Here is a brief introduction to the 11 scientists working the midnight to noon shift of leg 1 of WCOA 2026. Starting your day at midnight is definitely a difficult adjustment and if you didn’t save any leftovers from the day before you have seven hours until breakfast so best to plan ahead. Work stations and workflows have been ironed out by this point and everyone’s data is rolling in!
Julian Herndon
Julian is a University of Washington/CICOES scientist and part of the PMEL Marine Carbon Chemistry Group. His role on the WCOA26 cruise is the Co-Chief Scientist and Technical Lead. His primary role is to coordinate between the scientists and the ship to ensure that the researchers working on this cruise have everything they need to conduct their investigations in an effective, efficient, and safe manner and to try to keep the project on schedule as we move from station to station on the “night shift.”
Garrett Feroy
Garrett is a contributing member of the NOAA PMEL Underway Carbon group helping with sampling, analysis, and storage of: total alkalinity (TA), chlorophyll, salts, and nutrients. As a recently added member, he is excited to be at sea doing field research and alongside scientists in other oceanographic disciplines. With his background in hydraulic manufacturing, he has been able to help with building, fixing, and securing equipment with both his and a few other groups.
Juan Millan-Otoya
Juan is a PhD student from the Byrne Lab in the College of Marine Science at University of South Florida. During WCOA 2026 he will contribute to pH measurements and he will be implementing a newly developed semi-automated spectrophotometric method to measure calcium in sea water. It is his first time in over 15 years in the Pacific Ocean and is very excited for the opportunity of doing science with such an amazing group of researchers.
Susan Curless
Susan is a University of Washington CICOES scientist, and a member of the PMEL Marine Carbon group. Her primary role on this cruise is to lead the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) measurements. She spends most of her time analyzing the water samples collected from the rosette on technical equipment in one of the two laboratory containers the science team brought on board the ship. She is used to spending a lot of time at sea, but mostly in the open ocean, so being able to see land throughout a lot of this cruise is new and different to experience. She also believes it was a good omen for the trip to have seen a sea turtle (her spirit animal) at the surface on the first day of the cruise.
Julia Lara Navarrete
Julia is a PhD student from the Coastal Biogeochemical Dynamics Lab at the University of Connecticut Avery Point. WCOA26 is her first research cruise and so far, so good (*knocks on wood). For her research she’s working on a forecasting model for Dungeness crab fisheries, but on the R/V Sikuliaq you can find her in the computer lab talking to the winch and staring at the screens as the CTD watch for the night shift.
Zachary Gold
Zack is a research scientist at NOAA PMEL, leading biological sampling efforts on WCOA26. Zack has been impressed by the creativity and perseverance of the R/V Sikuliaq team in overcoming the winch struggles and generosity of colleagues Greg Rouse and Charlotte Seid at UCSD SIO to provide last minute liquid nitrogen refills before the cruise. Surprisingly, we’ve been seeing a suite of pteropod species (Limacina, Clio, and Cresseis sp.) in our bongo and neuston tows, despite the overall low biomass in the anomalously warm Southern California waters.
Naja Murphy
Naja Murphy is a graduate student with the Byrne Lab in the College of Marine Science at University of South Florida. Aboard WCOA, she is implementing a totally new method of measuring organic alkalinity. Although the instrument set up has been a little challenging at the beginning of the cruise, Naja brought enough backups of everything to handle whatever breaks or needs replacing! Her packing was so stellar, she even brought along a nice camera ready to take pictures of any spotted wildlife.
Alitzah Saenz
Alitzah Saenz is helping out the net team on WCOA. Alitzah previously worked for CalCOFI so she probably knows the most about these waters of everyone on the ship! “I’m excited to sail beyond California, I haven’t done much outside of the Southern California Current.” We hope she’s ready for all the clouds and vampires of the PNW.
Karina Lai
Karina is a research assistant with the NOAA PMEL Ocean Molecular Ecology group. On WCOA, she is in charge of collecting and processing environmental DNA samples, methane, and domoic acid samples. She has been enjoying the creative (and goofy) solutions the lab comes up with, from filtering seawater with kitten feeding bags to the DIY home depot light trap. Recently graduating from undergraduate at UW, this is her first long offshore cruise, and she is very excited that she hasn’t gotten seasick so far.
Anna Boyar
Anna is a research technician at the Washington Ocean Acidification Center (WOAC), and on WCOA is part of the dissolved oxygen team. Anna was quite excited to see extremely low oxygen in the Santa Barbara basin, and is known for adding fun drawings to her labeled leftovers!
Kazumi Schubert
Kazumi is a research Scientist with CICOES and NOAA PMEL Carbon group. On WCOA26, Kazumi is working hard in the TA van during the night shift. “I’ve been away from the oceanography field for a while, so this is a long-awaited opportunity to set sail. As always, the sea is a wonderful place to be, and it’s an honor to meet everyone aboard.”
