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SOI Collaborating With WHOI On Construction of World’s Most Advanced Deep-diving Robotic Vehicle

Schmidt Ocean Institute (SOI) has begun working with the Deep Submergence Laboratory at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) to design and build the world’s most advanced robotic undersea research vehicle for use on SOI’s ship Falkor. The new vehicle will be capable of operating in the deepest known trenches on the planet, including the nearly 11,000-meter-deep Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. The design will capitalize on lessons learned from past WHOI vehicle designs, as well as advanced technologies developed for DEEPSEA CHALLENGER, the submersible and science platform that explorer and director James Cameron piloted to Challenger Deep in 2012 and donated to WHOI in 2013.

On Sunday, December 8th, Victor Zykov, SOI’s director of research, will publicly discuss the project for the first time at a University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System’s (UNOLS) Deep Submergence Science Committee meeting in San Francisco. (more…)

WHOI Scientists Analyze, Explain the Chemical Makeup of Gulf Plume

By Guest PostJuly 20, 2011Environmentaquatic organisms, autonomous underwater vehicle sentry, benzene, btex, chemicals, christopher reddy, conductivity, ctd, dana yoerger, deep sea hydrothermal vents, deep submergence laboratory, deepwater horizon oil spill, depth, ecotoxicological impact of plumes, ethybenzene, gas and oil, gas to oil ratio, gor, gulf of mexico, hydrocarbon containing plume, jeff seewald, judith mcdowell, macondo well, mass spectrometer tethys, milligrams per liter, natural resource damage assessment protocol, nrda, plume, research vessel endeavor, richard camilli, surface spills, temperature, toluene, toxicity levels of btex, undersea life, water soluble petroleum compounds, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution, xylenes

Taking another major step in sleuthing the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a research team led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has determined what chemicals were contained in a deep, hydrocarbon-containing plume at least 22 miles long that WHOI scientists mapped and sampled last summer in the Gulf of Mexico, a residue of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Moreover, they have taken a big step in explaining why some chemicals, but not others, made their way into the plume.

The findings, published this week in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, “help explain and shed light on the plume formation and verify much of what we thought about the plume’s composition,” said WHOI chemist Christopher Reddy, lead author of the study. The data “provide compelling evidence” that the oil component of the plume sampled in June 2010 essentially comprised benzene, toluene, ethybenzene, and total xylenes—together, called BTEX—at concentrations of about 70 micrograms per liter, the researchers reported. (more…)

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SOI Collaborating With WHOI On Construction of World’s Most Advanced Deep-diving Robotic Vehicle

WHOI Scientists Analyze, Explain the Chemical Makeup of Gulf Plume