The man credited with finding the Titanic shipwreck site in 1985 is providing his 211-foot research vessel for an expedition to explore the marine sanctuary that flourishes near the Channel Islands.
On Sunday more than 40 educators and students stepped aboard the Exploration Vessel Nautilus, owned by Robert Ballard’s Ocean Exploration Trust, docked just off the Santa Barbara Harbor.
Attendees learned about the expedition plans to map the sea floor within the boundaries of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.
“We are about to embark on a great exploration,” said Dwight Coleman, director of Inner Space Center at University of Rhode Island.
During his career, Ballard has conducted more than 150 deep-sea expeditions and is recognized for his hydrothermal vents discoveries and scientific studies of ancient and contemporary shipwrecks.
“He is truly one of the world’s best explorers and a legend,” said Michael Hanrahan, Earth Media Lab director and filmmaker who teaches environmental media storytelling at UCSB. “He gets young people involved and that is important.”
Ballard’s vessel and its Corps of Exploration members includes scientists, engineers, education communicators and students of all ages.
The Nautilus is capable of hosting a 31-person science team, along with 17 crew members. The two-tiered ship provides scientists on board with the data needed for conducting scientific research and sea floor mapping.
Equipped with some of the latest technological systems, the crew’s primary objective is to cover the uncharted deep‐water area that they would be unable to survey without the assistance from the Nautilus.
During the 19-day exploration that started Sunday, members were going to work on the characterization of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary region, using sonar to measure the water depth and sub-bottom profiling data to define the sea floor in unmapped areas. Crews will focus their attention to deep‐sea coral and sponge communities.
Less than 50 percent of the sea floor within the sanctuary area has been mapped by high-resolution sonar, said Julie Bursek, team lead for education and outreach of CINMS.
The CINMS lacks enough data on locations of coral gardens, sea floor character, and information on emerging threats to deep habitats such as ocean carbon dioxide emissions and climate change, according the Nautilus site.
“There are good findings going on with science (right now),” said Bursek, who will be serving as co-chief scientist of the exploration. “We are excited to get to work.”
Recent Bates College graduate Megan Lubetkin, who first got involved with the Nautilus Exploration Program as an ocean science and seafloor mapping intern last year, said mapping the biological characteristics is important for fisheries and is a step closer to how ocean acidification affects marine life.
The vessel houses two remotely operated vehicles that collect video footage and gather samples below the water surface. Gregg Diffendale, ROV pilot aboard the Nautilus, said certain parts cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Diffendale said a ROV named Hercules is a vehicle with two manipulator arms that can dive down to 4,000 meters. Hercules is designed for gathering samples and captures video with high‐definition imagery that is streamed to the public.
Diffendale said a typical dive is 18 to 24 hours long and the yellow machine works in tandem with a stainless steel ROV named Argus. Argus can operate down to 6,000 meters and provides LED light for Hercules.
In addition to gathering research, Lead Science Communication Fellow Dennis Pevey said the team hosts live chats with the public through their website. He said it is another step to get students and the public involved in science and the research.
Jessica Bullington, a UCSB marine science major said she enjoyed the educational tour and was all smiles as she stepped off the vessel.
“It is such a cool ship,” Bullington said. “I want to get involved. This was inspiring.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at bholland@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
