Our second post comes from SEAPLEX‘s very own chief scientist, Miriam Goldstein.
Miriam writes:
Hi, I’m Miriam Goldstein, and I am the chief scientist for the SEAPLEX cruise. It is unusual for a graduate student to be chief scientist. I was the coordinator of the UC Ship Funds grant that got SEAPLEX started. I am in charge of the scientific operations aboard the New Horizon. In collaboration with the other scientists, I designed the cruise track and sampling plan, and make the day-to-day decisions about where the ship should go and what it should do.
Since I’m in charge of the New Horizon’s cruise track, I’m able to tweak it as necessary. And the other day, collecting an enormous rotting squid was definitely necessary. I got to yell, “Captain! Follow that squid!” (No following was necessary since the very deceased squid wasn’t going anywhere, but how could I resist?)
The not so fun part of being Chief Scientist is that I don’t get very much sleep. It’s myresponsibility to make sure that the scientific operations run smoothly, and so I liaise with the crew and the other scientists to make sure everyone gets the samples they need. When we’re doing round-the-clock sampling, as we did a couple days ago, I had the fun of staying up for nearly 48 hours straight making sure that everything was running smoothly.
Right now, I’m working on the best way to find and sample the plastic. Since we don’t know what it looks like – will we see lots of pieces on the surface? Will it only come up in nets? – picking the right area to sample will be an interesting challenge.
Oh, and the other perk of being chief scientist? I’m making the entire science crew and the captain listen to the “I’m On A Boat” song right now.
SEAPLEX Chief Scientist Miriam Goldstein.
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Loved your blog. thanks for the info re your duties too!
I am very interested in this topic and have been pounding the heads in of my community board to set up recycling to stop this from happening.
I appreciate that there will be some”science” to back up my “greenie psychotics” some day. LOL
my husbands term. Be safe and keep us updated
By: Catherine Mcguire on August 6, 2009
at 12:23 pm
I know I am not really supposed to do this but I could not resist (I am after all the little sister and my job in life is to embarrass the eldest). Miriam, Chief Scientist, Mimsicle: I am so proud of you and the crew’s work! I check the Seaplex website daily, it is wonderful.
Also I had a question: With the way the current is, how deep into the ocean, do you believe the gyre goes?
By: Aviva Goldstein on August 6, 2009
at 12:42 pm
That is kind of a tricky question. Water in the ocean is always moving. In strong current systems (like the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic), the current influences the water all the way to the sea floor. When we say gyre, we mean the calmer area that isn’t as impacted by the major continental boundary currents. In general, most of the water in the gyre moves due to prevailing winds (which create convergence and divergence zones) and due to density differences between water masses. All of the water in the ocean is moving all of the time, but the water in the gyre isn’t really directly impacted by the major North Pacific currents. I am not sure that I really answered your question, but hopefully you at least find the information interesting!
By: Alison Cawood on August 7, 2009
at 9:45 am
Over the course that you have been working on this issue, do you have any estimate of when govermental involvement will be due? I understand there are alot of issues in our economy that are to be delt with.
Thank You for what your doing!
And hope you succeed
:]
By: Jose Valdez CVHS on August 12, 2009
at 7:01 am
I have no idea. That is actually a pretty tricky issue. Most of the gyre (except waters within 200 miles of Hawaii) are considered to be international waters, so no one government has exclusive rights to the fish or minerals that are there. That also means that there would be little incentive for one government to put billions of dollars into cleaning up the plastics if other governments are going to contribute. In my opinion, the government would be best served by trying to regulate plastic use and disposal on land. If there is less plastic being used, less will get into the ocean. But once again, if only one country decides to do this, the problem will continue to grow.
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By: Alison Cawood on August 12, 2009
at 1:21 pm
Had a great time on a boat a few weeks ago sampling for plastics in the Atlantic. Keep looking, the fragments aren’t that obvious until you get used to seeing them.
Will crank “I’m on a Boat” in you and your crew’s honor.
Jennifer O’Keefe
By: Jennifer O'Keefe on August 6, 2009
at 6:50 pm
I understand the gyre migrates about 1,000 miles over the course of a year and that in an El Nino is can go even further south than normal. I heard yesterday that an El Nino has started and this one seems to have started pretty quickly. Did you account for this in deciding your track? How good is the information that tells you where the center of the gyre is at any given time?
