In-Depth Learning

They bounce on the waves, in parallel lines that stretch across the Pacific Ocean, collectors of vital evidence that may help save lives and property if predictions of a dire stormy season come true.

These long lines of weather buoys are the front lines in the nation’s quest for more accurate weather forecasts. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration maintains the buoys, servicing or replacing each of them once a year.

This is how Kerry Johnson spent her summer vacation. The environmental science teacher at Isbell Middle School in Santa Paula was chosen to cruise with the crew of the Ka’imimoana (“Ocean Seeker”), a 224-foot NOAA research ship, as they checked the lines and collected data in July and August.

The trip was part of NOAA’s “Teacher at Sea” program, designed not only to boost the agency’s public image, but also to push science education in the nation’s schools.

“The idea is to get kids interested in science, and if we can get the teachers fired up, if we can take them out on a ship and let them get involved, get wet and dirty, they can bring that experience home to their classes,” said Cmdr. Larry Simoneaux, NOAA’s chief of operations.

It’s also a good way for the agency to let the public know about its many projects, from mapping to studying vents on the ocean floor to tracking hurricanes.

Much of the research is available to the public, Simoneaux said, noting that anyone can use the Internet to get data from any of the Pacific buoys, accurate to within a matter of hours.

“You can watch the water march across the Pacific,” he said.

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After meeting the ship in Manzanillo, Mexico, Johnson was given much free rein aboard the Ka’imimoana, not to mention a cabin to herself. She learned all about the ship and the other scientific studies underway, involving everything from research on barnacles to hydrophones placed deep into the ocean to detect seismic events and measure the spreading of the ocean floor.

“It was wonderful. Anything I was interested in was made available to me. I’m a curious person; I want to know about everything,” she said. “I spent a lot of time up on the bridge, learning about the operation of the ship.”

They soon set out for the first line, about 1,200 miles offshore. There was rough weather at the start, spawned by a hurricane whose worst impact they would manage to skirt.

Waves sometimes smashed into the windows on the bridge, but Johnson stayed standing . . . with the help of seasickness tablets.

After that rocky start, the sea turned glassy. There would be no more rough weather for the rest of the monthlong trip.

Johnson set out to learn about the ship and its crew, writing dispatches that are now part of the Ka’imimoana’s Web page.

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Crew members told her about life at sea, about survival measures and drinking water, and about the loneliness that is sometimes broken up with the help of the computer.

“Thank God for e-mail,” one person confided. “It’s what holds us together.”

Johnson soaked it all in.

“So far, this ship has been a vast playground for the mind,” she wrote. “Weather, stars, . . . navigation, physics, geology capture my imagination and curiosity. The officers, crew and scientists patiently answer my questions, opening me to a world of wonders. The Teacher at Sea becomes the eager pupil.”

The buoys are arranged in vertical lines from 8 degrees north to 8 degrees south, although they are not always where they are supposed to be, and are sometimes not found at all. Three buoys were missing on this trip.

The culprits in many cases are fishermen, who take advantage of the mini-ecosystems that spring up around the buoys and the long chains and cables that anchor them to the ocean floor.

“The boats will attach their lines to them, and sometimes they’re pulled off course, or they sink,” she said. A few of the buoys they found had fishing lines still attached.

They reached the first buoy Aug. 4. A school of pilot whales swam around the site, some leaping and diving as if playing. A flock of birds perched on a mass of tangled fishing net and a few mahi-mahi swam nearby, along with the occasional shark.

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The buoy was dragged aboard, and a new one was dropped in its place the next day, secured by a 4,000-pound anchor.

Johnson was allowed to go out with the crew that checked the devices, motoring to the buoy on a rubber raft. The data, contained in canisters attached to cables beneath the buoy, include measurements of water pressure, temperature and conductivity (the more conductive the water, the higher the salinity).

Although she became well acquainted with the scientists and their work, she could not actually see the data because it was all shipped off to NOAA offices in Seattle for evaluation.

With forecasts of El Nino-generated heavy rains and high surf this winter continuing to dominate headlines, Johnson’s trip allows her to bring a novel twist to her classroom discussions. Students are often transfixed by the tales of buoys anchored to the ocean floor three miles below, waves that break over the bow, and a teacher on a little raft, helping scientists figure it all out.

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Yes, this was a scientific expedition, but Johnson, who had some sailing experience, is the first to admit that it was also a lot of fun. And she took away timeless memories of skies full of stars.

“I used to hang out on the bridge at night because I really got into the stars, being able to see the Southern Cross and learning all the southern constellations,” she said. “At sea, the stars are so thick. You can see where the name Milky Way came from. When you see it without any air or light pollution, it makes sense.”