 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
MISSION DISPATCH 3 • 08/28/01 Today's Weather - images courtesy of NOAA & RSMAS Dispatch by Rebecca Johnson - HARBOR BRANCH Oceanographic Institution Latitude: 42°25'12"N • Longitude: 69°44'27"W Marsh Youngbluth is smiling and it's easy to see why. The sea looks like liquid silver in the morning sun. Only the gentlest of ripples mars its surface. The JOHNSON-SEA-LINK will certainly be getting wet today. 
While the crew readies the JSL for its first dive of the cruise, the research team checks and rechecks the collection devices on the sub that will be used to capture Nanomia colonies for Marsh and samples of detrital particles, or "marine snow," for visiting Scientist Juanita Urban-Rich. A valve is tightened here, a screw there. Marsh clambers into the sphere to sit beside the pilot (pictured left). Juanita eases into the much-less-spacious rear compartment with another member of the sub crew. Hatches clang shut and it's time to go. With a guttural whine, the A-frame that looms over the sub begins to move. The JSL is lifted off the deck, eased out over the stern, and deposited ever-so-gently into the water. Like an umbilical cord being cut, a tether is released and the sub is suddenly free. For a moment it seems to pause at the surface, as if gathering courage. 
Then it slips beneath the waves and
fades into velvet blue.
Three-and-a-half hours later, the JSL bobs up into the light. As the ship sidles up alongside, a diver plunges in, tether in hand, and hooks the sub up to its mothership once again. Minutes later it's back on board, bright and dripping. Marsh and Juanita emerge from their capsules of acrylic and aluminum. Both are beaming. 
Despite the fact that the MOCNESS tows yielded no evidence of Nanomia's presence below, seeing is believing. " Nanomia is down there in abundance, just as I'd hoped," exclaims Marsh. "At about 168 meters we started to see the them. First one, then in twos and threes. Most were observed in turbid waters near the sea bottom. 
The colonies ranged in length from 30 centimeters to
a meter and a half. Most were actively swimming. There's just nothing like seeing these animals
in their natural environment. They're beautiful!"
Members of the research team scurry to unload the "critter-gitter" atop the sub (pictured above). In each of its canisters floats a diaphanous body of a Nanomia colony. Each sampler is relieved of its catch and the precious specimens are rushed into the lab, where we all settle down to observe and preserve.  | |
 | ||