The Life Autonomous: An Intern's Story

GSA 2009 Portland Oregon

2009-10-19T15:01:00.001-07:00

GSA 2009 is taking place in Portland, Oregon this week, and I have been lucky enough to attend. Some very useful talks have been in the session "From Virtual Globes to Geoblogs: Digital Innovations in Geoscience Research, Education, and Outreach." Presiding at the meeting: Peter Selkin, Glenn Richard, John Bailey, Kyle House, Ronald Schott, and Mano Marks.

Lots of great resources like OneGeology, Google Earth, and gigapan.

State of Maine's Environment Report

2009-10-01T07:14:00.000-07:00

As a part of my Environmental Policy major, I am taking part in a senior capstone research project. We will be investigating the state of Maine's environment through four focused assessments. I will be working with John Abbett on Marine and Coastal Policy.

Follow our progress here on our own blogspot blog!!
http://maineenvironment.blogspot.com/

The final report will be posted to our course webpage
State of Maine Report

COOT COOT COOT!!!

2009-08-28T14:06:00.000-07:00

I've been back at Colby now for the past few nights for COOT2 training where I will be taking ten new froshies into the woods for a few nights. We'll be traveling up to Baxter State Park, about 3:30 hours away. A good mix for the van will be necessary.

Famous?

2009-07-20T11:43:00.000-07:00

A link to an article in the UDaily, the University's newsletter.

http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2010/jul/interns070909.html

The R/V Donna M

2009-07-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

Another day of AUV/ROV operations. This time aboard the Donna M.

Dr. Doug Levin operated the ROV, in search of sponge communities.

I was assigned to work with the ROV as tether maintenance crew.

Hey Dad! Look what I caught!

TIDE Goes Aboard The R/V Sharp

2009-07-13T08:19:00.000-07:00

On Monday, the 13th, I was able to join the TIDE program on the R/V Sharp, the University's research vessel.

We conducted an AUV mission, ROV operations, dredges, and a Conductivity Temperature Depth (CTD) scan. The voyage was to the New Jersey side of Delaware Bay. The day was a success in many ways.

A Happy Independence Day

2009-07-05T14:39:00.000-07:00

Last night I went out with a few of the interns to see the fireworks in Lewes, and got more of an experience than I was expecting. All up and down the Bay the towns were setting off their fireworks, and with the open view, we could see them all. The night sky was lit up with the fireworks as far north as Slaughter Beach and across the Bay on New Jersey's Cape May. It truly felt like we were celebrating our Independence together as a town, state, country. Some time I may come back and watch from the bay on my future yacht.

Composite Plot of Mendum's Pond Missions

2009-07-02T11:54:00.000-07:00

Complements of Dr. Trembanis, here we have two composite plots of the missions we ran in June at Mendum's Pond.

"This composite plot shows all the tracklines that we ran with the AUV at Mendum's Pond. >35 km of trackline over 3 days. These plots are color coded for total depth (altitude + pressure depth). Hot colors are deeper and cool colors are shallow. More than 63,000 points are in this scene. The second image shows a zoom in on the central basin in the lake."

Arena's Trivia Night

2009-06-30T01:00:00.000-07:00

Another Monday, another Arena's trivia night with cheesy fries, nachos, and $5 pitchers of Miller Lite. Team "Yoga Masters," named for our brilliance at Wii Fit Yoga, had a slight disadvantage being the youngest team collectively, missing a few dated questions. We made a good run, however, and managed a 6th out of 12. We'll be back next week.

Learning MatLab and Being a Beach Bum

2009-06-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

Adam came down today to discuss the basics of MatLab with me as well as go over the key aspects of the journal papers he assigned for me to read.

Then, I left from work for the day to go boogy-boarding near the bath house at Cape Henlopen. Made an awesome drip castle as well as played some paddle ball. Dolphins were swimming there again. I also started reading Arctic Drift by Clive Cussler.

After we were done at the beach at about 6, a group of us heard about some others going surfing. So, I came back to borrow a surfboard from Chelsie to go back to Herring Point in order to go surfing. Surfed for 2+ hours getting wrecked multiple times leading to a sore neck and a dizzy head. But what a great time to end the evening. Didn't leave until 9 o clock dark.

