Erik Dawe Can Tell A Whale Of A Tale

By Laurie Borst

Erik Dawe has journeyed from Newtown to Wesleyan University to the fast-paced world of Los Angeles to the ocean off Cape Cod. Next, he will be attending Cornell University this fall.

Erik credits a good basic skill set and being in the right place at the right time with his successful adventures. But his story does not begin so positively. He describes himself as a troubled seventh grader, making some bad choices.

When he moved to eighth grade, things changed. His teachers, Jean Cavallaro, Tom Kuroski, and Ed Obloj, helped him change his attitude.

“They turned me around, encouraged me,” Erik said. “I owe them a lot.”

Erik was interested in science and math. When he reached Newtown High School, Jane McEvoy, career counselor at NHS, set up a mentorship for Erik with Linda Reed, an engineer at Raytheon in Danbury who had worked on the Hubble Space Telescope. Erik credits her with teaching him a great deal about physics and math.

After graduating from Newtown High in 1998, Erik spent four years at Wesleyan University in Middletown, completing a double major in 2002.

“I felt math and physics was a positive generic major which gave me a good set of tools,” Erik explained.

As luck would have it, Erik’s roommate’s father was a screenwriter who helped him get a job in Los Angeles, working on special effects in movies. He explained the work of integrating the pyrotechnic aspect of blowing something up with the mechanical aspect of a bridge collapsing or a spaceship flying. The need to coordinate the timing of electrical, mechanical, and computerized elements is essential to special effects.

While working in LA, Erik became a certified welder and added a number of metalworking machines to his repertoire of skills. He said his analytical tools and his life experience made him uniquely qualified.

“I can solve differential equations in engineering and then weld the parts I design,” Erik said.

Some of the movies Erik provided special effects for include League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Terminator 3, The Core, the Aviator, and Chronicles of Riddick.

In 2004, family matters brought him back to the East Coast. Once here, he started looking for work. He came across an ad for Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI). He had always had an interest in the oceans, and with his engineering background, soon found himself on Cape Cod, working on Sentry, a new underwater exploratory device.

“I applied for the position and got it. I had the right skill set,” Erik said. “It was low pay but a great work experience.”

WHOI has used several types of underwater exploratory vehicles. Alvin is a submarine, piloted by human operators.

Remotely operated vehicles (ROV) such as Jason are tethered to a ship on the surface by a fiber-optic cable through which the ROV receives instructions. Jason was put into operation in 1988.

One problem with the ROVs is that they require constant attention. This can run into high budget costs because the ship, crew, fuel, and food required total about $45,000 per day.

AUVs, autonomous underwater vehicles, are more recent developments. AUVs are capable of adaptive surveying, they “think” and can change direction based on data. AUVs can be launched and then left until it is time to retrieve them.

AUVs have two main functions. They make bathymetric maps, up to depths of 6,000 meters, or a little more than three miles. They are capable of locating hydrothermal vents autonomously, using a drag sensor to find vent markers. A number of new vents have been found and samples collected.

The latest innovation in underwater exploration is the autonomous benthic explorer, ABE. This vehicle is used to explore the ocean to depths of 4,500 meters (14,764 feet). ABE is able to perform preprogrammed maneuvers utilizing five thrusters to move in any direction, hover, or reverse.

Sensors survey the seafloor (bathymetry), its chemical emissions, magnetic properties, as well as ABE’s depth and distance from the ocean floor. Launched in 1996, ABE has made more than 200 dives mapping the seafloor and locating and photographing hydrothermal vents and underwater volcanoes.

Sentry is the newest ABE and has the ability to scan vertically and horizontally, recording both the seafloor and escarpments rising up in front of it. Sentry was the project Erik worked on.

“The position was Engineer I. I was able to use all my skills and learn new ones,” he said.

Erik’s background had prepared him as a mechanical engineer. He taught himself the electrical engineering that was needed to fix things. Erik worked on the mechanical, electrical, and software components, which all need to integrate. An interface was needed between the motors and the sensors.

“Each layer is simple,” he explained. “Integrating everything becomes complex.”

Playing Tag

When the ABE project wrapped up, Erik learned that just down the hall, a whale tagging project was getting underway. He joined the tagging research team.

WHOI engineers Tom Hurst and Mark Johnson developed DTAG, the best tag available, Erik said. The DTAG attaches to the whale’s back with suction cups. It records a full range of audio, including both sounds the animal makes and sounds the animal hears, up to 96 kilohertz. The range of human hearing is 20 hertz to 20 kilohertz. The DTAG also records full 3-D motion and depths the animal dives to.

The DTAG records data for 24 hours, after which the suction cups release and the DTAG floats to the surface. It is located by GPS navigation and is picked up.

The DTAG provided the first insight into what whales do, Erik continued. It records all motion. Clicks produced by sperm whales can be heard as can the return clicks, echolocation.

“We’ve learned that the clicks change during foraging, increasing as the whale comes closer to food,” Erik said.

Erik explained that researchers had found that humpbacks swim in a circle, blowing bubbles to corral krill. Then, they swim up through middle to eat. It was suspected, though, that not all whales blow bubbles. The team tagged two whales that were a feeding pair.

It was found that one whale blows bubbles while the other waits. Once the krill are gathered, both whales feed.

Erik tagged whales with the team, using a 50-foot-long carbon fiber pole, perfectly balanced to make placing the DTAG on the whale as easy as possible.

There was one pretty dicey moment when the team was out on the ocean to tag whales. The small boat they take to the whales has a pilot, an expert who watches the water and whales, plus the team to attach the tag.

The team had headed out to tag a whale, when they found themselves in the middle of about 40 whales feeding. They looked for the tell-tale bubbles and found themselves in the midst of the bubble circle. The expert advised them to stay very still. Suddenly, four whales surfaced around them. Erik said he could see straight into the whale’s mouth.

Once he had learned how to use it, Erik adapted the DTAG for manatees. Research is currently being conducted in Florida using rehabilitated animals that had been hit by propellers. Tags were attached to manatees and similar data recorded.

Other things the team has learned include that while on the surface whales are kind of lumbering creatures, they become underwater acrobats.

“Sperm whales feed upside down,” Erik said. “We would never know this without the tag.”

“This was the coolest thing I’ve ever done,” Erik said.

Now, Erik is getting ready for his next adventure.

“I had taught myself electrical engineering and I wanted to flesh out my knowledge,” he explained.

So, this fall, he will be attending Cornell University. His master’s thesis will be on a new sensor for WHOI that will try to measure the marine mammals’ heart rates, which will gauge animals’ response to human produced noise.

“Noise deafens animals,” Erik explained. “When deep diving, whales come up gradually, to avoid the bends. Noise freaks them out. They bolt to surface and consequently suffer the bends.”

The heart monitor he will work on can record rate increase in response to noise. It will help explain mysteries such as how does an animal dive to 2,000 meters and stay at that depth for one to two hours. These are mammals with lungs. They are air breathers.

Does the heart rate slow? How does oxygen transport occur during this time? There are many unanswered questions about the physiology of marine mammals. This research should help answer them.

“I am grateful to the people that have helped me,” Erik said. “It’s not just me. I had good teachers, parents, counselors.”