All aboard! UH Hilo students start their labs onboard new marine science teaching and research vessel
The new workboat significantly expands UH Hilo’s place-based marine science training and research, allowing offshore and nearshore fieldwork for both students and researchers.
By Susan Enright/UH Hilo Stories.
University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo‘s new teaching and research vessel is now in service as a real-world floating laboratory for the university’s marine science students. The aluminum workboat, named Kaiola, meaning “living sea,” arrived from Oregon in February and after final outfitting and inspections, entered the water for lab operations in March.
“The new marine science vessel is a 38-foot North River Sounder, a class of aluminum workboat designed specifically for scientific, environmental monitoring, and coastal operations in high-energy conditions,” says John Burns, associate professor and chair of the marine science department.
The new workboat, helmed by UH Hilo’s boat program coordinator Captain Kainoa Hauanio, significantly expands UH Hilo’s place-based marine science training and research, allowing offshore and nearshore fieldwork for both students and researchers, including coral reef monitoring, water-quality surveys, coastal mapping, and oceanographic sampling.
Two labs in March were among the first to use the new boat.
“Both labs are great examples of students getting applied research experience with real-world scientific tools,” says Burns.
One of the first labs, on March 11, was the Pelagic Methods and Analysis lab (MARE 353L), where students used a variety of instruments to collect samples for their independent research projects. Over the semester, students in this lab learn the implementation of field and laboratory data collection and experimentation in the neritic and pelagic marine environment from an oceanographic vessel platform, according to the course catalog description. Students learn techniques such as measuring geological, chemical, and physical properties; estimating the abundance and diversity of plankton, nekton and benthos; and use of modern data recording and analyzing systems.
Another one of the first labs out on the water with the new boat was an Oceanography Marine Science lab (MARE 201L) where in-class field trips are required. According to the course catalog description, over the course of the semester students learn the basic techniques of oceanography including marine charts and navigation, bathymetry, marine sediments, techniques for measuring salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and surface and deep circulation, light and sound in seawater, wave dynamics, tides, plankton sampling and identification.
“We were conducting our Lagrangian Circulation lab,” says instructor Emily Green, a graduate student in the tropical conservation biology and environmental science program teaching the March 27 lab onboard the Kaiola. “During that lab students study circulation patterns in the bag using drogues, collect plankton during plankton tows, and measure water quality variables like salinity, turbidity, and dissolved oxygen.”
The beauty of the boat
“We selected this (boat) platform because it provides a stable, shallow-draft, highly maneuverable work deck suitable for diving, instrument deployment, and nearshore research around Hawaiʻi Island,” says Burns. “The Sounder configuration is widely used by agencies and research programs working in exposed coastal environments similar to Hawaiʻi.”
In addition to expanded abilities, it will increase the reach of both teaching and research.
“It also enables access to sites that were previously difficult or unsafe to reach with smaller vessels, supporting both coursework and funded research across Hawaiʻi Island and neighboring islands,” says Burns. “For students, this means more hands-on experience with real research equipment, data collection, and marine operations, which are core skills for careers in marine science and ocean stewardship.”
Related story
New 38-foot teaching and research vessel arrives for UH Hilo’s marine science program
Story by Susan Enright, public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of UH Hilo Stories. She received her bachelor of arts in English and certificate in women’s studies from UH Hilo.
