“The Little Engine That Could”

I am writing this before dawn on Presidents’ Day, February 20, the last full day of work for this cruise. We are continuing to have unbelievably good weather for this time of year, and as a result have made great progress since the last update. All Ecosystem Monitoring plankton sampling has been completed. The weather has even permitted us to continue sampling with the rosette at four more fixed stations to make a good start on a time series for tracking ocean acidification.

Isaacs Kidd midwater trawl net being retrieved up the trawl-way of the Delaware II. (Photo by Jerry Prezioso, NEFSC/NOAA)

Harvey Walsh has spotted a number of fish larvae in the samples in the Southern New England waters where the last of the Ecosystem Monitoring plankton samples were taken. There have been some sand lance as well as herring larvae at a station southwest of Nantucket Shoals . The bird observers have recorded seeing dovekies, murres, puffins, and many razorbills in this area. They also saw old squaw ducks, white-wing scoters and a right whale yesterday afternoon south of Nantucket Shoals.

A greater black back gull. (Photo by Junie Cassone, NOAA)

The ship is now starting work on the final phase of this trip, sampling with a midwater trawl and a 505 micron mesh bongo net, to collect greater numbers of herring larvae from two stations on the northwest corner of Georges Bank and seven stations around Cape Cod. These samples will be preserved in ethanol. This will permit aging the fish larvae, so we’ll have some idea of when, as well as where, they were spawned. Our first midwater trawl had one large herring larva, but was so full of gammarid amphipods that it was difficult to see anything else in the sample. We’ll wait until returning to shore to go through these samples more carefully.

Commanding Officer Rick Hester (in blue) conducting his morning safety meeting. (Photo by Jerry Prezioso, NEFSC/NOAA)

This will be the last update from this cruise since we are due to come in early on Tuesday morning, but it is also my last update from this vessel, since the Delaware II will be retired at the end of May.  I’ve fondly thought of this ship as “the little engine that could” because although at 150 feet it is one of the smaller NOAA vessels, it has been able to dependably sample the northeast continental shelf year-round for decades, enabling us to build a time series of samples that date back to the 1970′s.  As the mission of this vessel changed from gear testing to collecting scientific data and samples, the vessel evolved, with design changes to facilitate this work. Berthing, living and storage areas were increased. New winches, and a gantry redesign meant that new types of sampling gear, such as video cameras, rosette water samplers, and midwater trawls could now be routinely deployed.

Chief electronics technician Ed Morse cutting his freshly-baked birthday cake to celebrate his 29th birthday during the cruise. (Photo by Jerry Prezioso, NEFSC/NOAA)

What I’ll miss even more than the vessel’s capabilities is the unique Delaware II community. Perhaps this is due to the tight living arrangements on this ship. Perhaps it’s due to a weird sense of humor acquired from living on this ship too long! I don’t know what it is, but it can be seen in little things that happen every day. Our present commanding officer, Rick Hester, always signs off the morning safety meeting with the salutation “have a nice Delaware Day!”, continuing a long-standing Delaware II tradition. Birthdays become an opportunity for our Chief Steward, John Rockwell, to show off his baking expertise with a festive cake. If no birthdays are happening, he’ll look for other occasions to make mealtimes more festive, such as imminent retirements. Our operations officer, Shannon Hefferan, thought we should celebrate how many bongos we’ve collected from this vessel with a banner, party hats, lei’s, party whistles and a photo opportunity. We’ve also had crew, command and scientists dress up for Halloween, and the Superbowl, on cruises that kept us out during these events.

Jon Rockwell (with hat) presenting me with a carrot cake he baked to honor my years of sailing aboard the Delaware II. Commanding Officer Rick Hester (in background) gave a speech. They even made a model of a bongo net for the top of the cake. What a great crew! (Photo by Tamara Holzwarth-Davis, NEFSC/NOAA)

Aside from the good humor on board there is also a very strong sense of mission. Everyone that’s been to sea knows that “stuff happens”, to politely paraphrase a common expression. Weather, electronics, engines, any manner of things can be problematic out here. Problems on this vessel are never a hindrance, but merely something to be dealt with and overcome. This cruise has been no exception.

