Recently, I joined up with local up-and-coming researcher, Brennan Phillips, on an expedition to the remote waters of the Solomon Islands. At the bottom of this post, you’ll find great article on the work. A huge thank you goes to local legend Todd McLeish for writing the piece.
All images in this article are © Alex DeCiccio. Continue reading Investigating an Underwater Volcano
Before the TREET project brought the Inner Space Center and its telepresence enabled scientific research to new highs and lows, before better practices brought new evaluated methodology, before the culture of at-sea science began to craft a new image for itself, Chris German, PhD, and his team were already getting after it. What’s “it?” Read on. Continue reading The Final Piece – Looking Forward to the Future
So far in this organically growing series of exposés on the TREET project, I have covered two different perspectives, the early career scientist and the undergraduate researcher in training. I have now convinced two more invested souls to sit down with me and discuss their most fascinating theories and ideas. An expert scientist and an expert observer, who is also a scientist of the social kind. This piece is an observation on the observer. Continue reading Another Side of Science
The TREET program is in the thick of it. Transforming remotely conducted research one day at a time as they work in direct communication and interact with the E/V Nautilus. They are studying the Caribbean Sea’s most active submarine volcano, Kick ’em Jenny. Continue reading Which Button will you Push Today? How about Tomorrow?
The TREET Project is exploring remote human-robotic interactions.
First, what is TREET!? Continue reading Transforming Remotely Conducted Research
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has a world-class research and exploration vessel called the Okeanos Explorer. She’s a beautiful ship with some brand-new gear to send us high-def video and audio from the bottom of the ocean. Continue reading NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer Overview
It’s been a little over a week since the Nautilus has been searching the depths for the next big discovery. Not to downplay anything here – I mean, they have been at sea since early June you know. So far this summer they have been exploring the “Unknown America.” Continue reading E/V Nautilus, Back in the Game
Dr. Dwight Coleman, the director of the Inner Space Center, left last week to board the E/V Nautilus and become the Expedition Leader. Continue reading ISC Director Dwight Coleman’s plans for expedition aboard E/V Nautilus
A shrimp with “armor.” When you’re on the menu, any evolutionary help matters.
The NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer continues to research the underwater mysteries of the Gulf of Mexico. Here is a short clip of a brief moment with an unfamiliar face. Not much in the deep sea is an herbivore, almost everything eats and is eaten. Here is a shrimp, taking a moment, possibly to digest a meal just munched. Maybe to sit and admire the bright lights of a strange and enormous creature (the ROV) or possibly to ponder on its recent rise to fame on the Inner Space Center website. Whatever it may be, I say for this shrimp, good luck.
Watch, listen, and enjoy this very short clip of an armored shrimp.
http://youtu.be/sA6-7wuJpqc
The NOAA science team stumbles upon an underwater salt lake, also known as a “brine pool.”
The NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer has been diving its ROV, D2, in the Gulf of Mexico this April. Here is a video clip of one of their awesome encounters in the depths of the Gulf. A brine pool is literally an undersea lake. The contact between salty ocean water and much saltier water (brine), means denser water liquid separates from the less dense ocean water. This saltier fluid sits and “pools” on the bottom. It’s so salty that it will erode the sediment it lies on, forming these pools. If any deep sea dwellers happen to stumble into this pool, they have no chance of getting out (and definitely no lifeguards to help!). It’s a geological anomaly for sure, but it’s a nightmare for any biology living in this normally pitch-black environment. However, those creatures that can acquire some “waterfront” property, while anchoring themselves safely, may reap some serious benefits.
Click play below to listen and learn about these eerily beautiful formations, and the creatures surviving on their deadly coastlines.
http://youtu.be/OiZnSb-u51E
