Remote Underwater Exploration
More and more scientists are using underwater ROVs to observe marine habitats and collect samples for testing and DNA sequencing. The Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) Marine Genomics Unit is only one such example, partnering with Japanese telecommunications company NTT Communications to identify a genera of mesophotic (“middle light”) corals.
Full article at: Science Daily 15feb24
Research paper at: Springer Nature 25nov24
About the size of an apple, this sea lug / nudibranch, named Bathydevius caudactylus, is unlike any sea slug Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute scientists have seen previously.
Bathydevius is a swimming sea slug, glows with bioluminescence, and has a body with a paddle-like tail and a large gelatinous hood. It is also the first sea slug found to live in the deep ocean. Typically, sea slugs live on the seafloor or in coastal environments like tidal pools.
Full article at: CNN Science 12nov24
ROV Hercules spotted this formation back in 2022 in the Papahānaumokuakea Marine National Monument in the Pacific Ocean west of Hawaii:
It has been identified as a hyaloclastite rock forms, which occurs naturally when lava flows into water, ice or watery sediments. It’s a common occurrence with undersea eruptions and can often create angular forms.
Full article at: Forbes 09nov24
We were all hoping and waiting with baited breath for the follow-up inspection of this sonar image captured in February. Could it have been Amelia Earhart’s plane?
Unfortunately, an inspection by ROV this month showed that this shape is a plane-shaped rock formation, not the missing Lockheed 10-E Electra.
Full article at: Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum
This year, Australian-made autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), Hydrus, went on a mission to the Indian Ocean’s Rottnest ship graveyard. The purpose of the mission was to share data shared with the Western Australian Museum for its public archives and with Curtin University HIVE (Hub for Immersive Visualisation and eResearch). HIVE will be able to rebuild a high-resolution replica of the wreck.
The wreck was identified as an iron coal hulk used in Freemantle Port to service steamships, probably built in the 1860s–1890s and scuttled in the graveyard sometime in the 1920s.
Full article at: ARS Technica 03apr24