PhD student Rachel Thomas on the blog!

Rachel filters water collected at 500 m in the GOM

Rachel Thomas from Florida State University's Earth Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences Department is a doctoral student in the Knapp Lab and she is our guest-blogger today sharing a bit of her research and cruise goals:

"My personal goal on this cruise is to be able to identify bluefin tuna through a microscope. I’ve never seen fish larvae before, so everything the “fish team” brings up in the nets is new and exciting to me! Most of my previous work is involved in the Southern Ocean, where there are unused nutrients in the surface ocean. This gives us a unique ability to look at how phytoplankton are reacting to different physiological stresses, such as light and nutrient availability."
One of these nutrients, is Nitrate (NO3) which is a form of dissolved inorganic nitrogen that is utilized by phytoplankton in the ocean (Malerba et al 2012). One of the aspects of our project (NF1704 & NF1802 is to examine the dynamics between these inorganic compounds at different depths of the surface water column (0-500 m).

Typical nitrate vertical profile comparison, (modified from A. Nahian Avro)

T. Kelly and Rachel Thomas recover the CTD rosette 

"The Gulf of Mexico has a very different light regime compared to the Southern Ocean, and little to no nitrate in the surface waters. Our research team hopes to explore how these contrasts are expressed in the isotopic composition of subsurface nitrate in the Gulf of Mexico. We will also use the isotopic composition of subsurface nitrate in the Gulf of Mexico to understand the nutrient sources for primary productivity fueling bluefin tuna growth in surface waters." 

Click here for last year's blog post from Rachel's experiences during NF1704.

A bit of trivia: the Southern Ocean is the fourth largest of the world's ocean basins and extends to Antarctica. Psst, how many oceans are there? (click here for an answer)

Rachel Thomas and Alanna Mnich ready to deploy an SVP drifter on the fan tail

Featured scientist: Loni Mnich

We are wrapping up this year's survey!... but we still have a few more posts from our scientists and will give you the numbers (eventually!)!

Rinsing down the bongo net

Meet our newest UMiami RSMAS marine science graduate, Alanna (Loni) Mnich! Loni has been a volunteer at the FORCES Lab and she shares some of her experiences on her first research survey aboard the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster.

Decked out with safety gear, ready for deployment

She shared with the blog: “My goal for this cruise is get my first at sea experience. I hope to gain a better understanding through practice of field research concepts and learn more about plankton and the early life stages of fish that I can then apply in the lab and in future studies. I am excited to see some cool organisms over the course of this cruise!

“I have been in the FORCES lab at NOAA for about a year and a half. My experience there began with sorting plankton that was collected on other oceanographic cruises, so I am excited to participate in the collection stage now. During the past months I have focused on cephalopod paralarvae as the subject of my undergraduate senior thesis, which I hope to expand into a publication.

Loni takes command of the Bongo and Ring net tows in the dry lab

"Over the course of this cruise I have gained significant hands on experience in plankton collection and processing, including deploying the bongo net, driving the bongo, fixing samples, as well as deploying the CTD. I will soon be able to apply these skills if I get an opportunity to participate in another cruise (hopefully in late July!). Through the rest of the summer, I will be back in the FORCES lab, likely sorting plankton from the cruise and continuing my previous work with cephalopods. In the future, I would like to gain more hands on lab and field experience and I also plan on attending graduate school to expand my studies."

Featured Scientist: Lucy Fitzgerald

Hi everyone, I'm Lucy Fitzgerald, a rising senior and a marine science/biology major at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, FL. Though I've logged plenty of lab time, this is my first experience on a research vessel. This trip is the beginning of my NOAA Hollings internship at the SEFSC FORCES Lab in Miami. I've been on the night shift and am learning the ropes with tasks such as deploying nets and the CTD, logging data, and tracking the SVP drifter buoy. I have also gotten to see a lightning storm at night, fabulous sunrises, and tons of plankton!

My goal is to learn about the upstream process of collecting specimens before working with them in the lab this summer, looking at the age and growth of billfish. As an undergrad, I'm trying to figure out what field of research I want to go into before applying to graduate school.

