Nancy Foster Summer Expeditions 2024

This summer, we continued a program that gives our graduate students the opportunity to join expeditions aboard the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster where they get some sea time under the belts and serve in a mentor capacity to undergraduates from other academic programs. Two of this year's CCOM participants have shared their experiences below: Hailey Gilman, a master's student in ocean engineering/ocean mapping, and Reilly Lessard, a master's student in computer science. Read on!

 

Hailey Gilman

What a whirl-wind July! Just two weeks into the month, my colleagues and I completed all course requirements for our FIG/IHO/ICA Category A certificates in hydrography. Nearly 48 hours later, I was stepping foot off the plane in Charleston, South Carolina to board the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster. This cruise was my first time involved with 24-hour survey operation - what an experience it was!

Hailey standing on the pier in front of the Nancy Foster.

The NOAA Ship Nancy Foster is a familiar vessel amongst my CCOM colleagues. She and her crew have welcomed many for their first at-sea cruises in both oceanographic research and hydrographic survey capacities. Her 187 ft (57 m) length, once outfitted for Navy torpedo trials (1990), is presently (2001) outfitted with comfortable wet- and dry- lab spaces, multibeam, singlebeam, diving and oceanographic technologies for coastal research, and a lovely white hull. On our particular cruise, we made good use of her Kongsberg EM 712 (40-100 kHz), EM 2040 (300 kHz), and ES200-7C (200kHz), ES120-7C (120kHz), ES70-7C (70kHz), and ES38B (38kHz) systems.

Our cruise focused mapping efforts along sections of the Blake Plateau – a large, flat area of seafloor extending beyond the southeastern United States to the continental slope. Covered extensively by more recent media, this area is home to the largest documented cold-water coral reef system in the world (Sowers, Mayer, Masetti, et al, 2024). There is also high interest in understanding ancient iceberg scours along the plateau (Condron & Hill, 2021). In addition to mapping, our cruise supported the COMIT glider program at the University of South Florida. We launched a glider offshore of Charleston between the many thunderstorms chasing us throughout the week.

Bank of monitors in the lab area of the Nancy Foster.

To me, this trip provided a great opportunity to solidify “the hard skills” that CCOM’s certificate coursework did well to build a foundation for. It was a smooth transition from a small research boat to big boat operation. I knew the what’s and why’s of components required for survey, but what specific equipment/setup does a NOAA ship use? How does communication between the survey techs and vessel crew work? When do the survey techs process data?  What does their day look like? Would I be comfortable working in this capacity for a job? Federal or private, weeks or months? Perhaps most importantly, would I get seasick? (Thankfully, that’s a no to the last question!).

Hailey standing at the rail aboard the Nancy Foster.

I am eager and encouraged upon return to UNH to begin the second year of my OE masters. This trip validated the importance of my coursework and provided me context for the real-world applications which my master’s thesis project helps work towards. Many thanks to the Nancy Foster. In particular, many thanks to Sam and Ben for their patience and mentorship!

 

Reilly Lessard - Data Collection and Processing Aboard Nancy Foster

While aboard the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster, I learned a lot, especially about data collection and processing. I got to see for myself all the components that make up the ship, and even got to use them to research and explore the ocean floor. The primary component on the ship is with sonar multi-beam. Seeing how sound is used to create an image of the ocean floor was very interesting. There is a great amount of overlap between this and my research, which makes me want to learn more. The multi-beam signals emitted from the ship return, which generate an image of the ocean floor. Something I did not already know about this is that the ship must be moving relatively slowly, to acquire that data. If the ship moves too fast, it will miss the signals entirely. To make data collection efficient, the ship travels back and forth in a lawn mower pattern. This made for a fun experience while watching the sunset. I found myself wandering around the outside of the ship to find the best viewing position for a beautiful sunset. Driving the boat becomes an easier task when using autopilot, which requires occasional course correction to prevent the ship from drifting too far off course. Getting to try this out myself was one of my favorite moments of the experience and something I will always treasure.

Reilly at the helm controls on the bridge of the Nancy Foster.

I learned about the different software used to record and process information. Required software include Kongsberg, Simrad, SIS, Hypack, and other programs. While some other students had already become familiar with these programs, they were new to me. I did, however, get the opportunity to share with another student that the Data Visualization Lab uses virtual reality to clean data. Knowing that I can share my knowledge with other people to help them with their work is inspiring. Acquiring data aboard the Nancy Foster is a complicated process that requires the cooperation of everyone involved. Without the right people and the right tools, data acquisition becomes impossible, but I’m glad I got the opportunity to be a part of it.

Reilly in a round laddered passage aboard the Nancy Foster.
Processing data is equally important as acquiring it. I learned just how messy raw data can be. It can be full of inaccuracies, missing pieces, or it doesn’t align with previous measurements. Inaccurate measurements may be caused by schools of fishes, other animals, bubbles, or other unknown variables. When working with data, I came across some bad data. It showed a random change in the depth of the ocean by several meters. I was informed that it was likely a school of fish that were present. If data was used in its uncorrected state, it would be useless. People need to be careful when looking at data because any problems encountered could lead to bigger problems later. I was sure to be careful when cleaning data because any bad data I did not clean would have made someone else’s job much more difficult. Part of this job becomes easier when accounting for some automated corrections. To correct the data, recorded data is combined with sound velocity and the roll, pitch, and heave of the ship. As the ship wobbles around, data returns to the ship with different angles, resulting in inaccuracies. Shortly after boarding the ship, I noticed the small ship wobbles around a lot in wavy water, which took some getting used to. Software is used to correct problems in the data, so the final results are accurate and useful for any interested parties. I am proud to say that I have contributed to and learned from taking part in this. Some software that is used include Qimera, Caris, Charlene, Hydro, QPS, Pydro, and FMGT. These tools are used to identify and remove faulty data points. In cases where perfect results are impossible, there is allowable uncertainty, meaning that measurements are not exact, but are close enough to the estimated depth. After learning about all these data processing techniques, I came to the conclusion that the resulting data is trustworthy and a pretty good representation of the ocean floor. Any time I may need to use this data, I know it is reliable and the people who created it can be trusted. Both data acquisition and data processing are key parts of voyaging aboard the Nancy Foster. Experiencing life at sea has taught me a lot about the work that goes into mapping the ocean floor. If I ever got the chance to do something like this again, I would jump at the opportunity.
 
Reilly and his fellow researchers in a group pose below deck of the Nancy Foster.