Robots in the Abyss: 30 years of research on the abyssal plain provides clues to climate change
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ย. 2024
- The flat, muddy deep ocean floor-known as the abyssal plain-is one of the largest and least known habitats on this planet. It covers more than 50 percent of Earth’s surface and plays a critical role in the carbon cycle. For 30 years, MBARI Senior Scientist Ken Smith and his colleagues have studied deep-sea communities at a research site called Station M, located 4,000 meters (2.5 miles) below the ocean’s surface and 291 kilometers (181 miles) off the coast of Santa Barbara, California.
Doing deep-sea research is incredibly challenging, time-consuming, and sometimes dangerous. For this reason, MBARI strives to build and deploy robots that help scientists better understand the changes taking place in our ocean. At Station M, Smith and his colleagues rely upon satellites, bottom trawls, human-occupied vehicles such as Alvin, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), a seafloor rover, seafloor landers, coring devices, fish traps, sediment traps, respirometers (which measure oxygen consumption), current meters, and time-lapse cameras to study abyssal ecosystems. Over the past 30 years, Smith and his team have constructed a truly unique underwater lab that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for a full year without servicing. Building a robot lab is challenging under normal circumstances, imagine doing it 4,000 meters underwater!
The results of their research have dramatically changed marine biologists’ perceptions of life in the deep sea and our understanding of climate change. Data collected at Station M show that the deep sea is far from static-physical conditions and biological communities can change dramatically over timescales ranging from days to decades.
Ultimately, this work highlights that persistent, long-term, time-series observations are critical for furthering our understanding of carbon cycling between the surface waters and the deep sea. With more companies looking to extract resources from the abyssal plain, these data also give scientists valuable insights into “baseline conditions” in deep-sea areas now under consideration for industrial development or deep-sea mining.
Credits:
Senior Producers: Heidi Cullen, Nancy Jacobsen Stout, Kyra Schlining, Susan von Thun (MBARI video team)
Producer/Editor/Videographer: Erik Olsen www.erikolsen.com
Station M technology and marine snow animations: Frame 48 frame48.com/
Station M map animation: Eric Knight www.ericknight...
3D model of the wave glider: Liquid Robotics www.liquid-rob...
A special thanks to the Station M research and engineering team for their thoughtful guidance and input on this story:
Project lead: Alana Sherman, Ken Smith
Project manager: Christine Huffard
Project team: John Ferreira, Rich Henthorn, Linda Kuhnz, Paul McGill
Follow MBARI on social media:
Facebook: / mbarinews
Twitter: / mbari_news
Instagram: / mbari_news
Tumblr: / mbari-blog
LinkdIn: / monterey-bay-aquarium-...
This is what I hope to do in the future
Good luck!!
I'll meet you there some day
don’t give up on that
I'm sure you'll do fine, but it was all I could do to not be a smart ass and comment do*
Learn to spell and you just might
Such a shame you guys don't get more views and subscribers, there's not enough people exploring the ocean as there should be.
CMON PEOPLE, IT'S NOT LIKE IT COVERS MORE THAN 70% OF THE EARTH OR ANYTHING
This was absolutely fascinating. How do you guys not have more views?! Keep up the good work :)
Thank you😍
From Sri Lanka 🇱🇰❤️
Congratulations for these amazing jobs!
The fact that many electric advances including this are made in the quarantine it’s amazing
love this Channel
Abyssal PLANE is completely flat for 100s and in places 1000a of miles flat without gain or loss of elevation, how does that fit the 8 inches per mile squared globe, I'm mean that's scientific fact,, just saying.
Bro, smart people knows we are living on a FLATE earth. With all this scientific research shows that it's FLATE over 50% of the earth surface.
I wonder if the material used to make the machines and devices can work better and last longer if they were made by using a different material from another. Like if certain paints, metals, or whatever lasts longer being exposed to the marine environment's chemistry, the temperature, the pressure and a factor yet to be discovered.
