07/25/11 by admin | Home Page Blogs, Uncategorized | Comments Off
This port call was unusual as we started in Biloxi and then the boat sailed to Baton Rouge for the meeting with our sponsor Albemarle. Johnny took the long break as an opportunity to grab a little summer fun with college friends and returned to Maine. Sandy and I went to North Carolina for a couple of days to work with the EPA, but made it back to Baton Rouge for some of the festivities. Cathy stayed on the boat as cook and science head and showed everyone in Baton Rouge just how well trained USM students are. Ocean Alliance stalwarts John Atkinson and Mark Hayes flew in and helped Captain Bob, First Mate Ian and John Bradford with the ride up the Mississippi. Roger Payne and Iain Kerr joined the team in Baton Rouge. Ultimately, several hundred people visited the boat and learned of our work. The team thoroughly enjoyed the people from Albemarle and the time in Baton Rouge.
We learned in port from NOAA that we are indeed the only group studying the toxicology of chemicals in these Gulf whales. NOAA took a few samples last year and has moved on to other concerns. In fact, there is only one other group studying anything at all in these whales. Their efforts are to satellite tag them to see where they go. You might remember the picture of the whale with the blue antennae attached--that was their work. Ironically, they developed their original tagging protocols some 18 years ago on the Odyssey with Iain Kerr and Captain Bob! It's just us now. Welcome to the cutting edge of whale toxicology research. I thought about this outcome a lot while in port. My team's work is commonly on the very edge of what is known in whatever we do. I like to discover new things and new approaches.
At the same time, the edge can be a very lonely place as science is a discipline built on skepticism. The more one can answer and address that skepticism with data, the stronger the work becomes and the quieter the criticisms get. The challenge is, when you work on the edge, this far out on the edge, you are like a fish in a small barrel for the skeptics. Little data and lots of vision, great fodder for those who like to criticize.
But, the more I thought about it, the broader my grin got. For I am not out here on my own. We have, have had, and will have, a crew of people on board who devote themselves to this project with me. We have a team of researchers in my lab working hard every day to ensure we have the support we need and that samples that come home are handled correctly. We have fantastic partners at Ocean Alliance and a myriad of exceptional expert collaborators. We have generous and insightful financial supporters. We have a University of administrators, faculty, staff and students helping us with essential work in payroll, human resources, sponsored programs, business services, information technology, research compliance and many other departments to help us succeed. We have all of you with words of encouragement and interest. We are a team here out on the edge of whale toxicology. Thanks for your support! We are in this one together.
So now we are back at it sailing down the Mississippi, headed back to the Gulf. We have new crew on board. Dr. Bob Kuech, our science education professor at USM, is back with us. He will be our photographer. Ariel Kaplan is a biochemistry major at USM. She will man the data. Rikki Kuech is a nursing major at USM. She will be our spotter when we are on whales. Brady Kuech just graduated from USM. He will be manning the nets and arrows. John Atkinson, Iain Kerr and Mark Hayes spent the day sailing down with us, but they departed in New Orleans. All is well. We are ready for more whales. Picture of the sunset over the Mississipp attached. It was taken facing behind the boat.
John
P.S. We are on the Mississippi in Louisiana. Our current location is 29 degrees 54.6 minutes North and 90 degrees 06.3 minutes West, for those who want to track us as we go. For Google maps (not Google Earth - but maps) use (include letters and comma): 29.546 N, 90.063 W.
(Blog by: John Wise, Sr., Science Director)
07/20/11 by admin | Home Page Blogs, Uncategorized | Comments Off
My apologies to the delay in this email. I was knocked out by some brutal food poisoning. But back on my feet and back at it today.
I learned the last leg that if I don’t write and explain that we arrived in port safely, people wonder if we indeed made it. We did. We got in about 11 am and all went out to a leisurely lunch before attending to the necessities of port.
Here we will say goodbye to Nate, Jane, Nick and Shouping and we will prepare the boat for the trip up the Mississippi for our events in Baton Rouge with Albemarle. My next note will be July 24, after the conclusions of those events, when we are on our way back out to sea.
All is well.
John
P.S. We are in Biloxi Mississippi.