Owed Kendra dinner from a bet, so we broiled some rib-eye steaks and had rice and asparagus. Also had a glass of red chianti wine so that I can extend my life. Chocolate ice cream with jimmies and chocolate syrup for dessert. Then just chilling listing to Erick play guitar before bed.

Cape Henlopen Field Trip

2009-06-25T20:57:00.000-07:00

We spent the remaining part of my day on a field trip to Cape Henlopen. Cape Henlopen, first settled by the Dutch, was the site of Fort Miles during WWII, when observation towers were built to monitor the coastal waterway and triangulate ship positions for any needed artillery fire. The State began a piecemeal purchasing project from the military until finally acquiring the entire block of land. The park now has bath houses, a fishing pier, and a weave of biking and hiking trails.

GEOLOGICALLY, there are some interesting things going on at Cape Henlopen. Cape Henlopen itself is a migrating spit. As you can see from the map above, there is a tip (spit) pointing out towards open water. The water on the right hand side of the map is coming from the ocean, while on the left and top is Delaware Bay. Waves coming from the ocean primarily run in the direction from the bottom right hand corner to the tip of the spit. Sediment that is picked up in the water through beach erosion is pushed along the shore in a longshore drift fashion, and when it meets the calmer water of the bay the sediment is deposited on the tip of the spit. Over time, the spit has migrated further and further into the bay.

From this image, you can see the suspended sand in the water being carried alongshore.

Now to some photos I took from the field trip. Saw dolphins just off the beach, stratified beach sand, and seined along the fish pier to collect little fishes. Also saw a massive group of horseshoe crabs mating.

Here is one of the Observation towers. It has been reworked to allow people to climb the 128 stairs to the top.

The park is open to campers, and from the top of the observation tower you can see that some have left their mark...the alien is pretty cool (made from a pile of pine needles).

In the distance is another one of the observation towers, as well as a lighthouse

There are still remnants of the military's presence. This is a bunker recessed into a section of the Great Dune. The Great Dune is a geologic feature that has been created due to wind blown sand collecting onshore. The Dune runs parallel to the Delaware Bay, so it is linked to that system. If it were running parallel to the Atlantic, it would be related to the Atlantic.

Here, we are doing a beach profile. One observer sights along a standardized pole towards the horizon. Where the observer sees the horizon intersect the pole in the foreground gives a reading as to the pole's relative height to the observer. In this photo, you can see that the observer is higher than the foreground, so the markings on the pole would read a negative number. Same concept as surveying. Profiles taken of the same area over time can show the dynamically changing beach environment.

Nate's Baywatch moment...

This photo shows Laura sighting towards the horizon past Kendra.

You can see Kendra laying down the pole. We used the height of the pole as the distance between each beach profile reading, so she isn't being lazy, but moving to the next spot for the profile.

Some dolphins decided to join us while we played on the beach

Part of the dune system can be seen in the background.

Here, we are digging a shallow trench in order to see the layering of the beach's sand.

You can see how each layer is distinct in it's thickness as well as grain size. Each time deposition occurs, there are somewhat different conditions, altering the characteristics of the available sediment for deposition. More powerful conditions will coincide with larger grains.

A mud crab...taking a break from burrowing.

For the last activity, we seined for aquatic life. It involves walking with this net in a loop to close around any life in the path of the net.

You can see lots of the little fishes that got caught

A pebble that has been encased with eggs.

Look what Nate found!

Mating Horseshoe crabs.

Redeployment of Nicole's Frame: Part 2. Sunrise

2009-06-24T04:00:00.000-07:00

"We attack at first light."

The morning greeted me at 4:45, with departure from Daiber at 5:10. We made it to Broadkill beach by 5:30, driving through the swamp marsh into a beautiful sunrise. Amazing to get the sunset and sunrise consecutively in the same place.

The "morning swim" called and we deployed the frame just inside the reef, securing it with ~4' pieces of re-bar pushed into the bed. Much easier at low tide.

Also, looking forward to the field trip planned for today to Cape Henolpen (will take many photos I expect).

Posted from my lab at Cannon 121.

Redeployment of Nicole's Frame - Part 1: The Phantom Ray

2009-06-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

After a two-week deployment, it was time to retrieve Nicole's frame from Broadkill. Of course, nothing is without a hiccup - or a few:

1)The data was being transferred over an excessively long cable - dramatically increasing the time needed to complete the download. Therefore, we decided to transfer direct from the SD Card.

