"Shredder" of Fleet Miami supports SeaKeepers & CARTHE
The International SeaKeepers Society returns from an expedition and outreach program with CARTHE, Fleet Miami, and StreetWaves testing ocean monitoring devices onboard Motor Yacht Shredder.
The International SeaKeepers Society returns from a three-day expedition with researchers from the Consortium for Advanced Research on the Transport of Hydrocarbon in the Environment (CARTHE) and Fleet Miami that included an outreach program with the local non-profit organization StreetWaves.
During the expedition researchers deployed a variety of GPS-equipped surface current drifters that can offer aid in response to ocean disasters like oil spills, search and rescue missions, and tracking ocean pollution. A number of the drifters are biodegradable which offer scientists the ability to conduct large-scale tests over large expanses of water without polluting the ocean.
The researchers also measured the speed of the water with an acoustic doppler current profile (ADCP) and measured wave height and frequency with wave buoys. An anemometer was used to determine wind speed and a conductivity temperature depth (CTD) sensor to characterize the ambient stratification in the water column. The combination of these measurements provided additional information to scientists on how accurately each drifter design is measuring the currents, which will be implemented to improve ocean current models.
The final day of the expedition included an outreach program with a group of teenagers from StreetWaves, a non-profit youth mentorship program located in Miami Beach that teaches children and teens from under-resourced communities how to surf, paddle and sail. The vessel departed Miami Beach Marina Wednesday afternoon.
Onboard, researchers from CARTHE demonstrated how ocean monitoring devices function and explained how the data from drifters is paramount to preserving the ocean. The group from StreetWaves assisted in the final deployment of the expedition.
Fleet Miami, a Florida based Yacht Membership Club that offers members a lifestyle experience once only available to the owners of a superyacht fleet, generously provided Shredder, a 54-foot East Bay, for the research expedition and outreach program. Shredder served as an excellent platform for deploying and retrieving CARTHE drifters.
CARTHE, based at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science, is a research team dedicated to predicting the fate of oil released into our environment to help inform and guide response teams, thereby protecting and minimizing damage to human health, the economy, and the environment.
Mangusta 72 "Defiance" on tour with Int. SeaKeepers Society
The International SeaKeepers Society returns from their outreach program aboard DISCOVERY Yacht Defiance educating a group of 13 children from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Newport County at Newport Shipyard in Newport, Rhode Island.
The group of children and three camp counselors from Camp Grosvenor, where the Boys & Girls Clubs of Newport spend their summer, participated in a two hour educational lesson on plastics in the ocean and ways to be more environmentally friendly.
Lauren Day, the camp director, described the success of the program and its complement to their current summer camp:
[quote]“It brought the big picture to Camp Grosvenor. Everyone was super engaged, even the counselors.”[/quote]
The program began at the Newport Shipyard with a presentation by Clean Ocean Access about ways the children can become involved in local efforts to keep the ocean and beaches clean and accessible to all. The children then decorated the sails of a coastal drifter constructed and provided by Jim Manning and his student-built drifter program. The drifter will be launched off the coast of New England later this month, and used to study local surface currents and supply data to NOAA’s Integrated Ocean Observing System.
The program continued onboard Defiance as the scientists, children, and camp counselors traveled through Newport Harbor for a lesson on plastic pollution. The scientists explained the hazards of plastic pollution in the form of plastic microbeads, which are found in many face washes and toothpastes. The children examined plastic microbeads and plastic pollution in water samples collected from the ocean and New England harbors.
This is the second DISCOVERY Yachts outreach program onboard Defiance. In January Defiance traveled to Bimini, Bahamas to conduct an outreach program and drifter release with a group of local school children. Defiance plans to participate in more outreach programs in the near future.
The Newport outreach program included six educators dedicated to ocean conservation efforts including, SeaKeepers Director of Programs and Policies, Angela Rosenberg; DISCOVERY Yachts member and Co-Owner and Founder of Global Oceans, Claudia Potamkin; Co-Owner and Founder of Global Oceans, Captain Sandra Yawn; Founder of Ports of Cause, Joyce Clear; Professor of Earth Science at Massasoit Community College, Melany McFadden; and Dave McLaughlin, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Clean Ocean Access.
Defiance was built by Overmarine