Karen and Lucy send the CTD to 300m in the GOM

Lucy learns about the array recovery from Tom and Becca

I don't have a specific research focus yet but my research experience has been primarily with paralarval squid, Doryteuthis pealeii, and looking at the effects of hypoxia on the boundary layer of the egg capsules as well as hatching rates/cues last summer and winter at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. I have also looked at the population genetics of the brown Sargassum snail and bandtooth conger eel in the western Atlantic.

Being out in the open water where these species live brings a whole new perspective to my work in the lab!

Featured Scientist: Meet Jennifer!

Today's featured scientist is a recent graduate from University of California - San Diego, Jennifer Beatty! She is a research assistant at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Read on to find out her goals for this survey in her own words!

Jennifer fixes a sample collected in the GOM

"The lab I'm involved with studies the interaction of phytoplankton and zooplankton, which are the lowest levels of marine food webs. Phytoplankton are essentially the plants of the sea, while zooplankton are the animal plankton that eat them. The way these two interact changes in different parts of the ocean, which impacts the dynamics of organisms further up the food web, including bluefin tuna larvae! During this cruise, we are hoping to get an idea of what is happening at these lower food web levels to illuminate what conditions are optimal for larval bluefin tuna.

Processing the ring net in the wetlab

"My primary goal for this cruise is to gain field experience at sea. I've worked with samples in the lab, but I wanted to see where they come from and how they are collected. Additionally, I wanted to taste what research at sea is like because I plan to pursue a graduate degree in marine science. Before I head there, I'd like to have a better idea if I prefer research dependent on field work or prefer to stay in the lab."

Featured Scientist: Meet Sydney!

Meet Sydney, who has been an undergraduate student intern at the SEFSC FORCES Lab since Fall 2016! Read about her goals for her first research cruise in her own words...

Sydney models our safety gear

My name is Sydney Harned and I'm a junior at the University of Miami. My goal for this cruise is to learn as much as I can! 

This is my first research cruise, so I'm here to gain some real world experience in the marine biology field. It's been really neat to see scientists specializing in different research areas coming together to work on a project together. 

Sydney is a pro at running the Bongo net!

Since I'm still an undergrad I don't have a specific research focus yet, but I'm hoping to pursue marine genetics in graduate school. For my senior thesis, I'll be using genetics to determine presence/absence of Bluefin Tuna eggs at different stations in the Gulf of Mexico from a previous cruise!

Outreach & Education in St. Croix

Students from St. Croix 7th Day Adventist School pose in front of the Nancy Foster in Frederiksted, St. Croix

One of our favorite parts of our annual surveys is being able to pull into port and welcome local students on board for a small glimpse into what we do at sea. We know this can be inspirational for many young people who may be interested in pursuing a marine science career, and we greatly value these events during our port visits. It isn't often your school field trip takes you on board a NOAA research vessel!

This year, we pulled into St. Croix, the southernmost of the U.S. Virgin Islands. We welcomed two groups on board, and, with the help of the Nancy Foster's NOAA Corps officers, shared what life and research is like at sea.

Students from the AZ Academy try their hand at sorting plankton under the microscope in the ship's wet lab

We were first visited by an all-female group of students from the AZ Academy, who are part of a community transfer project entitled "Diving for Debris," part of the "Pride in Our Seas, Pride in Ourselves" project at the University of the Virgin Islands, and funded by the NOAA Marine Debris Program. Two-thirds of our own science team was comprised of women - we truly value supporting young women who have an interest in science. These ladies have bright futures ahead of them! 

Students from the AZ Academy work together to match larval fish photos with their adult counterparts

Students from St. Croix 7th Day Adventist School check out plankton under the microscope

Our second group of students joined us from the St. Croix 7th Day Adventist School in Christiansted, who work with the outreach and education specialists at the VI-EPSCoR program. 22 students and 3 teachers toured the ship, visited the wet lab, and examined larval fish and plankton samples under the microscope. These middle and high school students were high-energy, and some wanted to stay on the ship and sail with us!

ENS Keith Hanson shows students from St. Croix 7th Day Adventist School the steering controls on the bridge

Featured Scientist: Meet Kristen!

Our annual surveys would not be possible without our wonderful collaborators from around the world. We'll dedicate several future blog posts to highlight these individuals, so that you can learn more about them, their research, and the valuable contributions they make to the survey. You can find previous posts here. Today we feature Kristen Ewen from the University of the Virgin Islands!

