Over a week ago, Thaler tagged in my a Tweet.

O’ how I coveted my neighbor’s Life magazine.  In case you cannot tell that is February 15, 1960 issue featuring Picard, Walsh, and the Trieste on the cover.  The two men in the Trieste reached a record maximum depth of about 10,911 metres (35,797 ft), in the deepest known part of the Earth’s oceans, the Challenger Deep, in the Mariana Trench.  This Life issue was published just weeks after this record dive (January 23, 1960).

I am in awe that Thaler parted with such a momento and gifted it to me.

The post An Unexpected Surprise in My Mail first appeared on Deep Sea News.

But too much pressure is usually a bad thing. Take for example the recent loss of the Deep Submergence Vehicle Nereus. After watching shattered debris rise to the surface, scientists are pretty sure Nereus imploded, having succumbed to the extreme pressures found at the bottom of 10 km deep Kermadec Trench.

Pressure is also a curious thing. It squeezes you equally from all directions, but its strength only depends on the extent of water in one direction, vertically. The height of the water above you dictates pressure, not the width of the water body you are in. You will feel more pressure on your eardrums diving 5 meters to touch the bottom of an olympic diving pool than if you only descended 2 m down in the ocean. 

That being said, humans pretty much suck when it comes to pressure. When scuba diving, most of us can only handle about 3 times the pressure we experience from the weight of the atmosphere above us. When pushed, we can go deeper. A crazy Greek dove down to 701 meters to experience 71 atmospheres** of pressure for science, but he had to prep for 43 days breathing a mixture of hydrogen, helium and oxygen gas which seems a little inconvenient. That pretty much means for most of us, 99% of the ocean is unreachable when your only equipment is a speedo.

Compared to the deep divers of the animal kingdom, we look downright aquatically incompetent. I mean whales and seals have collapsable lungs to deal with extreme pressure (not to mention a whole host of other adaptations)! Penguins basically shut down all their organs except for their heart and their brain when doing deep dives. Physiologically, humans got nothing.

Fortunately for humans, our curiosity greatly exceeds our physical abilities and we have figured out how to reach the unreachable. I was surprised to learn that humans have been artificially extending their deep ocean range for over 2000 years via the apparatus known as a diving bell! A simple design, the diving bell is a heavy inverted cup under which a pocket air is trapped for a human to breathe, but it still only worked down to 50 meters. The diving bell was first described by Aristotle in the 4th century BC 

“…they enable the divers to respire equally well by letting down a cauldron, for this does not fill with water, but retains the air, for it is forced straight down into the water.”

and were even used by Alexander the Great in the siege of Tyre***! Eventually our technology improved, giving us SCUBA, submersibles, and the underwater fight scene in Thunderball. And we kept diving deeper.

This brings us down to the deepest reaches of the ocean. Below 6000 m, in deep ocean trenches, lies the hadal zone. Here water pressures are a crushing 600+ atmospheres. Fish can’t even survive beneath 8200 meters because the pressure literally crushes the proteins they need to function. But other creatures such as amphipods, jellyfish and sea cucumbers can survive where fish can’t, we just don’t understand how. These conditions are so challenging that humans have only made two trips to the deepest spot in the ocean, Challenger Deep.

I’ve never thought about pressure so much before. To me it has been a means to estimate depth in the ocean or something that I need to protect my instruments against. But pressure is the major impedance for humans when it comes to exploring the deep ocean. Humans didn’t even make it there until 1930 when William Beebe and Otis Barton descended to 435 meters in their Bathysphere.**** There is still an awful lot to learn down there in the abyss and I can’t wait for all the innovations that will protect against pressure’s crushing clenches so we can keep on exploring.

 *Don’t have a ship and a half mile of cable to crush a cup? Don’t worry you can do it at home with a pressure cooker. 

**An atmosphere is a unit of pressure, which is equal to the average pressure exerted by the atmosphere at sea level.

***The history of diving bells is seriously fascinating and I completely recommend the “Stuff you should know” podcast on the subject.

**** Fun fact: It took only 30 years between when William Beebe and Otis Barton first made it to the deep ocean in their Bathysphere, to when Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh reached bottom of the ocean at Challenger Deep in Trieste. It then took another 52 years until James Cameron returned to Challenger Deep.

Source:

Yancey, Paul H., et al. “Marine fish may be biochemically constrained from inhabiting the deepest ocean depths.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111.12 (2014): 4461-4465.

