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, the Oregon Coast STEM Hub, and OSU’s Regional Class Research Vessel program.

Follow the adventures of the students, educators, and researchers who are on board engaging in #STEMatSea.

By Carisa Ketchen

I consider myself to be a reflective teacher and as we head back to Newport to end our four day adventure at sea, it’s the perfect time to do so. Throughout the last few days aboard the research vessel Oceanus, our team of researchers and students have been working with a variety of technology and cutting edge scientific tools. The crew worked together diligently to perform tasks that required a strict mindfulness of safety and we had to be quick on our feet to deploy and retrieve equipment safely out of the water.

The students and I took part in a variety of research objectives. There are multiple research components being conducted throughout the day and into the late evening hours. We typically started the day with a rotating whale watching schedule, looking for spouts and other activity such as breaching. When we encountered enough activity in one region, five of the science party would load into the Red Rocket (RHIB) to get a closer look with the goal of identifying specific whales, counting, and tracking their movements.

Most mornings began bright and early with the deploying and retrieval of the CTD device. With this tool we gathered data regarding temperature, conductivity, density, and fluorescence which is helpful in determining where we may see whales and provides clues that indicate the upwelling nutrients.

Plankton tows also took place in the early morning and evenings. Students attached the cod ends to the nets and then launched the dual plankton nets to be towed at a specific depth for several minutes. The depth and angles for the nets was determined by the information received from the CTD. After obtaining the plankton from the nets, we identified the organisms via microscope.

Taking box cores happened throughout the day and into the late evening to scoop up sediment and organisms from the ocean floor. This included learning to operate the hydraulic A frame and hooking the box for safe retrieval. After a core sample was taken, it was time to start sifting for marine organisms. We found several brittle sea stars, various worms, hydras, clams, and a plethora of other micro marine organisms.

As a local high school science teacher at Toledo Jr. Sr. High School, this has been a phenomenal experience. I’m currently writing a variety of lesson plans that I can incorporate into my classroom this semester and for years to come. Some of these include construction of research vessels, living at sea, working with a crew, ocean topography, different whale species and their migration patterns, plankton, soil sampling, and specific lessons about the technology and equipment used on board. I’m excited to share my experiences with my students and to continue developing marine science curriculum in order to increase ocean literacy. Having participated in many other professional development opportunities with OSU, I had some background knowledge about the Oceanus vessel and its objectives for research. However, being able to actively participate on board and work directly with the lead researchers and students has provided the most important educational opportunity that I could ever have imagined possible. I am inspired by this research and feel a renewed sense of passion and energy that I can’t wait to share with my students.

“I am inspired by this research and feel a renewed sense of passion and energy that I can’t wait to share with my students.”

I have always been intrigued by the ocean and marine biology. I can recall as a young kindergartner daydreaming about the ocean and drawing whales in my scrapbook. It was my goal to move to the Oregon coast since I first visited in 2008, so when the opportunity came up to “Teach at the Beach” with Lincoln County School District, I applied immediately and was fortunate to be hired. This will be my third year living on the coast and I’m looking forward to many more.

Carisa Ketchen is a Science Teacher at Toledo Jr Sr High School in Toledo Oregon. She obtained a B.S. in Natural Sciences with a minor in Geology at Lewis-Clark State College, and a Master’s degree in Science Education from Montana State University. Since coming to the Oregon coast, Carisa has participated in a variety of Oregon Sea Grant funded professional development opportunities focused on coastal and marine science, including MBARI Earth, MWEEs by the Sea, and the Oregon Marine Scientist and Educator Alliance.

The yellow line shows the path of the SS Dolphin in November and December

The GPS-equipped unmanned sailboat SS Dolphin prepared by Coos Bay students was launched from the R/V Thompson on May 24, 2015 off the coast of Washington.  It made landfall a few days later on Ocean Shores.  The vessel was recovered, and was redeployed again by the R/V Thompson on November 19th. After sailing several hundred kilometers to the south, it reversed direction, sailed north, and made landfall on Long Beach Vancouver Island on the 9th of December.

Its track can be see here.