Celebrating bongo tow # 11,764 taken by the Delaware II on the 12 midnight-12 noon watch. Operations Officer Shannon Hefferan in the blue hat came up with this idea. (Photo by Tamara Holzwarth-Davis, NEFSC/NOAA)

The 12 noon-12 midnight deck crew celebrates the almost-last plankton tow on the Delaware II with Harvey Walsh, Watch Chief, in green hat. (Photo by Jerry Prezioso, NEFSC/NOAA)

Rough weather at the beginning of the trip made deploying the rosettes difficult at best. The deck crew worked together as such a tightly coordinated team that I referred to their work as “deck ballet” when they were getting the rosette in and out between large waves. The engineers made short work of repairing a main engine exhaust leak in mid-cruise, so that we were only down for one hour. I pictured them as an Indy 500 pit crew, working feverishly to get us back under way as soon as possible. The command responded to time lost for our Portland medical leave docking by rerouting our cruise track and running at a higher speed to make up for the lost time. Mysterious failures in our communications with the electronic sampling gear were diagnosed and repaired by our electronics specialist, Ed Morse, who gave up a lot of sleep to solve these issues.

Bronze plaque in main passageway of the Delaware II. (Photo by Cristina Bascunan, NEFSC/NOAA)

Now we are finishing up this cruise, on schedule and with our missions accomplished, despite all the problems we started out with. Thank you Delaware II. You will be sorely missed.

Jerry Prezioso
Chief Scientist
DE12-02 Winter Ecosystem Monitoring Survey

Heading north in calm seas

On Thursday morning, February 16, the Delaware II

Delaware II location (red vessel icon) off the coast of Virginia at 4 am Thursday, Feb. 16, displayed on the vessel's navigational software. (Photo by Jerry Prezioso, NEFSC/NOAA)

is off the coast of Virginia, working its way back north along an inshore track of stations, having completed the southernmost stations yesterday. The weather continues to be calm and mild, conditions we are very grateful for at this time of year!

We have seen a variety of fish larvae in these southern inshore samples. Spot, croaker, menhaden and gobies have been found in some of them. We also had a juvenile speckled lady crab in one of our recent bongo tows.

Croaker, spot and menhaden larvae (top to bottom) captured in one of the bongo nets from a southern inshore station off the coast of Virginia. (Photo by Harvey Walsh, NEFSC/NOAA)

Juvenile goby caught in one of the southern inshore plankton tows. (Photo by Harvey Walsh, NEFSC/NOAA)

The bird observers have recorded a great skua, some manx shearwaters, a few dovekies and razor-bills, northern gannets, common terns, northern fulmars and some Bonaparte gulls close to shore. For marine mammals they’ve observed some common dolphins and a fin whale near Oregon Inlet off of North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

A juvenile speckled lady crab caught in the bongo net during an inshore southern plankton tow. (Photo by Jerry Prezioso, NEFSC/NOAA)

Calm seas and a beautiful sunset on Wednesday, February 15, 2012. (Photo by Harvey Walsh, NEFSC/NOAA)

Our near-term forecast is looking good, but another gale is forecast for Sunday. With the excellent progress we’re making I’m hoping we’ll have finished all offshore stations missed during the last storm and and be heading north to complete the cruise with some Isaacs-Kidd midwater trawl stations. In the meantime we’ll continue to enjoy our temperatures above freezing, calm seas and excellent sunsets!

Jerry Prezioso
Chief Scientist
DE 12-02 Winter Ecosystem Monitoring Survey

A Valentine’s Day Gift: Fair weather and calm seas

Mother Nature’s gift to us on this Valentine’s Day is much milder, calmer weather than we’ve had for the past two days.  The winds and seas have come down so much that we’ve been able to move to our offshore stations and even deploy the rosette sampler to collect water for the DIC/Total Alkalinity and nutrient measurements out on the shelf slope in deep water.