2)The Nortek rotary beam was taking such large data files that it filled the SD Card within 8 days of the 14 day deployment. Consequently, for the next deployment, we reprogrammed the rotary beam to collect data half as often as the first deployment (once an hour, rather than twice). This should keep enough space to gather data from the entire two week deployment.

2)The data logger being used to transfer the SD Card data crashed. Therefore, we replaced our Nikon's SD card with the one from the frame; plugged the camera into the laptop; and transferred the data through the camera. Lesson learned? Think on your feet.

3)The laptop used for programming the instruments was running low on battery, so we had to start transferring to another computer.

4)The length of time it took to collect the data and ready the frame for deployment caused low tide to pass and high tide to arrive. We attempted to deploy the frame, but the reef was too far submerged to reach.

5)A phantom ray ("unfamiliar dorsal features") threatened to eat Nicole.

The sunset was beautiful! And, even with the hurdles thoughout the day, life could be worse.

With the darkness closing in, we decided to regroup and go at it again during low tide in the AM. Of course, the plan was spur of the moment and led to a great dinner of BBQ chicken grilled over charcoal, cooked marshmellows, and Adam sleeping in a hammock. We were all serenaded to sleep by Erick Geiger. Also, Kendra and I made up some hemp bracelets. Not a bad night, in all.

Volleyball by the Sunset

2009-06-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

Tonight, we made our first (annual, I hope) Monday night beach volleyball and trivia night at Arenas Bar and Restaurant - where "caffeine is good, but beer is better." The pictures say it all for playing volleyball by the sunset on the beach at Lewes

Broadkill Beach Frame Deployment

2009-06-10T19:52:00.000-07:00

Photo journal of Nicole Raineault's study site, Broadkill Beach, and her instrument frame.

Here, Nicole is doing some final programming of her instruments. On the left, the red instrument is an Imagenex Rotary Beam Sonar for collecting images of the reef. On the right, the gray and black instrument is a Nortek instrument used for measuring water currents.

Learning to use the handheld GPS.

Doug and Adam watch as two field workers map GPS coordinates around the outside of the reef. The coordinates will be used to mark a path for the AUV.

Figuring out the last details for the deployment.

The frame placed in the surf

Beach profile down to the frame

We'll be back in a few weeks to remove the frame and then redeploy it on the beach side of the reef.

Arriving in Delaware

2009-06-09T19:42:00.000-07:00

Monday, June 8.

Wake up call at 5:30 am. Today was finally the day to complete my drive to Lewes. Not that the other days haven’t been an adventure.

After my seminar, I then drove to Annapolis to pick up some parts for Nicole's Frame. Really beautiful city.

Lewes Beach

2009-06-09T18:55:00.000-07:00

Located just about 1.5 miles from Daiber housing and on the Bay side of the water is Lewes Beach. I've been trying to come to the beach each day, even if it's just for a few moments. I have a perfect streak of 2 days so far...

Day 5

2009-06-08T19:41:00.000-07:00

Photo Journal of Day 5

Today, we did some creative shore launches with the Gavia...

I manned the boat crew again...

All smiles all day...couldn't have asked for a better field day.

Nicole and Val relaxed...

...as well as Alex...

...and so did the Gavia.

Doug took one last trip into the setting sun...

Then we packed up the Gavia

and then the day was done...

And away we flew.

Day 4

2009-06-08T19:40:00.002-07:00

Day 4

Today was another full day of classroom sessions. We learned more about the vehicles' settings and filtering of data, including the need to calculate for tides and sound velocity. Sound velocity can change temporally and spatially if you go past an outflow, estuary, river, eddy, rip tide. There must also be calculations for heave (and do it often) because if the vehicle is moving up and down, the position of the sound is off and sonar does not make an accurate image.

We then ran some tests on the Gavia in the CCOM testing tanks

Here, Tom instructs the group on some aspects of the GeoSwath program...
...and this is an image of the test tank as seen by the Geoswath sonar.

The Gavia seen through a port hole in the tank

Day 3

2009-06-08T19:39:00.000-07:00

Wednesday.

