Students become scientists on cruise

14 from C of C to explore the unknown in real = time

By Bo Petersen

The Post and Courier

Thursday, October 23, 2008

The streambed looks like a meandering Lowcountry tidal creek, = its=20 sandswept rocks swarmed by fish. Except that it's 25 miles out to = sea from=20 Charleston, on the ocean floor.

=20

Brian Kennedy/Alison Deary
College of Charleston=20

A 3-D map of three miles of an ancient = streambed found by=20 sonar 25 miles off Charleston in 2006.

The ancient channel is a remnant of the Ice Age shoreline of = South=20 Carolina. Nobody knew it was there until a group of College of = Charleston=20 students beamed sonar across it two years ago. That's the value of = the sea=20 floor mapping cruise Leslie Sautter's marine geology class is = about to=20 take =E2=80=94 the reason students fend off job

offers while they complete their studies.

"If you're out on that ship, you're acting as a scientist. = You're not a=20 student any more," said senior Josh Mode, a veteran mapper who has = already=20 mapped Grays Reef and the Dry Tortugas among other undersea = landmarks.=20

The work is real, part of ongoing National Oceanic and = Atmospheric=20 Administration project mapping a coastal sea floor that has had = only a=20 tiny fraction mapped so far. The students delineate potential = fishing and=20 sanctuary sites. They help locate sea mountains, shipwrecks and = other=20 natural or man-made formations that could cause problems for = maritime=20 traffic.

=20

Chris Stubbs/College = of=20 Charleston=20

Marine life grows on a stretch of ancient = streambed found=20 by sonar mapping by College of Charleston students in = 2006.

ERT Inc., a NOAA contractor for the project, just hired one of = the=20 mapping students =E2=80=94 essentially a first step into a marine = science career.=20

"She's already been collecting the data, has the background = reviewing=20 it and putting it into a display that's usable," said Jonathan = Shannon, of=20 ERT.

"I don't know any place in the country that's giving = undergraduate=20 students this kind of training," Sautter said.

The mapping cruise is in its third year. This time, 14 students = will=20 meet the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster in Key West, Fla., on Friday, and = travel=20 back to Charleston to map a stretch offshore they have named = "Doc's Rocks"=20 in honor of "Doc" Sautter. As the ship crosses back and forth, = students=20 sweep sonar of more than 200 individual beams. Next semester they = will=20 head to the lab to analyze the reams of data they collect.

The six-mile Doc's Rocks stretch is a ledge exposed from the = sand at=20 the tip of the Continental Shelf, at the edge of the Gulf Stream = =E2=80=94=20 literally the rim of the North American continent.

"What we're mapping is potentially an ancient shoreline from = the last=20 Ice Age," Sautter said. "We don't know what we're going to find. = The=20 students are really exploring new territory."

The rocks, like the riverbed, teem with marine life. The sonar = images=20 come up in real time and students crowd the screens.

"It's always a really awesome feeling. You're always watching = to see=20 what comes up next," Mode said. "All these theories are bouncing = off=20 everybody =E2=80=94 it's a mystery and you try to figure out why = it's there."=20