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

Today on the blog: Kiana returns!

Kiana rinses the Bongo-90cm 

Today, one of our youngest scientists, Ms. Kiana Ford shares a brief post. This is Kiana’s second cruise aboard Nancy Foster and has been volunteering in our lab since January 2017. She is now a Senior at the University of Miami's RSMAS and got back from an amazing semester abroad with the UGalapagos & Isabella Oceanographic Institute in Ecuador just a few days before the ship started its journey.

Kiana makes friends with the locals in the Galapagos, Ecuador

Kiana shared with our blog “my goal for the cruise is to help find some bluefin tuna! I would also like to be comfortable jumping into any science role during the cruise, from deploying nets on the back deck to running the computer programs in the dry lab. My favorite experiences from participating in the oceanographic surveys is to get to know other scientists and crew members, and seeing how everyone contributes to some aspect of the expedition. My research goals when I return to land is to complete my senior thesis examining larval lobster populations collected in southern Cuba during NF-16-02-03. This summer I am eager to begin my internship with  Harbor Wildwatch, a non-profit organization in Gig Harbor, WA. They organize outreach events to educate the public on marine and environmental topics." 

Thanks Kiana! She disembarked during our port-stop in Pensacola, but we will see you soon in the NOAA FORCES Lab in the Fall semester.

First guest blog post: LTJG Johns!

We have our first guest blog post of the survey! We feature our OPS officer for leg 1 of NF1802, LTJG Johns!
LTJG Johns shared with the blog: “My name is LTJG Kristin and I studied Biological sciences at Rutgers University. I am the Operations Officer on the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster.  As the operations officer, my job is to ensure the science gets completed in a safe and efficient way. My goal is to communicate and coordinate with the science party, ship's bridge team, and crew for a successful project and happy team! My job is to look out the window at a beautiful ocean and help science happen. Oh, and drive ships, 

LTJG Johns in much colder climate!

What’s better than that?!”
An officer “OPS” leads and communicates on behalf of the ship’s officers and multiple ship departments. It can be a challenging role, but in my opinion, it’s also very fun because in one ‘field season’ they get to learn about a lot different topics that can range from mapping the sea floor, to projects that use scuba diving as a tool to monitor fish populations, to collecting awesome larval fish, to deploying extremely sensitive scientific equipment to monitor the ocean in real time. If you have any questions for LTJG Johns, please comment below and feel free to learn more about the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps or see previous blog posts by other NOAA Corps officers (Norton, Zygas)

We are back home! Last post from the Chief Sci

Scientists and crew sign the NF1703/04 NOAA Corps flag 

First of all thank you for following our research expedition by reading our blog! My name is Estrella Malca and I was the chief scientist for this survey (NF1704) aboard the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster. What does that mean? Each project has a designated person that takes a leading role on the logistical, scientific and reporting aspect of the entire survey. 

One last selfie!
Estrella (Chief Sci) and Samantha (Senior survey tech)

I love to figure out the 'tetris' of things, so this year's cruise has been challenging but fun! Why challenging? Well, usually we have 6 months+ to prepare for our surveys: buying equipment, supplies, assigning scientists and volunteers to participate, and most importantly, securing any relevant permits as well as communicating with the ship's officers and crew about the multiple operational aspects of our project at sea. However, because of our very recent NOAA RESTORE project selected for funding, we had just two months to get a brand new project planned, signed and delivered on time! Without the rest of the science team, there is no way we can come out here and successfully achieve all of our research goals and deliverables!


We had the pleasure to continue to collaborate with several of our partners and also obtained new research connections!

NF1704 Leg 1 scientists

NF1704 Leg 2 scientists

Estrella and Niki deploy our very last satellite tracked drifter

Here is a list of our NF1704 accomplishments!! We were quite busy this  past month as you can see!

ü  500++ Tunas collected, more than 600 specimens individually measured at sea

ü  90 CTD casts: Depths were (300m, 500m, 1500m, and 2500m). The sensors we used on the CTD included temperature, oxygen, salinity, chlorophyll-a and CDOM, conductivity, PAR.
ü  Continuous measurements of currents (ADCP) from Key West to Progreso and to Miami

ü  Continuous measurement of flow through (TSG) from Key West to Progreso and to Miami

ü  7 SVP Drifters were deployed

ü  546 Flow cytometry samples (phytoplankton, bacteria, water column abundance)

ü  72 Elemental Nitrogen (N₂)-fixing organism samples

ü  6 casts with PAR (Photosynthetically-Active Radiation) sensor

ü  207 Microbial Abundances and Biomass samples

ü  95 Sediment Trap Flux samples

ü  78 Thorium concentration profiles (dissolved + particulate)

ü  354 Primary Production and Nitrate Uptake

ü  226 Deckboard Incubations for nitrogen utilization rates

ü  120 Shipboard Nitrate Concentrations

ü  57 Deckboard Incubations for δ¹⁵N.

