At long last, the Global Ocean website has been updated!!!  It is now iPad and iPhone friendly and there is new work up.  Check out the gallery for “Global Catch: Portraits of a Precious Resource” which recently closed as a solo exhibition at the Liman Gallery in Palm Beach.  Have a look at all of the other improvements…Come Aboard and Explore!
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After an interesting fall spent mostly dry-docked, we are ending 2009 with a bang as we are heading down to Chile and Rapa Nui in a few hours…a fishing and scouting adventure. 2010 will be filled with exciting things, so stay tuned…in the meantime, we hope that your holidays are filled with oceans of cheer and that 2010 brings many adventures and great exploration!
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No ocean going expedition is without its risks and I learned firsthand about this on August 23rd. I woke up not feeling great but with the change in environment, schedule and food, I didn’t think much of it. Plus I am young, fit and healthy…nothing could medically happen to me out here except maybe some kind of physical injury. But as the day progressed and I felt worse and worse, I found out that I could not have been more wrong as, by 8pm, I found myself being medevaced off of the ship.
In the early evening, it was determined that I needed to get off the ship and to a hospital. Fortunately, we were close to shore (approximately 30 miles- the closest I have ever been on an expedition) and a Coast Guard Helicopter was dispatched from New Orleans. Right around sunset, the chopper arrived, the swimmer was lowered and I was soaring in a basket over the Gulf of Mexico being lifted into the chopper. The ride took about an hour and we landed on the roof of the hospital where they began to administer care. It turned out that I had a major internal bleed from my stomach and had lost over one third of my blood by the time I had gotten there. I was very lucky to be in such close proximity to land. The crew of the NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown was incredible in how quickly they got me off of the ship and I am forever thankful for their swift action.
After a few nights in the hospital in New Orleans, I am back home recuperating. The docs say I should be back ready to go soon and this should not happen again. I am definitely bummed that I missed the rest of the expedition but hopefully will be able to join them again next year. Despite the seriousness of this situation, it has only increased my desire to get back out there and do more in my exploration of the ocean and the planet. Life is fragile but as my mantra has always been, “if you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much room…â€
Heartfelt thanks to the crew of the NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown, the science team of the Lophelia II cruise, the US Coast Guard (especially the crew of the helicopter from the CGAS New Orleans), and the docs and nurses at Tulane Medical Center.
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In the basket about to be pulled into the helo
The Coast Guard Swimmer being hoisted back into the helo.
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Inside the helo on the way to New Orleans…
(Thanks to everyone on the ship for the great pictures)
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After a 17-hour steam, we arrived at our next dive site, DeSoto Canyon. This will be the deepest dive of the expedition going down to 2500m. All of the scientists are abuzz with the anticipation of what they may find at this new site. I am very excited because I will have my first watch in the van in the afternoon…
At 1600, I head out on deck to go to the van for my watch but it is pouring! I grabbed my raincoat and made my way to the van just before a huge crash of thunder. It is dark inside the van with screens everywhere. Jason II is equipped with cameras to get views from all angles of the vehicle. It is pretty awesome and I am immediately enthralled. It was very cool to watch the science cam in the lab but seeing all of the angles gives a complete feeling of what is going on below. It is much easier to post some of the video than to try to explain it. So here are two videos, one assembly of Lophelia and some very cool critters and the other of this awesome octopus we saw while I was on watch.
