The Ocean Inquiry Project: An Experiment in Puget Sound Education and Research The Ocean Inquiry Project is a non-profit organization whose goal is to create working partnerships between students and researchers through scientific inquiry on Puget Sound. The idea for this project crystallized when considering the intersection of Puget Sound teaching and research activities. From a research perspective, the oceanographic properties of Puget Sound are generally undersampled in both space and time. From a teaching perspective, we found it difficult to locate data and inquiry-based curriculum about the Puget Sound estuarine environment. Further, there is a lack of on- water cruise opportunities for students, particularly from the many community colleges that offer oceanographic instruction. A logical connection that fills these needs is a program such as the Ocean Inquiry Project which combines on-water, inquiry-based education with research quality data acquisition. Are you interested in a trip or using data we have collected? Contact Us!! Christian P. Sarason, Program Director Frederick (Fritz) R. Stahr, President DateTimeNum.LocationVesselInstitution/ClassInstructors 07/25/996 hrOIP-1ShilsholeEd’s GirlSeattle CCCChris Moore 07/27/996 hr OIP-2ShilsholeEd’s GirlUW Ocean 101Fritz Stahr 11/13/996 hr OIP-3TacomaEd’s GirlPierce CollegeChristian Sarason 02/27/002x4 hrOIP-4/5TacomaMary L.Pierce CollegeChristian Sarason 05/13/002x4 hrOIP-6/7ShilsholeMary L.Seattle CCCChristian Sarason 05/14/004 hr (am)OIP-8ShilsholeMary L.Seattle CCCChristian Sarason 11/05/002x4 hrOIP-9/10TacomaMary L.Pierce CollegeBeth Norman 11/19/002x4 hrOIP-11/12ShilsholeMary L.Seattle CCCChristian Sarason 03/05/017 hrOIP-13Salmon BayC.A. KaneSCCC & UW 101C. S. and R. Strickland 03/09/012x4 hrOIP-14/15ShilsholeMary L.UW Ocean 101R. S. and Tina Emerick 03/11/012x4 hrOIP-16/17TacomaMary L.Pierce CollegeBeth Norman 04/09/014 hr (pm) OIP-18Salmon BayMary L.UW Ocean 102Richard Strickland 04/25/014 hr (am) OIP-19Salmon BayMary L.UW Ocean 101Tina Emerick 05/12/017 hrOIP-20Cornet BayMary L.Sedro Woolley HSBev Mowrer Cruise History Although there are a number of on-water educational programs in Puget Sound, the data collected are not typically made available to, or used by, Puget Sound researchers. Likewise, although there are almost always on-going research projects, but they infrequently involve students or education. By creating partnerships between students and researchers, we hope to improve marine science education, supplement local research, foster an appreciation for the Sound and ocean, and increase awareness of human impacts on marine systems. Also, we hope to improve the quality and accessibility of Puget Sound research and teaching information to all community members through our web interface at The Mary L., operated by the American Institute for Marine Studies, a non-profit located in Seattle, WA. Students collect a water sample. Where ever you go, there you are... An amphipod who couldn’t escape our nets. Students interpret CTD readings near Deception Pass. Figure 1: This map of Puget Sound shows where OIP operations have been targeted to date. Red circles are ambient monitoring stations of either the Washington State Dept. of Ecology or the PRISM project. Blue dots indicate sites sampled by OIP with a CTD. Blue triangles show dive locations. Christian P. Sarason and Frederick R. Stahr. Ocean Inquiry Project, P.O. Box 23189, Seattle, WA Figure 2: The color plots above and at left show time series measurements collected by the Ocean Inquiry Project and the Department of Ecology respectively. OIP CTD stations collect temperature and salinity measurements using a SeaCat 19 rented from the University of Washington’s equipment pool. OIP operations out of Seattle generally return to PRISM 28 as a core of our program; data are shown from eight OIP cruises in the past year. Data are binned into the month of their collection and then displayed as a horizontal time series, with color intensity denoting the temperature. The data from Ecology was downloaded from their web site located at: Filling in gaps in data collection frequency and geographical coverage is one of the scientific goals of OIP, as are smaller and more detailed hydrographic surveys.