Patrick Gray

Patrick Gray

Assistant Research Professor in the School of Marine Sciences

Fieldwork & Photos

Some favorite photos from the field:

secchi disk (July 2024) S/V Tara: Lowering the secchi disk as a part of the Tara Europa sampling protocols and responsibilities of the onboard oceanographic engineer. Sampling location was just north east of Cape Sounion off the coast of Greece.

drone flight ebee (August 2019) Waiting for the eBee+ fixed wing to return home during a project using drones to map the wetlands, ghost forest, and maritime forest at the Nags Head Nature Preserve on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

drone flight alta (February 2019) R/V Laurence M. Gould: The Freefly Alta coming back home after a mission of humpback and minke whale photogrammetry along the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Julian Dale is flying the Alta and photo taken from the Gould’s zodiac with Dave Johnston and others onboard.

drone flight alta (July 2024) S/V Tara: In the Gulf of Corinth as we move from the Ionian Sea to the Adriatic. Cleaning off the zooplankton nets after a surprise bloom of salps clogged them (and the ship’s plumbing). Secchi depths are >30m yet salps and dolphins everywhere.

drone flight alta (August 2021) R/V Shearwater: Grabbing the DJI Phantom 4 after finishing a flight mapping the differential turbulent mixing and path of the uranine dye plume seen in the background as it crossed the Gulf Stream front. Onboard with Ivan Saveleyev, Anna Windle, Amanda Lohmann, and Julian Dale

minke whale tagging (February 2019) R/V Laurence M. Gould: Slowly following a minke whale in Andvord Bay, on the right Ari Friedlaender prepares to attach a video tag. Preparing to launch the drone to capture the tagging process and measure the group of minkes from our zodiac.

drone flight alta (February 2019) R/V Laurence M. Gould: Photo looking straight down onto a small peninsula and shallow water from the DJI Phantom 4 just as it leaves our temporary camp on a bit of exposed rock and heads off to map sea ice in Neko Harbor.

Field Experience

Cruises:

  • S/V Tara; June 19-July 16 2024: Tara Europa Expedition (oceanographic engineer: optical inline with 10+ instruments, aerosol sampling, daily CTD ops, zooplankton net tows)
  • R/V Ira; C June 27th, 2023: Ocean Optics Calibration and Validation Cruise (TA)
  • R/V Shearwater; March 7-11 2022: Turbulent microstructure of the Gulf Stream’s North Wall (winch ops, filtering, radiometry, optical flow through)
  • R/V Shearwater; Jan 31-Feb 5 2022: Turbulent microstructure of the Gulf Stream’s North Wall (winch ops, sampling, general support)
  • R/V Shearwater; September 4-9 2021: Biophysical interactions in the Gulf Stream (Chief Scientist)
  • R/V Shearwater; August 24-29 2021: Turbulent microstructure of the Gulf Stream’s North Wall (drone operations and general support)
  • R/V Ira C; August 4th, 2021: Ocean Optics Calibration and Validation Cruise (member)
  • R/V Barber; April 27th 2021: Gulf Stream Front Drone Surveys (Chief Scientist)
  • R/V Laurence M. Gould; February 13-March 23 2019: NSF research cruise to the Western Antarctic Peninsula flying drones to study cetaceans and map sea ice (drone pilot/analyst)

Other:

  • Numerous (>10) 1-3 day field work excursions to conduct drone surveys in eastern North Carolina beach and coastal forest environments for various projects (pilot/analyst 2017-2019)
  • Expedition to Iceland for a NASA PSTAR project using Iceland as a Mars analog for testing joint drone-rover operations (drone pilot/analyst, July 15th-30th 2019)
  • Mars Desert Research Station rotation managing the green house, testing new sleep tools, and understanding the impacts of stress on team dynamics (Greenhouse Officer, Dec 31th 2016 - Jan 15th 2017)