Research Cruise Tracks Ocean Acidification — and Expands Student Horizons

Summertime jobs look a little different when you’re quite literally testing the waters of a career in marine science. 

Orla Fogarty ’29, a UNH sophomore in ocean engineering, set the bar high with her first experience working as a technician aboard a NOAA research vessel for nearly six weeks this summer. Fogarty, alongside Grace Bemis ’26 and UNH graduate student Amelea Hauer were part of the robust UNH science team leading NOAA’s fourth East Coast Ocean Acidification (ECOA-4) Cruise, whose mission was to measure ocean chemistry, biology, and physics concurrently along the Atlantic seaboard stretching from the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada all the way down to Miami. 

L to R: Orla Fogarty '29, Grace Bemis '26, graduate student Amelea Hauer, and research professor Chris Hunt.

Ocean acidification is notorious for its negative impacts on shellfish: As marine waters become more acidic, it becomes more difficult for organisms like clams, scallops and oysters to extract the carbonate they need from seawater to build thickness in their shells. As their shells become thinner and weaker, the animals become more stressed and vulnerable to pathogens that thrive in the newly acidic conditions. This has a cascade of effects, including economic impacts to the fishermen that depend on these species for their livelihood.

The ECOA-4 Cruise, which takes place every three to four years, provides a bigger picture of how the chemical, biological, and physical conditions of the North American Atlantic shelf waters are changing over time at hundreds of locations. The ECOA-4 Cruise is the fourth consecutive cruise with Joe Salisbury, UNH professor of oceanography, as the principal investigator. Other UNH scientists who assisted in ECOA-4 included research scientist Shawn Shellito who served as cruise co-chief scientist, research professor Chris Hunt, postdoctoral researcher Will Lush, Mischa Yurista ’26 and project engineer Marc Emond. 

The NOAA ship R/V Henry Bigelow served as the traveling at-sea laboratory this year, covering 5,833 nautical miles over the summer. Scientists from UNH and other universities collected 1,560 water samples, which are currently being analyzed. Fogarty, Bemis, and Hauer were integral to the scientific operations of the cruise, where they focused on collecting and analyzing water samples with large sampling equipment throughout various depths in the water column. 

Working aboard a research vessel at sea is not for the squeamish — conditions can be challenging, space is limited, and Fogarty notes there are worms, sea slugs, and fish larvae in the water samples. “I didn’t even know pteropods [sea slugs] were a thing until the environmental genetics scientists told me about them,” she says. Instead of being grossed out, she was fascinated by them. 

Also, it was a nice bonus to not get seasick, she jokes. 

Although this was the first research cruise for both Fogarty and Bemis, they worked in Hunt’s coastal carbon chemistry lab this past year at UNH. Hunt is currently helping analyze the water quality data. 

Reflecting back on her summer experience aboard the R/V Henry Bigelow, Fogarty notes, “As a first internship, this was an amazing opportunity and showed me what a cruise job looks like for a scientist. I learned how to constructively work and collaborate on a vessel with multiple scientists from several different universities and backgrounds, and I learned how the scientific processes adjust to a moving ship environment.

Bemis agrees. “I definitely feel as though this experience has furthered my career and future education,” she says. “I hadn’t really been exposed to this side of research before and I loved being at-sea so it really opened my eyes to different careers (like survey technician, at-sea biologist, etc.) that are available on NOAA vessels. I hope to be back on the water very soon!”