A Close-Up View Of Deep-Sea Research

A close-up view of deep-sea research

- Chloe Nunn

I carefully lifted the small glass vial from the box and gently pulled its cap off. Careful not to spill the ethanol on my clothes, I slowly poured a little onto the microscope tray. Then I used tweezers to lift out the preserved specimen. It was a deep-sea amphipod about the same size as a grain of rice. I typed the information into my spreadsheet as I went . . . date: February 20, 2017 . . . specimen number 417. Peering down the microscope, I carefully measured and dissected the specimen.

These tiny amphipods live in the deepest parts of Earth’s blue oceans. Humans have explored space and looked back at our blue planet. More than two-thirds of it is covered in water. But how and why do we dive down deep to study the depths?

Over the years, technology available to marine scientists has improved immensely. As a young oceanographer, I am lucky enough to be able to use satellite data to measure things like primary production—the use of carbon dioxide and nutrients by tiny phytoplankton. However, a lot of what we can see and measure from space is limited to looking at the surface of the oceans. We can gauge the depth of the ocean from space, but what’s contained within is largely a mystery.

Out to Sea