fish larva or other rarer organisms. Since there are literally millions of slides being collected, most analysis will be done with AI, but potentially interesting events noted and time-stamped in the journal can be revisited for closer inspection by students or citizen scientists down the road. The cool thing about this job is that you are literally flying through the ocean passing millions of critters that look like something out of The Abyss in real time.
ISIIS in the water
So that’s about it for today, I have one more shift at each
station starting shortly, then a workout, dinner, and back to the rack. Looking
forward to reading some more and maybe watching a movie.
