Buoys in the TAO array often have towers missing, and are usually encrusted with barnacles, and tangled up in fishing nets. The scientists, crew, and volunteers aboard the Wecoma played out this retrieval and repair scenario many times over during the vessel’s trip to the equator, which ended with a return to home port Thursday. (Courtesy photo)

At this moment, the R/V Wecoma is just north of Waldport cutting through the waves at 12.6 knots heading for home after being at sea since Sept. 6.

The crew, scientists, and volunteers on board are returning from a successful mooring and maintenance cruise for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL). They worked on what’s known as the Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) array, a series of 70 deep ocean buoy moorings straddling the equator between the Galapagos Islands and New Guinea. Those buoys are vital to scientific measurement and understanding of the effects of global climate change.

Since 1975, the Newport-based R/V Wecoma has prowled the ocean on vital marine science research expeditions.

Commissioned and owned by the National Science Foundation and operated under a cooperative agreement by Oregon State University (OSU)’s College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences (COAS), the vessel is the leading lady of Newport’s academic fleet that includes her much smaller cousin the R/V Elakha. They support fundamental research and discovery work in ocean physics, biology, chemistry, geology, meteorology, and more; provide sampling capabilities and seagoing laboratories for scientists, educators, students, and observers; and advance marine science understanding and prediction to help guide the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s management and operational science. Part of NOAA’s role is to maintain national and worldwide buoy networks.

Maintenance of the TAO array’s components - buoys, instruments, steel cables, and anchors - is vital to its operation. NOAA/PMEL chartered the Wecoma for a 41-day mooring cruise to service the buoys and deploy replacements, if needed. Laden with TAO buoys, anchors, cables, wires, and other paraphernalia, and with Captain Rick Verlini in command of the 13-member crew, the Wecoma headed out.

Michael Courtney and Annie Thorp, two volunteers working with the scientists, filed periodic journal reports with Oregon Sea Grant Marine Education Specialist Bill Hanshumaker at HMSC.



The array



Deployed between 1985 and 1994 as part of an international research program backed by the United States, Japan, and France, the buoys “enabled real-time collection of high-quality oceanographic and surface meteorological data for monitoring, forecasting, and understanding the climate swings associated with El Nino and La Nina,” notes TAO Project Office Director Michael J. McPhaden.

The array - renamed the TAO/TRITON array in January 2000 to recognize the Japanese TRITON buoys now used in the array’s western section - is a major component of the El Nino/Southern Oscillation Observing System, the Global Climate Observing system, and the Global Ocean Observing System.

The buoys measure wind direction and speed, air temperature and humidity, and ocean temperature at the surface and various depths to 500 meters. A few also measure currents, rainfall, and solar radiation. Information is relayed to shore every day in real time via the Argos satellite system.

Researchers use the data to learn how to predict future changes in the world’s climate. Weather forecasters use it as an essential component in making their predictions - a vital piece of information for commercial fishermen. Sea surface temperatures are also keys for finding many species of fish. Charts of those temperatures are distributed via radiofax broadcasts to fishermen at sea or to ports. Knowing where to search for fish saves time and money.

Thorp and Courtney are aware of temperature changes wrought by El Nino from years of surfing and being in the water off the Oregon coast. The Wecoma is working in an area where a huge amount of upwelling occurs, and where scientists have been able to gather information about El Nino conditions that affect the weather patterns around much of the world.

“The crew are all professionals and know how to work at sea deploying equipment,” they wrote.



The work



The scientists uncrated and set up the sensors for the buoys, connecting everything and checking to make sure they were functional. Each buoy is calibrated with a specific set of sensors. Each has temperature, humidity, rainfall, wind speed and direction. Some have radiation sensors. Sub-surface sensors are positioned on anchor lines. Every single piece was disassembled, boxed, or crated for safe transport, and matched up on board the ship.

Courtney and Thorp assisted with many aspects of the vital scientific work.

“Much of the information we know about El Nino and La Nina has been gleaned from the data collected in this region,” they wrote.

Verlini had to carefully pilot the vessel alongside the buoys. Tag lines were snapped on, the buoy anchor line disconnected, the buoy transferred to a lifting line, and the long anchor line hauled aboard and spooled. The old buoys were cleaned (scraping off barnacles a major task), disassembled, and their floats repainted. New buoys are checked to make sure all systems are functioning before deployment.

“There is not enough room on the deck fro more than one assembled buoy, so there is always a dance of sorts as one piece is moved before another can be put in its place,” Courtney stated. “Witnessing the excitement, cooperation, encouragement, kindness, consideration, communication, and respect, and hard work performed under challenging ocean conditions are the real highlight.”

“You can’t see scenes like this on any reality TV program,” Thorp added.

This scenario repeated again and again until all buoys were replaced and/or repaired.

“All this work is performed with the ocean’s splendor for background scenery,” Thorp noted. “Even though we are in the midst of some incredibly amazing buoy deployment and retrieval operations, the ocean is the star of the show, and she keeps stealing the scene from our cast of scientists and crew.”



Heading home



After bobbing for so many days alone on the Pacific (an ocean named for its sometimes tranquil nature), returning to “civilization” as they docked for two days in San Diego proved jolting - what Thorp described as a “juxtaposition of sight and sound.”

“A ship at dock is too quiet and simply does not feel quite right until it is back out on the open sea, with its swaying and rocking,” she noted. “Walking on land was such a peculiar feeling, and the feeling of rolling and moving under my feet never quite left me.”

So while they appreciated having a little shore time, they were happy to weigh anchor again to head home, even though it meant riding into weather conditions that Capt. Rick Verlini described as “a bit snarly.”

Stormy seas were ahead, and Verlini and the crew were bust checking weather reports, adjusting speed and direction, and battening down the hatches.



Parting thoughts



“Research vessels like the Wecoma are one of the important ways in which we are learning more about our oceans, our weather, and the conditions that affect all of us on land,” Courtney noted. “This trip has also brought home to us how small our world is, how closely we are tied together, how what each one of us does in our daily life affects the rest of the planet. We are not so much individuals as awe are one giant organism.”

They experienced weeks of smooth sailing before heading into heavy weather on the last jot home. They didn’t worry because “the ship was stable, and the crew was able.”

“I have so much respect for this crew and the work they do,” Thorp noted. “These men are hard-working, courageous, tough, dedicated, and have hearts of gold. They have kept us afloat, on course, well-fed, in good repair, and our lives are safe in their hands. I also salute the families and friends who wait at home, taking care of business, repairs, precious pets, and family life, while loved ones work the seas. It takes a special person to live with such distances, and to be apart for so long.”



Terry Dillman is the assistant editor of the News-Times. Contact him at (541) 265-8571, ext 225, or terrydillman@newportnewstimes.com.