Day 4 Kilo Moana

The trap that was sent down on Friday, resurfaced on Saturday morning. In the trap were enormous spiky red crabs, three eels, and some shrimp. Dr. Drazen took measurements and recorded all the information for everything that was captured.

Later in the day, the camera resurfaced. The same technique was used to recover the camera. There were four people along the left side of the ship. They had to throw the hook and rope over the edge to hook the line. Remember, this is called grappling. After the camera was back on board, it was time to check out the pictures that were taken near the trap. Unfortunately the strobe light didn't work, so the photos that were taken, were all black.

Yesterday was the last day to cast one more CTD for water samples. There were a few more plankton tows as well. Kelley, the one who works at the Waikiki Aquarium, did her own two tows. She needed one tow to be close to the surface, and another tow to go down 60 meters. Again, she was looking for jellyfish or any other interesting fish to take back to the Waikiki Aquarium to research and possibly use for a future exhibit.

The last night deep tow was awesome!! The net captured a squid, a big red jellyfish, and other fish. I liked the squid the best because of its eyes. One eye looks like a normal eye, but the other eye was bulged out. The squid uses the normal eye to look downward for food, while the bulged eye looks up. I never knew this before! Unfortunately, the red jellyfish fell apart while being captured in the towing net.







Today, we unloaded all the equipment and specimens that were separated, classified, and preserved. After unloading everything, it was off to the University of Hawaii to put it all in the labs.

This research cruise was amazing!! As I said before, everyone was so nice and generous with their time to teach me. They all made me feel apart of their team. I would like to thank the crew, Professors, Grad. students, & everyone else for a wonderful trip. I have made many new friends.

=)

P.S. I forgot to also thank the cooks!!! Thanks for always making such delicious food, cookies & cakes!!! =)

Day 3 Kilo Moana

Yesterday was another fantastic, long day. After the trap and camera were deployed into the ocean, it was time to release the respirometer for it to begin resurfacing.

The respirometer was on the sea floor for about 24 hours. When 24 hours expired, a signal was sent to release the weights holding down the device. Almost an hour later, we saw the respirometer floating at the surface.

It was now time to retrieve the device. The respirometer would approach on the left. The strategy was to have four people on the left side of the ship with rope and hooks. The objective was to throw the rope and hook over the respirometer line. Then pull in the rope quickly to hook the line that was securing the respirometer. This was challenging since it was extremely windy, and we were throwing the rope & hook straight into the wind.



Throwing the hook and rope over the edge to the line is called grappling. This was my first time ever doing grappling. I was a little worried, but I tried my best. I’m pleased to say I hooked the line successfully. =)

Eventually the entire respirometer was back on board. Unfortunately the device did not capture any deep-sea fish. Dr. Drazen and his students will analyze the data from the device. They will reevaluate the respirometer, and make it more successful for the next research cruise in April.



At the end of the night, Dr. Erica Goetze (Professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa), completed another plankton tow. Her students are investigating the Diel Vertical Migration (DVM) of the fish and plankton captured in the net. Dr. Goetze did a day tow and a night tow.



After each tow, the students separate, classify, and preserve each specimen. Dr. Goetze’s students will analyze the data to figure out which specimen might do DVM. This would mean that during the day, certain fish & plankton are not around. At night time though, these fish & plankton come up from the deep water closer to the surface to feed.

Last night, we all learned more about the exciting world of bioluminescence. First, Dr. Drazen gave a lecture in regards to bioluminescence in deep-sea fish. After the lecture finished, it was time to do another tow. This time the tow would be use to collect fish with bioluminescence. Bioluminescence is the light given off by the fish. It is an example of chemical energy transforming to light energy. The tow net was released into the water and reached the depth of 200 meters. This depth would allow for a lot of bioluminescence fish to be captured.

I love learning about bioluminescence. It is similar to watching fireflies flashing at night. This late night tow was going to be a little different for me. I was going to help release the net and then tag the line to bring it back on board. It was fantastic to be involved in the deployment and recovery of the tow.

This tow was extremely successful. We were able to capture many fish. Similar to fireflies, these fish only light up when it’s dark. With this in mind, we all gathered into the wet lab room and turned off all the lights. We saw bioluminescence is action!!!! Many fish flashed their light on and off, while only a few kept their light on for a longer time.

One of the most fascinating sights was watching a shrimp release a bioluminescence fluid. The fluid was a beautiful bright blue color. The shrimp uses the bioluminescence fluid for self defense from other fish.

