Search Results for CTD
Today was a taxing day. Late on Wednesday it became apparent that our test of the winch that we use to lower the depressor vehicle (the one that acts to protect Nereus’ single optical-fiber tether from the waves and energy in the upper ocean) had not gone well. After 2 hours in the water and … Continued
When I was growing up, my older brother Tim used to enjoy explaining how any adverse conditions that you lived through could be ascribed to being character building. I therefore present to you the team aboard RVFalkor: with our characters further developed. The day started very well – into the dry lab at 05h30 to … Continued
Science seriously progressed today. It didn’t come easy but maybe that just makes it all the sweeter. Our launch was text-book just after 4am and separation went well at 5:30am with only a few moments of tension as we passed through 2000m. Then, right on schedule, at 7:30am we made “landfall” at just less than … Continued
One of my NSF program managers sent me a message today saying that our live broadcasts could do with better music. Unfortunately, Jeremy (ETO and Higher Life Form) found out the hard way earlier in the cruise, when testing out the system, that we cannot lay music over the web-cast on YouTube due to Piracy … Continued
Within Australia’s largest marine reserve, the recently established Coral Sea Marine Park, lies the Queensland Plateau, one of the world’s largest continental margin plateaus at nearly 300,000 square kilometers.
Saturday June 29th was an epic day. Also among the 4 top traumatic experiences I have ever had at sea with a robot. (All of which have come in the past 8 years!) Our dive started beautifully as we landed near the Hot Chimlets vents and set to work collecting microbes attached to a rock … Continued
Ashmore Reef Marine Park is home to unique coral ecosystems: Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems (MCEs). While the waters of Australia are famous for shallower coral systems such as the Great Barrier Reef, MCEs there (and around the globe) remain largely unknown and undocumented.
The first, essential, feature of this cruise is coral. We start with research scientist Taylor holding a bundle of Desmophyllum. These precious coral samples record the environmental conditions of the ocean at the time their skeletons formed. As we do not (currently) have access to a time machine on R/V Falkor, we rely on using … Continued
Very few deep sea areas both in and outside of Australia have been well-sampled over large spatial and temporal scales, and a large number of species still remain undiscovered and unnamed.
Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) SuBastian has returned after a journey of more than 3000m below the sea surface, searching through one of the previously unexplored and deepest parts of Bremer Canyon. So what do we hope to find and why has this expedition already generated much public interest? The Bremer Canyon is a system of … Continued
