Sea Aggies in the Arctic
Dale Hubbard's Trans-Arctic
Expedition
Dale Hubbard ‘93 is working
aboard the USCG ice cutter Healy as a civilian faculty
member in support of the Arctic scientific research
expedition Dr. Rainer Amon and his team is involved in.
Hubbard has been employed as a technician in marine
chemistry and marine geology at Oregon State University for
about five years.
The Coast Guard cutter Healy is working in support of the
coring component of the Beringia 2005 transarctic
expedition. Hubbard and his team lead by Oregon State
University’s Nick Pisias, head of the coring program,
deployed cores weighing up to three tons and up to 70 feet
long to retrieve seafloor sediment samples from waters
ranging from tens to thousands of meters deep in locations
spanning from the poles to the tropics.
While scientists aboard the Oden were taking water samples,
studying the temperatures and salinity of the water,
scientists aboard the Healy were performing a variety of
seismic and acoustic surveys of the seafloor and of the
underlying material as well as taking core samples along the
way. The Principal Investigators aboard the Healy are
interested in a variety of aspects of the geological and
oceanographic history of the Artic Ocean basin. They are
interested in the current flow patterns, historic range and
role of continental and polar ice sheets along with the
sources of sedimentary materials.
In the process of taking core samples, Hubbard and crew
uncovered a critter in the top of core. The holothurian (sea
cucumber, he believes that is what the critter is) came from
approximately 2000 meters and is about 2 cm long.
Hubbard states that he would like to honor his former
advisor Larry Griffin and his mentor, Peter Santschi. He
states, “It was under their guidance and tutelage that my
interest in Marine Science developed. I appreciate all the
doors that were opened to me during my years at TAMUG.”
