Friday Deep-Sea Picture (6/29/07): Pacific From Space
The Setting of the Sun Over the Pacific Ocean and a Towering Thundercloud, July 21, 2003
As Seen From the International Space Station (Expedition 7)
The Setting of the Sun Over the Pacific Ocean and a Towering Thundercloud, July 21, 2003
As Seen From the International Space Station (Expedition 7)
Book Review: Koslow’s The Silent Deep
In the whirlwind that is my life this summer, I have not been able read or review The Silent Deep. For a general primer on the deep sea, I often reach for and recommend Gage and Tyler’s Deep-Sea Biology. Since 1992 it has been a bible for our field. However, in the last 15 years major advancements in deep-sea sciences have occurred. Koslow’s book provides somewhat of an update to Deep-Sea Biology but also heads in new direction
30 years of Hydrothermal Vents
Scientists from around the world will attend a meeting in the Galapagos Islands at the end of June to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the discovery of the deep-sea hydrothermal vent system. The meeting will address recent issues in vent science, including plans to mine remnants of these chemosynthetic ecosystems using deep-sea gold-diggers.
Hydrothermal vents introduced the idea of chemosynthesis as a precondition for life to a broad spectrum of society back in the late 70’s when alternative lifestyles were gaining widespread acceptance. Before that time photosynthesis was the most commonly held metabolic pathway.
More from Gizmag here.
Photo: French ROV Victor 6000 sampling black smokers. Credit: Daniel Desbruyeres.
Steve O’Shea Is My Friend Not Yours!
In the Order of the Science Scouts of Exemplary Repute and Above Average Physique, I justed moved above PZ. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Sure PZ claims to be the unofficial royalty of all Cephalopod. He even claims to be waiting for the molluscan mothership to land. But when it comes right down to the wire, PZ will have to address some serious questions about zebrafish. Between you and me, when it comes to the “inordinately fond of invertebrates” badge I have PZ beat. First, where is PZ’s tattoo? I have one! Second, as you can clearly see in the photo below, that is Steve O’Shea (middle and of giant and colossal squid fame) with his arm around me! The other is Lou Ziedberg (right), a squid biologist who works on the Humboldt Squid.
Seriously, O’Shea has been a prominent voice on both very large squids and marine conservation. I was luckily enough to host him for a seminar at MBARI. As expected, the talk was spectacular, witty and full of content, covering sex, growth, conservation, behavior, ecology, and of course really big squids. O’Shea maybe the hardest working man in science. In biology, Steve is a true rock star. My final comment is that if Steve is anywhere within a 1,000 mile radius to give a lecture take some time off, load up the car, and go see his talk.
Well I Thought I Was A Rockstar
I am gone for little over a week and come back to find out I have one of the Worst Jobs in Science. Popular Science wishes to “salute the men and women who do what no salary can adequately award.” Salary…I am supposed to be receiving a salary? Number 2 on PopSci’s list it Oceanographer because we get “nothing but bad news, day in and day out.” No seafood by 2048, no coral reefs in decades, 200 deoxygenated “dead zones” and counting, a vortex of plastic the size of Texas residing in the Pacific, ocean acidification, etc. Of course, you can go here and read more about this. Luckily the ocean is still safe to work in…
Recently, Ron Johnstone, an Australian marine biologist, broke out in boils while studying sediment. He was poisoned by fireweed, a toxic cyanobacteria exploding across the globe in response to pollution.
Jim over at Archaea to Zeaxanthol wonders what our reaction at DSN will be? Well in graduate school I thought this was going to be all fame, fortune, and groupies. I guess one of the three ain’t bad…I let you guess which one it is. Unfortunately, I have to partially agree with PopSci. I love what I do but every year it’s more bad news. This with often ostentatious peer-review process and a pitiful funding climate make my days jolly!
Alvin Disassembly Time Lapse
Comment (1) | Date Posted: June 25, 2007 at 10:04 AMNew England’s deep canyons win protection
Score one for Oceana and the New England Fisheries Management Council. Actually, score them fifteen. The two groups recently announced they have laid the foundations for designating 15 deep-sea canyons off the coast of New England as Habitat Areas of Particular Concern in an effort to build a more sustainable groundfish fishery.
Press release follows below from BYM Environment News.
Seamounts 2007, Day 4-7
Weather, O’ Weather…you are my fair and fickle lover. On day 4, we sailed on from
Davidson to Patton Escarpment, but a 25+ knot wind kept the ROV out of the water. We
steamed further south with the intent of diving off the Channel Islands on the sheltered
leeward side. However, naval exercises in the area (i.e. if you come near us we will
torpedo you out of the water) and a further degradation of the sea state (from Moderate
Nausea to I Think I Just Puked Up My Spleen) prevented us again from diving. We steamed
back north to take shelter in Monterey Bay, taking a full 2 days as we made only 2-4
knots against a tremendous head wind. Today, we made an impromptu dive within the
shelter of the bay to look for corals. Luckily, we also collected two of my sea slugs
although they were diminutive compared to those taken from Davidson and Pioneer
Seamounts. If you are counting that is 1 dive in 4 days. Scratch off the other seamounts
and the escarpment too. At the end of the expedition we will have only visited 2 of the
originally planned locations. With all the downtime there has been little to do except
snack, read, and watch movies. Being in the bay at least allowed cell phone usage and we
were allowed to call ashore to complain to our loved ones how bored we were. The current
plan is to sail back to Davidson and wait in rough seas until things calm enough to core
and/or deploy the ROV.
Deep Coral Gardens
The Alvin submersible dives on the New England Seamount chain found plentiful coral colonys of whip coral, parasol coral, and beautiful spiraling Iridogorgia. These coral collections are made up of hundreds of tiny polyps, arranged in precise geometric patterns. Video courtesy of Les Watling, Mountains in the Sea Exploration, NOAA-OE.
Eel Garden
The Crevices at 708 meters (2,323 feet) of a hydrothermal vent site are occupied by thriving aggregations of cutthroat (synaphobranchid) eels. These eels, which have now been identified as Dysommina rugosa, are known from trawl samples in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, but have never before been studied in their natural habitat. The only common metazoan (multicellular) animals occupying these low-temperature hydrothermal vents, preliminary work indicates that they use the vent only as a place to live. They seem to feed not on chemosynthetic bacteria, but on crustaceans that pass by Nafanua’s summit in the currents. Video courtesy of UCSB, Univ. S. Carolina, NOAA-OE, WHOI.