The post How to shrink a styrofoam cup and other side effects of deep ocean pressure first appeared on Deep Sea News.

Yeah sometimes I’m lost too. In metagenomics, researchers collect ocean water or soil samples and sequence random bits of DNA from whatever blob of gunk they collect–they end up with little snippets from all the genomes of the species present in that sample. But understanding metagenomics is like understanding human genomics. It’s a lot more complex and nuanced than you think, even if the overarching concept seems easy to understand. Of COURSE we want to sequence the Human Genome, just like we’re obsessed with peering into genomes of the species that live in seawater (seawater is easy to collect and we know lots of things live there; its the low-hanging fruit of marine genomics). But scientists are often asking very specific questions under these broad banners–and the questions that fall under a category such as “metagenomics” might be surprising.

The Eisen lab is currently hosting Matthew Haggerty, a visiting grad student from Elizabeth Dinsdale’s lab at San Diego State University. Last week he presented his research at lab meeting, discussing different kinds of scientific stories he’s trying to find in marine metagenomic datasets.

Matt is working with public DNA datasets collected as part of the Global Ocean Survey (= scientists who sailed around the world in a yacht and collected buckets of seawater. How can I get this job?).

The Global Ocean Survey (GOS) data has been a keystone dataset for marine science. Collected way, way back in the dark ages of genomics (2007), people have continued to look deeper and re-analyze these datasets to get the low down on ocean biology. Matt is using GOS data to look at some super cool, but super sekrit questions…at least his questions are sekrit until he gets them published. Grad students gots to gets the manuscripts peer-reviewed!

But Matt did present some pretty awesome metagenomics factoids that made me take notes in the form of iPad doodles (thank you, Notability app!).

FACT 1: 

Coral reefs that are stressed or in decline show a particular increase in pathogenic bacteria and virulence genes (Ainsworth et al. 2010). Ainsworth et al. note that metagenomic studies have shown  “a dramatic difference in microbial metabolic function indicated that proximity to human populations and local disturbance significantly influenced microbial diversity and metabolism and as a result influenced coral reef health.”  The coral reef story is complex (involving interactions between corals, algae, bacteria, and viruses) and still being investigated, but metagenomics is now offering an unprecedented look into how coral reefs function and stay healthy (or become not so healthy).

FACT 2:

Metagenomics also lets us look at nutrient cycling in the oceans, and study how the limited availability of certain elements can control the metabolism of microbial communities. For example, Toulza et al. (2012) used that handy Global Ocean Survey data to look at genes for iron uptake in ocean microbes. Why? Because, they say, “despite the lack of knowledge of iron uptake mechanisms in most marine microorganisms, our approach provides insights into how the iron metabolic pathways of microbial communities may vary with seawater iron concentrations.” In other words, metagenomics allows us to understand how nutrients get cycled in the ocean, and how microbial cells react to different levels of nutrient availability–without ever having to know anything about any individual species.

FACT 3:

Yes, metagenomics can even involve the study of oral slime in fish–something that Matt is very interested in (although based on the number of underwater pictures, I think he may be using this question as an excuse to go diving in exotic places. Right, Matt? :P ). Parrotfish are famous for their teeth, but less famous for the green slime that grows on their teeth (see below photo). It’s pretty gross, so now you won’t forget it. I couldn’t find any peer-reviewed information about this disgusting green tooth scum, which means that the field of “parrotfish oral microbiome” needs some attention. How many species live in this slime? Does it affect parrotfish health? Do we see any cool adaptations in these cyanobacterial genomes? These questions are unanswered for now, but anyone has more info please let us know!

References:

Ainsworth TD, Thurber RV, Gates RD (2010) The future of coral reefs: a microbial perspective. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 25(4):233–40.

Toulza E, Tagliabue A, Blain S, Piganeau G (2012) Analysis of the Global Ocean Sampling (GOS) Project for Trends in Iron Uptake by Surface Ocean Microbes. PLoS ONE, 7(2): e30931. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0030931

The post So you think you know Marine Metagenomics? first appeared on Deep Sea News.