My name is Kristen Ewen, and I'm a first year Masters Student at the University of the Virgin Islands!

Kristen deploys a biodegradable drifter

My thesis project looks to model population connectivity of large bodied parrotfish of the genus Scarus within the USVI. The reason why we are focused on parrotfish is because they are one of the largest herbivores on Caribbean reefs. They remove excess algae which allows for coral dominated reefs. These fish are also delicious! Which makes them a huge staple in the artisanal fisheries of the territory. However, their populations have declined recently, primarily due to overfishing, reducing their contribution to these ecosystem services.  To better manage this genus, computer models can be developed to take larval fish found in the water column and trace them back to where they were born.  These sites where these fish are reproducing can then be protected to increase the chance of repopulating the surrounding reefs.

Kristen communicates from inside the wet lab with the winch operator, the back deck, and the bridge during a net tow

Since I am using the larval fish data collected on this cruise, I wanted to come aboard to really understand the collection process rather then just reading about it.  From this experience aboard the Nancy Foster I now have the complete story. I may have come for the sampling methods, but stayed for the cute baby parrotfish!

Beast mode! Kristen flexes her muscles on the back deck

Featured Scientist: Meet Sarah!

Our annual surveys would not be possible without our wonderful collaborators from around the world. We'll dedicate several future blog posts to highlight these individuals, so that you can learn more about them, their research, and the valuable contributions they make to the survey. You can find previous posts here. Today we feature Sarah Heidmann from the University of the Virgin Islands!

Sarah (L) and Jess sort some live plankton samples on board!

My name is Sarah Heidmann, and I'm a second-year Masters student in Marine and Environmental Sciences at the University of the Virgin Islands. I'm originally from California and completed my undergraduate degree at Oregon State, both of which shaped my interest in the ocean, marine science, and SCUBA diving. 

Giovanni (L) and Sarah deploy cod ends for the MOCNESS tow. Photo credit: LTJG Niki Norton

My time on this cruise is thanks to my committee member and mentor, Sennai Habtes. I'm excited to be immersed in living and working on the ocean, experiencing life on a ship and participating in oceanographic research. It's a nice change from my own work, which involves nearshore fishing and diving. I am using acoustic tracking technology to study the movements of mutton snapper in a bay on St. Thomas, as well as at a spawning aggregation on St. Croix. 

You can follow me on Twitter (@SarahLHeidmann) to get updates on my research!

The St. Thomas crew! L-R: Kristen, Sarah, Sennai, Vanessa, and Alexis! T-shirt design by Kat Dale

Featured Scientist: Meet Jess!

Our annual surveys would not be possible without our wonderful collaborators from around the world. We'll dedicate several future blog posts to highlight these individuals, so that you can learn more about them, their research, and the valuable contributions they make to the survey. You can find previous posts here. Today we feature Jess Scicchigno from CUNY College of Staten Island!

Jess poses with the CTD

Hi!  My name is Jessica Scicchigno and I'm going to take you on a bit of an academic wild ride.  I am currently going to graduate from the CUNY College of Staten Island in June 2017.  I am graduating with an English Bachelor of Arts and a Psychology Bachelor of Science with a minor in Geology.  So how  did an English major end up on a NOAA cruise? I'm glad you asked.

I met Professor David Lindo-Atichati in a meteorology class he was teaching at my college.  I would come into class beaming with excitement over earth science disciplines, a subject I have always been interested in. This excitement was noticed and Professor Lindo invited me on a NOAA research survey he was involved with.  I was always a huge NOAA fan and this was something I always wanted to do.  Naturally, I could not say no.  Now I am on my first oceanic cruise.

So what do I want to get out of this? I want to learn as much as possible about the instruments used to collect data.  Science is taken for granted - scientists on this ship literally work day and night.  We work in rough seas.  We work rain or shine.  We do also get sea sick!  I want to learn how to work the equipment and gain an appreciation for data collection.  You truly do not know how difficult it can be until you're doing it yourself. Simply seeing a piece of equipment in a picture can no longer do it justice after this experience.  

Ready to deploy the Bongo net -
hard hat, PFD, and tether? Check!

