National Geographic explorer-in-residence Dr. Robert Ballard led a team of scientists to explore the “twilight zone” near 100m depth around the Flower Garden Banks region in the Gulf of Mexico last week. If you followed along at either of the two hosting websites you could see mud volcanoes, brine seeps, ancient shorelines, deep coral heads, schools of jacks, and lots of gorgonians.
View More Webcasting ExplorationCategory: New Research
In Situ DNA Assay at 1000m
Why bother collecting samples at depth, bring them to the surface, preserve them, bring them into the lab, and then sequence them when you can…
View More In Situ DNA Assay at 1000mHow Did That Get There?
An expedition to reveal the secrets of a mysterious huge hole at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean started overnight.
View More How Did That Get There?IPY Stamps
In celebration of IPY, the Canadian Post has released a set of stamps (above). One of these is the polar, deep-sea jellyfish, Crossota millsaeare. The…
View More IPY StampsLive from the Gulf of Mexico
Secrets of the Gulf Expedition is broadcasting live footage of submersible surveys at 100m depth around the Flower Garden Banks in the Gulf of Mexico.…
View More Live from the Gulf of MexicoInternational Polar Year
Picture from IPY website, Elephant Foot Glacier From March 2007 to March 2009, grab your parka because it is International Polar Year(s). The organization of…
View More International Polar YearSecrets of the Gulf Expedition Online
Enjoy live feeds from the Secrets of the Gulf Expedition with the US Navy NR1 Nuclear Submarine and Bob Ballard’s Argos tow sled as they survey the Flower Garden Banks region for paleo-shorelines and deep octocoral habitats at 100m depth. I’ll be taking part in the benthic surveys remotely. I hope you can, too.
View More Secrets of the Gulf Expedition OnlineDeep water warming off Russia
Researchers from the neatly monikered Institute of Low Temperature Science at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan are showing that intermediate water (200-2000m) off Russia has warmed significantly over the past 50 years. The warming trend is accompanied by decreasing oxygen content. The warmer water is attributed to a decrease in (cold) shelf water production in the Sea of Okhotsk, an epicenter of global warming.
View More Deep water warming off RussiaJust Science #5: Sediment Transfer To The Deep
A grain of sand lodged from a decomposing rock in the mountains may spend a long time making its way down a river system, or being swashed around at the coast, but ultimately the deep sea is the final resting place.
View More Just Science #5: Sediment Transfer To The DeepJust Science #2: Science and Industry Collaboration in Deep-Sea Research
Do Scientist and the Oil Industry Make Strange Bedfellows?
View More Just Science #2: Science and Industry Collaboration in Deep-Sea Research