(Blog by: John Wise, Sr., Science Director)
07/19/11 by admin | Home Page News | Comments Off
Whaling meeting ‘ignores needs of whales’
www.bbc.co.uk, July 14, 2011
07/19/11 by admin | Home Page Blogs, Uncategorized | Comments Off
I guess I am buying the coffee. Last night, I talked with Ian and Bob. The options were to either motor all night and head in, arriving late in the evening today, or drift all night and try for some more whales and arrive tomorrow morning. We agreed on one more pass at the whales.
I awoke to a gray, stormy morning. Two of my team were queasy and one was wiped out. In addition, a big storm was looking to overtake us. The team was worn out, tired and ready for port. It looked like we lacked one key piece of information in our decision–local weather. We do assess weather, i.e. serious storms and hurricanes, but the local short storms, we just have to ride out. It was going to be a long day, if this weather kept up. There were, however, many whales clicking on the array.
It cleared up around 10 am. Remarkably, whales were almost immediately spotted. I was working on a grant with Martha in our Office of Sponsored Programs from the deck via my iPhone while searching for whales (thanks Martha). I sent my response to her and within a few minutes we had a sample. A little while after that we collected our second sample of the day, and then, our third. Now, the decision to stay looked good.
The effort brought our biopsy total on this leg to 42 sperm whales and 3 pilot whales for a total of 45 whales on this leg. I had told John Bradford that if we averaged 3 whale biopsies per day, then I would buy him coffee. Something fancy, I imagine. So you see, today worked well, as its our 45th whale and we have been out here 14 days. Thus, our average is 3.2 whales per day. So I am buying the coffee.
For this year’s voyage, combining the two legs, our overall total is 46 sperm whales, 3 pilot whales and 1 Bryde’s whale for an overall total of 50 whales. If you’re curious about last year, last year’s total was 43 sperm
whales, 6 humpback whales, 2 fin whales and 1 Bryde’s whale; overall total = 52. We won’t see humpbacks here. Our plan is to sample them this fall off Ocean Alliance’s other boat, the Caribana.
Shortly before noon, Cathy came up from processing the second biopsy and pointed out to me that, considering all whales on both voyages, we had taken our 100th whale biopsy. A nice accomplishment for a small state university in Maine and a small nonprofit from Massachusetts working together on their first joint foray into marine toxicology field work. Thanks to all the participants on both voyages who have helped us achieve this milestone. Thanks to the funders for providing the means to do so. Thanks to all of you for keeping us sane during our trials and tribulations at sea.
We hit a couple of other notable milestones too. Today is Bob’s 25th anniversary of his first day on the Odyssey (back when it was a luxury yacht). Happy Odyssey day Bob! Today is Nate’s 19th birthday (turns out we had 2 nineteen year-olds and an eighteen year old). Happy Birthday Nate!
We are in good shape heading into the second half of our expedition. No sunset today, too many storm clouds. Instead, I have attached a picture of Johnny taking our last biopsy of the leg (we use darts about the size and width of a pencil to obtain the biopsies. We remove only a small amount of tissue and do not harm the whales).
John
P.S. We are off Louisiana heading in. Our current location is 29 degrees 44.5 minutes North and 88 degrees 11.5 minutes West, for those who want to track us as we go. For Google maps (not Google Earth – but maps) use (include letters and comma): 29.445 N, 88.115 W.
(Blog by: John Wise, Sr., Science Director)
07/18/11 by admin | Home Page Blogs, Uncategorized | Comments Off
I was up early and writing today when the first whales were sighted.The first was reported a mile away, but when I looked, it was not that close (i.e. not quite close enough to call whales). I told the helm (John Bradford) to tell me when we cut the distance in half. I went to dress as it looked like we’d soon be close enough to start the process.
When I returned I asked the helm if we had cut the distance in half. He said the whale fluked and no others were in sight though many were clicking on the array. A few minutes later another was spotted. This one was close enough to call whales and actually turned out to be a pair. Slowly, the team emerged and took their places. We approached the whales.
They were large whales. The approach was good. The biopsiers lined up for a sample. Suddenly, Johnny called out that there was something wrong with the whale. Something weird seemed attached to it and the dorsal fin was floppy. They withdrew their crossbows until we could assess the whale from the photos. The photo showed a long blue antennae attached to the whale (photo attached). Someone had tagged this whale with a satellite transmitter to see where it would go. We headed for the two whales with a plan to focus on the other whale.
