Latest Update 2/23/04

Life at sea is never dull. Emergencies are just as likely to happen aboard a ship as they are on land. Take for example the medical evacuation the SETTE participated in while doing research off of Swains Island. The following is an excerpt from Commanding Officer CDR Ken Barton's letter accounting the events.

At approx. 1500 hrs yesterday, 17 Feb. I was informed by the XO that the some of the people on Swains Island were asking if we had a doctor onboard as one of the women on the island was sick. The ship was working off this remote island - 190 miles north of Pago Pago, American Samoa. There are about 14 people (including 7 children) living on the island and they have no medical facilities, no transportation off the island, and only an HF radio to communicate with the outside world.

I sent LCDR Calvin Spinner ashore with one of the scientists who had been first informed of the medical situation. LCDR Spinner called back to the ship within 20 minutes to say that the woman had potential appendicitis. I immediately made the decision to evacuate her off the island to Pago Pago. The complicating factor was that she had a one year old daughter who had to come with her because she was breastfeeding the child.

It took about an hour to get her ready to come out to the ship. Upon arrival at the ship it was clear that she was in a lot of pain and we had to lift the boat up to the rail to get her aboard. She and the child were put in sickbay and as of last night have been resting comfortably.

The ship is making arrangements to secure berthing at the main harbor pier as we feel the woman cannot be taken off by small boat. We have notified the woman's family, the NOAA team onshore (R/V AHI group), and the ship's agent to assist in arranging things on land.

We expect to be in Pago Pago by 1400 today.

I am very proud of the way the ship pulled together on this. Once again, the SETTE officers, crew, and scientists have demonstrated their remarkable ingenuity, caring, and professionalism.

18 Feb. at 1430 the OSCAR ELTON SETTE safely delivered Ogevai Rapeti and her daughter Sia to Pago Pago and the local hospital. The SETTE averaged over 11 knots on a calm overnight transit from Swains Island to Pago Pago. We were given immediate clearance to bring the ship directly into the fuel pier where an ambulance was waiting for Mrs. Ogevai. American Samoa Representative for Swains Island, Mr. Wally Thompson, was also waiting on the pier and took Sia to her mothers family who were at the hospital.

Considering the condition the patient was in while aboard, if the SETTE had not been there to medevac her it is possible she would have died on Swains Island.

On a personal note, there was nothing stranger than to walk down the Main Deck passageway of my ship and hear a baby crying. I wonder if this is a first for a NOAA ship?

So ends another day on the OSCAR ELTON SETTE.
______________________________________________________

Update: 2/12/04

NOAA Ship OSCAR ELTON SETTE is currently at Rose Atoll, the eastern most island in the Samoa Island Group. This is the 2nd leg of the Coral Reef Ecosystem Investigation cruise. After operations are finished at Rose Atoll the ship will transit north to Swains Island.

In the SETTE's last website update it was explained that everyday five small boats are launched from the ship with teams of 3 to 4 divers. Each boat has a team of divers that research different areas of the coral reef; mooring team, tow board team, fish team, and two benthic teams. In hopes to give people a greater understanding of what each team does, the next five website updates will be about each individual team.

The mooring team is made up of three divers. They install and maintain different kinds of oceanographic bouys and gather on site oceanographic information which is an important way to monitor the health of the ecosystem. These are some of the bouys they install;

Coral Reef Early Warning System (CREWS) Bouys and Sea Surface Temperature (SST) Bouys collect real time data that is sent to a satalite and available on the CREI website, http://www.crei.nmfs.hawaii.edu. These bouys monitor sea surface temperature, salinity, air temperature, barometric pressure, both wind speed and direction, as well as photosynthetic pigments in the water. The bouys are an important step in understanding what type of conditions occur before a coral bleaching event.

Wave Tide Recorders (WTR) and Oceanographic Data Platforms (ODP) collect data on wave height and direction as well as currents around the reef. This helps give scientist clues about water flow and nutrient transport in the ecosystem.

All of this data helps take a picture of what is happening to the reef in a physical sense, temperature of the water, salinity, tides, waves, and primary productivity. All of these factors help scientists draw conclusions about the health of the living creatures on the reef.

Stay tuned for more information on each team in the coming weeks. NOAA Ship OSCAR ELTON SETTE...signing off.

Previous missive: 1/28/04

The NOAA Ship OSCAR ELTON SETTE is currently in the Central Pacific on a cruise to support the NMFS Coral Reef Conservation Program. The ship will be spending a total of 22 days at sea assessing the coral reefs around Johnston Atoll, Howland Island, and Baker Island.

Every day the SETTE offloads five small boats with teams of divers to study the reef. Each team of divers has a specific part of the reef ecosystem to gather data on; two teams study the benthic habitat including corals, algae and other invertebrates, a team that collects and assesses reef fish, a team of divers that install oceanographic equipment to monitor the reef over time, and a team of divers that take video of the reef.

The ship is also busy gathering data at night to map the reef using a drop camera, acoustic data, and bottom grab samples.

The SETTE is scheduled to inport in Samoa on January 29th for four days. She will then be conducting reef assessment around the Samoan Islands.