Getting Underway - Update #1

Greetings from the R/V Sharp!  After working through some science and mechanical issues, we are finally underway.  Here's a brief update of what we've been up to so far.

Unpacking and organizing

Throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday, the science crew arrived from their various home institutions.  Our original goal was to get everything unpacked and organized to depart on Tuesday.  After days of carrying boxes, shoving lab equipment into every available space, and taking multiple trips to Walmart and Home Depot, we finally got everything situated to depart around noon on Wednesday.

Loading up the ship.

Because of the relative size of the ship and the harbor, it was only possible to leave during high tide.  This gave us a ~4 hour window around noon, and again at midnight.  We were ready to leave at the end of this window, so the crew got everything ready and turned on the engines.  They shut right back off again.  We weren't going anywhere just yet.

Trying to fit scientific equipment into the ship's labs

It turns out there was a mechanical problem that needed fixed before we could leave.  The science crew took some much needed downtime from cruise preparations.  We explored the ship and were briefed on safety procedures.  Local wildlife, including an osprey nest, stingrays, turtles, and blue crabs provided a welcome distraction.

We caught a blue crab in a net off the side of the ship, but it was a bit too small to cook.  Here, one of the crew is showing us how to properly hold a crab.

The issue with the engines was fixed right around dinnertime, and we were able to leave with the next tide, around 9:30pm.  There was a last minute scramble with bungee cords and ropes to make sure everything was strapped down and ready to go.

Science plans

Before we left, we had a science meeting to determine our best course of action.  There is a large Gulf Stream eddy almost due east of us that will have good conditions for what we need.  Current forecasts show rain arriving at some point on Friday.  This would be ideal, as we can get to the eddy ahead of the rain.  We plan to sample the conditions before, during, and after the rain to determine the effect of rain on the surface ocean.

Map of Sea Surface Height (SSH).  The white box shows the eddy we are headed towards and the red dot is our approximate starting location.

Prior to arriving at the eddy, we plan to stop once we get to deeper waters to test all the equipment and practice our procedures.  One of our concerns right now is the presence of a tropical invest to the south.  An invest is the step before a tropical depression, which is the step before a tropical storm, which is the step before a hurricane.  It looks like the storm may make landfall before it heads far enough north to bother us, or it may dissipate.  Forecasts of the storm more than 3 days out aren't reliable enough for us to make plans.  So, we will be keeping an eye out and modifying our plans as necessary.

Stay tuned for the next update.  I'll be writing about our first station and some of the science we are doing.

More posts in this series:
Upcoming Cruise
Cruise Delays
Upcoming Cruise, Part II
Update #2
Update #3
Update #4
Update #5
Update #6 
Update #7 
Update #8 
Update #9

Upcoming research cruise, Part II

It's almost here!  In less than a week, we will be aboard our research vessel and beginning our scientific journey.  Before all that gets started, I have some last minute updates for you.

My science task:

Recently I've received more information about what my expected duties will be on board the ship.  The principal investigators (PIs) for the DANCE project have decided its a good idea to add measurements of light to our study.

Since sunlight is the principal energy source for phytoplankton, we measure the amount of light that penetrates the water column.  When light passes through water, it attenuates, or loses intensity.  Atmospheric conditions, such as cloudiness and time of day influence how much light reaches the surface of the water.  Oceanic conditions such as size and amount of particles in the water influence how much light penetrates to certain depths.

We are specifically interested in light that falls into the category of PAR, or Photosynthetically Active Radiation.  This includes light with wavelengths between 400 and 700 nm, essentially the visible spectrum.  PAR is the part of sunlight that phytoplankton actually use.  So it makes sense to measure only this portion.

The PAR sensor I will be using, shown hooked up to a laptop.  The little white knob on top is the actual sensor.

In order to measure PAR, I will be using an optical device that is lowered through the water column.  It first records the PAR at the surface of the water, then, as it descends, it records a continuous profile.  By plotting the amount of PAR versus the depth in the water, we can determine how deep the phytoplankton are likely to live.

Of course, there are some technicalities to be observed while measuring PAR.  Which I will be trained on by a technician once onboard the ship.  These will mainly consist of working with the recording software, and making sure the ship's shadow doesn't interfere with the measurements.

Now that you know more of what I'll be doing, let's move on to...

How to follow along:

Blog - Internet resources on the ship will be very limited.  I plan to record the interesting events each day and blog about them.  Depending on how much access I have, I might post an update every few days, or I might have to wait until we return.  Any updates here will be automatically posted to Facebook as well, but I won't be able to respond to any questions or comments.

Ship track - You can follow along online with the location and status of the R/V Hugh Sharp, our ship.  The map gives information about the current location of the ship, where's it been, where it's heading, and the current conditions.

Well, that's all for now.  See you on the ocean!

