15 – 30 April
#DesigningtheFuture3
In the edgeless realm of the midwater, there is remarkable biodiversity. It is the largest habitat on Earth, extending from just below the sunlit surface layers to far beyond the sun’s reach. Biodiversity abounds in the form of gelatinous drifters such as ctenophores, jellies, and gossamer worms — many with fragile, transparent bodies and the ability to bioluminesce, or light up, the ocean depths. Despite their crucial roles in food webs and carbon sequestration, many mesopelagic animals are poorly studied because they are difficult to observe. Using novel techniques, the science team will create 4D computer renderings that capture the morphology of transparent organisms and gather genetic data in situ. By combining rich imagery with behavioral tracking and chemical studies, the team will gain a deeper understanding of how midwater animals live, feed, and move through the Ocean.
This expedition, led by Dr. Karen Osborn from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, U.S., will use cutting-edge prototype technologies to explore midwater biodiversity, imaging midwater animals in both their natural setting and in virtual-reality aquaria in the R/V Falkor (too) labs. Multidisciplinary teams of experts, including engineers, zoologists, computer scientists, and bioinformaticians, will use a suite of technologies mounted on ROV SuBastian, including the DeepPIV and EyeRIS imaging systems and the RAD (Rotary Actuated Dodecahedron) Sampler 2, which encircles the animal and collects a minimally invasive tissue sample. The data collected will provide an unprecedented window into the biodiversity and ecology of midwater communities.
Who lives in the Ocean?
Studying and understanding life in the midwater is no easy feat. The Ocean is vast, and a research vessel is a mere speck within the totality of the sea. Exploring the depths with a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, is like hiking through the woods at night with a flashlight — you only see what is in your flashlight beam. Knowing what lies out in the darkness can only be left to the imagination. And while satellites circling Earth reveal large-scale oceanographic trends on the surface, they cannot fathom what lives in the midwater. This vast area between 200 meters and just above the seafloor sustains myriad species that exist without borders as we understand them on land. Travel and mobility can be shaped by currents, temperature gradients, or the shape of the seafloor.
The midwater hosts an incredibly diverse range of animals with representatives from more than half of all animal phyla. Many animals are uniquely adapted for life in lightless, chilly waters where pressure grows with depth. Some bioluminesce, creating an abyssal fireworks show through chemical reactions in their bodies, most likely to communicate with one another. Many are gelatinous, meaning they have soft, flexible bodies, and they are often transparent.
While these adaptations are quite useful for midwater animals, they pose challenges for the scientists studying them. They are difficult to see and fragile, easily damaged by conventional sampling methods, such as net tows.
While it is easy to think that we have described every type of animal on Earth, the reality is that there are still millions of undiscovered species on our planet, especially in the Ocean. Taxonomy is the practice of identifying and describing new species; it takes, on average, 21 years to do so.
State-of-the-art taxonomy encompasses not just anatomy but also studies of how new species function, such as their genetics, behavior, and physiology. Many taxonomists specialize in specific animal groups. Most animal groups have only a handful of scientists worldwide who specialize in identifying them; many have none at all.
Advanced tools for understanding the midwater
New technologies dramatically accelerate the process of documenting and naming new species. The science team is integrating multiple technologies onto ROV SuBastian to aid rapid characterization and understanding of midwater organisms in the Southwest Atlantic, an area of the global ocean that has been vastly understudied. Little data exists on the biology of the water column off Brazil, where the expedition will take place.
Designed by engineers from the University of Rhode Island, the Rotary Actuated Dodecohedron 2, or RAD2, is an origami robot designed for genetic sampling. It encapsulates, images, and collects genetic material from gelatinous midwater animals. RAD2, integrated into one of ROV SuBastian’s manipulator arms, opens out like a flower when positioned to sample a jelly, and then closes the animal into a sphere. Once images and genetic materials are collected, the sphere opens, releasing the animal back into the water column.
The Deep Particle Image Velocimetry, or DeepPIV, is a laser- and optics-based imaging system that quantifies the motion of liquids and the 3D shape of transparent animals. It was developed by the Bioinspiration Lab at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). The lasers illuminate a sheet of fluid and measure how it moves around an animal, such as a jellyfish, and how the animal might manipulate the fluid for locomotion, feeding, and reproduction. The tool creates a 3D model of the animal and generates sections, allowing scientists to observe different aspects of its physical structure. Because DeepPIV creates 3D models and maps fluid dynamics around the animal, these models can be considered 4D, as they represent dimension, volume, space, and time.
EyeRIS is another imaging system developed by the MBARI Bioinspiration Lab (RIS stands for remote imaging system). It uses lasers and optics to create 3D models of opaque ocean animals in real-time. The system has 2400 lenses that connect to a single sensor, creating precise three-dimensional images of animals and enabling exact measurements of all their physical features.
A shadowgraph is a camera system that captures the shadows created by an object. It can reveal internal and external structures of a transparent organism that might not be obvious in models generated by the other two imaging systems. The resolution of the shadowgraph is much more detailed than the DeepPIV or EyeRIS, which can distinguish two points if they are at least 1.5 mm apart.
This expedition builds on the work of two previous Schmidt Ocean Institute Designing the Future expeditions (1 and 2) led by Brennan Phillips from the University of Rhode Island, U.S, Kakani Katija, MBARI, U.S., Robert Wood, Harvard University, U.S., and David Gruber, City University of New York Baruch College, U.S., who were the first to test several new technologies for studying open-ocean species in situ. Following the first expedition in 2019, the team returned to the R/V Falkor in 2021 to test improvements to these tools, continuing to refine the next generation of ocean exploration technologies. The further development of this technology is also supported by two Sasakawa Peace Foundation Ocean Shot awards to the University of Western Australia (Dr. Jan Hemmi) and Bigelow Labs (Dr. John Burns).
Artist-at-Sea Ayoung Kim
Ayoung Kim weaves reality anew through a tapestry of hybrid narratives, integrating geopolitics, mythology, technology, technoprecarity, and speculative temporalities into her work. Kim often depicts nonconformists or technoprecarious entities whose resistance or misalignment leaves behind strange and singular traces as they deviate from prescribed trajectories. Kim’s synthesized narratives result in far-reaching speculation, establishing connections between biopolitics and border controls, the memories of stones and virtual memories, and ancestral origins and imminent futures across various media. Her practice incorporates discourses on optical and post-optical media, performativity, game simulation, and the narrativity of fiction. Her interest in synthesis, hybridization, and the coexistence of heterogeneous time led to an interest in all kinds of intersections, transfers, transpositions, and interchanges of time, space, structure, and syntax. (Reprinted from the artist’s website with permission.)
Team
