Marine biologists Edith Widder and Erika Raymond installed the first deep-sea webcam on the ocean floor in Monterey Bay this week using MBARI’s Ventana ROV (pictured below). The Eye in the Sea unit is installed in 1000m of water, and should be able to stream images and data.
The remote monitoring system will take video and various scientific readings 24-hours a day, sending them via the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s new undersea data network, the Monterey Accelerated Research System, a.k.a. MARS.
Dr. Widder has deployed similar cameras in the Gulf of Mexico before, and she’s been quite creative, even using visual bait that simulates the colorful display of bioluminescent medusae. Wired Science covers the story of the webcam installlation as a day-in-the-life aboard the RV Point Lobos, with live feeds from Twitter and Flickr. Pretty cool! Access the story and pictures online here.