We approached the whale. I became a bit worried as we had this odd sky with bright blue sky on one side and a big storm headed toward us on the other. I wondered if the storm would hold off and allow us to sample. I took a picture of Johnny, storm approaching, whale blowing at his feet (iphone camera is pretty good–the person in the foreground in Nick). Two minutes later, Johnny had released his arrow and we had a sample from that whale. Shortly thereafter we were in a deluge with thunder and lightning that would last well into the afternoon.
The team read, and wrote and played games waited for the storm to abate. The boat rocked to and fro, and every time we tried to restart watches, the thunder would clap and the lightning would pulse and we’d have to bring everybody back in. Finally, at about 2 pm, Johnny and Nate were able to resume watch. Within 15 minutes, they radioed in that a whale was 200 yards away. The game was afoot and the team resumed work.
This effort was different. The sky was gray and menacing. The water was wavy and very choppy. In the pilot house, John Bradford was manning the helm under Bob’s guidance as he attempted his first time approaching a whale for a sample. The only problem was- we had no visual of the whale due to the conditions and it was within 100 yards of the boat. The tension built as the team in the bow wondered what the heck we were doing in the pilot house. But, then the whale was spotted and John turned the boat for a nice alignment with the whale on the starboard side. He was pulling alongside just as the whale dove and fluked! So close, because as you know when whales fluke, it’s a deep dive.
But, wait. I told you a few emails back that these Gulf whales don’t like to follow the rules. Sure enough, I glanced out the window and saw frantic gesturing by Shouping and Johnny on the starboard side. We could not see or hear anything at that second, but I called over to Bob and John that the whale must be back up. Sure enough, there it was--a full fluke for a 90 second dive. John lined the boat up; the whale seemingly deciding to help by swimming near the boat. Johnny released his arrow and we had our second sample of the day. The team quickly recovered the arrow and the buoy and went inside out of the weather.
Congratulations John Bradford on your first successful steering the boat to a whale biopsy! Late in the day the sun shone brightly, but no more whales.
I have learned a correction is needed. Yesterday, I wrote: “Well, we are permitted to biopsy fin whales so we did.” I should have said pilot whales not fin whales, though we are permitted for both species of pilot whales and fin whales. I just have had fin whales on my mind for scientific reasons. When I write I am often interrupted and sometimes lose my place. Alas, I don’t have time to proofread. Sorry about the confusion.
John
P.S. We are off Louisiana looking for sperm whales while heading in. Our current location is 29 degrees 04.7 minutes North and 88 degrees 06.2 minutes West, for those who want to track us as we go. For Google maps (not Google Earth - but maps) or Bing maps use (include letters and comma): 28.300 N, 89.001 W.
(Blog by: John Wise, Sr., Science Director)
07/16/11 by admin | Home Page Blogs, Uncategorized | Comments Off
The morning went by quietly. Shortly after lunch, Johnny radioed down that some sort of unidentified cetacean (meaning some sort of whale, dolphin or porpoise) was about 1/2 mile away in front of the boat. It proved to be a group of pilot whales. There are two types of pilot whales, short-finned and long-finned. These had such long falcate (hooked) fins that Captain Bob and I were sure they were long-finned. But, the guide book says one cannot determine the difference at sea–so they go down in the record just as pilot whales.
There were 7 whales in the group. These whales are much bigger than a dolphin, but much smaller than a sperm whale in the range of 15-20 feet long or so. They are black with very round heads. They, like sperm whales, feed on squid. They will make an interesting comparison to the sperm whales as their diets are roughly similar, but they are much smaller in size.
Well, we are permitted to biopsy fin whales so we did. They are not the least bit phased by us or the boat, swimming slowly around the area. They’d be up for a while and then just under the water and then up for a while and so on. Not much of their bodies showed above the water. Picture attached. The biopsying looked straightforward, but different. Within short order, we had two biopsies.
There was one remarkable moment in the middle of the biopsying. We had sampled the first two whales and they were in the underwater phase of their swimming pattern. Suddenly, Ian raced thru the pilot house asking Bob to hold off for a moment before shifting the engine into gear. He dashed to the fore deck. Bob and I craned our necks out of the pilot house to see what was the matter. It turned out there was a large school of mahi (aka el dorado) on the port side. He tossed in a line and within minutes had caught a large fish. A second was apparently also hooked, but got away. The fish was processed for samples.