Do you have a contact in that area who could help us recover this 5 ft vessel? Please share and contact OregonCoastSTEM@oregonstate.edu if you can assist!

Visit the SS Dolphin page on the Educational Passages website to learn more about the boat, its launch, and its journey.

Guest Contributor:  Annie Thorp

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” T.S. Eliot

I have always thought that as an educator, I learned as much from my students as I taught them. A group of Tillamook students and their instructor recently had an opportunity to put what they had been taught into action. Their belief in what they had been taught combined with their enthusiasm for the project, resulted in achieving an invaluable success in the pursuit of research and exploration. Their findings and results were a huge help to their instructor and a very important project.

Photo credit: Tillamook Estuaries Partnership

Clair Thomas, an educator and researcher with Tillamook School District, is involved in numerous research projects, some involving water quality monitoring, habitat restoration, and estuary/wetlands management among others. He is also a Professional Development lead partner in the Oregon Coast STEM Hub, and his students have been learning about streams, salmon recovery, as well robotics and their numerous uses in aquatic environments.

East Beaver Creek

One of their projects is to provide data for the BLM, the local watershed council, and the Oregon Department of Forestry, by measuring water temperatures in East Beaver Creek (near Tillamook) to determine if the water flow and temperature might be conducive for juvenile salmon migration. If the water flow is too fast, the juvenile salmon cannot swim up stream. The students have been experimenting with stream flow mitigation by placing large logs and boulders in strategic locations to slow the water flow and create areas of slower water called eddies. However, if water temperatures are too high, then oxygen levels may be too low for salmon, so monitoring the temperatures in the stream and pools is essential to provide necessary data for all the stakeholders involved.

HOBO data logger

They placed five instruments called HOBO data loggers in several places in the stream to measure the water temperatures. These instruments are checked periodically and the data are recorded. The HOBOs are secured to metal rebar to weight and anchor them to the streambed.

Usually, checking the data recorded is accomplished with a diver or person with a snorkel, but this past December, after heavy rains and water temperature of 8 degrees Centigrade, this normal method used to locate the HOBOs proved to be very difficult. The water visibility was poor due to recent heavy rains, and turbulence made it impossible to see the instruments and even when Clair went diving for them, he could neither see nor feel them, and the current made it difficult to maintain his position. The cold water also made his fingers so cold, they were numb, making feeling anything even more challenging. He managed to locate and retrieve only two of the instruments he needed.

Example of a student-built ROV

Fortunately, his enterprising and clever students suggested that they use one of the ROVs they had designed and built in their robotics club. They proposed deploying the ROV in one of the eddies, as they had learned that this was an area where water flow would be minimal, hence increasing the odds of success at floating and maneuvering the device. Clair was skeptical at first, but his students reminded him that he had taught them about eddies, and they were confident they could use the ROV, that was equipped with camera, lights, and a grabber, to locate and retrieve the instruments.

They tethered the ROV on four sides with lines, deployed it in an eddy, and the search went wonderfully well. Within five minutes, they found the three missing loggers. The ROV picked up two of them, and the other could be seen wedged in a crack between two rocks, but after seeing its location, their ever-intrepid instructor, Clair Thomas, was able to retrieve it manually, after donning his wet suit again.

Clair is understandably proud of his student crew. Their collaboration and inspired use of the ROV technology they had designed and built, combined with thoughtful application of what they had learned, is a wonderful example of student success in a “real world” application. Kudos, to student team, Bryton Dorland, creator and builder of the ROV they used, Dylan Lundy, and Sabrina Polman. Another teacher, Nathan Sandberg, assisted Clair in his original diving search when the first two were located. Congratulations to students and staff for your remarkable teamwork.

Annie Thorp is a volunteer at HMSC and enjoys working on a variety of projects there. She is a retired community college adult educator, and a lifelong learner with a love of the ocean, ships, and all things aquatic. She was a Teacher at Sea, and a volunteer several times, along with her husband, on university research vessels. While at sea, they coauthored a blog called Buoy Tales, to help educate the public about the research being done by the scientists onboard. Her passion for marine sciences outreach and education, along with her involvement in HMSC education programs, inspired her to become a volunteer blogger with the Oregon Coast STEM Hub.