Townsend Cromwell
Student Connection
Just in from the Ship
April 4, 2000 Since our last update, the TOWNSEND CROMWELL has completed work at three more islands: Jarvis Island, which is below the equator; Palmyra Atoll, which is an island paradise; and Kingman Reef, which is mostly just below the waves and only has two little sand spits and a few coral heads that stick up above sea-level. Each was very interesting in its own way. Jarvis Island is much like Howland and Baker
Islands. There
were lots of birds and very little vegetation. The scientists say that there were lots of
sharks and that the sharks were noticeably larger than those at Howland and Baker. The pictures of sharks were taken at Jarvis Island. You could
see sharks all around the boat as divers went in the water. They just hung around and
watched the divers the whole time they were down surveying the reef and counting fish.
Palmyra is an absolutely beautiful classic atoll. The coral has
been growing there for millions of years
making a large ring of reefs and small islands that are joined together by thin spits of
sand surrounding a lagoon in the middle. There are coconut palm trees and shrubs covering
the islands, white sand beaches, and blue water. There is more rain here than at the other
islands which is why it is green and lush. There were manta rays, sea turtles, sharks and
lots of fish to swim with. There was lots of reef to cover there so we spent three days at
anchor in the lagoon. A channel runs between small islands into the lagoon so that boats
and CROMWELL sized ships can enter. The small boats carrying scientists zipped in and out
of the channel and around the island to accomplish tow and drop dive missions. The
scientists observed that most sharks and other large fish were low in abundance, although
there was an abundance of larger (6-8 ft) hammerhead sharks. There were many of different
kinds of coral there and all of us would have liked to spend a few more days there so we
could walk the beaches and snorkel, but duty calls. We had one more place to study before
the cruise was over.
You can barely tell Kingman Reef from the open ocean. The reef is just underwater and there are two very small islands that are made of coral rubble and sand. The land party went ashore on both of them and found that no birds were nesting and no vegetation was growing there. They did see one gecko that seemed to be making a living there somehow. The area we studied at Kingman Reef is not much more than shallow water about 10 miles long and four miles wide. Like Palmyra, there was a lagoon in the middle. The water was so clear here you felt like you were floating in air over the many kinds of coral, clams, urchins, and anemones. The giant clams had vividly colored lips or mantles and the anemones had shockingly blue bodies. A few hammerheads were sighted on the ocean side of the reef and one large tiger shark (approx 12 ft) was observed inside the lagoon by the towed sled divers.
With our work completed, we are on our way home now and are due to arrive by Friday morning. We were all very tired from the fast pace of the cruise and are catching up on things while we head for Honolulu.
During the cruise we completed:
102.9 km of towed diver transects, 70 fish count dives, 22 roving diver fish survey dives, 50 20-m2 fish transects, 30 coral surveys, 107 CTD casts, and established 5 permanent transects.
Sixty-five hours of digital video tapes of the coral reefs and fish were recorded and over 1000 photographs were taken for additional study in Honolulu. The wind and waves are making the ride home a little bumpy and that will make the homecoming that much sweeter.
We can only send two pictures a week from the ship because they have to be transmitted via satellite which is very expensive. We will send out more when we get to Honolulu. Check with us next week for more pictures of coral, fish, and manta rays, sharks, and lovely Palmyra Atoll.
Previous update from this cruise:
Last modified April 05, 2000