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Deep-sea Community
A deep-sea community is any community (ecology), community of organisms associated by a shared habitat in the deep sea. Deep sea communities remain largely unexplored, due to the technological and logistical challenges and expense involved in visiting this remote biome. Because of the unique challenges (particularly the high Atmospheric pressure, barometric pressure, extremes of temperature, and aphotic zone, absence of light), it was long believed that little life existed in this hostile environment. Since the 19th century however, research has demonstrated that significant biodiversity exists in the deep sea. The three main sources of energy and nutrients for deep sea communities are marine snow, whale falls, and chemosynthesis at hydrothermal vents and cold seeps. History Prior to the 19th century scientists assumed life was sparse in the deep ocean. In the 1870s Charles Wyville Thomson, Sir Charles Wyville Thomson and colleagues aboard the Challenger expedition discovered man ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chemosynthetic
In biochemistry, chemosynthesis is the biological conversion of one or more carbon-containing molecules (usually carbon dioxide or methane) and nutrients into organic matter using the oxidation of inorganic compounds (e.g., hydrogen gas, hydrogen sulfide) or ferrous ions as a source of energy, rather than sunlight, as in photosynthesis. Chemoautotrophs, organisms that obtain carbon from carbon dioxide through chemosynthesis, are phylogenetically diverse. Groups that include conspicuous or biogeochemically important taxa include the sulfur-oxidizing Gammaproteobacteria, the Campylobacterota, the Aquificota, the methanogenic archaea, and the neutrophilic iron-oxidizing bacteria. Many microorganisms in dark regions of the oceans use chemosynthesis to produce biomass from single-carbon molecules. Two categories can be distinguished. In the rare sites where hydrogen molecules (H2) are available, the energy available from the reaction between CO2 and H2 (leading to production of meth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaikō ROV
was a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) built by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) for exploration of the deep sea. ''Kaikō'' was the second of only five vessels ever to reach the bottom of the Challenger Deep, as of 2019. Between 1995 and 2003, this 10.6 ton unmanned submersible conducted more than 250 dives, collecting 350 biological species (including 180 different bacteria), some of which could prove to be useful in medical and industrial applications. On 29 May 2003, ''Kaikō'' was lost at sea off the coast of Shikoku Island during Typhoon Chan-Hom, when a secondary cable connecting it to its launcher at the ocean surface broke. Another ROV, ''Kaikō7000II'', served as the replacement for ''Kaikō'' until 2007. At that time, JAMSTEC researchers began sea trials for the permanent replacement ROV, '' ABISMO'' (Automatic Bottom Inspection and Sampling Mobile). Challenger Deep Bathymetric data obtained during the course of the ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Remote Operated Vehicle
A remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROUV) or remotely operated vehicle (ROV) is a free-swimming submersible craft used to perform underwater observation, inspection and physical tasks such as valve operations, hydraulic functions and other general tasks within the subsea oil and gas industry, military, scientific and other applications. ROVs can also carry tooling packages for undertaking specific tasks such as pull-in and connection of flexible flowlines and umbilicals, and component replacement. They are often used to do research and commercial work at great depths beyond the capacities of most submersibles and divers. Description This meaning is different from remote control vehicles operating on land or in the air because ROVs are designed specifically to function in underwater environments, where conditions such as high pressure, limited visibility, and the effects of buoyancy and water currents pose unique challenges. While land and aerial vehicles use wireless communica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bathyscaphe
A bathyscaphe () is a free-diving, self-propelled deep-sea submersible, consisting of a crew cabin similar to a '' Bathysphere'', but suspended below a float rather than from a surface cable, as in the classic ''Bathysphere'' design. The float is filled with gasoline because it is readily available, buoyant, and, for all practical purposes, incompressible. The incompressibility of the gasoline means the tanks can be very lightly constructed, since the pressure inside and outside the tanks equalizes, eliminating any differential. By contrast, the crew cabin must withstand a huge pressure differential and is massively built. Buoyancy at the surface can be trimmed easily by replacing gasoline in the tanks with water, because water has a greater density. Auguste Piccard, inventor of the first bathyscaphe, coined the name ''bathyscaphe'' using the Ancient Greek words (), meaning 'deep', and (), meaning 'vessel, ship'. Mode of operation To descend, a bathyscaphe floods air ta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trieste (bathyscaphe)
''Trieste'' is a Swiss-designed, Italian-built deep-diving research bathyscaphe. In 1960, it became the first crewed vessel to reach the bottom of Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, the deepest point in Earth's seabed. The mission was the final goal for Project Nekton, a series of dives conducted by the United States Navy in the Pacific Ocean near Guam. The vessel was piloted by Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard and US Navy lieutenant Don Walsh. They reached a depth of about . The bathyscaphe was designed by Swiss scientist Auguste Piccard, the father of pilot Jacques Piccard. It was built in Italy and first launched in 1953. The vessel was first owned and operated by the French Navy until it was purchased by the US Navy in 1958. It was taken out of service in 1966. Since the 1980s, it has been on exhibit in the National Museum of the United States Navy in Washington, D.C. Design ''Trieste'' was designed by the Swiss scientist Auguste Piccard, based on his previous expe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacques Piccard
