NOAA Teacher At Sea: Jacob Tanenbaum
NOAA Ship MILLER FREEMAN
Mission: Bering Sea Fisheries Research
Day 4: June 4, 2006


Weather Data from the Bridge:

Visibility: 12 miles
Wind Speed: 3.4 miles per hour
Sea Wave Height: 0
Water Temperature: 48.56 degrees
Air Temperature: 73.04
Pressure: 1014.2 Millibars



Personal Log:

I have traveled a fair bit, and have never seen a more beautiful place then Three Saints Bay. It is a long curved inlet in a remote part of Kodiak Island. There are snow capped mountains on all sides which are filled with mountain goats. Several streams can be seen coming into the bay and one has a water fall several hundred feet high. Yes, in answer to many of your questions, there is a lot of snow. Even though the air is warm during the day. I also see that many of you are interested in what the night is like. Here is a photo. Last night, I stayed on deck for most of the night. There were a few hours of darkness, but part of the sky was still light. This photo shows the darkest the sky became. It only lasted a short time before the sky became lighter again.

Three Saints Bay is also home to many animals. Because it is so remote, wildlife thrives here. We saw many mountain goats, and we even spotted a bear. I could not get to my camera in time for the bear, but I did take pictures of some mountain goats. Can you find them in this photo? Try clicking the picture with your mouse to enlarge it. Good luck! They are hard to find.


Science Log:

It has been an active 24 hours since we left port. Last night we arrived in Three Saints Bay. A quiet area in a remote part of Kodiak Island. We needed the calm waters to set up our equipment for the survey in the Bering Sea. Our first step is to Calibrate our sonar. A sonar bounces sound waves off of objects in the water, like fish. When the signal comes back, computers display what is in the water below the ship on a screen. A good sonar, like the one we have, can tell where the fish are below the ship. Some bats use a kind of natural sonar to “see” insects at night. But first, we have to calibrate the sonar. When you calibrate something, you make sure that it measures exactly right. To do this, we put metal balls below the ship, right under the sonar. Since we already knew the size of the balls, we could make sure the size that the sonar told us was correct. If it was not, we could adjust the sonar. The trick was, getting the metal balls right under the center of the ship. To do this, some scientists and I got on deck around 1 AM this morning (ships like this work 24 hours a day). We stretched a weighted rope across the stern (back) of the ship and then dragged each end up the deck. We had to use long hooks on poles to get it around obstacles all the way to the middle of the ship. After that, we hooked the rope up to 3 small cranes which were controlled by a computer operator in the lab down below. He could move the balls backwards, forwards, left and right using the cranes (aft, forward, port and starboard). Once they were right below the center of the ship, we could make sure the sonar was giving us correct measurements.

The sonar is mounted on the bottom of the ship, and should be checked before each survey to make sure it is working correctly. Since it is mounted to the bottom of the ship, we can not bring it up to look it over. This means divers had to go down into the water in order to check it. Divers suited up and went below this afternoon. The water was 48 degrees. It would be very unsafe to swim in such water, so the divers suited up in what is called a dry suit. A dry suit is allows you to enter the water without getting your skin wet. The divers also needed to have masks, so they could see, tanks of air so they could breathe, weights, tools and fins to help them swim. They jumped off the side of the ship and went below the center to check and make sure all the bolts on the sonar were secure. After 10 minutes, they emerged on the other side of the ship. They took off their tanks, weights, and other tools and put them in a small launch (little boat) that was in the water to help them. The climbed from there back into the boat, while the gear was passed up to the ship.

It was impressive to watch the true team effort. The divers were assisted at all times by the captain and crew. They were helped into their suit and with their tools. All other work on the ship stops while dive operations are in progress. The operations involved two divers and 5 or 6 crew members who were assisting. CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO and you will see what I mean!!

Lets meet one of the divers

Name: Kris Mackie, Chief boatswain of NOAA Ship MILLER FREEMAN

JT: How did you get to be a NOAA diver?

KM: At the beginning, there were quite a few divers on board, the ship. When they left, I actually got to fill the position. I was reluctant to be a diver at first, I was scared of the idea, but I talked myself into it and went after it. I had never done it before in my life.

JT: What was the training like?

KM: Training was intense. It was three weeks of half-day of textbooks and research and the other half of the day was spent doing multi-dives; 3 or four dives per day. As small as practicing with fins in a pool and progressing up to breathing under the water. It was kind of a kick. Something you have to get past at first. There is a lot of pressure on your chest. Once you get past that it is OK.

JT: How do you like it now?

KM: It is pretty cool. Most of the dives I experience are cold water working dives, I have yet to have the experience of warm water recreational diving. I
have seen a lot of interesting things.

JT: Like what:

KM: What never gets old to me is watching king crab in action on the bottom. It’s pretty entertaining. If you are lucky enough to come across seals, they can get pretty interactive. They come within three or four feet

JT: What was it like below the ship today?

KM: The visibility was phenomenal. Probably 30 feet or so. Very unusual. The sun had a lot to do with that today. I saw a lot of jelly fish, some needle fish. Some other small feeder fish I couldn’t identify. We found kelp wrapped in the screw (ship’s propeller). That was about it. A short dive. If we had gone to the beach we would have been under for 30 minutes or more (the photo shows Kris holding the kelp).

JT: I heard that you dove under the ice pack in the Bering Sea a few weeks ago. What was that like?

Click here to hear Kris describe his dive

JT: What did you do on your dive today?

KM: We were just examining the transducers that the scientists are going to use. Making sure all the screws were there and there were no scratches. We checked the center board and an did an overhaul of the vessel from stem to stern. One thing to do is to make sure the screw is free and clear because it causes noise and backscatter which interferes with the sonar.

JT: What does it take to be a NOAA Diver:

KM: One year of sea time on board ship and you have to be able to swim.



Question of the day:

How would living high in the mountains help these goats to survive?


Photos:


Night on the deck of NOAA Ship MILLER FREEMAN


Three Saints Bay at Sunrise (2 photos)

Mountain Goats in Three Saints Bay, Kodiak Island, Alaska

Michael Guttormsen works in Acoustics Lab on board NOAA Ship MILLER FREEMAN

NOAA Diver Kris Mackie is assisted into his equipment by Scott Harrington on board NOAA Ship MILLER FREEMAN

NOAA Diver Kris Mackie holds kelp he found in the propeller of NOAA Ship MILLER FREEMAN