Today’s agenda is to retrieve the trap & camera, more plankton tows, and another CDT cast. I’m having such a blast being on the ship and learning more & more each day. Everyone here is so nice. They take the time to explain things to me, and they are very patient. =)

Day 2 Kilo Moana

Yesterday was a busy day. First, the respirometer was deployed in the morning. Then the CTD was cast. CTD stands for Conductivity (the salinity of the water), Temperature, and Depth. The CTD has approximately 24 long tube looking bottles (each bottle is labeled with a number). The purpose of this device is to collect water samples from different depths of the ocean. As it states in the acronym for CTD, the device is also used to collect the conductivity and temperature for each depth of water sample.



I was amazed to see this huge device, and find out that it’s controlled by a computer. On the computer, it shows the farthest depth the CTD descends, and also the conductivity & temperature for that depth. When the CTD reaches the depth for the water sample, someone pushes the “Fire” button on the computer. After the fire button is pushed, then the bottle opens its traps and collects the water sample.
Dr. Brian Popp, Geology/Geophysics Professor at University of Hawaii at Manoa, is using the CTD device on this expedition. He is collecting water samples from many different depths. Dr. Popp is analyzing the carbon and nitrogen levels in each water sample.






Also yesterday, I helped a Graduated student with his own project. Gordon is working on viruses, and researching how these viruses affect communities of microbals. He uses a pretty cool instrument named pipette. The pipette is used to take the water sample and put it into another bottle. This instrument allows you to calibrate it to the exact amount of milliliters you want to take from the sample.



I never knew that viruses could be good. Gordon told me that the viruses play a specific role and function in the ocean. He explained that they control diversity and also can transfer genetic material to their host. I am learning so much!!! =)

Today’s agenda is to do another CTD cast, do more plankton tows, and deploy a trap & a camera. The trap has a fish inside to lure other fish into the trap. They’re also using squid to attract other fish. The squid pieces are on hooks that are attached to the trap rope. The goal of the camera is to take pictures of deep-sea fish.

Later tonight we will be having a bioluminescence lab. I’m excited!!!

=)

Day 1 Kilo Moana

This morning started bright and early! I was picked up at 6:30 am to head to the UH Marine Center. After I arrived, I unloaded my things to load them onto the ship. Wow!! The ship, Kilo Moana, is beautiful! I’ve never been on ship this huge before today. I feel like a little kid on Christmas morning. There is so much to see and learn!

After unloading the car, I checked-in on the ship. I then headed to my bunk. Before coming on this trip, I was a little nervous. I felt a little intimated. Everyone coming on this research vessel is familiar with the oceanography and/or zoology. Many people here are graduated students from University of Hawaii. I feel more comfortable now. We are all learning together.

My bunk roommate is Kelley. She works at the Waikiki Aquarium as the Aquarium Biologist. Kelley hopes to gather some jellyfish and other interesting fish during the research vessel expedition. Her plan is to take them back to the Waikiki Aquarium to gather information about them, and to keep them alive for future exhibits.

After leaving port, we had a meeting. The Captain went over all the safety procedures, and gave us information about the ship. Just to make sure we understood the safety procedures, we had a fire drill. During our fire drill, we had to gather our life jacket and a big orange bag. Then we headed to the meeting area, and put on the bright orange life jackets. When everyone had them on correctly, we were able to take them off. In the bag we brought with us, was an immersion suit.

We all had to climb into the suit successfully. I thought we all looked like the characters from the movie Monsters, Inc. Remember when the monster had a sock on his back, and the bright yellow suited monsters went to disinfect the socked monster? Well, that's what we looked like, but our suits were red. The purpose for the suit is to keep us warm. If, for some safety reason, we had to go overboard, the suit would help prevent hypothermia. Hypothermia happens when the body's temperature drops and people get extremely cold. This could happen if people were stranded in the water for too long.

The safety drill continued with a walk to the lifeboats. We listened carefully to the all the directions to make sure we would be prepared if we needed to use the lifeboats. This concluded our safety drill.



Before lunch, the respirometer was dropped into the ocean. The respirometer is a device that will measure the deep-sea fish metabolic rate. The design has four chambers. One chamber is used for the control. Our fingers are crossed that we have fish in the other three chambers when the respirometer resurfaces.

I have to sign off for now. I'm going to help gather water samples from different depths of the ocean.

=)