A screen capture of our cruise track on the navigational software showing the Delaware II off of Delaware Bay at 4 am on Valentine's Day. (Photo by Cristina Bascunan, NEFSC/NOAA)

Large and "baby" bongos being deployed simultaneously from the Delaware II. (Photo by Jerry Prezioso, NEFSC/NOAA)

Our plankton catches are starting to show large variations as we move south and sample at different distances from the shelf edge.  Our last three samples varied from almost no plankton at the shelf edge near Tom’s Canyon 120 miles off the coast of New Jersey to large numbers of pteropods at a station 40 miles south of that one, to amphipods and algae at another station at the same latitude but further in on the shelf.  Interestingly, at the last station, amphipods were captured in our large 61 cm diameter 335 micron mesh nets, while a mass of dark green algae was caught by the fine mesh (165 micron) 20 cm diameter “baby” bongos that are piggy-backed above the large bongo sampler.  Our bird observers recorded the presence of hundreds of dovekies yesterday, and a few puffins, which are not often found this far south.

Plankton samples collected simultaneously during the same tow by the baby bongos, and large bongos. The fine mesh net of the smaller bongo captures algae (left jar) which go right through the coarser mesh of the large bongo (right jar). Each net provides a sample of different sized organisms from the same area. (Photo by Jerry Prezioso, NEFSC/NOAA)

Bird observers Holly Goyert and Chris Vogel bundle up and take turns recording their sightings on a waterproof laptop on the flying bridge of the Delaware II. (Photo by Jerry Prezioso, NEFSC/NOAA)

Now, just before sunrise the Delaware II is continuing on its southward track along the outer part of the shelf.  The calm mild weather is enabling us to make up for the time lost on Sunday and Monday and has also lifted the spirits of all on board, as they spend another Valentine’s day on an Ecosystem Monitoring cruise which always keeps us out here on this day.

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Jerry Prezioso
Chief Scientist
DE12-02 Winter EcoMon Survey

Water sampling

A bright sunny, but windy Sunday morning finds the Delaware II slowly working its way southeast off the southern coast of Long Island.  We completed the northern portion of this survey, and came through the Cape Cod Canal on Saturday night at 6 PM.  We won our race against the weather and were able to continue working at offshore stations in the southern Gulf of Maine, including making rosette casts for water samples to measure dissolved inorganic carbon and total alkalinity.  Now that the front is over us, we’re in rough but more sheltered inshore waters and can continue working, although only transiting between stations at  8 knots.

Chris Taylor drawing water from the Niskin bottles in the rosette to be used for dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), total alkalinity and nutrient samples from different depths. (Photo by Jerry Prezioso, NEFSC/NOAA)

Harvey Walsh carrying glass bottles for the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and total alkalinity sample analyses. (Photo by Jerry Prezioso, NEFSC/NOAA)

Our plankton catches in the southern New England area have continued to be small, but we are starting to observe a few fish larvae that could be either herring or sand lance at stations just south of Block Island and Long Island. We also caught large numbers of shelled pteropods (planktonic snails) at one station in this region, and a couple of sea butterflies (Clione limacina), a shell-less variety, at another.  Back in the Gulf of Maine region our bird observers spotted a huge flock of northern fulmars, (two hundred or more) feeding at what appeared to be a current-shear region just east of Georges Basin.  These are some of the observations made since the last update.

Cristina Bascunan filtering Niskin bottle seawater through a small membrane filter prior to freezing it for nutrient analysis onshore. (Photo by Jerry Prezioso, NEFSC/NOAA)

We’ve been fortunate on this trip to have had calm, mild weather while at the northern part of the cruise track, so there has been rapid progress with little or no icing of the vessel from freezing spray.  Today, with temperatures below freezing and strong winds, we are accumulating some ice, so that will be something to watch out for in the coming days.  Hopefully this will be less of an issue as we proceed south.  Our plan for the future is to continue working our way south along the inshore stations and move offshore as soon as the weather lets up.  With about nine full days of time remaining on our schedule I think we stand a good chance of finishing this survey, which is a difficult thing to do at this time of the year.  The long-term forecast looks promising.   I’ll know better by our next update!

