Though it is a little late in January to be writing a “New Year’s” post, I had a relatively tumultuous new year, including a cross-country move in my car, a week-long self-quarantine in a hotel room in Miami, dumping a Venti Starbucks tea on my laptop, AND boarding NOAA Research Vessel the Ronald H. Brown. Today I’m writing this blog post from very nearly the middle of the Atlantic Ocean! We are currently 11 days into an oceanography research cruise that left from Miami, FL on January 15. I am a volunteer on a project that is collecting data on salinity, temperature and ocean depth for research being conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Our project is using some really cool technology in order to evaluate oceanographic conditions in the Atlantic Ocean. For one of our pieces of technology, we are using an Argo Float, which is a scientific device that we drop off the aft of the ship while underway. After being deployed, these floats sink to 1000 meters deep where it will sit for 10 days collecting data on salinity and temperature. Because of the depth of these remote sensors, we can’t receive data transmissions from them while they sit at 1000 meters, so before being thrown in the water, the float will be programmed to “bounce” to the surface. During one of these “bounces” the Argo float will drop down to about 2000 meters collecting more temperature and salinity data and then will rise up to the surface collecting more measurements on its way up. Once on the surface, the float will send all of the salinity and depth measurements to scientists on land via satellite communication. Here is us preparing an Argo Float deployment - the box and tape are biodegradable and the sensor is inside the box! In addition to dropping Argo floats on our transit, we are conducting what are called CTDs, which stands for Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth readings, using an elaborate device pictured below. The whole rosette (or frame) contains a bunch of Niskin bottles, an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP), and a “brain” which controls the device. The whole system is connected to the ship with a cable which allows the science team (that’s me!) sit in the computer lab and read out the measurements of salnitity, temperature, and depth of the whole system as it descends to 1500 meters deep. The Niskin bottles on the rosette allow us to take water samples from 12 different depths as we raise the CTD back onto the ship. The ADCP helps us “look” up and down in the water column using sound to measure current flow around the device. The CTD rosette is HUGE and has the gray Niskin bottles on the outside, with the yellow and black ADCPs on the inside of the frame. For the measurement process, we get to evaluate multiple aspects of the water column – which is the oceanographic term for a profile of seawater from the surface to the bottom (or other specified depth). For our CTD measuremets we are looking at the salt content (which changes over depth), as well as oxygen content (which changes over depth!), and water temperature (which, you guessed it, ALSO changes over depth!). All of these measurements are super helpful for our chief scientist and his lab back on shore to understand what is happening with all of these variables in the open ocean. CTD measurements along this cruise route have been taken for many years and can show changes in salinity, oxygen, and temperature at the same location over time. Additionally, understanding what physical and chemical changes occur in the oceans can give researchers a better understanding of the physics and chemistry of the open ocean! So in essence, I booked it across the country from my home in Southern California, for a research cruise on the opposite coast, much like I did originally for my Master’s Research on the Maersk Launcher. BUT THIS TIME I’m on the East Coast to stay for a while – I got a job in South Florida (but you’ll hear more about that once I’m back on shore!) What’s really cool about this research cruise is that there are 4 different research groups on board the ship! One group is studying the spatial distribution of Sargassum, a brown algae species, in the tropical Atlantic. Another group studying aerosols including ozone and dust particles over the Atlantic. The last group (aside from our oceanography group) is conducting maintenance on some moored buoys which are part an international effort to expand measurements of open ocean conditions throughout the tropical Atlantic. All of these research groups are working in conjunction on a shared ship so we’ve been getting to know each other and learn about other group’s research from around the country (ours is the only group from Miami,) as well as the various backgrounds of the people working on the ship! It takes more than a team of scientists to keep a ship afloat and moving across the Atlantic, and our ship is crewed by multiple departments – on the bridge we have officers from the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps, a branch of the uniformed service, while engineers keep the ship, and importantly the air conditioning, functioning. We have a deck department who are essential in both science and ship operations, as well as survey crew who assist all research groups in their various projects, and a galley crew to keep all of us fed, AND a doctor from the United States Public Health Service – something I didn’t know existed until just over a week ago. Wow. Listing it out like that makes it make a little more sense that there are 44 people on this ship living and working together at sea. Given that we are still facing the threat of Covid-19, this trip on the high seas looks a little different than my last research cruise did. Last cruise, I just arrived at the port and hopped on the ship, whereas this cruise, we were all required to do a 7-day self-quarantine, during which everyone was tested for Covid midway through our quarantine. We also had a second Covid test conducted on the ship 7 days after leaving port. Thankfully, we have all tested negative for Covid, and as a precaution are still obligated to wear masks in public spaces – it’s funny trying to remember names and faces when all you really see of the people on the ship is their eyes and hair, but we’re making do, and still conducting science! All of which is very exciting, since I’ve been lusting for time on the water since disembarking from my sailing trip late last summer. It feels like a long time ago that I was sitting on the Launcher trying to describe life at sea, but I’m back bouncing from one side to another in my cabin, having woken up at 4:45am to conduct a CTD and spent much of the day helping out with the replacement of a moored buoy that was sitting in over 5,000 meters of water. That means we had more than 5,000 meters of line to pull up onto a spool by hand onboard the ship. It’s nearly dinner and I’m running on caffeine and general science hype – tired from spooling line, but ready to help replace the next few moored buoys. We replaced this buoy and are going to clean it and put some sensors on it and send it back out later in the cruise! I struggled with immense writer’s block the last few days, but I think I’ve finally found my footing (sea legs?) for writing about time and research at sea, so I’m looking forward to sharing more about what life on the open ocean looks like from a research vessel! If you have any questions you want answered please feel free to comment below, or send an email to [email protected]
2 Comments
Lisa Brault
1/26/2021 08:21:56 pm
Love hearing about your travels. What type of weather are you having?
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Bree Gibbs
1/27/2021 03:55:44 am
We've been pretty lucky with the weather so far - it's been nice and warm and not too windy! The seas have also been really reasonable - just a nice gentle rock on the ship!
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AuthorBree Gibbs, here. I'm a recent Master's Grad just trying to share what it's like to be a trash scientist (for those who aren't in the know, I'm a marine biologist). Categories
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