Port Angeles High School science club tours research ship before it goes exploring undersea volcano
Published 12:01 am Tuesday, September 17, 2013
PORT ANGELES — High school science club members took a behind-the-scenes tour of the University of Washington research ship Thomas G. Thompson in Seattle earlier this month.
Port Angeles High School science instructors John Henry, Derek Johnson and John Gallagher; retired teacher Eve Datisman; and former AmeriCorps member Jennifer Jacques accompanied the students: Jack Simpson, Ashia Lawrence, Jazzy Andrus and Bethanie Johnson.
“We were able to see the ROV Jason,” Gallagher said, referring to a remotely operated vehicle, a robotic vehicle tethered to a ship by a fiber-optic cable that is capable of working in water depths up to 6,500 meters.
He said the tour group “even watched as they conducted a practice launch into the water.
“We visited the onboard laboratories and peeked into the control van, where scientists and engineers were already preparing for the research cruise,” Gallagher said.
“All around us, the teams were getting ready.”
The Thomas G. Thompson is a research vessel owned by the Navy and operated under an agreement with the University of Washington as part of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System fleet.
The tour at the UW Oceanography dock was led by University of Massachusetts biochemistry professor Jim Holden.
“We were extremely lucky to have Jim as our guide,” Gallagher said.
“For two full hours, he showed us things we talk about and show our students in videos.”
The day after the tour, the ship set sail Sept. 3 for the Axial Seamount volcano, where Holden has spent two weeks gathering samples of bacteria from the submarine volcano while other scientists study its geology and chemistry.
The Axial Seamount volcano is on the Juan de Fuca Ridge about 300 miles west of Cannon Beach, Ore.
Students talked with scientists via Skype on Friday.
The visit was made possible through the support of the Clallam County YMCA and a grant awarded by the Port Angeles Education Foundation.
Holden completed his undergraduate work at UW and received his doctorate from the University of Georgia.
