Beam Reach

Watch spring 2009 talks on-line

For the first time, the final talks of a Beam Reach program are available for viewing on-line as videos (hosted by Vimeo). Links to the videos, as well as the final PowerPoint presentations and papers can be accessed through the spring 2009 class page.

Here are the (abbreviated) titles of the talks:

• Echolocation use while foraging
• Call selections in anthropogenic noise
• Effect of large vessel noise on acoustic behavior
• Does an increase of boats cause lower call rates?
• Call duration vs boat noise and vessel presence

Science isn't just research

Over the last ten weeks we have learned a tremendous amount. We learned how to: ask a question, design a research project to possibly answer this question, write a proposal, conduct research, sail, live on a boat with seven other people, analyze data, run statistics on our data, and write a final paper on our findings. Another very important lesson we learned was how to give a presentation. Knowing how to conduct research and write up a paper on it is a pretty important part of science. If you can’t explain your findings to the general public then you can’t share your knowledge with others and no one else can use your findings to ask more questions. On Wednesday, we presented our research to the other students at Friday Harbor Labs as well as other community members. I think this lesson was a great one because it is really important for others to understand what you did and what you learned from your research. Public speaking is a skill that every scientist should develop and presenting our findings on Wednesday was the perfect practice. Developing skills using powerpoint is also a good tool to have.

Star Wars

spaceship

Somehow while we were on the Gato Verde it got out that I had never seen Star Wars. When this news hit, Jaws dropped, “OMG!”‘s were screamed, and comparisons to locking children in closets for several years were drawn. Actually that last reaction was only one comparison, made by Jason, who then showed up the next morning with all three original Star Wars movies. We ravaged through them over the next few nights, and I realized how glad I am that I didn’t see them as a kid. I’m sure the level of obsession I would’ve most likely reached as an 8-year-old would have been hard to recover from. The movies are amazing! The distinction of the dark side being a place of fear and hate instead of just sheer evil is so brilliant! Now on a regular basis I find myself thinking things like, “Calm down Hannah, it’s only a robot, don’t give into your hate and the dark side…” Then I crack up, and I am able to resist.
This is just one more example of a well-rounded educational experience, brought to you by Beam Reach.
-hmm

The Dirty Work

As Peter has explained in an earlier blog, we chose to do our sustainability project on surfactants. So after learning what surfactants actually are and how common they are we decided to go for it. We realized that this would be difficult to measure and find an effect.  We started out just wanting to calculate our output of greywater into the ocean. Since we don’t shower on the boat the main greywater output is from washing dishes.  So how do you collect greywater? Well since we were on a catamaran and the drain from our sink is between the two hulls above water that should be easy to collect right? I thought so when I volunteered to take the dinghy under the boat and collect the grey water from dishes one night after dinner.  I quickly learned this was more difficult than I anticipated. First I tied a rope to the stern of the boat and had the other end of it in the dinghy with me. Then I tied the bow line of the dinghy to the bow of the boat so that I could pull myself back and forth under the boat and make it easier to position myself for the water collection. Once I was under the boat I realized that the space between the water and the boat is not as big as it looks. Once I was under the boat I managed to get the dinghy to a spot where the bucket was under the drain. I quickly learned that the water didn’t run out of the drain in a nice stream. It splattered and ran along the bottom of the boat for a few centimeters before falling. So I had to hold the bucket under the drain with one hand and hold the dinghy in place with the other.

My set-up

collecting the water

When the dishes were done the bucket had 4 gallons of water (~12 liters). We then collected and filtered about 4 milliliters to take into Russel Barsh’s lab to test the concentration. We found that the concentration of our grey water was 55 parts per million (ppm). So grey water is extremely concentrated. After washing dishes from one night we produced 4 gallons of greywater with a concentration of 55 ppm!

Then we started thinking, we know what we are putting into the water, but we don’t know what is already there. So we decided to take samples from some of the different Harbors we stay at overnight. After running a test sample using water from Friday Harbor we quickly realized that areas with good circulation will not have high concentrations even if they have higher inputs because it is mixed better. Our focus soon became harbors that have poor circulation but still have a lot of boats inhabiting them throughout the summer. The more people and the more boats in the harbors, the more surfactants are put into the water. The harbors we sampled were Mitchell Bay, Reid Harbor, Prevost Harbor, and Roche Harbor. Friday Harbor was also tested but there was no detectable amount of surfactants in the water. We are currently still waiting for the results. This information will be very useful as far as management goes. It is possible that some of these popular Harbors with poor circulation might need to have maximum amount of boats allowed in the Harbor at any given time to keep the concentrations from building up too much.

Results to be posted soon!

sails and small spaces

Our time aboard the Gato Verde has come to a close. I miss sleeping in my narrow forward berth and being surrounded by water all day everyday. I must admit though that it is nice to be able to walk and move as I please, instead of being confined to a 42 by 26 foot square. I have always wondered if I would like to spend day after day on a sailboat in the big open ocean. These last three weeks have confirmed my reliance on movement and open space, and I now know that long periods of time in small spaces is not for me. However, I did thoroughly enjoy the act of sailing and hope to continue building on what I have learned here in the future…just as long as I can swim or run in the same day.
-hmm