Art at Sea

23 Jan 2014

Last night we left the 'roaring 40s' and entered the 'furious 50s'. This momentous event was marked, or rather not marked, by sampling in calm waters. However, this lull in the wind had resulted in two days in impenetrable fog, and was accompanied by three blasts of the ship's fog horn every two minutes. Now remember, this is a noise that is designed to be heard and heeded as a warning to our presence to approaching vessels (that for some reason have missed our 92 m/274 ft. presence on their radar!), so it can be heard from all points aboard our vessel too - and the higher up the ship our cabin/state room is the louder it is - try sleeping through that! I think it's fair to say that there are a fair few on board the RV Ronald H. Brown that are more than a little happy that the wind has whipped up to about 35 knots again, and blown the fog away.

In the last blog entry Jon Christophersen mentioned that when you're working 12 hour shifts you need to keep yourself occupied to stop the boredom kicking in during lulls in the work schedule. Another consideration is that if you're working for 12 hours, there are another 12 in every day when you are not working. Take 8, or so, away for sleep and that still leaves 4 hours in which to amuse yourself. Ocean line cruise ship this ain't! but that's not to say there's not things to do in your down time. A movie is shown every evening in the lounge. There's a gym. We have internet, albeit a little on the slow side. Card games are ever popular, and tonight is bingo night - tonight with the British bingo names (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_bingo_nicknames)!

Other people choose to amuse themselves with art. I think it's fair to say that one of the most creative characters aboard is the chief boatswain, Bruce Cowden. Early in the voyage Bruce and two deck hands (Mike and TR) built a picnic table, which Bruce then decorated with the names of all aboard. Bruce took the following pictures of the table (obviously except for the first one, which I took) - which is also the main star in a story book that he is writing and illustrating for his grandson!

Bruce working on the table

 

 

Perhaps the most unusual medium that Bruce works with is Styrofoam mannequin heads, which he shrinks on the CTD rosette when it goes down to 4,000+ m deep. Rather than try to do his work justice with words, I've attached a video that he shot of one of his heads - before and after shrinking. These unusual pieces of work are simply awesome - beautiful, creative and unique.

Life Aboard the Ronald H. Brown

Saturday, January 18, 2014

For this installment of my blog I have continued to make use of other's literary skills - this time Jonathan Christophersen, a Ph.D. student at Florida State University. I asked Jon to write a short piece about his role on the cruise, and what it felt like to participate in his first research cruise, so, over to Jon:

16:00 on 17^th of January, 2014:  My name is Jonathan Christophersen, a Ph.D. student in the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Institute at FSU. Being my first adventure at sea I have been asked to write a blog about life on the Ronald H. Brown and my personal experience and feelings about life on a boat for 45 days.

As mentioned in previous blog postings, we kicked off the cruise from Recife, Brazil, at 05:00 on the 23^rd of December. Traveling at roughly 10 knots, it took a couple of days to reach our first destination of 25^o W 6^o S - literally the middle of the ocean. From there we began our task of sampling at total of 115 stations, from 6 - 60^o S.

This cruise is important for the monitoring of CO₂ increase within the ocean due to human effects. The ocean is a major player in the earth's climate system. Basically, it acts as a reservoir for not just heat and energy, but also CO₂ , as well as other chemical constituents. So by measuring the carbon dioxide levels every ten years we can get a good picture as to how the CO₂ is changing on decadal time scales.

I have to admit, it's the experience of a lifetime. Of course, when I first heard of this opportunity, it conjured up ideas of centuries past, of Magellan and Columbus battling the raging seas. In reality, we have relatively comfortable living quarters with showers and bunks, good food prepared by a knowledgeable team of cooks, and most importantly, a crew that maintains the ship and keeps us safe while we, the scientists, perform the daily routine of deploying the conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) package, along with bottles that capture water at various pressure levels within the ocean for sampling.

Basically, life is simple on the Ronald H. Brown. Shifts vary in time slots, but scientists and crew are on twelve-hour shifts. That gives you opportunities to have some down time and a decent night (or day's) sleep. You are wise to get into a routine so that the days don't linger ever onward. Being a 45-day cruise, you do tend to get a bit restless. However, on the Ronald H. Brown you can hit the gym for a nice workout to let the cabin fever subside. And personally, I do recommend you do just that.



Jon at work watching the output of the main CTD package

All in all, I have had a fun and interesting time on the Brown. The crew and other scientists have been most welcoming to a newcomer such as myself. Also, and maybe most importantly, we're doing something meaningful and interesting out here on the open water. It's not all fun and games, and in reality the romanticized vision of life at sea and traveling to exotic destinations fades away after a long stint at sea because it can be hard work. After all, it's science! But at the end of the day you feel rewarded for contributing to something bigger than yourself.

