The Ocean Gets Big Data

From:
NAUTILUS

Subtitle:
A new array of cameras, vehicles, and sensors promises to change ocean science.

By Claudia Geib
30 June 2016

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nautil.us...
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I think that for some people,” says Peter Girguis, a deep-sea microbial physiologist at Harvard University, “the ocean seems passé—that the days of Jacques Cousteau are behind us.” He begs to differ. Even though space exploration, he says, “seems like the ultimate adventure, every time we do a deep sea dive and discover something new and exciting, there’s this huge flurry of activity and interest on social media.” But the buzz soon fizzles out, perhaps because of ineffective media campaigns, he says. But “we’re also not doing a good job of explaining how important and frankly exciting ocean exploration is.”
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That might change with the launch, this month, of the Ocean Observatories Initiative, an unprecedented network of oceanographic instruments in seven sites around the world. Each site features a suite of technologies at the surface, in the water column, and on the seafloor. Buoys, underwater cameras, autonomous vehicles, and hundreds of sensors per site will collect data on ocean temperature, salinity, chlorophyll levels, volcanic activity, and much more. Using this set of systems, oceanographers hope to address the limitations imposed by working on a ship or a single site for a limited period of time.
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How will the array aid in your research?

I work primarily in the deep sea, at the hydrothermal vents in the Northeastern Pacific off the coast of Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver. By deep sea, I mean the part of the ocean that is perpetually dark, which is 80 percent of our planet’s habitable space. What happens in the deep sea is very much influenced by what happens in the surface waters, because that’s where most of the food in the deep sea comes from. Conversely, we now finally have the data to support some long-standing questions and ideas we had about how processes in the deep sea influence what happens on the surface.
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Sounds exciting, to me.
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And, as the ocean systems crash and burn in coming months and several years . . . we may have more of a ring-side seat than we ever imagined we would.
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I hope they find out things that foster solutions to real problems. Sounds like they are working hard at it.
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I'm concerned that the plankton health continues, survives. I think that's a very critical foundation of a lot of things.
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It would be nice if we could stop making the ocean such a mess.
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I wonder if the findings will be published in big volumes.

I guess we will get a clue when Tuesday is soylent yellow day.

originally posted by: Terminal1
I wonder if the findings will be published in big volumes.

I guess we will get a clue when Tuesday is soylent yellow day.

Did you see that video where a Japanese scientist goes hunting for giant squid? He has a theory that it feeds on large squid. The only way to prove this is to go down 700 meters underwater in a submersible with the lights out and with some bait on a line. Then they wait.

Then out of the darkness comes a giant squid. It basically spends it's time looking for silhouettes of food above, then venturing upwards to grab a snack.

The submersible crew see that not only is it three meters long but has a shiny gold skin along with huge eyes and a pointed head - the true king of the deep ocean.

originally posted by: Terminal1
I wonder if the findings will be published in big volumes.

I guess we will get a clue when Tuesday is soylent yellow day.

Did you see that video where a Japanese scientist goes hunting for giant squid? He has a theory that it feeds on large squid. The only way to prove this is to go down 700 meters underwater in a submersible with the lights out and with some bait on a line. Then they wait.

Then out of the darkness comes a giant squid. It basically spends it's time looking for silhouettes of food above, then venturing upwards to grab a snack.

The submersible crew see that not only is it three meters long but has a shiny gold skin along with huge eyes and a pointed head - the true king of the deep ocean.

originally posted by: Terminal1
I wonder if the findings will be published in big volumes.

I guess we will get a clue when Tuesday is soylent yellow day.

Did you see that video where a Japanese scientist goes hunting for giant squid? He has a theory that it feeds on large squid. The only way to prove this is to go down 700 meters underwater in a submersible with the lights out and with some bait on a line. Then they wait.

Then out of the darkness comes a giant squid. It basically spends it's time looking for silhouettes of food above, then venturing upwards to grab a snack.

The submersible crew see that not only is it three meters long but has a shiny gold skin along with huge eyes and a pointed head - the true king of the deep ocean.

a reply to: stormcell

No I haven't but hasn't larger squid washed ashore before?

Good thing the submersible wasn't thought of as food. Would have not been a good day.

a reply to: Terminal1

INDEED.

Cue Hollyweed. Sounds like a viable script, to me.