Plugging in the world's first deep-sea web cam.
This video shows ORCA's Eye-in-the-Sea sitting on the bottom of the ocean at a depth of 880 m (2886 ft). MBARI's ROV Ventana placed it there on Wednesday Jan 21, 2009 and then proceeded to plug it into the deep-sea power and communications port — the Monterey Accelerated Research System (MARS).
Video sequences:
- ORCA'S Eye-in-the-Sea with leaves folded up
- ROV Ventana's robotic arm pulls the underwater connector out of its parking position. The other end of the 30 m long orange cable is plugged into the Eye-in-the-Sea
- The ROV carries the plug to the MARS node ~30 m away
- The ROV plugs into the node (power and communications outlet S-8)
- The ROV follows the cable back to the Eye-in-the-Sea and does one last fly around. (The robotic arm was used to fold down the 3 leaves that hold the electronic jelly, the not-yet-installed bait box and the current meter.)
Related Links
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Dr. Edith Widder – inventor of ORCA's Eye in the Sea Ocean Research and Conservation Association |
Eye-in-the Sea: An Innovative, Unobtrusive Camera System – NOAA Ocean Explorer
NOAA Operation Deep Scope 2005 – pictures, video clips, and a daily log from a 2005 expedition to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico
A marine bioluminescence primer for teachers. From Bioscience Explained.
Popular Mechanics
on Eye in the Sea's 2006 test run in Monterey Canyon
A short animation shows how Eye-in-the-Sea will arrive and start work at MARS [2 Mb Quicktime file courtesy Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution]