-----Original Message-----
From:
[mailto: On Behalf Of John Quinlan
Sent: Friday, May 27, 2005 10:43 PM
To:
Subject: today
Dear colleagues,
Today, Jim Ammerman, Bob Chant, two grad students (Grant Law and Clare Ng),
an IMCS alum (Sarah Bender) and I took 14 undergraduate students, excellent
students drawn from schools across the country, on a cruise. We had, in
effect, a vertically integrated research team for the day.
The day started in the COOL room where we tried to impress upon these
students the rapid advances in oceanography that occurred even during the
past five or so years. We've moved from buoys and moorings to satellites,
codar, and gliders in just a few years. This change is remarkable.
The cruise started at The Battery. With Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty,
and sailing ships all within view, Bob and I discussed estuarine circulation
and how contaminants can be trapped in an estuary with the students. We then
traveled down to a natural hard bottom reef called Shrewsbury Rocks to begin
an offshore transect. I happened to have digital photos from some diving
that we did on the Rocks to show the students just why fishing boats target
places like that. And then we talked about the pros and cons of artificial
reef construction.
Our transect seemed to show remnants of the high discharge that occurred
during Latte in 2005. The high discharge from the Hudson seems to have just
stayed in the New York Bight. The conditions were quite different from what
I observed in 2004 in the same area - the coastal ocean was fresher than I
expected and more gradually stratified. The information we collected was
interesting to both Bob and I. It'll help the decision process in the lead
up to some cruises I have next week, and might help both of us formulate a
better model of what's happening off our coast. Right now, I really don't
believe we have it all figured out. There's work to be done here.
Significantly, the students learned a lot. They used different kinds of
equipment, had a chance to see sampling decisions be made, listened and
asked questions as we tried to reconcile the different observations that
were beingcollected. They were engaged and curious and all of us
responded in kind.
Equipment for this trip came from a number of people. Bob, Liz, Lee, Char,
Gary Taghon, Lora, John Manderson (a friend of mine at NOAA), Oscar, Scott,
everyone who makes the Cool room work, and me. RIOS got the students here,
Deluca is paying for the boat time. Millers Launch even pitched in by
charging us less than the actual number of hours we used (incidentally, the
crew were as interested in doing as the students - liquid nitrogen
apparently has a lot of entertainment value).
This was a good day. I am now better informed and know what to look for next
week in my own research, Bob may be as well. More than one student was
positively beaming and full of questions as we sailed into the harbor, and
we all (faculty and students) had a chance to interact in a scientifically
meaningful way. We talked, did some science, some outreach, some education.
A Science paper didn't happen today, but a lot of good things did.
This is a great place, and we can do better.
Lets sell the coffee machine and scrap the faculty lunch room idea.
We'll charter a boat instead.
And you can come along too.
John A Quinlan
Institute of Marine and Coastal Science
Rutgers University
71 Dudley Road
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8521
Tel: 732.932.6555 x549 Fax: 732.932.8578