Ninety high school students and their teachers from Kaua'i and O'ahu last week got a chance to play with the latest high-tech marine science equipment aboard the NOAA research vessel Hi'ialakai.

The 224-foot vessel made three all-day cruises with students from 13 high schools aboard. About 30 students traveled at a time.

"Our goal was to introduce them to marine science, to give them an idea of what it's like to be a NOAA scientist," said Christine Brammer, of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. The sanctuary is a NOAA agency that has education among its missions.

She said students collected marine sediment on shore and studied it under digital microscopes in the ship's wet laboratory.

They also conducted plankton tows, in which a net is towed through the ocean, collecting fish eggs, microscopic plants and a range of marine animal larvae. The results were put under microscopes in the ship's dry laboratory.

The students also collected water samples, learned about satellite-based navigation and did multibeam mapping of the sea floor.

It was the second such tour. The first tour last year involved kids from the Big Island, Maui, Lana'i and Moloka'i. A third tour is being scheduled for the fall.

Hi'ialakai was named by University of Hawai'i marine algae researcher Isabella Aiona Abbott. The name means "embracing pathways of the sea."

It is the newest of three big NOAA research vessels based in Hawai'i. The others are the Ka'imimoana and the Oscar Elton Sette. Hi'ialakai is a former Coast Guard ship, converted for scientific research, with an emphasis on sea-floor mapping and marine biology. It is actively used in assessments of the coral reefs of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, for example. It has sophisticated electronics, but also is outfitted to support diving, with a complete dive locker and its own decompression chamber. And it carries multiple skiffs, to let researchers work in shallower waters than the ship itself can enter.

Abbott said its labs allow researchers to study samples immediately after collecting them, when they are still fresh.

Hi'ialakai supports the missions of the National Ocean Service, the National Marine Sanctuaries, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA Fisheries and the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.

If you have a question or concern about the Hawaiian environment, drop a note to Jan TenBruggencate at P.O. Box 524, Lihu'e, HI 96766 or jant@honoluluadvertiser.com. Or call him at (808) 245-3074.