We resumed our biopsying efforts and sampled a third whale. We actually biopsied a 4th, but could not find the arrow from it. We decided to stop with the biopsying at 4 whales as we did not want to sample a whale twice. Having sampled four, the biopsiers did not feel they could tell them apart well enough to sample the other three. After a couple of hours of searching for the lost arrow, we gave up searching for it and the team enjoyed a swim call to relieve them of the day’s heat.
Our biopsy total on this leg is 37 sperm whales and 3 pilot whales, and our overall total is 41 sperm whales, 3 pilot whales and 1 Bryde’s whale. Plus, we are still trying for fish cells and our first attempts at jellyfish cell lines.
John
P.S. We are off Louisiana looking for sperm whales while heading in. Our current location is 28 degrees 30.0 minutes North and 89 degrees 00.1 minutes West, for those who want to track us as we go. For Google maps (not Google Earth – but maps) use (include letters and comma): 28.300 N, 89.001 W.
(Blog by: John Wise, Sr., Science Director)
07/14/11 by admin | Home Page Blogs, Uncategorized | Comments Off
Another quiet day, we saw whales in the distance, but never really got close. I worked a lot with the folks at home in the lab on a variety of needs and did a lot of writing. At one point, Cathy, who had been in the salon and up on watch a couple of times, noted that I had not left my seat a computer all day. Yeah, that can be a typical day for me as I do a lot of writing and corresponding. I also have a grant I am working on to submit this month.
The hot topic at the moment is a review paper James has written on the toxicology of chemical dispersants. Remarkable job, reading all of the primary literature on chemical dispersants and then condensing into a review paper. It is as expected–not a lot of studies outside reports of concentrations it takes to kill 50% of a group of exposed animals. We expect to submit the paper for publication very soon.
In reflecting on this remarkable leg of the voyage, I decided our holds were quite full of samples. Cathy, for example, has 84 flasks of pieces of whale tissue in cell culture that need to get back to the more sophisticated and stable land laboratory. I spoke with both Bob and Ian and we began to head back into port.
Biloxi, Mississippi is our target. We will be there in a few days. The frequent question on the boat is – when do we arrive? My answer is the same- “How many whales will we see tomorrow?” It should be 2-3 days with no whales and 3-4 with whales. Then the next port stop will be a fairly long one as we have been out a while and have a lot of shipping to do, plus we then have an event in Baton Rouge with Albemarle. It will take a couple of days of sailing up the Mississippi to reach Baton Rouge.
Tonight sunset was so amazing as the colors kept getting richer. Photo attached.
John
P.S. We are off Louisiana looking for sperm whales while heading in. Our current location is 27 degrees 46.4 minutes North and 89 degrees 59.7 minutes West, for those who want to track us as we go. For Google maps (not Google Earth – but maps) use (include letters and comma): 27.464 N, 89.597 W.
(Blog by: John Wise, Sr., Science Director)
07/14/11 by admin | Home Page Blogs, Uncategorized | Comments Off
I heard the boat engine rev up so I headed up to the pilot house to see what was up. A whale had been sighted, but not close. It was 7:30 am on a Sunday so I stumbled back to my room to try and catch up on my sleep. I am a bit unclear on the details, but shortly after 8 am, I was calling whales and assembling the team on deck.
It was the typical pattern. Get close. Dive, Get close. Dive. Sample. It was hot. We worked hard. We collected 4 more biopsies. We were tired, hungry and worn out, but pleased at our success. As we approached the last whale of the morning, 4 biopsies in hand, we noticed our first real rain clouds of the summer heading our way. We were excited as there is nothing quite like a cool Gulf rain to relieve the heat of the morning.
We sent the camera’s in and here is where you see the difference between people who live in the Gulf area (Ian and Bob), and people who don’t (Sandy, Johnny, Cathy, John Bradford, Nick and I). Ian made a beeline for the pilot house with Bob, shutting the doors as the rain was “too cold.” Sandy, Johnny, Cathy, John Bradford, Nick and I donned our bathing suits and let the rain wash over us. We delighted in the cool drops, smiles all around.
I was the last one in and sat down thinking what a busy morning it had been and how late lunch was. Only problem–it was 11 am! 4 biopsies and a frolic in the rain in only 3 hours. I couldn’t believe my eyes-11 am. I asked Ian if the clock was right. He said “Yeah, it is. I know I can hardly believe it myself. I am starving and we still have an hour to lunch.”