Click on images to view videos:
A snapshot of some Lophelia coral (the white coral)
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videos courtesy of Lophelia II Cruise 2009
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Being the in van as we came upon this octopus was incredible. We watched him for a few minutes filming and taking still pictures as he swam along and checked us out. While much of the dive is filming, another huge aspect is collecting of organisms. Jason is able to collect critters with precision so they come up to the surface in great condition. It is very cool. At 2000, my watch was over and I headed out of the van to warm up (they keep it very cold in the van for all of the equipment). I watched a beautiful sunset and headed back into the lab to do some work. Jason will be retrieved in the morning so there will be a lot to do early…
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After twenty hours of bottom time, the Jason II ROV surfaced filled with samples. Perhaps one of the most interesting things about these samples is that they were collected individually so there is video of the collection and the scientists in the control van knew what was in every container. It is a fantastic way to sample because in the past, destructive trawls were used to study the deep sea. The trawl would go along the bottom and collect everything and anything in its path. The entire deployment could be watched throughout the ship on the TVs so we all had a good feel for the site. Very cool stuff…big fish, crabs, squid, squat lobsters, and many types of both hard and soft coral were observed. It is incredible to see these animals interacting in their habitat. Corals become habitat for other animals and with the cameras on Jason, we can observe this behavior and interaction. Brittle stars wrap themselves around soft corals, gargonians. Crinoids, feather stars, find their homes on the corals as well. The focus of this cruise is the Lophelia coral, a beautiful white coral with enormous polyps, well for coral enormous. The Lophelia creates habitat for many small critters.
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A sample of Lophelia, our target species
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So with a successful mission, Jason came back on board and it was time to preserve and record all of the samples. I got an up close look at many of the animals which was very cool. I am struck by the scale of the cameras on Jason. Everything looks so huge in the cameras but most everything is relatively small, at least in this area on the West Florida Shelf. I am looking forward to the dives at all of the other sites to see what is different and what we find.
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A squat lobster
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As soon as Jason came up and all of the other navigation instruments were on board, we headed north to our next station…the steam should be about seventeen hours.
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Steaming in the morning, we arrived at our first station at 1100 when we got ready to begin calibrating the navigation system for the ROV Jason II. The sun was shining and the seas remained calm, a beautiful day on the Gulf of Mexico. It is difficult not to marvel at the beauty of the color of the water surrounding the ship. With puffy cumulous clouds in the distance and the pale blue sky, the deep blue water is inviting and tranquil, even with the gentle swell. Looking over the side of the ship, the rays of light penetrate in thousands of rays showing how clear the water is with bits of sargassum passing by. I am constantly looking for fish.
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With the sun setting, the Jason II was ready to go into the water. We are on the West Florida Shelf in about 500m of water. The crane lifted the ROV and deposited it in the water, lights switched on and behind the ship it went. The Jason has a counter weight, the Medea to keep it on course despite the movement of the ship and the seas. Medea was deployed right after Jason and the two began their slow descent into the depths. Medea is equipped with cameras as well so it can keep an eye on the operations and location of Jason as she cruises along the sea floor looking for corals and other marine life.
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The first station is only 500m so it did not take long for the Jason to reach the bottom. Then the images started to come through…first only hard substrate but then corals, fish, crabs, squat lobsters and other critters. A squid came to check out the ROV and hung out in the lights for a little while. It is amazing how many critters cover the sea floor. The deployment will be twenty hours so there should be lots of great footage and images. The scientists have never been to this site, in fact no one has, so it should be very interesting to see what we find.
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NOAA Ship Ronald H Brown
We left Key West with moderate wind and some white caps but all in all a beautiful day. Tropical Depression Ana decided not to foil our plans so we left the dock at 1530 and headed off into the turquoise waters of the Gulf of Mexico. As we left port, a pod of dolphins swam by for a visit and two F-16 fighter jets buzzed us. Not a bad way to start an expedition. As we reached the blue water, flying fish shot out of the water as the ship went by soaring for hundreds of feet before gracefully landing. Flying fish may be one of my favorite things about warm blue water. We have about a 20 hour steam to our first station where Jason II will do its first dive…Hopefully calm winds and smooth seas will stay with us for the journey. I am keeping my fingers crossed for no hurricanes or tropical storms…
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Leaving the pier
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Out of the channel
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Leaving port was complete with a flyover…very cool.
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In an hour or two, we will be setting sail into the Gulf of Mexico…I am not sure if there will be enough bandwidth to upload to the blog, but I will do my best…if not, see you in a few weeks…