1. Great white shark attack.

Yep, Marco was attacked by a great white.  There aren’t too many folks who can say that, and Marco will be the first to tell you that he’s one of the lucky ones.  On June 30, 1995, Marco was diving in Moterey CA to test some newly-developed underwater navigation equipment when, in Marco’s own words:

At approx. 17:20 PDT (I did not check the watch), we started the second dive of the day. I was trying out Steve’s diver propulsion vehicle (scooter) and, propelled by the scooter, was proceeding through the water at an approx. 20 degree descent angle. After maybe two minutes and at a depth of about 50 feet (according to depth gauge on the scooter), I looked to my right and saw the massive pectoral fin [I think he means caudal – AD] attached to the end of a torpedo shaped body of a large fish. The fish was at a distance of maybe 20 feet, at the edge of the visibility. The sighting lasted for two to three seconds before the animal disappeared from view in the cloudy water. The approx. 5 foot section I saw did not include the dorsal fin or any part forward of the animal. Somewhat stunned, I quickly thought that the animal matched the shape and size of a white shark (I had never seen a white shark before myself, but had seen plenty of footage recorded by other divers). Also thinking that the animal was most likely just passing and would not attack me, I decided it to be prudent to return to the boat to warn Steve and Marcie. I turned the scooter around and proceeded in the direction of the boat. I used the scooter to propel myself at a slight upward angle, attempting to be careful to not surface too fast and provoke an air embolism. I also did not want to surface far from the boat, recalling that many attacks occur at the surface. I was in an alert, apprehensive state but still calm enough to think “gee, and I got to see it without paying for a shark diving trip” (I naturally have a somewhat strange sense of humor and looking at things). Maybe 15 to 20 seconds after the first sighting (I had already turned the scooter around), I looked to my left and below and saw the massive, wide open, near circular, teeth lined mouth of an animal coming at me. The mouth appeared to have a diameter of certainly more than two feet but most likely not more than three feet. I thought ‘Oh, Shit’ and shortly (one second) there after felt a severe but dull pressure on my body. I do not recall being shaken by the animal nor taking any significant evasive or defensive action. Instead, I appeared to be free from its hold after maybe two seconds (hard to recall). As soon as I realized I was free I thought ‘it did not bite very hard’. I tried to feel if my legs where still there, and they appeared to be. I decided to proceed along the set course at the maximum speed of the scooter, again attempting to surface close to the boat, to not surface too rapidly, and to not trash around thinking that that might cause the animal to bite again.

After struggling with his equipment for a bit, Marco was able to get out of the water and summon his dive buddies by revving the engine of the boat (clever idea).  They took him to shore from where he was whisked to hospital for medical attention.  The lucky part is that when the shark bit down, the top jaw hit the SCUBA tank on Marco’s back, and the bottom jaw hit the experimental nav device, which was strapped to Marco’s abdomen.  As a result, he suffered some tooth injuries to his shoulder, leg and abdomen, but not nearly as bad as it could have been, had the metal bits not been there to resist the bite pressure.  I’m also not aware of other shark attacks that have taken place on divers using motorised scooters (perhaps the shark-o-philes out there know of one?), which is interesting.

2. Submersible scare(s!)

1995 was a heck of a year for Marco, because that year not only was he attacked by a great white, but he had also not one but two scares onboard a submerisble while participating in one of the deepest salvage reconnaissance missions ever attempted.  Marco was part of a mission assessing the feasibility of recovering the I-52, a WWII Japanese submarine that was sunk by US forces off the west coast of Africa in June of 1944.  The I-52 has an amazing story in itself, the cliff notes of which are that it was a Japanese cargo submarine (who knew such things existed?) that was carrying a shipment of valuables from Japan to Germany as part of an exchange between the two nations.  The loot included 2.2 tons of gold (current value a cool 100 mill) and over 3 tons of opium, as well as tons of other valuable metals.  In return, the Japanese were supposed to get 800kg of uranium for a proposed dirty bomb, and an Enigma machine.  But the return voyage never took place because a successful US sub hunting group sank the I-52 far west of the Cape Verde islands,  thanks to some clever sonar-guided torpedo work.