Back to the field for another day of AUV ops. Today, we also had some fun with an ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle), the VideoRay.

Here, we do our part as environmentalists and retrieve a Cola can from the depths.

Doug and I made up the "Boat Team" today, and were responsible for launches and recoveries of the AUV.

We also tested the ping locator by taking the spare and bringing it to different distances from the dock. We found it was very directional.

Other things I discussed today:

1)Acoustics. Especially with Tom Weber. There is a Sound Velocity Sensor on the Gavia which takes readings of the water column to calculate the water's sound velocity. The velocity is taken into account when the sonar data is processed. Temperature, salinity, and some other factors change the speed of the sound in the water, so thermoclines are important features to map. Also, the Navy knows a lot about these features because they can use them to hide submarines. The layer can either prevent sonar from detecting the sub, or from the sub sending out its own sound signals. Another basic thing I learned is that we use sound and sonar because electromagnetic light and radio waves will not penetrate into water. What Tom has done with his buoys are to use a program like MatLab to make and translate electric pulses into an acoustic signal using an acoustic modem. These acoustic pulses can be used to communicate with the Gavia.

At the end of the day, we held a classroom session with Alex Forrest.

Things we learned in the classroom:

- Pre-mission setup (last minute checks)

- post-flight checks

- data retrieval

- analysis of scientific payload data

- mission planning – toolbar to choose things like lawnmower pattern. also make a waypoint (start and end) or line.

- power status of the sensors – some take a short time to power up while others take a longer time (3 minutes). - Must give enough time to boot up and then check that they are turned on.

- upon return of the AUV – is there data? go into the file folders. Download log files and check navigator/ mission manager/ captain files.

There are only 14 max Gavia units…this is an elite crowd that I’m in.

AUV Ops - Day 2

2009-06-08T07:19:00.000-07:00

Day 2

Today we had a full day of classroom sessions with Tom Hiller from GeoAcoustics to learn GeoSwath+.

Of course, at one part of the day, the intern was called for a DD run.

Things I learned from Tom:

1) In Geoswath processing the original Raw Data File must have filters put on to limit the noise.

2) Beneath the AUV, the number of data points is low, so the quality is not very high. Overlapping the path of multiple missions will add more data points so that the quality increases. .

3) I was talking to Nicole and Doug about their project on hard bottom communities in Delaware Bay, which we will work on when we return. The hard bottom communities are tube worms that use sediment in the water to create the reef. Although the worms are found all along the east coast, they only make the reefs near Delaware. Nicole is trying to find if hydrodynamics of the sediment transport is the cause for the hard bottom community’s distribution.

We had another great dinner, this time at Newicks Seafood. It was an interesting feeling for me, because I remembered when I was doing my Marine Biology course at St. Paul's that we came to Newicks to sample the water quality. I was sure then that I'd be in the field of Marine Sciences, and am starting to get myself back into it.

Orientation by AUV Bootcamp - Introduction and Day 1

2009-06-07T15:27:00.000-07:00

I've been asked by my advisor, Dr. Art Trembanis, to manage a blog throughout the summer. My view is that a blog is a great sign of transparency in research, plus, I think my adventures this summer will be entertaining to follow. Hope you enjoy!

As a trial by fire, my first assignment for this summer's internship has been to survive a week of AUV bootcamp. The week's itinerary includes (complements of Val Schmidt):

1) Gavia AUV operations, familiarization, and data processing.

2) Acoustic Tracking Buoy operations with Tom Weber and Jon Hunt. The buoy's combine RTK GPS with acoustic modems and other ancillary sensors in order to track and talk to the AUV while it is deployed.

3) GeoAcoustics Software Training with Tom Hiller of GeoAcoustics (a Kongsberg Company). The focus is on processing the Gavia's GeoSwatch bottom mapping sonar data.

4) Fledermaus 7 demo with Erin Heffron.

The entire team is a collection of members from the University of Delaware's Coastal Sediments, Hydrodynamics, and Engineering Lab (CSHEL): Art Trembanis, Doug Miller, Adam Skarke, Nicole Raineault; the University of New Hampshire's Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping (CCOM): Val Schmidt, Tom Weber, Kurt, Schwehr, Jon Hunt; Gavia AUV operation expert Alex Forrest from the University of British Columbia; Fledermaus representative Erin Heffron; GeoAoustics representative Tim Hiller; and an assortment of others that will and have dropped by, including CCOM Co-Director Larry Mayer. There will also be an unpaid (as of yet) intern from Colby College, via the University of Delaware's NSF funded REU program...

