You are browsing the archive for AUV Archives - AGU Blogosphere.
8 July 2019
More WaterWords and videos from the Hunting Bubbles expedition
Five new posts from the Hunting Bubbles expedition.
1 July 2019
Cruise blog: Update on observing seafloor methane seeps at the edge of hydrate stability
Six new posts, including two videos, from the R/V Falkor on its cruise to seek out and study methane bubbles seeping out of the seafloor.
25 June 2019
Cruise blog: More observing seafloor methane seeps at the edge of hydrate stability
Six new blog posts from the continuing Hunting Bubbles research cruise.
18 June 2019
Cruise blog: Observing seafloor methane seeps at the edge of hydrate stability
Four new updates from the ongoing cruise of the R/V Falkor…
12 June 2019
Seeking Space Rocks: The search continues
The seaborne portion of our expedition has ended, but the land-based search begins. In the laboratory, all the samples are examined with fresh eyes, using instruments that enable Dr. Marc Fries to “see” potential meteorites at a much finer scale.
9 June 2019
Improving the odds
Overnight, the ‘star sieve’ returned several hundred grams of rocky material with characteristics similar to what we are looking for in meteorites – black-colored rocks with a smooth exterior surface. But when ALL of the samples from multiple sites look that way, you have either hit the jackpot or something else is going on.
6 June 2019
Mucknificence
Seafloor mud is a mucknificent thing. The soft surface of well-sorted, very fine silt and mud provides a wonderful foundation for benthic organisms, but also allows all the larger, coarser, and heavier rocks – including the meteorites we seek – to bury themselves within.
5 June 2019
The Hunt for the Quinault meteorite begins
The sea is pitching 8 foot swells at the R/V Falkor as the “Seeking Space Rocks” team transits to the first dive site in Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. We have three days to look for meteorites on the seafloor, the second time this has ever been attempted.
4 April 2019
New deep-ocean videos and an artist-at-sea report
An abstract radiolarian sculpture visits the sea, and two video updates from scientists on the R/V Falkor.
30 January 2019
Costa Rican Deep Sea Connections Videos — Week 3 Update, Species Discoveries & Methodologies
“Isla Del Coco is really a special place. Now that we have gotten a look at some of the deeper parts and discovered some of the really spectacular communities of the deep sea… we know we’ve found new species: new species of coral, new species of shrimp, new species of worms – a LOT of new species.”
24 January 2019
Exploring the Costa Rican Depths with Costa Rican Eyes
Hello! I want to share part of my experience aboard the Falkor. It is not only my first time on this ship, but also my first time aboard a research vessel at all.
22 January 2019
Costa Rican Deep Sea Connections: Week 2 Video
Check out this week’s #CostaRicanDeep video update to see some of the spectacular sights, as well as learn about the new tech and tools researchers are using to make these amazing discoveries.
Costa Rican Deep Sea Connections: No Bone is Safe
Some of the creatures the experts have been observing seem otherworldly, even eerie. It is not unlikely that the brilliant H.R. Giger got his inspiration for the extraterrestrial monster in 1979’s Alien from the planktonic crustacean Phronima.
25 December 2018
New Approaches to Autonomous Exploration at the Costa Rican Shelf Break: Wrap Up Video
“We are building technologies that allow us to do more with less. And if you think about the history of oceanography would have been unthinkable even 30 years ago. By pushing forward on the technology we are able to greatly expand our ability to observe our world.”
22 December 2018
The Crawl Before the Walk
The series of processes that take place in the development of any given task, no matter how mundane, are astonishing.
21 December 2018
A Numbers Game
The oceans are big. The universe is even bigger. A needle in a haystack does not begin to describe the difficulty of finding what you are looking for on the Earth’s seafloor, much less below the icy cover of a moon orbiting Jupiter 588 million kilometers away!
20 December 2018
Advancing Autonomy at the Costa Rican Shelf Break — Week 1 Video
Researchers are off the coast of Costa Rica, testing robots by integrating sensors, software, and mechanics to create underwater vehicles that can travel through unknown and potentially hazardous subsea regions. These types of vehicles, once able to make decisions without input from humans, will help us understand the oceans of Earth, as well as other planets.
19 December 2018
Technology, Exploration and Clay
Trying to work with clay during an oceanographic expedition focusing primary on autonomous robotic development might sound a little crazy. Ok, probably it is.
29 November 2018
Interdisciplinary Investigation of a New Hydrothermal Vent Field: It’s a wrap — Discoveries and new questions
Drawn to the mysteries of the Auka hydrothermal vent field, our interdisciplinary team of scientists arrived eager to explore a diverse and vibrant ecosystem thriving in an extreme environment of unique geochemistry. We were not disappointed.
28 November 2018
Interdisciplinary Investigation of a New Hydrothermal Vent Field: First impressions and old friends
First impressions do not always turn out to be right, but they stick with you. I remember my first impression of the Auka vent field when, using the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) submersible Doc Ricketts, we discovered this hydrothermal field on April 12, 2015.