Jacques Piccard (28 July 19221 November 2008) was a Swiss oceanographer and engineer, known for having developed submarines for studying ocean currents. In the Challenger Deep, he and Lieutenant Don Walsh of the United States Navy were the first people to explore the deepest known part of the world's ocean, and the deepest known location on the surface of Earth's crust, the Mariana Trench, located in the western North Pacific Ocean. Family life Jacques Piccard was born in Brussels, Belgium, the son of Auguste Piccard, who was himself an adventurer and engineer. Jacques' father Auguste twice beat the record for reaching the highest altitude in a balloon, during 1931–1932. The Piccard family thus had the unique distinction of breaking world records for both the highest flight and the deepest dive. * Jules Piccard (professor of chemistry) ** Auguste Piccard (physicist, aeronaut, balloonist, hydronaut) *** Jacques Piccard (hydronaut) **** Bertrand Piccard (aeronaut, balloonist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Walsh
Don Walsh (November 2, 1931 – November 12, 2023) was an American oceanographer, U.S. Navy officer and marine policy specialist. While aboard the bathyscaphe ''Trieste'', he and Jacques Piccard made a record maximum descent in the Challenger Deep on January 23, 1960, to . Later and more accurate measurements have measured it at . Early life and education Walsh was born in Berkeley, California on November 2, 1931. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1954, and later, a Master's degree in political science from San Diego State University, and a PhD in physical oceanography from Texas A&M University. Career Walsh served 24 years in the U.S. Navy upon graduation from the Academy, spanning the Korean and Vietnam Wars.CAPT Don Walsh, USN (Ret.) [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fathom
A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to , used especially for measuring the depth of water. The fathom is neither an international standard (SI) unit, nor an internationally accepted non-SI unit. Historically it was the maritime measure of depth in the English-speaking world but, apart from within the US, charts now use metres. There are two yards (6 feet) in an imperial fathom. Originally the span of a man's outstretched arms, the size of a fathom has varied slightly depending on whether it was defined as a thousandth of an (Admiralty) nautical mile or as a multiple of the imperial yard. Formerly, the term was used for any of several units of length varying around . Etymology The term (pronounced ) derives (via Middle English ''fathme'') from the Old English ''fæðm'', which is cognate with the Danish word ''favn'' and means "embracing arms" or "pair of outstretched arms". It is maybe also cognate with the Old High German wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mariana Islands
The Mariana Islands ( ; ), also simply the Marianas, are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east. They lie south-southeast of Japan, west-southwest of Hawaii, north of New Guinea, and east of the Philippines, demarcating the Philippine Sea's eastern limit. They are found in the northern part of the western Oceanic sub-region of Micronesia, and are politically divided into two jurisdictions of the United States: the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and, at the southern end of the chain, the territory of Guam. The islands were named after the influential Spanish queen Mariana of Austria following their colonization in the 17th century. The indigenous inhabitants are the Chamorro people. Archaeologists in 2013 reported findings which indicated that the people who first settl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mariana Trench
The Mariana Trench is an oceanic trench located in the western Pacific Ocean, about east of the Mariana Islands; it is the deep sea, deepest oceanic trench on Earth. It is crescent-shaped and measures about in length and in width. The maximum known depth is at the southern end of a small slot-shaped valley in its floor known as the Challenger Deep. The deepest point of the trench is more than farther from sea level than the peak of Mount Everest. At the bottom of the trench, the water column above exerts a pressure of , more than 1,071 times the standard atmospheric pressure at sea level. At this pressure, the density of water is increased by 4.96%. The temperature at the bottom is . In 2009, the Mariana Trench was established as a National monument (United States), US National Monument, Mariana Trench Marine National Monument. One-celled organisms called monothalamea have been found in the trench at a record depth of below the sea surface by researchers from the Scrip ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Challenger Deep
The Challenger Deep is the List of submarine topographical features#List of oceanic trenches, deepest known point of the seabed of Earth, located in the western Pacific Ocean at the southern end of the Mariana Trench, in the ocean territory of the Federated States of Micronesia. The General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans, GEBCO Gazetteer of Undersea Feature Names indicates that the feature is situated at and has an approximated maximum depth of below sea level. A subsequent study revised the value to at a 95% confidence interval. However, both the precise geographic location and depth remain ambiguous, with contemporary measurements ranging from . The depression is named after the British Royal Navy survey ships , whose Challenger expedition, expedition of 1872–1876 first located it, and HMS Challenger (1931), HMS ''Challenger II'', whose expedition of 1950–1952 established its record-setting depth. The first descent by any vehicle was conducted by the United States N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
