Bioluminescence and Biodiversity Expedition 2007

July 27 - August 1, 2007

July 27, 2007 (Departure date)

MBARI Summer Intern Rebecca Helm working in the laboratory on some of the organisms collected by the ROV Tiburon during the earlier dive.
Here you can see Rebecca Helm (a summer intern at MBARI) working in the laboratory with some of the animals that have been collected with the ROV.
Meghan Powers and Rebecca Helm write : Today we left the safety of the MBARI harbor and traveled to our first launch site. The ”MBARI” humpback whales bid us farewell among salmon fishers. The trip out took several hours and during that time we were briefed on safety and evacuation procedure. A wonderful lunch of pasta and salad was prepared by our steward Patrick while the Tour de France was enjoyed by some of the avid bicyclists on board.

The ROV Tiburon launched just after lunch and traveled to a depth of 1600 meters (~4800 feet). Some of the sighting highlights include beautiful jellies, vampire squid, a gulper eel and big red siphonophores. It takes the skillful eye of our chief scientist, Steven Haddock to spot these amazing animals as the ROV grazes through the plentiful marine snow. Once an organism is spotted, the Tiburon pilots gently maneuver the samplers to collect the animal for further observations at the surface.

The ROV Tiburon is being gently lowered through the moonpool doors of the RV Western Flyer. The Western Flyer was built for the ROV Tiburon and both operate around 150 days a year.

 


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