By: Eric on August 6, 2009
at 11:09 pm
These things were (and are being) taken into account. The gyre isn’t actually what is moving. I think that you are referring to the convergence zones, which are the areas where the plastic particles tend to accumulate. Based on the seasons, there is some predictability as to the approximate locations of the convergence zones, so we started thinking about that as soon as we knew the approximate time of the cruise. In oceanography circles, El Nino is a big topic of conversation, so there has been discussion of the current El Nino event going on for months. So, both the seasons and El Nino effects were taken into account when the sampling program for the cruise was being designed. Additionally, the SEAPLEX scientists are getting satellite wind data every day, so they know how the winds, surface waters, and convergence zones are changing from one day to the next. This allows them to adjust the cruise track as the cruise is happening. The satellite data is very accurate (although there are sometimes blank areas if clouds were covering the sea surface), so they have a really good idea of what conditions were like when they left from San Diego and a pretty good idea of how things have changed since then.
By: Alison Cawood on August 7, 2009
at 10:56 am
Thank you for developing this program. My niece Annie Crawley is the one to capture all the important events on this mission. Good luck and may the Hurricane winds stay clear of your project. Aunt Joy Kirchens.
P.S. I have no idea how the song goes “I ‘m on a Boat?
By: Joy Kirchens on August 7, 2009
at 10:05 am
Does the New Horizon have any subs or rov’s on board? Or will there be any diving? Or is it just nets and similar collectors?
By: Andrew Salamon on August 7, 2009
at 11:24 am
None of that is going on. Because the seafloor is so deep, it would be difficult to see much of anything besides water! Often, the cruises that use subs are in environments closer to shore (or in shallower water like over the mid-ocean ridges), or the entire cruise is dedicated to the submersible and working with it. The nets are the cheapest and most efficient way to collect the maximum amount of data.
By: Alison Cawood on August 7, 2009
at 12:28 pm
i have a cuestion …
are the animals evolutionatind with the plastic?
or its because the plastic is in their envirorment?
By: crystal plascencia cvhs on August 8, 2009
at 10:47 am
It is because the plastics are in their environment. The organisms didn’t evolve to be associated with the plastics. There are animals that have evolved alongside natural debris. There are pieces of wood and seaweed that are naturally found floating in the ocean.
By: Alison Cawood on August 8, 2009
at 6:49 pm
The animals didn’t evolve with the plastics, but they are using it because it is in their environment. The animals are evolved to use natural floating particles, such as driftwood, seaweed, or even on organisms (like floating snails, turtles, jellyfish, or other organisms).
By: Alison Cawood on August 8, 2009
at 6:54 pm
how far do yuo think the plastick is under water??
i think you are really exited..about this trip..it is bery interestin to know all about this …
By: crystal plascencia cvhs pr.6 on August 8, 2009
at 10:58 am
We don’t really know. This is one of the questions that is being investigated by the SEAPLEX scientists. They are using three different kinds of nets that are made to sample at different depths. When the samples are analyzed, maybe there will be a better answer to your question.
By: Alison Cawood on August 8, 2009
at 6:43 pm
Hello,
I truly admire the objectives that your voyage was established for. This plastic “garbage patch” is an environmental disaster. My question is, with so much plastic and junk in the water, might the ship’s engines be affected since I guess that they are cooled by sea water in some fashion.
By: John Datto on August 10, 2009
at 12:57 pm
I just wonder how some times peolpe dont think about our future…
I just imagine all that plastic that can go under water and animals actually eating that plastic..
but hey the plastic is not the problem we are…
thats what gets me mad
By: Mauricio Martell on August 11, 2009
at 4:09 pm
I just want to know..
What attracts so many animals to the garbage in the ocean?
By: Gaby Matthews on August 11, 2009
at 7:51 pm
We don’t think that the pelagic animals (those in the water column) are not particularly attracted to the plastics. They are just located in the same area. As for the animals that have attached to the plastic, these are animals like barnacles that have to be attached to a substrate in order to live. There are more natural substrates for them to attach to like driftwood and seaweed, but they tend to attach to whatever substrate that they come into contact with. If that is plastic, that is where they will attach.
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By: Alison Cawood on August 12, 2009
at 1:29 pm
[...] Kaisei, Mario Aguilera from Scripps, Matt Durham the resident technician, and I (I’m Miriam, the chief scientist) got our dip nets and our coolers and set out to capture some marine debris. I’m interested in [...]
By: SEAPLEX Day 14 « SEAPLEX on August 15, 2009
at 12:57 pm