University of Texas students deploy a chirp subbottom profiler in Corpus Christi Bay on Monday, May 24. The tool is used to map the Nueces River Valley buried under the bay sediments. From left are Jacob Burstein, Davis Hagemeier, Larry Stearns, Steffen Saustrup and Solveig Schilling. Courtesy Photo by John Goff
What can best be described as a “mini-submarine” is just one the tools students from the University of Texas at Austin were using in area waters last week to learn more about collecting geophysical data from under water.
Based out of Port Aransas, the research was part of a field course at the UT Institute for Geophysics, a sister institute of the UT Marine Science Institute.
The purpose of the course is to teach students about the different techniques for collecting geophysical data in a marine setting while conducting their own smaller research projects, according to John Goff, senior research scientist.
During a trip out to Corpus Christi Bay on Monday, May 24, Goff said researchers deployed the mini-submarine, officially known as a chirp subbottom profiler, to map out the ancient Nueces River Valley buried under the bay sediments.
He said another tool they used was an acoustic streamer, which records sound waves that can provide an image of the sedimentary features deposited hundreds of thousands of years ago.
Carson Miller, a graduate student from North Carolina working toward her doctorate, said she loves being in the field and took the course to better familiarize herself with collecting and processing data.
“We’re gaining a lot of experience really quickly,” Miller said. “We’re seeing the whole scientific process run its course through this whole class. We’re getting to ask these questions… Then we go collect the data and try to answer those questions. To do that in two-and-a-half weeks is kind of crazy, but it’s also really fun.”
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