ü  130 Nutrient Profiles for NO₃^- + NO_2,^-PO₄^3- and isotope analyses (δ¹⁵N and δ¹⁸O)

ü  95 Mesozooplankton Biomass and Grazing

ü  48 Growth and Grazing Rate Profiles (8 experiments x 6 depths)

ü  279 Phytoplankton Pigments fluorometric Chla,

ü  210 High-performance liquid chromatography  samples

ü  19 ring net tows (100m)

ü  136 net tows (25m): 120 Bongo-90 (240 jars) & 16 Mini-bongo net tows

ü  16 Mesozooplankton and 16 microzooplankton samples

ü  120 Live-sorted plankton samples
ü  95 specimens selected for genetic analysis
*   40+ Open House attendees. Our outreach event welcomed our scientific counterparts, students, professors, and fishermen in Progresso, Mexico

We hope that our projects will fill in a lot of the gaps about the biogeochemical ecosystem in the Gulf of Mexico as it relates to bluefin tuna research for the Western Atlantic stock. Our results will be shared with local and regional stakeholders like NOAA, ICCAT, among others. Soon, we will get started working up the data! Stay tuned and read our posts!

Group selfie, navigating into to the port of Miami

Featured today: LTJG Niki Norton

Today’s post features LTJG Nikita "Niki" Norton, and officially welcomes her to the FORCES Lab family! Niki is the current "Florida Bay Operations Officer," replacing LTJG Aras Zygas.  As a part of the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps, she operates sampling platforms to facilitate scientific research and provides logistical and administrative support to NOAA’s mission.  She shared with the blog: 

Niki  records the flowmeter data into our logsheets

"For the last three years, I was assigned to the NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada out of Newport, Oregon, conducting fisheries surveys from Vancouver, Canada all the way down to San Diego, CA.  Along with the responsibilities of being Navigation Officer and Medical Person in Charge, my primary duty was to “drive” the 210’ Fisheries Survey Vessel every day for 200+ days a year

Niki and Loni on the back deck, waiting to deploy the CTD

"Many of the sampling techniques that are routinely performed by research groups on the West Coast to collect plankton are exactly the same as those conducted by the FORCES lab to collect larval fish! 

"This included Bongos, Neustons, MOCNESS, and CTDs on many of the projects.  We performed extensive mid-water stern trawls with a net the size of a football field to catch fish like Pacific hake and sardine. We followed and tagged endangered Resident Killer Whale pods and acoustically monitored beaked whales at 4000m depth.  The remainder of the year, the ship completed Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) transects and hydrographic missions in the Farallons and Channel Islands.

Niki and Estrella deploy a satellite tracked drifter

"While many of the operations may be the same, this new job with the Southeast Fisheries Science Center is quite different - as is the scenery!  Rather than the whipping cold wind of the Pacific Northwest, the hot sun in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico is one of my favorite parts of the job. With the FORCES Lab, I get to work "on deck" to deploy and recover gear, wash down nets, assist with station planning, and see the plankton and water samples we catch up close! 

NOAA Ship Nancy Foster, Brewers Bay, USVI

"When I am not underway as a scientist, I work in the office to ensure that the lab has everything they need logistically to sail each year by assisting with cruise planning and administrative budgeting.  Now that the first year of sampling has come to a close, I am very excited to see what new projects I will get to be a part of and hope to use my background in reef fish ecology and microbiology to explore new research with the FORCES lab – while getting ready for next year!"

Girl Power! The women behind the science in NF1703!
Top (L-R): Sarah H., Niki, Trika, Sarah P.
Bottom (L-R): Kristen, Vanessa, Jess, Alexis

Niki on the bridge

Featured Scientist: Karen Selph

Karen in the lab-van whispering to the flow cytometer!

