For all the nets and trawls on TEAL-SHIPS

Our final day and our final station!

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

The fun creature feature for our final day were two juvenile Atlantic Sharpnose Sharks! These friends were measured, weighed, and safely released back into the sea.

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

Collections of our final CTD measurements and surface / bottom water samples are performed one last time with the make-shift rig, as onlooking shore birds observe from the sky for any signs of food. Sorry our fellow aviary friends, trawls were early this morning, only the earliest of birds get the fish!

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

And to wrap up our collections, the plankton crew acquire their last plankton sample. Of all of the stations sampled, this collection was the most colorful, painting the net a sediment-brown color reflecting that of the river influenced coastal area.

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

As collections and processing come to an end, our team of researchers converse with smiles as the Cape Hatteras makes its way back to dock. Although the journey had its own “Dragon” (otherwise known as technical issues) to battle, these researchers are primed with experience of mishaps occurring. Like our Hero Bima, Scientists are ready to face the challenges of research in the journey to acquire knowledge.

Photo courtesy by: Bradley Tolar / UNCW

Our trip comes to an end with a group photo, reflecting the multitudes of collaboration that has occurred over the past 4 days. As one cruise comes to an end, though, Teal Ships 3 is already in the planning!

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

The morning of June 3rd is an early one for some crew members, but as this team of researchers waits for their fish trawl they are surrounded with a beautiful sunrise out at sea.

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

Photo courtesy by: Gena Leib / UNCW

Hope you wanted some jelly with your morning toast! These morning trawls bring in fascinating critters that intrigue many, but the most abundant organisms collected and released were pounds of assorted jellyfish!

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

As the day moves on, even with the continued issues from our water sampling rosette, our team continues to make do with their collections. Working under the microscope, Matt Bues and Dr. Christian Briseño-Avena observe a sample of Plankton.

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

Photo courtesy by: Gena Leib / UNCW

Video courtesy by: Matt Bues / UNCW

Photo courtesy by: Gena Leib / UNCW

Through all of their hard work, the day is filled with great views, conversations, and a few ice-cream breaks here and there! Most everyone’s favorite part being a visit from a pod of dolphins that journeyed alongside to one of our stations, and a sighting of a Loggerhead Sea Turtle!

June 2nd begins with the crew arriving at station 6, where surface sits over 1100 meters above the sea floor. Patches of sargassum float by as our instruments are prepared to tackle these depths.

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

Along with our niskin rosette, a bag full of styrofoam cups is attached. It takes roughly an hour to resurface.

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

After eagerly waiting the hour-long deployment, our cups resurface, just this time they appear to have shrunken! At the 1100 meter depths, our cups undergone pressure that caused all air trapped in the styrofoam to escape and compress! Alongside cup collections, all other water measurements are acquired. Pictured above is researcher Fatemeh Ameri using a probe that measures pH.

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

After water has been collected, the plankton crew consisting of Jess Shearer, Gena Leib, Matt Bues and not pictured Ellissa DeFeyter, are deploying and recovering their Bongo net for plankton collections. Samples will be used to assess for general zooplankton diversity, ichthyoplankton larvae and egg identifications and abundances, and Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in assemblages.

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

Additionally, Dr. Christian Briseño-Avena uses a smaller plankton net to collect and assess phytoplankton in surface water.

Photo courtesy by: Ata Suanda / UNCW

It’s a full lab in here!

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

While ongoing Plankton collections occur, back in the lab our scientists are busy at work filtering water samples. Above, Charlton Slader and Leila Ramirez from Dr. Winifred Johnson’s lab, are assuring water is filtered accordingly for osmolytes from assorted depths of the water column.

As analyses continue, The Cape Hatteras makes its way to our next station where the crew plans to collect only depth profiles and water samples.

