 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
 |
OPERATION DEEP SCOPE Exploring Gulf of Mexico Deep-Sea Habitats MISSION DISPATCH 4 • August 10, 2004 Dispatch by Mark Schrope - @Sea Photo-Journalist Today was the kind of day we hope for on an expedition but are afraid won't come to pass, and tomorrow will be the kind of day we fear if we don't act fast. 
The arrival of Eye-in-the-Sea on deck after the final dive
at the Brine Pool this morning was met with added
anticipation and a bit of trepidation after yesterday's glitch prevented it from collecting any footage. The
first good sign came when the laptop connected to the camera showed file after file of data. But, everything
had to be copied first before we could view anything, a process that takes hours.
Not surprisingly, the first few clips revealed only hagfish trying to get at the food in the bait bag. Then there were hake, an eel, and other fish, which Dr. Edie Widder was happy enough to see. In fact, by that point she would have been content with what she had as it was enough to prove the system was working and to offer a brief glimpse of deep life. Then came the piercing scream from Edie and graduate student Nicole McMullen, who was also watching the clips. Everybody in earshot came in to see the explanation for the ruckus. A huge squid filled the entire screen as it swam right past the camera--just the kind of rare sighting the Eye was supposed to offer. "It was just dynamite," says Edie. Exclamations after seeing the squid from other, less refined scientists who shall remain nameless, were not printable on a family-oriented expedition web site. The squid was huge, at least six feet long by our best estimate. Edie has tentatively identified it as a Mastigoteuthis, but that will have to be confirmed later by a squid specialist, who will also be able to tell us about the squid's behavior during the clip, including an extension of its reproductive organ, called a hectocotylus, which looks similar to its legs. It's not the first time this species has been observed by any means, but it was quite a sight, and a good symbol of the system's potential. 
"I get this feeling like I'm peeking into this world for the first time in a way that might not be scaring everything
out of its wits," says Edie with a smile.
Edie is particularly interested in the fact that the squid was recorded just a minute or so after the jellyfish lure they use with the Eye came on for the first time creating a pattern of small blue lights similar to that created by jellyfish and other animals in the deep. It would be impossible to prove at this point that the squid was in fact attracted by the lure, but the timing would make for quite a coincidence. If the lure did bring in the squid, then its further proof of the system's potential to reveal life in the deep sea as never before. Ultimately, Edie and her team plan to build a more elaborate version of the Eye that could be deployed with the submersible or integrated into underwater observatories now in development in places like Monterey Canyon off California. She has already applied for funding from the National Science Foundation to do it and is anxiously waiting to learn if it will be approved. At an observatory the improved Eye-in-the-Sea would have a constant power supply and could send images back to scientists on shore who would also be able to control the direction the camera faces and other parameters. "Having a system at an observatory site for a long time and controlling it from shore is just going to be heaven," says Edie. 
Edie and Erika still have hundreds of 7-second clips from the Eye's first successful deployment to review, and more
came in on another short deployment this afternoon, so there's no telling what else will be revealed over the next
couple of days. Perhaps we have sitting on the computer the first-ever view of a live giant squid in its deep habitat,
the "Holy Grail" of deep-sea exploration.
As the submersible arrived on deck this afternoon having recollected the Eye, it also had a fine catch of truly massive isopods. These are crustaceans that throughout most of the ocean look like and grow to about the same size as pill bugs (or rollie pollies) found on land. But for reasons not yet clear, in the deep sea they can be enormous, perhaps two feet long or more. A crowd of these beasts was congregating on the bait bag when the submersible got to it. The team collected three, the largest of which is pictured here, but amazingly there was one even larger that the pilot decided would be too big for the sample buckets. As with all the animals coming up, the team will be studying these creatures to learn how their bodies absorb and reflect light, and what effects that may have on their ability to avoid being eaten by predators. 
To balance out the excitement of the day's various discoveries and successes, we got some bad news as well. The captain
and everyone else have been watching the progress of Tropical Storm Bonnie very closely because though early predictions
had it moving clear of us to the northwest, it has now been coming straight for us for some time. The TV lounge is generally
filled for the Weather Channel's Tropical Reports that come through via satellite at 10 minutes before each hour.
By midday Bonnie was just 100 miles from us, but amazingly, because the storm is compact, we are still experiencing flat-calm seas. Unfortunately, that will not be true for much longer. So, the decision was just made to run west a hundred miles or so tonight in hopes of avoiding the storm. This will take us to an area we had not planned to explore, but we have reports of interesting deep-sea sites in the regions that will no doubt make for a good day of submersible and scuba diving. If all goes well, we'll be back to our planned locations the following day. 
 |  |
| ||