The main CTD package going into the water

This CTD system has several differences from the trace metal one: it is bigger (24 bottles, compared to 12), the water sampling bottles are Niskin rather than GO-FLOs (that have been modified for trace metal work - i.e. metal components reduced to an absolute minimum). This system also has a much longer wire - the maximum depth this system has been deployed to on this cruise is close to 6,000 m depth - that's about 18,000 ft - but we don't use the confusing (well, confusing to non-American's!) imperial system of measurement, as the internationally-accepted units used in science (SI units) are metric units - that is meters for distance, and Celsius for temperature. The abbreviation SI stands for "Système International d'units'; a French phrase meaning International System of Units. In English we simply say "System International'. With everyone using the same units a good deal of confusion is saved!

Where in the world?

16 Jan 2014

The following blog entry was written by Lt. Jim Rosenberg, and really helps put it in perspective just where we are. Jim originally posted this on his Facebook page, and as it is so eloquently written, I asked his permission to repost it in this blog - he kindly said, "Yes."

At the abandon ship drill Monday, I copied down the closest point of land as I always do. Tristan da Cunha islands bore 115^o Magnetic, at a range of 630 nautical miles.I recognized the name of the islands from my reading of Simon Winchester's Atlantic (great book ... thanks Dad), as the most remote inhabited place on earth. So that pretty much put things in perspective... if our ship went at top speed for just over two full days (weather permitting) we could get to the most remote place on the planet (not likely that the medical care that they have on the island is more advanced than what we have on the ship though)... I, for one, will be sure to be using the handrails as I move about.

Our nearest port of call - Tristan da Cunha,
the most remote permanently inhabited place on Earth!

I guess I'll put that in the category of things that are cool to consider, but better not to dwell on... Like that there are 2.7 miles between the surface and the bottom of the ocean where we are right now, and that is over 14,000 feet. Which is something to ponder, in that the deepest I ever dove (other than in a hyperbaric chamber), was about 115 feet... and that was as far as I really cared to be away from a breathable atmosphere, thank you very much.

In this trackless expanse of the South Atlantic, it is difficult to get a sense of perspective on where we are... the whole of Africa is to the North of us now, and landmarks on the coast of Uruguay and Argentina are so unfamiliar. When we started our sampling it helped to note what the corresponding latitude in the Northern Hemisphere was... Barbados one watch, Cuba a few days later, then Miami, and then Savannah last week. Monday night we were at 37^o South, and the corresponding latitude in the Northern Hemisphere is where the entrance to Chesapeake Bay lies... about 4 miles north of Cape Henry. I found this comforting, as it is a familiar waterway that is close to family. Then I thought about how far that is from the equator, and then the fact that we are twice that far away... and then I did not feel that close to family anymore.

Tonight we are at a latitude that corresponds to Barnegat Light, NJ, which is very close to where the southern approaches to New York Harbor begin. Even though it is supposed to e in the middle of summer down here, Jersey shore it is not. The dropping temperature has everyone looking stylish in hooded sweatshirts and knit hats. Tonight on watch we crossed 40^o South, and even though we rocked gently in light winds under a full moon while on our sampling station, we are now officially in the roaring forties... 1,200 miles further to the South to go on our sampling transect with the barometer falling. In some ways our trip is just beginning.

1/17/14 4:00 pm Update

Being in the roaring forties is not for the faint-hearted - the ship is in a bit of a storm right now.

A Light Show at Sea

12 Jan 2014

Unlike most groups on A16S, the trace metal team are not working shifts. This means that every now and then it is not possible to avoid a cast in the middle of the night. Last night (or rather early this morning) was one such occasion. We had a cast that was due to go in at 01:45, which means that we have to prepare the CTD rosette before the scheduled cast time so that we don't fall behind schedule. At about 01:00 Mariko and I walked into the main lab and were greeted by an excited Dr. Landing, who told us that we should go and take a look at the sea off the stern of the ship. We went outside and were treated to a fantastical display of bioluminescence, of the like that none of us had seen before.

We were able to see the track of the ship lit up by bioluminescence as the deck lights were off as we were still underway. The water was getting churned up by the passage of the ship and causing the squid, which had migrated to shallow waters to feed under cover of darkness, to flash and glow frantically. Unfortunately, they did not produce enough light to photograph them, but that didn't make the experience any less magical.

Of the squid (the cephalopods), there are at least 70 luminous genera, which can produce an impressive variety of luminescent displays. Bioluminescence by squid is thought to serve both defensive and offensive roles - even within a single organism. For example, counter-illumination is a defense mechanism employed by some squid. As predators view their prey from below, bioluminescence emitted from ventral photophores (light emitting cells) camouflages the squid's silhouette so that they become effectively invisible when viewed from below. As an offensive strategy, bioluminescence may be used by squid to confuse their prey. In the case of the squid we saw, the churning of the water in the ship's wake caused sufficient mechanical disturbance to cause the squid to flash, and remain illuminated for up to about 10 seconds.

An interesting myth-busting fact:

Light is typically generated by the organism itself and only rarely due to symbiotic bacteria that live in/on the host organism (Haddock et al. Annu. Rev. Mar. Sci 2010. 2:443-93).

With all this talk of amazing, exciting wildlife, here is a picture to show that the science stops for no man (or woman)! This is a picture of Dr. Landing and me sampling seawater in the clean van. Water is filtered through 0.45  µm filters for dissolved trace metal determinations. The filters are retained for trace metal determination of particulate trace metals.

