News: Fossil coral reefs show sea-level rose in bursts during last warming

Nature Communications published an open access paper reporting the outcomes of a sea level rise study conducted on R/V Falkor in 2012. High resolution 3D maps of about a dozen of drowned coral reefs in the Gulf of Mexico acquired by R/V Falkor indicate that all fossil reefs are structured into multiple large flat terraces, separated by 3-4 meters … Continued

Publication: Khanna, P., Droxler, A., Nittrouer, J., Tunnell, Jr., J., and Shirley, T. (2017).  Coralgal Reef Morphology Records Punctuated Sea-level Rise During the Last Deglaciation. Nature Communications 8, 1046 (2017), doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-00966-x.  [This article is published as OPEN ACCESS].  

Khanna, P., Droxler, A., Nittrouer, J., Tunnell, Jr., J., and Shirley, T. (2017).  Coralgal Reef Morphology Records Punctuated Sea-level Rise During the Last Deglaciation. Nature Communications 8, 1046 (2017), doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-00966-x.  [This article is published as OPEN ACCESS].

Log Post: New Perspectives of Place

Each coral is an animal, made up of lots of tiny polyp organisms clinging on to, and then building up, a calcium carbonate skeleton. Some polyps live on their own, while others form huge colonies. ROV SuBastian will be diving deeper than the ‘twilight zone’ to investigate the mysterious corals of the deep, dark, sea. We … Continued

Log Post: Going Deeper in PIPA

Our Way Down to the Deep Every time we dive with ROV SuBastian, we go from the surface down to around 2,500 meters depth in about two hours. That dive goes down through the blue water column, a far cry from the shallow coral reefs that I have been studying for over 20 years. Since … Continued

Page: ROV Dives: Deep Sea Corals of the Phoenix Islands

During the 2017 "Discovering Deep Sea Corals of the Phoenix Islands" research cruise, ROV SuBastian performed science dives of exploration and sampling. ROV SuBastian Dive 067 - Kanton Atoll - FK171005 - Deep Sea Corals of PIPA (Dive 1) Date: 10/13/2017 Location: Kanton Atoll in the Republic of Kiribati Depth: From 2500 m Work Completed: Searching for rare … Continued

Page: How We Study the Ocean

A brief overview of the instruments oceanographers use at sea, including sea floor mapping with multibeam echosounder, chemical sensors on UAVs, and CTD casts for water samples. Come see inside our wet and dry laboratories, and check out some the Autonomous Underwater Vehicles we’ve worked with. Lastly, meet ROV SuBastian, Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Remotely Operated … Continued

Log Post: Getting Shallow with Schmidt Ocean Institute

In the marine submersible research community, the mantra is often: “Deeper, take me deeper!” This is for good reason: much of the world’s oceans remain unexplored, more so with increasing bottom depth. But equally important is that horizon of ocean just below scuba accessible depths – at 100 to 200m – which likewise hold many secrets … Continued

Log Post: Visiting Kanton Atoll – Week One Video

The Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) is the largest and deepest UNESCO World Heritage Site on Earth. Learn about Kanton Atoll, the largest and only inhabited Atoll in the protected area. The biological density is phenomenal with more than 500 fish species, an abundance of sharks and turtles, and at least 120 types of corals.

Page: ROV Dives: Unraveling Ancient Sea Level Secrets

During the 2017 "Unraveling Ancient Sea Level Secrets" research cruise, ROV SuBastian performed science dives of exploration and sampling. SuBastian Dive #055 - Penguin Bank, Hawai'i - FK170825 (Dive 1) Date: 09/12/2017 Location: Penguin Bank  off the island of Lanai, Hawaii Depth: ~115 m Work Completed: Looking for specific types of coral and coral remnants for both sampling and … Continued

Log Post: PIPA: Right Next Door in the Middle of the Ocean

We have not seen a speck of land or another ship for five days. We have seen a rainbow, some sunsets, and a handful of seabirds – otherwise just blue sea, blue sky, and the horizon as we steam from the Northern Hemisphere to the South. The ship mood is ripe with anticipation as we … Continued