Oceanography Class Conducts Drifter Study in the Gulf of Mexico
“Our ‘classroom’ was a 60-foot catamaran boat!” exclaims Taylor McIntire (C’19), who traveled with Dr. Marie Farson and 10 classmates on an Oceanography class field trip to the Gulf of Mexico in April. The students (most of whom are not science majors) conducted hands-on research, collecting oceanographic data and adding it to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) database.
The group prepared for the trip early in the semester, building drifters with underwater sails and floats to keep GPS transmitters topside when lowered into the water. They tested the drifters’ seaworthiness in the swimming pool in Crafton Athletic Center. And after investigating current research in the Gulf, each student chose a topic of interest to focus on for the trip.
Once they were aboard the R/V Jim Franks, the research vessel supplied by the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Oceans Springs, Mississippi, and had traveled about 50 nautical miles from shore, students began collecting data. “They gathered temperature profiles related to the presence of upwelling along the continental shelf, measured salinity and other water chemistry, used a secchi disk to collect data on phytoplankton blooms, and completed a bottom sediment grab near the barrier island to check for grain size, composition, and microplastics,” explains Dr. Farson, who has extensive experience working in marine engineering and has completed more than 15 years of seagoing research around the globe.
Upon their return to campus, students tracked with great interest the location of the drifters on the NOAA website. “The results of the trip are really cool—the drifters are firmly caught in the loop current, heading eastward to follow the current around the southern tip of Florida and up the east coast of the U.S. in the Gulf Stream,” Farson says. “And the data is available for anyone in the world to use.”
Principia students used the data for individual research projects on a range of topics, including algal blooms, the impact of currents on juvenile fish populations and sea turtle migrations, dispersion of contaminants from oil spills, and the influence of warm core eddies on strengthening hurricanes. Students will present their research at the upcoming MNS Poster Extravaganza, an evening for students in all science disciplines to share what they’ve learned, held in Holt Gallery on Monday, May 6.