Heather Judkins
Dr. Heather Judkins is an associate professor in the Integrative Biology Department at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. She received a Bachelors degree in Marine Affairs from the University of Rhode Island, Masters degree in Science Education from Nova Southeastern University and her PhD in Biological Oceanography from the University of South Florida. Her research focuses on understanding the evolution, ecology, and biogeography of cephalopods with a main focus currently in the Wider Caribbean. Her role in this project includes the identification of deep-sea cephalopods, examining genetic diversity, and analysis of cephalopod ecology and distribution in the water column.
When the MOC10 comes up to the ship, it is time for the whole science team to leap into action. To someone not familiar to the process, it may appear to be utter chaos but each person on the team has a role and things usually run like clockwork. I say “usually” because occasionally, there is a hang-up. One hang-up has been the equipment that runs the MOC last night and today. There has to be communication between the equipment on the net frame to the computer that monitors the entire process for a successful tow. We have a wonderful MOC operator, Gray, who is the master of this equipment and has been out with us for every cruise. He has been working hard to make sure our science can happen! He has spent hours trying to troubleshoot and solve the mystery problem and so far, we have been able to deploy the nets! Thank you, Gray for all of your hard work with this!
Our MOC operator, Gray, prepping the nets
We are waiting for the second trawl of the trip to come up now and we will processing our deep-sea organisms soon! Stay tuned for some animal highlights in the following posts… We collect things from microbes to large fishes and here is a couple of photos from today!
Photo 1: Jon Moore, Tracey Sutton, Tammy Frank sorting a sample Photo 2: Travis Richards catching a Blue Runner
Hi everyone, after checking to make sure all gear, crew, and science team were onboard the R/V Point Sur, we left the dock just after midnight and we have arrived at our first station! Today, the team spent time calibrating the multibeam sonar and putting the nets onto the MOCNESS frame. You will hear more soon from the acoustics team about the sonar and I will describe the MOCNESS for you now.
Well Wishes from the Restore Sargassum Team as we moved gear into the lab
MOCNESS is an acronym for a Multiple Opening and Closing Net and Environmental Sensing System, which will deploy six nets in the water from the surface down to 1500m (~4500 ft). One net at a time opens at a specified depth (1200-1500m, 1000-1200m, 600-1000m, 200-600m, 0-200m), and net 1 which stays open as the whole system goes down to 1500m. At each depth, a net is open for 45 minutes, moving through the water and collects organisms in the cod end (container at end of each net). The whole thing is brought back onto the deck where the science team then processes the collections. We spent a couple of hours today setting up the MOCNESS nets and cod ends in a light rain and we are now ready for our first deployment which is tonight!
Assembling the nets is a team effort
This trawl we are doing tonight is the 100th trawl of the DEEPEND cruises. What an accomplishment! The nets will go down at 9pm and we will be ready to sort through the samples at 3am when processing begins.
Stay tuned for how the 100th trawl goes!
Hello, everyone! The DEEPEND team is preparing and packing up gear for our next DEEPEND cruise which will be July 18th through August 2nd. We are heading out on the R/V Point Sur from Gulfport, MS and are excited to get back out on the big blue! We will have the shiptracker and real-time surface currents maps per usual on the DEEPEND homepage and we will be blogging along the way with our progress and discoveries! Hope you can virtually join us for our adventure, stay tuned!
Hi Everyone! Quick update that the DEEPEND team is currently staging/getting underway for our 5th DEEPEND cruise of our project! Stay tuned for blog updates as well as updates to the shiptracker on the home page as coordinates are available. You can also watch where our glider is moving in the GoM and we are planning to retrieve it later in the cruise. The team will be returning to port by May13th. Stay tuned! We here on land are excited to see what they discover this trip!