Dr. Bill Landing and Dr. Rachel Shelley sampling seawater in the clean van

CLIVAR A16S (GO-SHIP/CO2 Repeat Hydrography Cruise)

05:00 23 Dec 2013, the RV Ronald H. Brown left the port city of Recife in NE Brazil for a 45 day research cruise that will occupy 115 stations from 6-60 ^oS. Starting in warm tropical waters just past the extent of the Brazilian EEZ (200 nautical miles from the Brazilian coast), a test cast was done to check that everything was operational on the main CTD rosette, and our smaller, trace metal CTD rosette. Sampling then began at Station 1 (where else would you start?), which is an 'overlap' station. The first station on this cruise was the last station occupied on A16N at the end of September; hence, the overlap. Over the course of the next few weeks the temperature will gradually decrease, and we will end the cruise in the iceberg fields of the S. Atlantic, before heading into port in Punta Arenas, Chile.

Much is the same on A16S as it was on A16N (you can refresh your memory of what we were doing earlier this year here: http://eoas-fsu-clivar.blogspot.com/). Again the trace metal team has four members: Drs. Bill Landing and I (Rachel Shelley), from FSU, and Drs. Chris Measures and Mariko Hatta, from the University of Hawaii (UH). I will be collecting aerosol and rain samples again, in order to quantify the flux of trace elements to the ocean from the atmosphere (one of the major input pathways of essential and pollution-derived trace elements to the ocean). We will also be collecting water column samples for dissolved and particulate trace metals (Al, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn) that we will take back to FSU and analyze using Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. The UH team will be conducting shipboard determinations of dissolved Al, Fe, Mn and Zn. Why these four? And why dissolved?

The dissolved form (specifically the fraction that passes through a 0.45 µm filter) of trace metals is the fraction most readily available for uptake by phytoplankton (primary producers).

Aluminum (Al; or aluminium as Chris and I say - this time the trace metal team has gone international; Chris and I are British, Mariko is Japanese and Dr. Landing is our token American) is an excellent tracer of continental material (mineral dust), delivered via atmospheric deposition, as it is a major component of mineral dust (due to the alumina-silicate matrix of mineral dust).

Iron (Fe) is an essential element for phytoplankton growth (primary production). Phytoplankton have many requirements for Fe; photosynthesis and nitrogen acquisition are just two examples. However, in up to 40% of the global ocean primary production is limited by Fe availability (i.e. there isn't enough of it to sustain high biomass). The reason we are so interested in Fe availability is that ca. 50% of photosynthesis occurs in the ocean, and photosynthesis is directly responsible for the removal of carbon dioxide (CO₂ ) from the atmosphere. This is the chemical reaction that describes photosynthesis (which occurs in the presence of sunlight):

6H₂O + 6CO₂   à     6H₁₂O₆ + O₂

 

(water + carbon dioxide  à   carbohydrate + oxygen)  

 

Manganese (Mn) is also an essential trace metal for phytoplankton growth. Like Fe, phytoplankton also have a requirement for Mn in photosynthesis. Dissolved Mn in the water column can also be used as an indicator of sedimentary inputs. So, correlations between Fe and Mn can indicate a common sedimentary source in much the same way as correlations between Fe and Al can be used to indicate a common atmospheric source.

 

Using these two trace metals (Al and Mn) as tracers gives us a way to identify the source of other biologically-important trace metals (such as Fe) to the ocean. Quantification of the different inputs of Fe is of interest as the amount of Fe (as well as other essential elements and pollution elements) entering marine systems is likely to change given changing land use, and increasing industrialization and urbanization. There is much uncertainty about how such changes will impact Fe inputs, but by providing data to modelers they can make predictions about how differences in inputs might affect marine ecosystems and carbon cycling in the future.

 

Zinc (Zn) is another essential element for phytoplankton, as it is required for carbon acquisition. Zinc is notoriously hard to determine in seawater, due to its very low concentrations, and because without extremely careful sample handling, samples are easily contaminated (this is something Zn and Fe analysis have in common).

 

This is the set-up that Chris and Mariko are using to analyze their samples:

 

Mariko at work in the laminar flow hood



This type of system is called Flow Injection Analysis (FIA). They are using one FIA system per trace metal. To minimize contamination the van is under positive pressure, and the samples and reagents are kept in a laminar flow hood.

 

Christmas and New Year's Eve at sea on the RV Ronald H. Brown

The mess deck decorated for Christmas

 

The trace metal clean van/lab decorated for Christmas, with the FIA system along the right

Christmas caroling in the lounge.
 

Field Operations Officer, Lt. Paul Chamberlain, is holding sheet music he downloaded to his phone for Lora van Uffelen (U. Hawaii) to read, while Julia Payne, a joint chemistry and music major (U. Miami/RSMAS) plays bassoon in the background.

 

The Christmas tree in the lounge

New Year's Eve party in the gym (theme: black and white).
The ship's doctor, Dan Deleon, won the prize for the best mask.