More posts in this series:
Upcoming Cruise
Cruise Delays
Update #1
Update #2
Update #3
Update #4
Update #5
Update #6 
Update #7 
Update #8 
Update #9

Writing a Prospectus

I've recently finished up writing my prospectus, and boy, was it a lot harder than I expected.  For a ~10 page document, it took a significant amount of time (read: months) to write.  In my department, a prospectus is essentially the combination of a literature review and a research proposal.  It is the first official document you submit to your committee, detailing what you plan to research for your thesis/dissertation.

My main problem with the prospectus was the organization of it.  I had a few example research proposals from grants my advisor had submitted, but those were not helpful.  I ended up re-arranging the entire document several times.  So, based on my experience, and the helpful suggestions of fellow graduate students, I've put together a list of prospectus tips.

Living the 9 to 5 life

Graduate school, despite the word "school" in the title, is much more like a having job than going to college.  Except you probably don't get benefits or raises, and you are expected to keep on learning.  So, I've decided to treat it as such and work from about 9 to 5 every day.  Here's why its a good idea:

1. It sets the stage for your career.  Do you want to spend the rest of your life working evenings and weekends?  No?  Me neither.  That's why I decided to only work relatively normal hours.  I'm practicing for the future.  I find that having limited time to work makes that time more productive (see point 3).  I've also accepted that I might have been able to do more work if I had stayed longer hours.  But, I'm okay with prioritizing my happiness over a potentially prestigious future job that would stress me out.  By setting the amount of work time I have each week, I contain myself at a level that is sustainable in the long term and isn't a stress-work roller coaster.

Delays and rescheduling

As any scientist knows, a large portion of "research" time is not spent doing research.  It's spent getting the equipment to work.  Or troubleshooting code.  Or gathering resources for field work.  Or making repairs to a ship.

It's the last option that concerns me right now.  Not too long ago, we got the bad news that our cruise was being rescheduled.  The ship was in need of some repairs, and the time spent on those would push all science expeditions back.

With oceanography, it takes quite a lot of effort and money to go to sea.  Between operating costs of the ship, compensation for the crew, and scientific equipment, cruises can be very expensive.  Thus, ship time is a precious commodity.  Research cruises are scheduled back to back so that when one scientific group comes back into port, the next one is there, ready to go.  With, of course, a 3-4 day break for the ship itself, as the scientists load and unload all their equipment.

Scheduling cruises is further complicated by the goals of each scientific group.  We, specifically, are looking for rain.  And there are certain times of the year when it is more likely that we will encounter rain (July - August).  There are also certain times of the year when we will be more likely to encounter hurricanes, a very undesirable occurrence.  On the other hand, other scientific groups may be monitoring something completely different, like a certain species of fish in the water.  They would have different times of the year that would be ideal.

So when a ship goes down for unplanned repair, some unlucky person has the task of re-balancing the needs of all the scientific groups scheduled.  This requires a lot of communication with the different scientists, and a knowledge of their needs.  Some research projects can handle a change in length of time of the cruise.  Others may need to be out for a specific time but could go at different times of the year.

In our case we ended up making a compromise between the two.  Our cruise was pushed back slightly to the end of July (unavoidable, really) and shortened by three days.  We may have been able to keep the original cruise length, but we would have gone out in late August-September instead, an absolute no-go for us timing-wise.

The good news is that the cruise is still on.  There are times when delays and rescheduling don't work out for everyone in the end.  Our cruise in particular was originally planned to be completed last year.  It's just one of the hazards of doing experimental science.

While we are waiting for the cruise to begin, I've got an awesome guest post lined up from a fellow cruise-goer.  You will get to read about our science from someone with a different perspective (chemistry) and a lot more cruise experience.

Stick around for more updates!

More posts in this series:
Upcoming Cruise
Upcoming Cruise, Part II
Update #1
Update #2
Update #3
Update #4
Update #5
Update #6 
Update #7 
Update #8 
Update #9

Planning your exit

At this point in my graduate school career, I am estimating I have less than one year to go.  My target graduation date is Spring 2015, but I'm hoping to defend sooner rather than later.

Now, the majority of you non-US based graduate students should have no problems planning your exit from grad school.  After all, there is a time limit on your degree.  And you must finish up then.  Or else.

For better or worse, this is not the case with US graduate programs (at least in the sciences).  There is no set end date for your degree.  There are, of course, other dates of importance.  Such as when your research funding runs out.  Or when you've stayed so long they make you retake the core courses.  But you can always work your way around those if you really want to be a grad student forever.  It does give you time to get more done with your degree.  Or time to fix mistakes you made early on.  For many people though, this time is just more time to procrastinate.

#87324634 / gettyimages.com

Don't worry, you'll get to that date eventually.

That is why you should take the advice I've gotten from one of my professors and plan your exit.