Teachers in Ocean Sciences

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Bottoms Up Research
Bottoms Up Research

• Teachers in Ocean Sciences
• Karen Moyd, Wade Hampton High, Greenville SC
• Jeff Graham, Windsor Forest High, Savannah
  Georgia
• Dr. William Savidge
• Skidaway Institute of Oceanography
• Cruise Dates July 11-25, 2007

Margaret Olsen
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Research Objectives of BOTTOMS-UP

• To measure the exchange of water and particles
  between the sea floor and the overlying water,
  and to identify the processes controlling
  exchange rates. Scientists believe that episodes
  of enhanced exchange occur episodically and
  unpredictably, requiring that instrumentation be
  present and continuously active to capture these
  events.
• To design, deploy and evaluate instrument systems
  capable of continuous, remote and autonomous
  operation
• To learn how to integrate the data collected
  continuously by these instruments with data
  collected by traditional, discrete, shipboard
  sampling.

You can learn more about BOTTOMS-UP on these web
sites http//www.skio.peachnet.edu/research/sip/
http//www.skio.peachnet.edu/research/sabsoo
n/
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Research Objective (cont.)
Scientists of BOTTOMS-UP recruited two public
high school teachers to participate in summer
research cruises in July 2007 2008Karen Moyd
and Jeff Graham.
Year One Two weeks in July 2007. Karen Moyd
and Jeff Graham worked along side scientists
with cruise preparation, deployment of sampling
gear at sea, and processing samples after the
cruise.
Year Two During the second 2008 cruise, Jeff
and Karen will have more responsibilities.
What Next? At the end of the project, Karen ,
Jeff COSEE SE will lead an education workshop
on ocean observing and real time data sets.
Karen and Jeff will use their own experiences
with BOTTOMS-UP to bridge the gap between
research science and science education.
This partnership is a unique opportunity for
teachers to observe how research is actually
conducted in the field, to increase understanding
of ocean processes, and to enhance their
awareness of scientific information, including
ocean observatory data sets, which are available
on the web.
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Cruise Preparations
Karen and Jeff assembled a thermistor chain a
string of temperature sensors that measures the
vertical variation in temperature throughout the
water column. Each thermistor had to be
programmed to sample at a specified time
interval. On the cruise, research divers, Trent
Moore and Mary Richards, installed this string of
sensors beneath the R2 tower. The sensors will
remain in place and recording data for 6 months.
Then the instruments will be retrieved and data
extracted. The sensors are redeployed for
another 6 months of monitoring.
Temperature sensor
Friday July 13, 2007
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Research Cruise Day 1Dawn at SkIO dock,
Skidaway River R/V Savannah prepares to cast off
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Cruise Plan Travel to R2 R4 Naval Towers for
biological sampling and instrument deployment.
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Approaching R2--offshore Navy platform 30
miles, 6 hour cruise, from SkIO dock
What is the sea state?
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R2--offshore Navy platform
Power at R2 provided by wind generators, solar
panels and diesel generators
Project scientist cleaning and maintaining
SABSOON in-water instrument packages.
Instruments are lowered into the water on the
cables
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Shipboard Sediment Corer
Project scientists collect shallow (20 cm) cores
from the sea floor to measure the abundance of
sediment-dwelling organisms and the amount of
fine particulate organic matter and chlorophyll
in the sediment.
How do you think this equipment works?
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Deploying the Corer
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Water Sampling Instruments on a carousel array

• Measures
• Temperature
• Pressure
• Salinity
• Oxygen
• Light
• Chl fluorescence
• Turbidity

Captures water in the gray bottles for shipboard
analysis.
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Deployment of the Carousel
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Biological sampling
The plankton net captures larger zooplankton in
the water column. Jeff and Karen worked from 12
AM through 5 AM the first 2 nights on the RV
Savannah.
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Plankton Gathering at 330 AM.Karen Moyds catch!
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Epibenthic Sled Sampling
The sled is pulled across the seafloor to capture
organisms that live at the sediment-water
interface. Comparison of the number of organisms
captured in the water and on the sand during the
night and day will indicate the importance of
vertical migration by organisms as a vector of
sediment-seawater exchange.
Jeff Graham and Dr. William Savidge Rig the sled
for deployment
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Sunset cruise to R4sample station about 30
Miles.
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R/V Savannah--not the only ship at sea.Navy
maneuvers on the horizon.
USS Steven W. Groves FFG 29, a fast frigate
British cruiser
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Due to rough weather, no sampling or deployment
at R4! Just retrieval of the Tripod.

• Marine instruments collected a years worth of
  fouling organisms, such as oysters and barnacles.
  
• The UNC-CH ADCP Tripod clean up took over 4 hours
  with 6 people working, including Karen and Jeff.

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Four days later, teachers, researchers and crew
return.Now, lab work begins.
July 19, 2007
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Processing core sediment samples to determine
carbon deposition. Each sample takes 2 hours to
process. There were 10 samples.
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Processing the zooplankton samples. Each sample
takes approximately 2 hours to count and classify
the organisms.
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Moyd reports findings in Lab Notebook!
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Bottoms Up Research team works all
yearTeachers will return for the July 2008 cruise