In addition to that, I want to know more about the Caribbean currents and how the ocean is "setup" in this region.  I want to know how the biology is influenced by this and what biology is here! Just from taking the samples with nets we have seen some amazing creatures. I want to learn, partly, the day to day life of creatures here.  When do they migrate? What do the other scientists here know about grouper migrations or spawn sites? What fish are common in what areas?  I have always loved fish, and being surrounded by people who love them just as much as I do is nothing short of amazing.  It's even more amazing to learn from them - both fish and people.

Although I have taken a very unusual path, the dreaming teenager in me could not help but tear up at the initial sight of the gorgeous Nancy Foster, sitting at the dock at 2 AM when I arrived.  This surreal atmosphere has led me back to the sciences, and I want to go deeper into oceanography for sure after this cruise.  I always wanted to do this - now I just want to do it again.

Jess models her survival "Gumby" suit during an Abandon Ship drill

Featured Scientist: Meet Giovanni!

Our annual surveys would not be possible without our wonderful collaborators from around the world. We'll dedicate several future blog posts to highlight these individuals, so that you can learn more about them, their research, and the valuable contributions they make to the survey. Today we feature Giovanni Seijo-Ellis from the University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez!

Giovanni successfully completes a 1500-meter CTD cast

Hi everyone! My name is Giovanni Seijo-Ellis, I'm a physics masters student at the University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez, and I'm starting my PhD next fall at the City University of New York's Graduate Center with Dr. David Lindo.

I always knew that I wanted to work on something related to the oceans and as I grew up that interest grew bigger. When I found out as a young teenager that there is a field called physical oceanography, I felt I was born for it. Back in Puerto Rico there are no undergraduate programs in oceanography, so I decided to go into Theoretical Physics, took some advanced oceanography courses and complemented it with atmospheric dynamics courses. I worked for three and a half years for the Puerto Rico Seismic Network doing tsunami simulations and hazard assessments under a National Tsunami Hazard and Mitigation Program grant. 

Ready to launch the XBT!

Then I moved to work with the Caribbean Coastal Ocean Observing System (CariCOOS), the Caribbean Component of NOAA's Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS). There I work as an ocean modeler. I basically work with validation and development of ocean models for the Caribbean region in order to have better forecasts of ocean currents and I also prepare some operational products for the CariCOOS webpage users. Besides that, I also do storm surge simulation and mapping with special focus on energy distribution over coral reefs along the northern and eastern part of Puerto Rico. Every now and then I help in CariCOOS field work (which is probably my favorite thing to do), deploying CTDs, and deploying/recovering sea gliders or anything else that comes up. 

One of the homemade biodegradable
CariCOOS drifters

I met Dr. Lindo some months ago and we quickly noticed that we had many research interests in common, so I decided to apply to CUNY's Earth and Environmental Sciences program where we could work together and I could reach my goal of getting a PhD. A couple of weeks after, he called me to see if I was interested in participating on a research cruise...of course I was interested!!!! Our goal is to understand the cross-shelf exchange of waters between St. Thomas and St. Croix. Ocean circulation/currents in the Caribbean is not as easy to understand as one may think. The rapid variation of the bathymetry has a huge effect on ocean currents and waves which makes it a challenge to model accurately and many mesoscale features are also common in this region. So, does water from south of the shelf break cross to the shallower part north of the shelf break? Or does it move along the shelf break? Or do the shallow water cross into the deeper waters? How does this affect larval dispersal in the region? 

These are some of the questions that will help us understand what is happening in this part of the Caribbean and how it affects larval dispersal near the shelf break, especially on the Grammanik and Hind Banks. To accomplish this we will use data obtained from 8 SVP drifters, 4 Bio-degradable drifters (home-made by CariCOOS), 22 XBT launches, and CTD deployments. The use of plankton nets will allow us to collect fish larvae at different water depths and potentially trace back to their place of origin. 

It's away! Positioning the XBT launcher during deployment

So here I am, learning a lot and enjoying every second. So far it has been an amazing experience, the crew and the science team are wonderful. Everyone on the science team is just great, they are really open to hear any suggestions and really care for everyone to learn how to do everything around here. Doesn't matter if you're an undergrad or graduate student, with or without experience in the field, here you are a scientist and will be treated as one. We are all equal, and that makes it really comfortable for such a diverse group to work together successfully. 