Hello, everyone! Report from the Education-Outreach Team on our first Teacher-at-Sea, Carol Gordy, preparing for the DEEPEND Ichthyoplankton Cruise heading out in a couple of days. Carol joins our team from Sunlake High School in Pasco County, Fl where she teaches marine science classes. She has been teaching for 25 years and will be sharing her experience at sea with us through her daily blog posts. Follow her journey and ask lots of questions! Check out the DEEPEND main page and news for more details about this cruise and it's role in the DEEPEND program- safe travels, Carol!
The DEEPEND cruise on the R/V Point Sur is underway and currently at their first station! We are out in the northern Gulf of Mexico until May 8th where we will be hoping to hit 8 stations during our journey. This is the first time out for the ship's crew, first time using this MOCNESS net system on this ship, and first time to try out all of the science protocols that we have set up for our cruises. The first cruise of a survey is usually called the "shake down" cruise, designed to work out glitches that may come up during the trip with quick troubleshooting and lots of problem solving by the DEEPEND Team which is extremely important to set the stage for efficient future cruises. We have quickly discovered, for example, that the internet is currently not reliable and Dante (on board) has sent me pictures to put into this blog so you can share our experience with us! I am not on board but can relay questions to the DEEPEND Team if you've got any! Post them and we can answer!
The R/V Point Sur at the dock in Gulfport, MS
The team is at the first station working through the deployment of the MOCNESS net (Multiple Opening/Closing Net Environmental Sensing System) which is a multi-net system that drops into the water at the same time with each net settling at different depths from the surface down to 1500m.. We are going to collect all organisms from each of the 5 nets and take tissues samples, identify the crustaceans, fishes, and cephalopods, and freeze some animals for lab studies back on land. We will detail our projects as the days progress. Stay tuned!
One of the MOCNESS nets being checked before assembled on the deck
Team checking the spool of wire that will deploy the net system.... SO much cable!
So, post any questions you have about our journey! Anything about life on a research ship, the science we're doing, what the crew does to run the ship, you ask it, we will try to answer the best we can! There will be great pictures of the other equipment and of course, the animals once these nets come up!
The first GOM Exploration Teacher Workshop (grades 6-12) through the DEEPEND Program was held Saturday, April 18th at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg and was a great success! Teachers joined us from Florida and Alabama for the day-long workshop and learned about DEEPEND projects, background content and classroom activities they can take back into their classrooms. Activities included exploring the dark with bioluminescence, exploring cephalopod and plankton taxonomy as well as practicing with DNA extraction methods!
They also received details about the first DEEPEND cruise that is scheduled for May 1- May 8th where they will be able to follow the DEEPEND crew as they begin their science adventures. Teachers and their classes can follow along, ask the scientists questions, and receive feedback from the crew as the cruise progresses on the Point Sur, our vessel for this year which calls Gulfport, MS home.
I am thrilled that the first workshop went so well with only a few minor things to adjust for next year's workshop for grade 6-12 teachers which will be in Dania Beach, FL at the Nova Southeastern Oceanographic Center. The group was enthusiastic and I was excited to share our upcoming experience with them all! Out of this first group, 3 teachers will be selected to join us at-sea. There is an application they submit, the DEEPEND team reviews the applications and will be announcing the teachers by May 2nd. Stay tuned to hear who will be joining us!
The DEEPEND Consortium held it's Kick-off meeting February 23-25th at the Nova Southeastern Oceanographic Center on Dania Beach. It was an all-hands meeting where science projects were shared, the education/outreach plan was finalized and break out sessions focused on the finer details of collecting organisms and samples at sea.
I thought the meeting was well-organized and full of positive energy as we were able to all come together to share the vision that was created during the grant proposal process. We have a robust game plan and I have no doubts that the next three years will be full of excitement, great scientific findings, challenges and lots of laughs.
Our first cruise will be coming up in late spring if the plan stays on track. There will be 2, 1-week ichthyoplankton (fish larvae and juveniles) cruises in June and July with a final cruise this year slotted for late August/early September. All dates are tentative pending weather and gear availability.
We are moving full steam ahead as we head down into the deep this year!