Ocean Networks Canada is sending robots to the bottom of the ocean off the coast of Vancouver Island, and you’re invited to join them on the 2015 Wiring the Abyss Expedition!
Until Sept. 15, 2015, you can watch HD footage streaming live around the clock as scientists from the University of Victoria explore uncharted ocean floor, spot unnamed deep sea creatures, and generally take in the mystery and power of the deep sea. Everything they see and discover, you can witness right with them, in real time.
Map of planned expedition: Ocean Networks Canada
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Scientists will be on board two ships, an exploration vessel (Nautilus) and a research vessel (Thompson), and visiting eight underwater observatories. The robots, Jason and Hercules, will descend up to 3 km under water.
Nautilus exploration vessel: Ocean Networks Canada
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A few of the areas being studied in this mission include: earthquakes, tsunamis, and undersea landslides; the impact of human-induced noise on marine mammals; the impact of climate change on the ocean; the life that thrives on chemistry and hot water near volcanic ridges and hydrothermal vents; and forensic studies of how human remains might decompose underwater using pig carcasses.
Tube worms thrive on a hydrothermal vent (2011 expedition): Ocean Networks Canada
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When you tune in, you never know what you might catch. You might descend from the surface to the sea floor. You might take video that will help build a 3D map. You might capture specimens of creatures that will be brought to the surface for research.
More importantly, you get to choose your own adventure. Go ahead and ask the scientists on board the Nautilus a question. They might discuss anything from whether we know more about outer space than we do about our own oceans, to how climate change causes ocean acidification.
If you’re feeling particularly adventurous, pitch your own research question, and they might just let you operate the camera.
Video overview of the 2015 Wiring the Abyss Expedition
Courtesy of Ocean Networks Canada
In addition to their manned expeditions, the ONC has a series of observatories and instruments installed right on the sea floor, streaming video and data around the clock year-round, helping us understand our global ocean. Every piece of information gathered by the network is shared with the community. All of the data are open access, allowing everyone from scientists to students and educators the chance to learn and innovate.
And in case you weren’t already clamouring to get to the live feed, here are some photographs from previous expeditions from the Ocean Networks Canada Flickr page.
Used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) License