Solving the Mystery of the Placental Jellyfish
Solving the Mystery of the Placental Jellyfish avatar

Yesterday the DSN crew first saw the video above. What is this large floating sheet of goo? Is it alive? Was it once alive? The two leading contenders seems to be that it is A) an old whale placenta or B) a rare and enigmatic deep-sea jellyfish. And the answer is…. B) A) So . . . → Read More: Solving the Mystery of the Placental Jellyfish

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TGIF – Pretty pictures from Okeanos Explorer
TGIF – Pretty pictures from Okeanos Explorer avatar

This week the NOAA ship Okeanos Explorer has been dropping its ROV Little Hercules onto various features in the northern Gulf of Mexico, including an old wood/iron wreck, salt domes and man-made seismic trenches. Okeanos has an interesting remote arrangement where folks back on the continent can direct the ROV pilots in real time by . . . → Read More: TGIF – Pretty pictures from Okeanos Explorer

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James Cameron And The Dawn Of DeepTruth?
James Cameron And The Dawn Of DeepTruth? avatar

Image on left: Seafloor Production Tool (SPT) that will be operated at a depth of 1600 meters off the coast of Papua New Guinea by Nautilus Minerals to extract copper and gold from high grade seafloor massive sulphide deposits. Image on Right: Computer generated Bucket-Wheel Excavator used to extract unobtanium from Pandora in James . . . → Read More: James Cameron And The Dawn Of DeepTruth?

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Animals Vs. Equipment
Animals Vs. Equipment avatar

The following images came across my desk last week humorously labeled “There’s something wrong with the ROV”. The startling shots show what appears to be an unfortunate mako shark that has become entangled in the mechanics of a large ROV [remotely operated vehicle] #gallery-2 { margin: auto; } #gallery-2 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; . . . → Read More: Animals Vs. Equipment

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Incident Involving the RRS James Cook and ROV Isis
Incident Involving the RRS James Cook and ROV Isis avatar

This just in The National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, UK, can confirm that there has been an incident involving the RRS James Cook in which the remotely operated vehicle ROV Isis came into contact with the ship’s port propeller.The accident occurred during ROV deployment at around 12.00 GMT approximately 09.00hrs Ship’s time on Wednesday 19 . . . → Read More: Incident Involving the RRS James Cook and ROV Isis

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When the dinner bell rings for seafloor scavengers, larger animals get first dibs
When the dinner bell rings for seafloor scavengers, larger animals get first dibs avatar

I am very excited today! My new paper in the journal Ecology will be coming out in April on the regulation of biodiversity in the deep sea. NESCent is issuing a press release (below) written by our very talented, Communications Director Robin Smith. Above is a high-definition Youtube video we put together for the . . . → Read More: When the dinner bell rings for seafloor scavengers, larger animals get first dibs

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Manned or Unmanned?
Manned or Unmanned? avatar

The internets is consumed recently with the Obama administration’s choice to cut funding for NASA manned space exploration. Manned missions to the moon or development of the technologies needed to go mars…gone. A lot of people are quite distraught about this decision believing it a poor course for the future. ”The decision has been condemned . . . → Read More: Manned or Unmanned?

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Hosta la Vista, Nereus
Hosta la Vista, Nereus avatar

Wood’s Hole’s Nereus was offloaded off the R/V Cape Hatteras today. Stood by to watch it get packed up. It was a tight fit with little room for error! The Nereus is a hybrid AUV/ROV that was just out to Cayman Rise where it was used to help discover new vents in the Caribbean! To . . . → Read More: Hosta la Vista, Nereus

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More on the 2009 NE Pacific Expedition
More on the 2009 NE Pacific Expedition avatar

In the ROV control room. You can see Chris there on the right with his left hand on his chin. I am in the background about dead center (the bald one with the headset on doing my cheif scientist thing. Chris Mah provides the next installment of his ongoing series covering our previous cruise. Although . . . → Read More: More on the 2009 NE Pacific Expedition

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How Do You Do Mr. Monkfish?
How Do You Do Mr. Monkfish? avatar

Hat tip to one of my favorite blogs, Ugly Overload. Remember, when you eat monkfish this is the beautiful beastie your unleashing your taste buds upon! From the Youtube page for the video uploader, OceanContent: “Sitting on the keel of the HMS Ark Royal, this Monkfish let us take some close up shots about 80 . . . → Read More: How Do You Do Mr. Monkfish?

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