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

The above picture is featuring water sampling, but a little different compared to our previous stations. These manual sampling methods for station 5c were implemented as a means to replace our niskin rosette, due to lost communications as a result of flooding of the CTD at depth. Although quite troubling news to deal with, as this would mean benching our entire rosette set up for further collections, our team of intelligent, out-of-the-box thinkers were already prepared with backup plans. Moving forward, our water collections would consist of a back-up CTD and a single niskin bottle attached to collect bottom depth water, as well as surface water. At the start of this second Teal Ships Cruise, the running name was Double Trouble, however after witnessing some pretty “Troubling” things go wrong, this name became quite ironic.

After a night’s journey, our crew and researchers prepare for their first day of work at sea. On the morning of June 1st, the Mooring Buoy with an array of sensors is prepared for deployment. This instrument will spend a year at 250 meters below the water’s surface collecting data to inform scientists of the ocean’s currents through a depth profile.

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

As we sit on the edge of our seats, and a nail-biting amount of time passes, the buoy finally sits in the water. Its weighted counterpart is soon dropped, and the buoy vanishes quickly into the depths. Below, oceanographers Sam Flounders and Ata Suanda celebrate the deployment of the Mooring Buoy!

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

After a successful start to Teal Ships 2, everyone jumps into their assigned roles, and an assortment of collections begins. Our first major station consisted of fish trawls, water sampling, and plankton tows.

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

This was the deepest station for fish trawls, and therefore this sampling event took the longest amount of time. However, the outcome provided some rare / cryptic species that our fish crew, Tiana Degrande and Sam Sanders, were excited about! Species included frogfish, goosefish, and batfish.

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

For our third event of this station, a CTD/ holographic plankton imaging system / niskin rosette is deployed in order to simultaneously collect abiotic conditions, in-situ images of plankton, and water across the depth profile. A water budget is created in order to assure each scientist is allotted their required amount of water per depth for their analysis.

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

Students and faculty can observe a live profile of the abiotic conditions through depth. This gives them an idea as to how the salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, and chlorophyl are changing as depth changes.

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

Researchers gather around the niskin rosette like animals to a watering hole, collecting their designated amount of water and heading back to their lab stations. Graduate students Rachel Wood and Jess Shearer, pictured, collect water for their analyses of vitamins and nutrients.

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

Water samples collected are used to assess Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC), Dissolved Inorganic Carbon (DIC), Particulate Organic Carbon (PIC), Particulate Inorganic Carbon (POC), Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Nutrients, Vitamins, Isotopes, Archaea, Coccolithophores, and Osmolytes.

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

Some analysis set ups are quite intricate, as seen above with Post Doc student Melanie Cohn observing live measurements of oxygen.

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

While the research vessel lab setup kept us in close quarters, it was a collaborative and educational space for all as we observed analyses that we do not normally partake in. Allie Sells and Dr. Bradley Tolar working side by side as they filter water for Archaea DNA pictured above.

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

To wrap up our first full day at sea, we partake in a research cruise tradition. Styrofoam cups are passed around along with a variety of markers. Everyone decorates their very own (normal-sized) cruise-cup! Come tomorrow, we will arrive at our deepest stations in the Gulf Stream, where these cups will travel with our instruments to the bottom!

On May 31st, our researchers eagerly await the departure of the Cape Hatteras. Prior to, we are given the run-down of emergency drills, expectations, and even mythological stories relating to the character known as Bima. After furthering my research of this story, I can confirm that this epic tail aligns quite well to our very own story as researchers journeying out to sea.

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

© 2019 – Rosalia Sciortino

Above portrays Bima, a hero of the epic Mahabharata, battling a dragon on his journey to the sea to find Parwita (pure) water (a symbol of purity and self- authenticity) and sacred knowledge (Rosalia Sciortino: An Outsider-Insider View of Southeast Asia, 2019). Bima’s journey of the South Sea is met with large waves and many challenges, similar to that of a research cruise.

Photo courtesy by: Jeff Janowski / UNCW

After tails of the sea, instruments and equipment are assembled, for early Sunday morning our scientists will awake to surrounding seas and mooring deployment!

Above the Mooring is prepared by researchers Riley Morse and Sam Flounders.

Last week we delivered our TEAL-SHIPS mooring to RV Cape Hatteras. This officially begins our load for TS2!