CSI Boat Basin Survey

Our group had a bit of fieldwork to do last week on the water. First, we had to go to our Albemarle Sound Site, an autonomous observing system that is having some cellular connection issues (that we are still working on). Once we returned, we decided to outfit the "Sound Rover" with the RTK and single beam echo sounder and survey the CSI boat basin. The basin has been shoaling over the last few years, so CSI had a maintenance "dredge" operation recently. Our group wanted to provide CSI with some baseline information post dredging...that way we can get a better handle on how the basin changes with time AND, more importantly, what the depth is for the research vessels coming in and out of campus! Although the Sound Rover can travel upwards of 50 mph, we tooled around at about 3 mph throughout the boat basin to get this high-resolution bathymetric survey! My back sore the next day from just sitting on the SeaDoo for 3 hours...hard job, but someone has to do it!

Studying Abroad in Ireland

Getting a great chance to see and study the impressive geology and coast of Ireland.  Our group is traveling with another friendly crew of students from UNC Pembroke.  The weather has been good and highlights this far include a lecture at Trinity College in Dublin, hiking the Wicklow Mountains, studying coastal sedimentary processes and understanding Atlantic Ocean history and its predecessor, Iapetus.

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Land Ho!

We've arrived to Norfolk...in some lovely weather on a quiet Easter Sunday morning.   It's been a great research cruise,  but all are excited to be back in port to get reunited with family and friends...and cell coverage and high-speed Internet.

Despite some days of inclement weather,  we accomplished all of our objectives and have had some fun along the way. 

We all are very appreciative of the fabulous Captain  and crew,  and based on our experiences,  we know the ship is ready for many years of exciting research on oceans around the world.

Cape Henry Lighthouse.

Arriving to the dock at the Nauticus Museum, Norfolk VA.

Chesapeak Bay Bridge Tunnel

Norfolk Harbor under overcast skies on Easter.

It Takes a Village

Oceanographic research is a team effort, not only does it require a talented captain and crew (22 people total) to navigate across the ocean safely and comfortably but also the science is inherently interdisciplinary and complex, requiring researchers of all kinds, technical people with great skills, and motivated students to invest time and energy.

This expedition has been a tremendous team effort involving a wide array of people at sea and on land.  I can’t acknowledge everyone here, and I’m sure I’ll forget to mention some people.  But I thought I’d list some science folks onboard  (in no particular order) to give you a grasp of the many different individuals  involved in this effort:

Masako Tominaga from Texas A&M – looking at magnetic properties of the margin

Dan Lizzaralde from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution – interested in margin evolution and fluid  flow

Bill Danforth from U.S. Geological Survey Woods Hole – technical experts for seafloor mapping and leading field surveying for USGS

Wayne Baldwin from U.S. Geological Survey Woods Hole – technical experts for seafloor mapping and leading field surveying for USGS

Sid Mitra from ECU Geological Scientists– organic geochemist analyzing seawater properties from the shoreline to  

Erin Field from ECU Biology – microbial ecologist looking at seawater and sediments

Mike Muglia from UNC CSI/UNC Chapel Hill – physical oceanography researcher focused on Gulf Stream dynamics

Dave Sybert from UNC CSI – Education and outreach specialist and research scientist

Keith Garmire – technical staff from ECU/CSI for GIS and data processing

Trip Taylor – technical staff from UNC CSI  for ADCP analysis and data processing

Amy Simoneau – Marine technician on the ship

Ellen Roosen – Coring technician from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Joe – Marine technician on the ship

Ian Conery – ECU PhD student

Ryan Gibbons – ECU MS student

Caroline Webb – ECU MS student

Beau Benfield – ECU MS student

Reide Corbett from ECU/UNC CSI  - biogeochemical oceanographer focused on material exchange  and sedimentation

Me (J.P. Walsh) from ECU/UNC CSI   - geological oceanographer focused on sedimentation and margin construction

Everyone onboard is very professional and a pleasure to work with (except for me without coffee). 

Ian, Dave, Keith, Ryan and Reide (left to right) have a down moment of deck operations.

Beau and Caroline process water samples. 

Caroline filters water.

Sid (left) and Beau (right) are happy to have samples to work with.

Reide and Erin slice up a sediment core.

 Dan and Melody examine seismic data.

Wayne, Bill and Masako at work in the computer lab.

Masako examines magnetic variation data. 

 Wayne, the multibeam mapping wizard, cleans data with Caris.

 Jen pilots the ship on the bridge.

Mike, Reide and J.P., take a needed break from the stress of seep sampling.

Trips relaxes during some ADCP analysis.

The dirt of the ocean…

Yesterday we spent most of the day collecting cores from the seabed.  So, what is a core…well, if you can imagine sticking a tube into the ground and pulling it out with a plug of the bottom.  Think about it this way…know when you have a drink at a restaurant, waitress gives you a straw…the you put the straw in your drink and put your finger over the top and pull some drink out of the glass in your straw.  You have essentially created a suction in the straw allowing the drink to remain in the straw when you remove it from the glass.  We are doing essentially the same thing, but on the sea floor.  This allows us to collect "sediment" from the ocean.

 

To be clear, sediment is the dirt, the soil of the ocean.  Particles that wash of the continent or are created in the water column sink through the depths of the ocean and accumulate on the sea floor.  This has been happening for thousands, hundreds of thousands of years.  So, these sediments hold a record of earth's history…information on ocean properties, changes in climate, alteration of the coast.  All of these processes influence the physical and chemical character of the sediments being deposited on the sea floor.  So, we collect these sediments to gain information on processes that are occurring in the overlying water column, the atmosphere, and the adjacent continents.  These sediments act as a window into the geologic and recent past.  The longer core we collect (longer straw), the further back in time we can see…

 

Given that background, we are interested in using these cores to gain a better understanding of how the continental margin, particularly the shelf-slope break, off NC, has changed and processes that lead to the accumulation or down-slope transport of sediments.  We use geochemical tools (natural radionuclides, organic matter, among others) and physical character (grain size, porosity, bulk density, etc.) of the sediments to interpret the source, mechanisms of delivery, age, and how the sediments have been altered with time.  The data collected form the sediments, together with the information gained from the multibeam, EK80, and Knudsen (se earlier blog post) will provide the initial data for several working hypotheses we hope to test in greater detail in the near future.