R/V Wecoma’s First Mate Jeff Crews, Chief Scientist Steve Kunze, and Marine Technician Dave O’Gorman head out aboard the RIB (rigid inflatable boat) to repair a buoy. The Wecoma is on a 41-day cruise to service what’s known as the Global Tropical Moored Buoy Array. (Courtesy photo)

R/V Wecoma on vital buoy mooring cruise



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 nearing the end of its reasonably useful life expectancy of 35 years, and efforts are underway to secure a replacement vessel. Officials feel the loss of the Wecoma without a replacement is unthinkable for marine science research efforts on the central Oregon coast, most notably those at OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC).

While some research efforts could continue at the facility, HMSC Director George Boehlert said many activities “are directly tied in with having that ship.”

HMSC and COAS officials say decommissioning the Wecoma with no replacement vessel would effectively end the university’s steady climb in international stature in marine sciences, and most likely reduce it.



A key player



Newport’s academic fleet - the Wecoma and its much smaller cousin the R/V Elakha - 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.

The Wecoma is currently at sea on a mooring cruise for NOAA and its Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) to service one of those networks - the Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) array, a series of 70 deep ocean buoy moorings straddling the equator between the Galapagos Islands and New Guinea. 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 Niño and La Niña,” 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 Niño/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.

Maintenance of the array’s components - buoys, instruments, steel cables, and anchors - is vital to its operation, which is where the R/V Wecoma fits in.

NOAA/PMEL chartered the vessel 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 Sept. 6.

It stopped in San Diego to pick up the scientific team and top off the fuel tanks, then embarked on the six-and-one-half-day voyage to the first buoy.

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



Life at sea



The rainy, windy departure day had the vessel “rocking and pitching with the ocean swell,” Courtney wrote, noting that he and Thorp struggled to get their “sea legs.”

“The experienced crew seemed able to walk around at a 45-degree angle without any problem, but Annie and I struggled to remain upright,” he noted. “We spent most of our first day on the ship’s bridge, watching the wind blow at 35 knots, and the waves pouring over the bow.”

The weather gradually calmed as the pair settled into the ship’s routines.

“The Wecoma is definitely a working research vessel,” Courtney stated. “The crew is terrific and will answer all the questions that we can think of. We’re glad we have these few days of transit time to learn the routines on the boat.”

Thorp and Courtney are aware of temperature changes wrought by El Niño 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 Niño 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, but I think they are just as interested as we are in this whole process,” they wrote. “They all have interesting and fascinating stories to tell from their time at sea.”

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.

“There are constant sounds aboard the boat, and the crew is very attuned to any changes they hear,” Courtney noted. He and Thorp also viewed “one of the best sunsets” they have ever seen. “I can understand why views like this keep bringing sailors out to sea,” he added.

Aboard the Wecoma, the vital scientific work matters more.

Captain Verlini directs everything onboard. “The captain is a master of multi-tasking,” Thorp wrote. “He is the director of a seafaring orchestra, playing a complex and difficult composition. I cannot fathom the depths to which these seafaring scientists and crew will go to help their buoys.”

They called those who jumped aboard the RIB (rigid inflatable boat) to ride the waves to the buoys “cowboys of the sea.”

Those cowboys maintain the integrity of a vital scientific system and underscore the importance of replacing the Wecoma once her seafaring days are done. Efforts are underway at local, state, and national levels to secure one.

“Sailing along on this cobalt blue life support system we call the sea, it is becoming difficult to imagine land and life onshore with traffic and nightly news,” Thorp noted. “I have also learned much about the relevance of math, physics, and sciences.”

And the relevance of marine science and research to landlubbers and seafarers alike - research that requires ships like the Wecoma.



R/V Wecoma fast facts

• Owner: National Science Foundation

• Operator: Oregon State University

• Built: 1975

• Home Port: Newport

• Length: 185 feet

• Loaded Draft (maximum): 19 feet

• Scientific Load: 60 long tons

• Speed: 14 knots maximum

• Range: 7,200 nautical miles/global

• Total Mileage (through 2008): 760,000 nautical miles

• Endurance: 36 days

• Crew: 13

• Scientists: 18



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