Expedition 46: Oceanography Camp for Girls

The mission of Oceanography Camp for Girls is to inspire and motivate young women entering high school to consider career opportunities in the sciences. Hosted by the College of Marine Science at the University of South Florida, the three-week summer camp is available to young women in Pinellas County to provide experience in disciplines that women and minorities are often underrepresented in, like chemistry, geology, physics, engineering and mathematics. Under the guidance of USF research scientists and science mentors, the girls gain real-world experience in oceanography while developing communication and leadership skills.

This is the fifth year ANGARI Foundation supported the research cruise for the camp, where campers boarded R/V ANGARI for hands-on field and laboratory experience in oceanographic methods. Over the course of the day, the young oceanographers visited three different sites, or stations, in Tampa Bay. At each station, the participants gathered environmental data from the atmosphere and water using a variety of tools, including shipboard instrumentation, anemometers, a YSI probe and Secchi disk. Water samples were collected using Niskin bottles, while seafloor sediments were acquired using a Shipek grab sampler. In R/V ANGARI’s wet lab, the young scientists analyzed the collected water samples for nutrients. Plankton tows and otter trawls were also deployed to collect a unique variety of marine organisms for campers to practice their species identification, data collection and documentation skills.

Thank you to the Florida Institute of Oceanography and the University of South Florida College of Marine Science for supporting this expedition by providing scientific gear and dockage for R/V ANGARI. We also want to thank Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Dr. Chris Stallings at USF for providing trawl nets.