Salvager Paul Tidwell recruited Marco to participate in assessments of the feasibility of recovering the I-52‘s treasure cargo; Marco’s underwater navigation and positioning technology would be a valuable asset for any such attempt.  Tidwell’s team used the Russian Mir submersible to visit the debris field, which was in 17,100ft of water, close the the maximum operating depth of the Mir subs.  If you have trouble imagining that depth, its a bit over thirteen Empire State Buildings end to end, or half the cruise height of a commercial jetliner!  On the first of Marco’s trips down, a mechanical problem developed during the dive which made it very difficult for the sub crew to maintain trim at the bottom or to achieve positive buoyancy at the end of their dive.  Eventually (10 hours later!)  the sub limped to the surface and the problem was repaired.  Not satisfied with that drama, Marco went down on a second dive, during which a leaking valve again made it hard to achieve positive buoyancy.  This time, the sub used almost all available battery power to reach 4000ft depth (after which, for technical reasons, positive buoyancy would be easier); the sub briefly went dark at 4,000ft and the crew had to wait for the batteries to recover a little.  If they didn’t, the team might be forced to jettison the heavy batteries, which would ensure positive buoyancy but would likely also result in an uncontrolled rocket of an ascent, possibly spiralling the sub towards the surface so violently that survival of the aquanauts within would be far from certain.  Luckily, the batteries eventually did recover, allowing the sub to reach 4,000ft, positive buoyancy, and finally the surface.  Can you imagine it?  nearly a mile down, in a 6ft titanium sphere, in total darkness, with apparently dead batteries?  It gives me chills just thinking about it.  Back at the surface, the sub was repaired a second time and Marco (who has much greater faith in engineering than I!) went down a THIRD time.  This time, everything was fine and they were able to gather the requisite data for the mission.  The I-52 still hasnt been salvaged and Tidwell’s work continues; there is a National Geographic documentary about the Tidwell mission called Submarine I-52: Search for WW2 Gold, which was filmed during the trips described above.

However you slice it, Marco Flagg has gathered some crackerjack stories during his career, and most of them in one year.  By his measure, helping me get some migration data from a 40 ft filter-feeding whale shark must seem like a relaxing Sunday jaunt…

The post Of great whites and great depths first appeared on Deep Sea News.

I for one welcome our new future.

No longer will we have to choose between tanks and submarines when we need to go to the grocery store on the other side of an ocean that’s also being shot at.

via Submarine with tank treads would be utterly unstoppable | DVICE.

The post Submarine with Tank Treads first appeared on Deep Sea News.

Alvin’s interior will be getting a redesign as a new larger titanium has been forged.

It is 3, rather than 2, inches thick, with an interior diameter that is 4.6 inches wider than Alvin’s current sphere. That increases the interior volume by nearly 20 percent, from 144 to 171 cubic feet, and that additional space has opened up a range of new possibilities.

The interior of sphere is small, just barely large enough for a pilot and two scientists to sit, not stand, but not enough room for seats or bathroom.

For up to eight hours, they sit on thin pads on the floor and peer out windows, or viewports, the size of teacup saucers. The pilot drives while perched on a small metal box.

The Alvin overhaul sees upgrades across the board with better batteries allowing for 12 hour dives and 6500m, 2000m deeper than before.

via Alvin Gets an Interior Re-design.

The post Pimp My Alvin first appeared on Deep Sea News.

When you combine two ideas to make a third then two plus two can equal five.  In the ancient world one of the great discoveries was that by combining two soft metals – iron and tin – you could create a strong alloy – bronze.  In a similar way combining two minor inventions – the coin punch and the wine press – gave birth to the mighty printing press.

Behold the greatness of Westside Connection’s, an American gangsta rap group consisting of Ice Cube, WC and Mack 10, Bow Down mashuped with Blue Oyster Cult’s Godzilla.

To the working combinations list, I would add Nereus.  The deep-sea transformer that tranforms from a remotely to autonomous underwater vehicle.

Two new design offerings for the mashup list are the superyacht that transforms into a submarine and an airplane that does the same.  The U-010 Undersea Yacht is likely to be produced within the next 5 years for multi-millionaire venture capitalist and former board member of Hewlett Packard, Tom Perkins. The current design features the best of underwater exploration and 1960’s, Ratpack, loung swankiness.  Describe new species and habitat, drink a Manhattan, all while wearing smoking jacket.

In 2008, DARPA called for a stealthy aircraft that could dive below the surface and approach an enemy from underwater. But can the design community pull it off?

Aircraft must be light to minimise the power needed to get airborne, while subs need massive hulls to resist crushing…”What the Americans want sounds incredibly ambitious,” says UK Royal Navy commander Jonty Powis, head of NATO’s submarine rescue service. “If they achieve half of what they want from this machine they will be doing well.”

Of course, the Russians developed plans for exactly the same thing in 1936 but abandoned the program when the technological challenges became insurmountable.