While not working, I really enjoy sailing either on a Catalina 30 sailboat, racing on a J30 or J24 or just relaxing near a pond and sail my radio control sailboat. I also do cross-country mountain biking and ride my MTB to work at least once a week. I really hope and look forward to be able to come back on board the Nancy Foster with this amazing team in years to come!

Thanks!

Featured Scientist: Angela Ferrá-Elías!

Today's featured scientist, and final guest post for NF1602, is Angela Ferrá-Elías, from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez! Angela is new to our cruise team, but quickly became one of us - we have loved sailing with her! Read more about her research and passion for her field!

Angela presents her research at the American
Meteorological Society Annual Meeting

"¡Saludos! My name is Angela Ferrá-Elías, a graduate student from the Marine Science Department at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez (UPRM). Since I was 10 years old, I have been in love with the weather, ocean and the atmospheric phenomena. It was at this age, while attending 6th grade in elementary school, that I said, “when I grow up, I want to be a meteorologist”. This has been my dream since then and pursuing this dream, I completed a degree in physical science and a curricular sequence in Atmospheric Science and Meteorology in May 2013. During my years as an undergrad student I worked as a summer intern in the Geological and Environmental Remote Sensing Laboratory (GERS Lab) with Dr. Fernando Gilbes in the Geology Department at UPRM. Through these internships I combined my knowledge in meteorology with oceanography and remote sensing techniques. These opportunities opened my way to graduate studies in Physical Oceanography and with these opportunities came a new passion... the oceanography.

"As a masters graduate student I’m trying to focus my research and studies experience in the relationship and interaction of the ocean and the atmosphere. My research focus is based in the detection of mesoscale eddies in the eastern Caribbean Sea using sea water bio-optical properties. The objective is to identify if some bio-optical parameters are goods trackers for mesoscale eddies.

L: Angela deploys a CTD with Omar; R: Angela and Aras rinse down the mini-bongo net

"Because of my type of research I’m always behind the computer working but I really like and enjoy going out and doing some field work! This is why this experience aboard the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster is so exciting for me…. I’m going out! Finally, I have the opportunity to be in the field and learn new things. Even if I have experience working with the CTD, the best way to learn is by practicing and with this opportunity I definitely have much more experience.

Meteorology and Climate Change
workshop at US Fish & Wildlife
Service, Cabo Rojo, PR

"In my free time I enjoy going to the beach, doing some snorkeling, watching tv series and “dormir” (sleep)! But I also enjoy educating. This is why I work as marine educator in Sea Grant Puerto Rico and outreach coordinator in AECiMa (Asociación de Estudiantes de Ciencias Marinas). With all the experience and the knowledge obtained in this oceanographic expedition I definitely have more outreach activities to coordinate in my beautiful Puerto Rico. 

"Thanks for this amazing opportunity aboard the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster!" 

Thanks for reading all about our amazing guest scientists from NF1602! Keep checking back this week for some fun microscopic critters, and our final cruise post! 

Featured Scientists: Adrianne Wilson and Mara Duke!

We are extremely lucky to have so many partners and collaborators from around the country and globe - over the next few posts we'd like to introduce you to some of them that have joined us for Leg 3! First up, we have two graduate students who are spending some of their summers with us, Adrianne Wilson and Mara Duke! 



Adrianne Wilson is a Master's student at Florida A&M University. She is currently working on her M.S. in Environmental Science with a concentration in marine and estuarine studies. Her Master's thesis focuses on larval fish assemblages in the Gulf of Mexico. Adrianne is doing a summer internship in the FORCES lab in Miami, and we are thrilled she was able to join us for a leg of the cruise! During these two weeks at sea Adrianne hopes to learn more about the methods behind larval fish sampling, gain research cruise experience, meet cool scientists and study fish all day!

Mara Duke is a graduate student in the Masters of Marine and Environmental Science Program at University of the Virgin Islands. Her thesis research is on the connection between water quality and abundance and distribution of zooplankton in Brewers Bay in St Thomas, USVI. This is Mara's first cruise, and she hopes to gain her "sea legs" and experience on an oceanographic vessel!

Both Adrianne and Mara have already showed how valuable they are as scientists on board, and we can't wait to see what is in store for these awesome young researchers! 

via GIPHY
(Mara is preparing the plankton collected in the MOCNESS for preservation in ethanol)