Dispatches from Sea >>
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| March 2007 |  Laura Preston, educator, UNH/Salem High School, Salem, NH. |
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| April 2007 | |||||||
April 9, 2007
Success!
Last night while most of us were asleep, Jason II was busy making new discoveries two kilometers below the Atlantis. In the stillness of the night, a bountiful treasure teeming with life was caught in action by the ROV. The creatures living in this cold, dark, desolate place are there because it is actually very warm. A hydrothermal vent is the source of their existence. Fluid, warmed by the interior of the Earth, percolates through the rock formations and can reach temperatures of 300 degrees or more, allowing them to survive. They are odd creatures; life that needs no sunlight, nor plant- like food for survival - they rely on each other for survival. One of the main creatures is a jellyfish called Stauromedusa. Enjoy our pictures of the extreme environment in which our friends of the deep call home.
 Our new friends. |
 Jason takes the vent temperature. |
Another fun thing we have added to our exploration is “Styrofoam cup shrinking”! Pressure is very high at the bottom of the ocean and it’s fun to send Styrofoam to the seafloor with Jason and see how it comes back up!
 Karen Von Damm’s UNH class cups. |
 A “before” version. |
 An “after” version. |
And finally, we had another safety drill today!
 Liz Goehring is ready to go! |
 Adam Soule seems a bit tired from that 4-8am watch…. |
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