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CSIRO estimates millions of tons of microplastics on ocean floor

The CSIRO recently released a report estimating microplastic build-up on the ocean floor and the results are not good. Using an ROV to collect 51 deepwater samples from the Great Australian Bight in 2017, scientists determined that microplastics are sinking to the ocean beds, finding some areas of zero plastic particles but others with up to 13.6 particles per gram (an amount ~25 times larger than previous studies).

“We estimate there are up to 14 million tonnes of microplastics in the seafloor. It’s worse than we thought.”

https://blog.csiro.au/14-million-tonnes-of-microplastics/

More details at: https://www.csiro.au/en/News/News-releases/2020/14-million-tonnes-of-microplastics-on-seafloor

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ROV finds very rare squid in Great Australian Bight

Scientists at CSIRO and Museum Victoria were thrilled to find not just one but FIVE “super rare deep sea squid” in the Great Australian Bight. This large fin squid, Magnapinna, has extremely long, thin tentacles and what appear to be tightly coiled filaments. Scientists believe Magnapinna can quickly retract its filaments if needed. The only other cephalopod known to have retractable filaments is the vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis):

Here is a close-up of a 4 to 6m long Magnapinna spotted by MBARI off Hawaii:

More details at: Sciencex.com 12nov20 and Science Alert 11nov20

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LIVE from Noggin Canyon, northern GBR

Check out the live footage from the ROV SUBastian, currently running transects in Noggin Canyon, northern part of the Great Barrier Reef:

FK200930 Dive 395 – Noggin Canyon

Join RV Falkor and ROV SuBastian for the third dive of the Northern Depths of the Great Barrier Reef expedition. Today we are exploring the side walls of Noggin Canyon in the Central Great Barrier Reef, seaward of Flora Passage. We will use the high resolution cameras and robotic arm of ROV SuBastian to observe and collect samples of the geology and organisms from the canyon side walls. A dive across the canyon axis and steep side walls can reveal whether terrestrial sediments from on land are deposited here during low-stand sea levels. Our transect will start at 1000 m water depth and ascent to 700 m.This ROV Dive is part of the first leg of our expedition to the Northern Depths of the Great Barrier Reef, led by Dr Robin Beaman from James Cook University, with a science team of national and international collaborators.https://schmidtocean.org/cruise/northern-depths-of-the-great-barrier-reef#EdgeGBR

Posted by Schmidt Ocean Institute on Monday, October 5, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD81Oney6gw