In the 1960’s the Reid RFS-1 was developed by Donald Reid but received little interest from the U.S. military

The post Superyachts, Airplanes, & Submarines Mashup first appeared on Deep Sea News.

This sub very posh and quite brill indeed.

“This is the best submarine in the world. It is virtually undetectable, has reinvented the periscope and sonar, and doubles as a floating GCHQ[.]…

She could prowl the depths of the oceans without stopping for her entire 25-year lifespan, her sleek curves undetected. She generates her own oxygen and fresh water from the surrounding sea, never has to refuel and never needs to break the surface. Indeed, the only reasons for her to come up after 90 days on patrol are to restock with food and to help preserve the sanity of her crew.

Astute is the world’s most technologically advanced submarine, and remains a great British achievement despite overspends and delays. It is the stealthiest Royal Navy submarine ever to go to sea and its highly advanced Sonar 2076 system – capable of detecting the QE2 leaving New York all the way from the English Channel – is superior to the U.S. Navy equivalent. It can carry 38 weapons – heavyweight Spearfish torpedoes and Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles. The latter have a range of 1,000 nautical miles – enough to reach 96 per cent of the planet’s populated areas from the sea.”

Even without the recession did the government think they could this much awesomeness?? Check out more pictures and details of the story at the Daily Mail.

The post Britain’s Unaffordable Defender of the Realm first appeared on Deep Sea News.

The post Thursday Submersible first appeared on Deep Sea News.

What started off 2 years ago as a joke by sub enthusiasts, will now be a reality. The Navy has made it clear that it wants to allow women to serve on submarines and is has hinted it is prepared to make those moves toward renovating quarters for the new occupants. Making up nearly 14% of Navy, women are increasingly become more important to the Navy’s operation. They grow up wanting to explore the deep sea just as much as any man and do just as good as a job.

What is impressive is that the Navy took the first step and it is a strategic move in more than just rightly promoting gender equality, as pointed out in Connecticut’s TheDay.com:

In addition to the fairness of providing women the same opportunities as their male counterparts, there are practical reasons for the change. It is an ongoing challenge for the Navy to recruit enough men to serve aboard submarines. Because of the unique challenges of submarine service, submariners face more rigorous intellectual and psychological standards. Permitting women would significantly expand the pool of potential recruits.

But there are some strange oppositions to this. From what I’ve read, it really breaks down into women invading the ‘good ole boys club’, as hinted by this retired Navy captain writing in the Arizona Republic and the following news clip from CBS:

Submarines present a unique environment, and to anyone who has served on them as I have, the reasons to exclude women are obvious.

First, submarines are extremely cramped; space is at a premium and every inch is used for needed equipment, weapons, sensors and supplies. To accommodate women, costly design modifications would be required and take space needed for higher priority items.

Secondly, putting men and women together in very confined quarters for long periods of time submerged (up to two-plus months) is simply asking for trouble, both aboard the submarine and potentially on the home front.”

These attitudes are troubling on multiple fronts. Not sure how women take up much more space than men in a bunk. Is all the hair dryers and make-up? They hint that sharing bathrooms is a problem. Well, on research ships where we often have mixed crew, quarters are assigned such that bathrooms are shared by all members of the same sex. Surely, this could be arranged?

Most disconcerting is that this discussion appears to a priori assume women are to blame for the potential to cause problems because of their presence. Or is it just me? There seems to be a subtle tone that women will arrive on subs and total sexual anarchy will result. The comment in the video about worry there will be more sexual harassment lawsuits is probably NOT THE WOMEN’S FAULT if she is being harassed. There seems to be this belief that women will invade the married man’s sanctuary and steal your husbands!1!!1!!  If these “rigorous intellectual and psychological standards” that are required are true, then surely married men can control themselves on (and off) the job? Shocking as it may seem to prime time network TV viewers, but not all male-female interactions need have sexual overtones.

I’ll close with this bit of hindsight from TheDay.com that reminds us:

“Many of the concerns about allowing women aboard submarines – lack of privacy, fears of fraternization, disrupting crew morale and camaraderie – are the same heard when the Navy first allowed women on support ships in 1978 and on combat ships in 1994. Most apt to the discussion about allowing women on submarines is the fact the Navy now has gender-integrated crews on ships once considered too small for mixed crews, such as mine hunters.”

The post Navy Allows Women on Subs first appeared on Deep Sea News.