Virtual Field Trip: ROV SuBastian in Action
Summary
EarthEcho is excited to, once again, join Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel Falkor as the scientists onboard spend the months of November and December near the Mariana Trench, home to the deepest part of our ocean. Scientists aboard Falkor will explore several new hydrothermal vent areas that were discovered last year. The team is returning to get a first-ever look at the sites and lifeforms found there with Schmidt Ocean Institute’s new 4500 m ROV SuBastian.
Research Professor, Bill Chadwick, will explain how the research aboard the R/V Falkor aims to confirm that different vent sites in the Mariana subduction system - specifically the arc and back-arc areas - have distinct ecosystems. During the 2015 cruise, the science team detected the new back-arc vents and remotely mapped them using AUV Sentry. During this cruise scientists will use the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s brand-new 4,500 m capable remotely operated vehicle (ROV) SuBastian to visually explore biodiversity and characterize the fluid chemistry and geology of these sites.
Join EarthEcho International and Schmidt Ocean Institute for an interactive conversation with leading experts in seafloor exploration and the technology needed to explore one of the most extreme environments on Earth. We expect a lively discussion about what factors influence biodiversity and the potential to discover previously unknown organisms in the depths!
Learn more about the R/V Falkor and this cruise...
Panelists
Bill Chadwick
Bill Chadwick is a Research Professor at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon, and is acting-head of NOAA/PMEL’s Earth-Ocean Interactions Program. He became interested in studying volcanoes when he was in college and Mount St. Helens erupted. He majored in geology at Colorado College, where he received his B.A. After college, he worked at Mount St. Helens with the U.S. Geological Survey for 2 years, and he’s been hooked on studying active volcanoes ever since. After the USGS, he got a PhD in Geology at University of California at Santa Barbara, did a post-doc with the USGS in Menlo Park after that, and has been worked at Oregon State University since 1989.
His current research interests include investigating how magma is supplied and stored at active volcanoes, what happens during submarine eruptions, and how underwater eruptions affect the chemistry and ecosystems of hydrothermal vent sites. His research uses high-resolution mapping of the seafloor with multibeam sonars on autonomous underwater vehicles, visual observations of the seafloor from remotely operated vehicles, and monitoring of volcanic processes from seafloor instruments. On this cruise he will be using the Subastian remotely operated vehicle to characterize the new hydrothermal vent sites along the Mariana back-arc.
Thom Hoffman
Thom Hoffman is a UK-based filmmaker and multimedia journalist. His work bridges science, art, and humour to make complex ideas accessible to all. Thom’s projects have seen him travel far and wide, from trekking with altitude researchers around Everest Basecamp, to filming in a ‘Mars representative environment’ just outside London. He is driven by finding creative ways to bring concepts to life. His films have featured stop motion candy to uncover the economics of sharing, Lego showing the green potential of driverless cars, and an animated music score revealing the secrets of the epigenome. Thom has an MSC in Science Communication and he has worked for the BBC, the Guardian, Nature, and the BMJ.
Classroom Resources
Science Standards
ESS2.A: Earth’s Materials and Systems
All Earth processes are the result of energy flowing and matter cycling within and among the planet’s systems. This energy is derived from the sun and Earth’s hot interior. The energy that flows and matter that cycles produce chemical and physical changes in Earth’s materials and living organisms.
The planet’s systems interact over scales that range from microscopic to global in size, and they operate over fractions of a second to billions of years. These interactions have shaped Earth’s history and will determine its future.
LS4.C: Adaptation
Adaptation by natural selection acting over generations is one important process by which species change over time in response to changes in environmental conditions. Traits that support successful survival and reproduction in the new environment become more common; those that do not become less common. Thus, the distribution of traits in a population changes.
LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
Organisms, and populations of organisms, are dependent on their environmental interactions both with other living things and with nonliving factors.
In any ecosystem, organisms and populations with similar requirements for food, water, oxygen, or other resources may compete with each other for limited resources, access to which consequently constrains their growth and reproduction.
Growth of organisms and population increases are limited by access to resources.
Similarly, predatory interactions may reduce the number of organisms or eliminate whole populations of organisms. Mutually beneficial interactions, in contrast, may become so interdependent that each organism requires the other for survival. Although the species involved in these competitive, predatory, and mutually beneficial interactions vary across ecosystems, the patterns of interactions of organisms with their environments, both living and nonliving, are shared.
LS2.C: Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience
Ecosystems are dynamic in nature; their characteristics can vary over time. Disruptions to any physical or biological component of an ecosystem can lead to shifts in all its populations.
Biodiversity describes the variety of species found in Earth’s terrestrial and oceanic ecosystems. The completeness or integrity of an ecosystem’s biodiversity is often used as a measure of its health.