Jerry Prezioso
Chief Scientist
DE12-02 Winter Ecosystem Monitoring Survey

Racing against the weather

On Thursday night (Feb. 9) the Delaware II is in the Northeast Channel doing a Niskin bottle rosette cast after an initial bongo net tow.  Weather conditions are very good, as they have been since we left Portland Harbor on Tuesday evening.  This improvement in sea conditions has allowed us to make rapid progress eastward across the northern part of the Gulf of Maine, continuing with our plankton sampling and hydrography.  One equipment problem that has plagued us during this time was an electronic glitch that interfered with some of the rosette water sampling casts, but that was resolved this afternoon by our electronics technician (ET) who tracked the problem to a small nick in a deck cable that ran to the winch from the dry lab.

Electronics Technician Ed Morse working at night to restore the watertight electrical connection to the Niskin bottle rosette sampler. (Photo by Jerry Prezioso, NEFSC/NOAA)

This allowed enough seawater to enter where it would  interfere with rosette casts, which send power down the cable to trip the water bottles, but it didn’t affect bongo operations that only receive small electronic signals up from the CTD unit on the wire.  It was very perplexing but is now thankfully resolved as I can attest to by our current rosette cast which is going well.

Deck crewmen Jim Pontz and Roger Benney repositioning rosette sampler on deck as we try to find short in its electrical connection. (Photo by Jerry Prezioso, NEFSC/NOAA)

The only other problem on the horizon is weather again.  Conditions are forecast to change rapidly this weekend, and so we find ourselves in a race against time to work our way back west across the southern Gulf of Maine.  The “prize” will be the ability to continue working, both with our bongos and rosette water sampler, all the way across until we reach the sheltered inshore waters near Cape Cod.  To lose the race will mean being stuck offshore in the Gulf of Maine, unable to work and having to “jog” eastward at three or four knots into rapidly increasing seas for hours to reach the Cape.  Based on where we are at the moment, in the Northeast Channel at 9:30 Thursday night, I think we’ll be able to visit most of our remaining Gulf of Maine stations and even one on the northern edge of Georges Bank and be safely across in time.

Plankton catches have continued to be light, with a distinct shift to more Calanus copepods with euphausiids and some decapod shrimp showing up in the night tows.  We’ve also had a few comb jellies (Pleurobranchia) in some of the tows.  No fish larvae have been seen since our Georges Bank sampling.

A typical night plankton catch in the Gulf of Maine: Calanus copepods and euphausiids (krill). (Photo by Jerry Prezioso, NEFSC/NOAA)

I’d like to thank our ET, Ed Morse, who gave up a lot of sleep to track down and fix our rosette problem, the command who have been constantly “tweaking” our cruise track to make the most of this break we’ve had in the weather, and the crew for patiently routing and re-routing our wiring and gear out on the cold deck until our rosette problems were resolved.
Thanks guys!

Jerry Prezioso
Chief Scientist
DE 1202
Winter Ecosystem Monitoring Survey

Seas, Sampling and Super Bowl

Tuesday afternoon (Feb. 7) finds us docked in Portland Harbor, Maine.  We are here to exchange one of the crew members for medical reasons.  Sampling operations for the Georges Bank area were completed on Sunday, with the exception of three ecosystem monitoring stations on the northern edge and one rosette station where it was too rough.

Delaware II at the dock in Portland, Maine during low tide. (Photo by Jerry Prezioso, NEFSC/NOAA)

Weather has been an issue for much of this trip, and has slowed our progress considerably.  We were elated to have a break from these conditions on Sunday, as seas subsided enough for safe deployment of the Niskin bottle rosette before dawn on Monday morning.  Chris Taylor collected our first dissolved inorganic carbon and total alkalinity samples of the cruise and demonstrated the protocol for preservation of these samples.

