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