Eventually, the time passed and lunch came and went. I headed to my bunk to again try to catch up on that sleep. No sooner did I start dreaming, when over the radio came “whale dead ahead.” I again headed to the pilot house, saw the whale and assembled the team. This whale spy hopped and dove and reappeared on the starboard side about 3 o’clock. Then either we were following it or it was following us, but we ended up making a figure 9 before the whale stopped and gave us our 5th biopsy of the day. Bob said following that whale was starting to make him dizzzy.
I headed down to my bunk. I started to drift off again when the call came over the radio “whale at 2 o’clock.” I headed up the pilot house. Saw the whale. Assembled the team. We took a sample, but the arrow shaft broke in two and the tissue fell out as it seems to do with this year’s new tips. No sample.
This pattern would continue, though no more biopsies would be taken until I stopped trying to catch up on my sleep. At that point, no more whales were seen. So I was up and awake, but no whales to follow.
Oh well, I’ll get some shut eye tonight and tomorrow will be another day.
Our biopsy total on this leg is 37 and our overall total is 41 sperm whales and 1 Bryde’s whale.
John
P.S. We are off Louisiana finding sperm whales. Our current location is 27 degrees 33.2 minutes North and 91 degrees 02.3 minutes West, for those who want to track us as we go. For Google maps (not Google Earth - but maps) use (include letters and comma): 27.332 N, 91.023 W.
(Blog by: John Wise, Sr., Science Director)
07/12/11 by admin | Home Page Blogs, Uncategorized | Comments Off
Ouch! Today started early. I had finally, finally found a deep sleep–my first on this voyage, when Sandy came down the hall screaming like a Banshee “Whales, whales, whales!” I stumbled out of bed in a fog. I could hear Johnny complaining “How far? How Far? When you call whales you need to say how far!!!”
His point was true. Distance tells us how fast we have to move. A few hundred yards is a bolt to the deck. A mile means there is time to dress and grab a snack. Two miles means come and get me later as the whale will likely fluke before we get there. No distance was called so I rapidly dressed and raced up bleary eyed.
In the pilot house they told me the call was 1/2 a mile; somewhere between bolt and take your time. I guess I’d call it “hurry.” I went outside to look to decide how much to urge my biopsiers to move. I couldn’t see the whale anywhere. I asked Bob. He estimated maybe 2 miles. The students were off as they were using binoculars to gauge the distance. Things are, of course, much closer in binoculars.
I went back in for juice. Another whale call. 1/4 mile this time. Bob said “more like a mile.” But close enough and indeed we had our first sample of the morning.
Second sample was at 10 am, a glancing shot; collected all but blubber. We thought maybe it would be a busy day. Then it got quiet. Ian and I discussed strategies. We would see whales 2 or 3 miles off, but rarely closer. Every once in a while we’d get close enough for everyone to man positions, but always a fluke before we were quite there. The team was very frustrated.
Then the clock hit 6:40 pm, a fateful moment in our quest. Most of us were in the salon and Ian was at the helm. I was sitting at the foot of the stairs just below the helm. Ian told me it was time to assemble the team for the whale was close. I called whales and told everyone to move it. They did.
There, up on the bow, was a whale spy hopping to peek at us. We approached. It dove–standard pattern for the day. Bob and I discussed how the whales were unusually skittish in the Gulf, likely due to all of the shipping traffic. The whale surfaced again. It checked us out with lots of loud clicking, clearly curious as to what we were.
I asked Bob to keep the slow speed we were doing, as when we ramp up the speed, the engine emits a high speed whine. I figured that was making them skittish. Bob agreed. We approached and the whale remained. The approach worked. We had a sample! It was 7 pm.
Suddenly, someone saw three whales, then four, then 5! Work became frenetic and complicated. Radio batteries died forcing communication from the deck and mast with the captain to pass verbally through me. Much like olden days, Ian, the first mate, would shout instructions from the bowsprit and I would repeat them in a shout to the Captain. The Captain would ask me a question. I would repeat it in a shout to Ian. He would shout the
answer to me and so on.
It is at these times that my role becomes busy as many pieces require positioning and communication. I had:
Two of the crew in the lab working samples;
Two of the crew on the midlevel platform spotting whales;
Two of the crew in the bow/whale boom sampling;
One of the crew taking pictures;
One of the crew on the helm; and
Two of the crew racing between recording data, collecting arrows, cleaning and preparing arrows, collecting buoys and taking pictures.
