Exploring the Deep

Research Vessels Victoria –*Length of Voyage – September 1519 to September 1522

*Purpose – to find a secure route through which the Spanish ships could navigate to the Spice Islands

*Importance: 1st ship to circumnavigate the world, showed the need for an International Date Line (they lost a day)

Research Vessels Turtle (submersible) –*Length of Voyage – 1776

*Purpose – 1st submersible used during combat by the US Navy, designed to attach explosives to the bottom of British ships in New York Harbor

*Importance: 1st submersible designed by the US

Research Vessels HMS Beagle –*Length of Voyage – December 1831 to October 1836

*Purpose – Survey the lower coast of South America

*Importance: Charles Darwin served as the Naturalist aboard; on board he visited the Galapagos Islands where he used his observations to come up with the theories of “Survival of the Fittest” & “Natural Selection.” He also proposed the theory of atoll (small islands made from coral reefs that enclose lagoons) formation

Research Vessels HMS Challenger –*Length of Voyage – 1872 to 1876*Purpose – To examine the deep sea floor and answer questions about the ocean environment; gather consistent data

*Importance: World’s 1st totally scientific oceanographic expedition, Catalogued over 4775 new species, located Marianas Trench & deepest point at that time (26K)

Research Vessels Fram –*Length of Voyage – 1893 to 1896 (main voyage), additional voyages 1898 to 1902 & 1910 to 1912*Purpose – Explore the arctic circle & south pole

*Importance: put an end to the "Open Polar Sea" theory, provided the 1st oceanographic data from the central Arctic, confirmed the existence of the Transpolar Drift, ice drifts were not parallel to the wind direction, but were consistently offset to the right

Research Vessels Meteor Expedition (German) –*Length of Voyage – April 1925 to June 1927*Purpose – to explore the South Atlantic ocean from the equator down to Antarctica

*Importance: produced the first detailed survey of the south Atlantic ocean floor (with early sonar equipment) and established the mid-Atlantic ridge

Research Vessels Trieste –*Length of Voyage – January 23, 1960 (descent 4:47, time at bottom 20 min, accent 3:15); in 1963 used later to find submarine wrecks

*Purpose – reach the bottom of Challenger Deep to verify depth

*Importance: 1st manned (2 person) submersible to reach the bottom of the Challenger Deep; proved at least some vertebrate life can withstand the extreme pressure at the oceans' deepest point; noted that the floor of the Challenger Deep consisted of "diatomaceous ooze".

Research Vessels DSV Alvin –*Length of Voyage – 1964 to present *Purpose – to allow researchers to conduct biological, chemical, geochemical, geological and geophysical studies

*Importance: in 1974 confirmed the theory of seafloor spreading, in 1977 discovered the 1st hydrothermal vents near the Galapagos Islands, located lost hydrogen bombs & the Titanic shipwreck

Research Vessels Glomar Challenger –*Length of Voyage – August 1968 to December 1983*Purpose – Help Henry Hess with his theory of Seafloor Spreading

*Importance: 1st ship designed with the ability to drill into deep ocean floor and take core samples to prove age of rock & ultimately seafloor spreading

Research Vessels Alcyone (Jacques Cousteau) –*Length of Voyage – 1985 to present

*Purpose – created as an expedition ship and to test the operation of a new kind of marine propulsion system, the turbosail (name means “Daughter of the Wind”

*Importance: environmentally friendly ocean observatory (fin whale watching, elephant seal tagging, humpback whale migration, great white shark observation, & observation of marine mammal exploitation)

Ocean Technology over Time

Variables in the deep ocean make ocean studies very different than those on land:

TemperatureDarknessPressure

Forces that have driven ocean exploration:

WarNeed for resourcesLand ExplorationConquering new lands

HOW cold?The temperature of almost all of the deep ocean is only a few degrees above freezing, 39°F (4°C)

HOW dark?In the clearest water at midday, sunlight dims by one-tenth about every 250 feet (75 m). Humans can just barely see light below 1600 feet (500 m), at about one-millionth of the intensity at the surface.

HOW much pressure?Most of the deep ocean is under pressures of 3000 to 9000 pounds per square inch (or about the equivalent of 100 to 300 times the air pressure in automobile tires).

Mariana Trench35,802 ft (10,912 m) At the deepest point of the trench (and the deepest point on earth) the pressure is over 8 tons per square inch, or the equivalent of an average-sized woman holding up 48 jumbo jets.

Relatively little is known about the oceans because they are so vast and deep. In many ways, studying the ocean is like studying other planets. Scientists have had to devise ingenious techniques to gather data over immense areas and to penetrate the depths…

Humans Invade the Deep:

1934, William Beebe descends 923 meters in a tethered bathysphere.

1960, Jacques Piccard & U.S. Navy descend in the Trieste(untethered vessel) to a record depth of 10,915 meters in the Marianas Trench.

Currently, Alvin is the U.S.’s premier research vessel (can go to 4,000 meters).

What are some disadvantages to manned submersibles?

Alvin*Operated by Woods Hole in MA

*Manned submersible, built in 1964

*Most famous for locating a lost

Hydrogen bomb in the Mediterranean,

helping to find hydrothermal vents and the Titanic

Alvin

Inside Alvin 3 people can fit

ROVs (Remote Operated Vehicles)*Can make maps, record with video and cameras, and collect

specimens with remotely operated arms*Most of the time tethered to ship*Often work alongside submersibles (like the Argo-Jason (ROV)

and Alvin)

ROV Argo-Jason - collecting coral from the Gulf of Alaska

ROVs

ROV Jason Jr. - at the TitanicROV used by Skidaway

Institute of Oceanography off the coast of GA

AUVs (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles)

*Can go for long durations without human intervention to gather underwater data

*ABE (Autonomous Benthic Explorer) is one example

Remote Sensing* Although oceanographers will always need

to go to sea in ships to collect samples and make precise measurements, the only way to survey large areas simultaneously is to take the long view --from satellites in space.

* Satellites can directly measure ocean color (and help find fish). Microscopic plants (phytoplankton) absorb certain wavelengths of light and reflect others.

* In just two minutes a satellite collected data for this map of phytoplankton around Tasmania, Australia. Higher concentrations of phytoplankton are shown in red. It would have taken a ship moving at 10 knots an entire decade to collect the same type of data on this area slightly larger than Texas and New Mexico.

DIVINGTypes of diving:*Free (breath-hold)*Diving bells*Helmut (hard-hat)*SCUBA (Self Contained Underwater Breathing

Apparatus)—Cousteau helped to invent in 1943*Saturation Diving (live underwater and work out of a

pressurized facility - such as NOAA’s Aquarius)*Divers who explore “inner” space are called Aquanauts!*

Fun Facts

Aquarius is an underwater ocean laboratory located in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The laboratory is deployed three and half miles offshore, at a depth of 60 feet, next to spectacular coral reefs. Scientists live in Aquarius during ten-day missions using saturation diving to study and explore our coastal ocean. Aquarius is owned by NOAA and is operated by the National Undersea Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

VIDEO

SCUBA-Doos

It’s a one-seater

submarine with a T-

top. A clear dome

above the seat is

fed with O2 from a

tank, just pop your

head in and take a

seat.

Equipment Pieces to Know & Love -

Hydrometer & Refractometer- measure salinity

Secchi Disk - measures clarity of water

Equipment Pieces to Know & Love -

Dredge

Core Sampler

Equipment Pieces to Know & Love -

Side Scan Sonar

Underwater Camera

Equipment Pieces to Know & Love -

Purse Seine Net

Current Meter

FLIP