REU-OTO

The primary purpose of this research cruise is to train summer Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) students in shipboard sampling methods of ocean observing. We bring ~11 undergraduate students to sea with us each cruise. We have been doing these cruises annually (barring pandemic) since 2016 and have used this time-series oceanographically to characterize the extent of hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico (Texas-Louisiana Shelf). Other scientific interests on these cruises include tracking phytoplankton community composition across the study region, measuring contaminants in the water column and sediments, sampling for trace metal concentrations from surface waters, and in some years deploying ocean observing sensors systems (Acrobat, glider deployment). Some of the undergraduates use the data or samples from the cruise as a basis for their summer research projects during the REU program. We have a set of 14 stations that we sample each year, which are in the shape of a triangle from Galveston, TX to Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary on the shelf-break, to a site near Louisiana. REU students will be trained of field observation methods: CTD hydrocasts, water sampling, shipboard oxygen measurements, sediment grab sampling, and surface trace metal sampling (using a towed pump). There is also sometimes Acrobat deployments. We also make use of the shipboard seawater supply system to monitor phytoplankton composition (using a FlowCytobot plumbed to the ship's flow-through seawater), and we also collect some large carboys of surface water at select stations.