(Photo by Jerry Prezioso, NEFSC/NOAA)

Our elation faded quickly as a fast moving front came through, whipping seas back up to the point where by 0900 we we unable to deploy the rosette at the next fixed station position, and within just another hour made bongo operations untenable.  We moved slowly to the northwest to pick up stations away from the frontal area and closer to Portland as plans were made for a personnel transfer.  Work resumed on Monday night in the central western Gulf of Maine as conditions improved and now on Tuesday afternoon we have stopped operations and are waiting for the new crew member to arrive at 1700.

Plankton catches have continued to be light.  Harvey Walsh picked some herring larvae from stations located in the central area of Georges Bank, which he preserved in 95% ethanol.  We have also collected five samples for the Census of Marine Zooplankton Program from Georges Bank and one from the Gulf of Maine.  Our bird observers have had regular sightings of dovekies, razorbills, guillemots, kittiwakes and common murres.

Bird observers Holly Goyert (left) and Chris Vogel on the bridge (Photo by Jerry Prezioso, NEFSC/NOAA)

We are planning on leaving Portland after the replacement crew person comes aboard.  From there we’ll resume our northern route in reverse, so as to proceed around the Gulf of Maine sampling stations in a clockwise direction.

Super Bowl at sea (Photo by Jerry Prezioso, NEFSC/NOAA)

Luckily for us the vessel was within range of a channel carrying the Sunday Super Bowl game, so we had an opportunity to watch it as John Rockwell our Chief Steward put out pizza, chicken wings, home-made salsa, a home-made cheese dip, a home-baked cake, and cooked up home-made venison sausages from our Chief Engineer, Brian Murphy.  Even though the Patriots lost, the game and food were enjoyed by all on board!

Jerry Prezioso
Chief Scientist
DE 12-02
Ecosystems Monitoring Survey

Winter sampling

Saturday, February 4, 2011:

After a 2 PM Thursday afternoon departure on February 2, the Delaware II headed out of Woods Hole for Georges Bank to conduct the annual Winter Ecosystem Monitoring Survey.  We are working on the Georges Bank and Gulf of Maine areas first, to ensure they are completely sampled before we proceed to the southern survey areas.  In addition to our randomly located stations that are sampled for plankton, temperature and salinity, we have a series of fixed position stations that we’ll sample, weather permitting, with a CTD 911 rosette.  This will capture water samples from different depths for total alkalinity and dissolved inorganic carbon measurements as part of a NOAA plan for examining trends in ocean acidity and C02 levels.  We will also collect nutrient samples in conjunction with a University of Maine program and a suite of electronic measurements for oxygen levels, chlorophyll, and particle size spectrum analysis.

The stern of the Delaware II as it departs Woods Hole February 2 for the winter ecosystem monitoring survey. (Photo by Shelley Dawicki, NEFSC/NOAA)

Right now, on early Saturday morning, two days into the cruise, we are working our way east along the southern flank of Georges Bank.  Conditions are marginal for working.  We’ve been able to deploy our bongo nets, but not the rosette sampler, due to the high winds and seas.  Even bongo operations were curtailed yesterday afternoon, as we waited for a few hours for seas to subside enough to operate safely.  The plankton catches we’ve obtained so far have been very light, dominated by surprising numbers of chaetognaths (arrow-worms) at five of the eleven stations we’ve sampled so far, pteropods (planktonic snails) at a couple of other stations, and copepods at the rest.

This is a bittersweet cruise for us, as it marks the last survey our group will have aboard the venerable Delaware II which is being retired after May of this year.  We have collected a lot of data and untold numbers of samples using this vessel, and met many good people aboard her.  It has come a long way from its original mission of being a gear testing vessel to a premier survey platform, and I will be sorry to see it leave the NOAA fleet.

Jerry Prezioso
Chief Scientist, DEII 1202
Winter Ecosystem Monitoring Survey