Incredible!
¡Increíble!
Nice dearrr
Tansi neechimoos what a great sight to see sitting at -3’c deep ocean floor mega pressure man
Marine snow has been falling for tens of thousands of year’s
Yo, that's deep
4 miles ain’t that far. Why by golly riding the bike I can cover four miles like nothing. But the vast abyssal Ridge is a Giant never healing scar. Man I love the ocean. You are the ocean. Just imagine as above as below. We know more about Space than we know about your own planet.
@@shawnhambler yeah, but so much pressure!
How can the ocean be difficult to explore but space isn't. Make that make sense.
Because light can move through space unhindered for thousands of light years. For objects behind the galactic core and or dust clouds, we use infrared light.
Light can only penetrate the first 200 meters of the ocean because these waves get absorbed. Infrared light is even worse, it cant even penetrate the top centimetre of the water, which is why under thermal imaging, water is always completely black.
In short, we simply cant see very far under the ocean very well because the law of physics dont permit it. We have to get around that and use other methods such as robots which is another challenge altogether.
A simple google search could have told you this.
Because of lack of light? Poor excuse.
@@kervinstephen7797 it’s not an excuse. Light cannot penetrate the first 200 meters. So how can we see the bottom when it’s on average 3km deep.
Like I said we use other methods such as sonar and robots etc to map the ocean floor.
This is science. It’s not an excuse. Blame for god for making things this way.
@@WaveForcefulit's not worth arguing with the uneducated
WOW!!!
Why 3d CGI of the deep sea, get a 360 degree camera or just a regular camera in a waterproof box with a spot light tied to it drop it from 6mile long cable from a boat and drag it around a little bit not really hard or expensive to do.
you dont need that stupid overpriced mini sub
HELPPPP
climate change is a buzzword that invokes negative assumptions. the climate can change. because the world/environment can ADAPT. nothing wrong with that.
Yes, I completely agree if we are just talking about the simple words climate change but if we are talking about the climate change/global warming agenda then that is completely a different story and deserves all the negative assumptions as it's nothing more than an excuse to bilk out of trillions and trillions of dollars with this green new deal agenda they are currently rolling out and it's even worse than that because ultimately it's a trojan horse for a communist one world government with total control and it's subjects with virtually no rights.
you guys uh, ever imagine the life down there went a bit elsewhere due to random robots showing up and flashing lights around? just sayin'. these things evolved to never need light, suddenly STROBE LIGHTS!
i know i'm stupid but it did occur to this stupid person.
Do you mean that they would have scurried away due to the presence of the robots? Or that they are not around because the light hurts their eyes? If the former, I'm sure they would eventually get used to the robot's presence, since it isn't a threat to them. The robots move so slow, imagine how slow it's going especially if it has to stop every 10 meters.
As for the light, those lifeforms live in a place devoid of any light - they have eyes that have been unused for maybe millions of years as they evolved - so they probably can't even see/detect the light. It's like they have eye organs in their eye sockets, but they don't actually do anything. Although some of them can see some light, since there are creatures using bioluminescence for predation/defense, I'm not sure how the robot's lights would affect them. I imagine the same thing applies, maybe their eyes are just not sensitive enough to pick up strong light like that.
what you say is quite possible ( would be my uninformed opinion! ). Personally, i have seen small things( something as simple as a few stray nail clippings left on the floor ) leading to quite a big event in case of ants :)
At the end you’ll proof earth is indeed flat and not a sphere shape planet as propose by “science” . Good !! Keep on going and be honest with yourself ✌️...🌎👎
They are simultaneously showing an image of a round sphere earth while explaining that the abyssal plain is the flat, muddy wide open stretches' of deep ocean floor that cover over 50% of the earth's surface.....(huh? how doe's that make sense?) and these scientists are down there looking for carbon in the deep ocean? lol SHM Something tells me we are being deceived.