Day 1:

Muster at 7 am at the CCOM lab, meaning getting breakfast at 6:30 and wake up at 6. Who said this would be easy? But, once I rubbed the z’s out of my eyes I managed to get to breakfast and meet the Delaware research group – Art, Doug, Adam, and Nicole. We made our way to CCOM for introductions and loading of the gear.

Once we arrived at Mendum's Pond - our field site for the week - we prepared our gear.

Nicole inflates the Zodiak

The Gavia gets lowered from the dock into the water

Acoustic positioning buoys get wet

RTK station gets set up to provide a very precise GPS location as reference for the week.

Once the Gavia was placed in the water, it needed to be trimmed with weights as to have the proper buoyancy.

Here the Gavia sits trimmed.

The Gavia is then turned on and the INS is warmed up for 20 minutes. The INS is the Gavia's Inertial Navigation System. When the Gavia is on the surface, it uses GPS to locate itself. However, GPS does not work under water. The INS has accelerometers (like a Nintendo Wii remote) that spin and detect changes in directional movement. Therefore, the INS feels the movements of the Gavia while underwater and constantly updates its position, allowing it to navigate without being tethered.

Another instrument to be tested is the Pinger locator...

Here, Doug Miller is using a hydrophone to listen for a ping sent out by the Gavia. This is used to help locate the Gavia while it is underwater. It is somewhat of a backup system to locate the Gavia in case it does not return to where it is supposed to at the end of the mission.

As I've learned, the other forms of communication with the Gavia are through Wi-Fi with the command center computer and text messages through an Iridium satellite phone. These methods for communicating have their limitations: both are functional only at the surface; the Wi-Fi has a very limited range of transmission; and the Iridium has delays in delivering messages. Thus, the need for the pinger system. Also, a motivation for Tom Weber's Acoustic Buoys. The buoys are capable of tracking the Gavia's location underwater, as well as hopefully communicate messages for in-mission updates.

With the instruments warm, it was time to plan the first mission...

...from the beginning position...

...to the end...

Here, Alex and Val collect the GPS position for the end location of the Gavia's first mission.

The first mission ran very smoothly, and once recovered and brought back into Wi-Fi range, gave some great side-scan data!

The side-scan data was then converted to a kmz file and loaded into Google Earth. Very cool.

Two more missions were planned and run during the day.

The third mission gave us all a little excitement when the Gavia did not return home. However, using the buoy tracking system, and a GPS location message from the Iridium, the Gavia was recovered from its location beneath a log. The Gavia has a collision detection sonar that is directed in front of the nose, causing the Gavia to emergency-brake if there is an object in its path. It will then rise to the surface and try to continue its mission. A working thought is that the Gavia E-braked and then got stuck under the log.

But, no matter how it's put, 3 launches = 3 recoveries is a great start to the week!

The night ended with a great dinner at Val's house, where I had probably the best strawberry rhubarb pie of my life.

A beautiful day, great people, delicious dinner...is field work always like this? Sadly, everyone made sure to tell me it isn't.

Other things I learned from the day:

1) While planning the mission, it is important to select which sensors you want to use during the mission. If the study is not interested in certain data, it may be best to save the Gavia's power and not use extra instruments.

2) Data is not being collected around the turns of the Gavia. We are losing data in sometimes the most interesting spots.

3) A necessity when working with this type of equipment is proficiency and comfort with software. Geology uses some of the most high tec and computer intensive fieldwork.

4) Also, when doing research, it is very important to know all the inner workings of your equipment, as well as provide feedback to the manufacturers. For example, when the collision detection sonar was first implemented the sonar beam was aimed in too broad a path that the Gavia was performing E-brakes at times that it didn't need to. The researchers using the equipment then gave some suggestions and the beam was narrowed.

4) Gavia can travel at constant depth or follow the terrain (constant altitude).

Kurt Schwehr has an album of photos from the day located here:

http://vislab-ccom.unh.edu/~schwehr/gavia/20090601-mendums-pond/index.html