Hello blog, today Dr. Karen Selph from the University of Hawaii at Manoa shares some of her expert insight into the nutrient-limited world! Karen shared with the blog just a few of the multiple experiments she carried out while on board the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster during NF1704 as part of our NOAA RESTORE project. Karen’s main focus was collecting phytoplankton to analyze with a “flow cytometer” – a machine that tells us how many phytoplankton are out there and gives us a rough idea of their types.

In addition, she measured water column light levels used for photosynthesis by phytoplankton with a photosynthetically-active radiation (PAR) sensor that was attached to the CTD rosette. Karen shared with the blog: "The 6 casts that we performed will yield invaluable information on the light regime during the cruise." 

"The nutrient limiting phytoplankton growth in the Gulf of Mexico is nitrogen.  Nitrogen has many forms, and most phytoplankton can only use reduced inorganic forms (e.g., nitrate (NO₃), ammonium (NH₄)).  However, some phytoplankton can use nitrogen gas (N₂), which is in abundant supply.  This is quite a trick, as the chemistry involved is anaerobic (no or low oxygen) and phytoplankton produce oxygen! 

Karen and Lucy carry out one of the PAR casts

On this cruise, we collected many samples to figure out which of the larger nitrogen-fixing organisms that might be present – in particular, Trichodesmium (usually a bane to those who study zooplankton, as it can clog their nets!!).   Additionally, to assess the base line N-isotopic value for Trichodesmium, we collected samples for stable nitrogen isotope analyses.  We even analyzed a sample of Sargassum to figure out its isotopic signature with respect to the other nitrogen-fixing players in the GOM.  Once we get back to the lab, we will also examine our samples under the microscope looking for the presence of other nitrogen-fixers – some diatoms and other species harbor symbionts capable of this remarkable feat!"

The dynamic duo, Tom and Karen processed hundreds of samples during the survey

Shaun, Karen's travel companion, makes some new friends

Featured guest: Angie Fay Allman

Hi everyone! Today we get to have a unique perspective! One of the crew of the Nancy Foster wanted to stop by and say hello! Meet Angie Fay Ullmann. Angie was our survey technician on the night watch (midnight to noon shift) and helped us safely deploy and recover countless equipment during her watch! She is a NOAA wage mariner, her official position is an “Able-bodied Seaman” and is part of the ‘deck’ department. The science party works closely with the crew members from the survey and deck department as they facilitate multiple and often difficult tasks that include deployment, recovery, set up, break down, winch operations, small boat operations, among many others.

Angie on the bow of the Foster leaving Key West, FL

Angie shared with our blog from her angle:

“I have worked for NOAA for 2.5 years now and have worked on 10 of the 16 ships in our fleet. I am required to do many different tasks on each assignment, but this last cruise really stands out from the rest. I got to work more closely with the scientists and asked more questions about what they were looking for and why. I really enjoyed being more involved and the crew I worked with was a lot of fun and made the days pass by quickly. I hope the data we collected helps contribute to a better future- it gives so much more purpose and satisfaction to my work- even if I don't directly do any science, I'm helping it happen! Before this cruise, I didn't realize the scarcity of bluefin tuna nor that so many scientists try to analyze its behavior in efforts to revitalize its population.”

Angie shows Lucy the ropes, he he

We truly enjoyed working with Angie and hope she will join us again in one of our next adventures on Nancy or another NOAA ship!

Night shift crew!

Featured Scientist: Rachel Thomas

Today on the blog, we have a guest post from Rachel Thomas, learn about her research objectives during this survey in the Gulf of Mexico!

Rachel takes the CTD down to 2500m in the Gulf of Mexico!

My name is Rachel Thomas and I’m a PhD student at Florida State University studying the marine nitrogen cycle with the Knapp Lab.

Filtering sea water

On this cruise, I am looking at the concentrations of nitrate, a nutrient required by primary producers, found in the upper 300 meters of the water column. Water samples are prepared using a colorimetric technique that will turn the water varying degrees of pink, depending on concentration, and analyzed at a certain wavelength. I am also collecting water samples from various depths ranging from a depth of 2500 meters and 3 meters below the surface. These samples will be taken back to FSU where we will look at the different nitrogen isotope signatures found in the water parcel.

Rachel examines nitrate concentrations

Think of an isotope signature as a fingerprint, where each source of nitrogen has its own unique fingerprint. By comparing the known signatures of each source to our water parcel, we will be able to determine where the nitrogen is coming from.

Collecting water from the CTD rosette 

It is important to understand where these nutrients are coming from to fuel primary producers in order to better understand how changes in nutrient sources will affect the GOM productivity.

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!