Designing the Future 2 – 4K ROV Highlights – Video Update

“Creating one new deep-sea instrument that can operate successfully in the field is hard enough to accomplish. This project took technology development to the next level and ultimately involved four different complex systems. I am proud to say after ten days at sea, these four pieces of equipment worked in concert with each other to … Continued

Applying Technologies – Video Update

“This cruise is the first science mission where we are applying those technologies to really try and tackle these questions about how can you more efficiently discover life in the ocean.” Take a look behind the scenes at the #DesigningTheFuture2 expedition and its exciting technologies. 

ROV Dives – Designing the Future 2

The ocean’s midwater is considered to be the largest habitable space for life on earth, yet it is also one of the most minimally explored marine environments. Collecting specimens in this region is incredibly challenging, as many open ocean species are quick, fragile, and small. Keeping a midwater animal alive for study at the surface … Continued

Biodiverse Borderlands – 4K Highlights – Video Update

“Establishing ecological baselines in the deep sea allows us to track changes over time and better understand the consequences of human actions,” said Chief Scientist Dr. Lisa Levin, a professor of biological oceanography at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Check out some of the magnificent sights documented by ROV SuBastian during this expedition.  The goal … Continued

Baseline Exploration – Video Update

“Our goal is to learn about the different types of animal and microbial communities that occur off Southern California. We’re actually in exploration mode: many of these areas have not been visited or studied before. Some of them have not even been mapped accurately.” Take a behind-the-scenes look into the #BiodiverseSCB expedition in this video.

ROV Dives – Biodiverse Borderlands

The deep sea hosts minerals that contain high quantities of elements that are valuable for human societies. Countries around the world are preparing to develop extractive practices for deep-sea minerals, and baseline biological data are needed to further assess the life that may dwell on or around minerals in different benthic environments. To examine the trade-offs … Continued

Illuminating Coral Environments from Shallow to Deep

When you hear the word ‘coral’ or the phrase ‘coral reefs,’ what image comes to mind? For most people, it is a light-soaked shallow-water coral reef teeming with life. This is a scene that many of us have become familiar with, either through a first-hand experience of scuba diving or snorkeling in tropical waters or … Continued

Exploration and Exploitation: Coral Species and Deep-Sea Mining

The expanding reach of humankind has plunged far into the unknown, which is also home to the largest ecosystem on the planet. Throughout parts of the seafloor are untapped sources of rare earth metals including gold, silver and copper, and more importantly sulfide, zinc, manganese, and cobalt. These resources are necessary ingredients in manufacturing the … Continued

Source of the Seeps

Seven days have gone past since we set sail from Astoria, and every day we have looked at these methane seeps. Bubbles, nosy sablefish, half-buried clams, and colorful corals have dominated our ROV feeds from SuBastian. But in this log, I would like to shed a little light on a different aspect of all of … Continued

What is so interesting about Submarine volcanoes?

Jagged piles of molten rock, sulfurous smoke, exploding gaseous emissions, shifting landscapes, otherworldly creatures, scalding acidic fluids, swirling plumes of volcanic gasses and particles, and crushing pressure of the overlying sea: what is not to like about active submarine volcanoes? If that’s not reason enough for come to these places, how about an opportunity to … Continued