All were talking at once about different and similar things! Wow! We were busy, working, yelling and laughing all at once; having great success and the time of our life. At one point we had so many buoys and rings in the water–it looked like we had our own ocean golf course (picture attached).
It was crazy busy with whales, arrows and buoys everywhere and crew racing back and forth. One second on port, the next racing to starboard, no wait back to port! and so on. We were the Keystone cops of whale biopsying!
The urgency was simple. We had little light and little time and had to launch arrows and buoys and then collect them, process them and clean them while we had so many whales and chances.
One hour and 15 minutes after the first sample the light was gone. We had collected 9 biopsies in an hour and 15 minutes and retrieved all arrows and buoys! We were tired, thirsty, and hungry, but we were jubilant for such a successful and memorable day!
The day ended with music, laughter and a recounting of favorite moments of two hours with a bunch of whales accompanied by a tasty spaghetti dinner.
Our biopsy total on this leg is 32 and our overall total is 36 sperm whales and 1 Bryde’s whale.
John
P.S. We are off Louisiana finding sperm whales. Our current location is 27 degrees 38.4 minutes North and 91 degrees 05.8 minutes West, for those who want to track us as we go. For Google maps (not Google Earth-but maps) use (include letters and comma): 27.384 N, 91.058 W.
Blog by: John Wise, Sr., Science Director
07/11/11 by admin | Home Page Blogs, Uncategorized | Comments Off
It was the 19 year-olds who saved the day really, if such a thing can be said.
If yesterday was slow, today was like molasses. Nothing to see and nothing to hear. There was a brown pelican who flew by, but, alas, he was not carrying the sweet tea that someone promised to send by brown pelican. The team had settled into the rhythm of a slow day at sea.
Around midday, Ian and Johnny started mumbling around me about how nice a swim call would be. I said “not until we find a whale…” They grinned rather confident in their whale finding abilities,”…and biopsy it, I continued.
The grins vanished, but the confidence remained and they were sure they would find and biopsy a whale.
By 6:00 pm, many of the team had settled into friendly games of cards and spelling. Ian and Johnny acknowledged their defeat.
By 6:30 pm, thoughts of many were drifting to dinner. They day appeared lost as far as finding whales go and minds were wandering. Such days are always a bummer. But then at 6:45 pm, Nick spotted a whale from the mid-level platform. The team response was “Huh? Really ??!!!” and then we collectively began moving as fast as a wooly mammoth trapped in the tar of the La Brea tar pits.
We managed to assemble ourselves in time as we approached the whale. Everything was lining up just right, except the whale got hungry and dove down deep. We waited.
It was John Bradford then who spotted another whale spy hopping (i.e. peeking) at us to get a better look. No one else saw it though and the ribbing began. It’s tough to be the young guy on the boat.
But then Nick and Nate spotted the spy hopping whale from the midlevel platform and we headed towards it. Everything was lining up just right, except the whale got hungry and dove down deep. Sound familiar?
We waited and waited. We finally saw one of them as the sun was setting , 2 miles away; fluking as it dove for more food. With the sun almost gone and the whale feeding. The team headed in.
It was then about 7:45 pm. Some of the team were chatting in the pilot house. The last remains of the day still visible in the sky when John Bradford spotted the whale 100 yards from the boat. The team assembled
on deck; quick as wink this time. But, alas, as we got close, the whale got hungry and dove again.
We would not sample a whale today, but we tried and tried and that made all the difference. The team had a nice bounce in their step and a song in their heart. So ‘hats off’ to our three 19 year-olds for helping us to end the day in an exciting manner and for showing that they have developed some nice whale finding skills.
Pictures of the nineteen year-olds attached. Nick (in green shorts) and Nate and of John Bradford on the midlevel platform (you have to zoom to see him)–all looking for the evening whales. Congrats on a job well done!
John
P.S. We are still off Louisiana looking for sperm whales. Our current location is 27 degrees 35.0 minutes North and 90 degrees 67.0 minutes West, for those who want to track us as we go. For Google maps (not Google Earth – but maps) use (include letters and comma): 27.350 N, 90.670 W.
(Blog by: John Wise, Sr., Science Director)
