Area of Research: Oceans

A Dive into Hudson Canyon: New York’s Atlantic Secret

The Wildlife Conservation Society, The New York Aquarium, and The Explorers Club invite you to a dive into Hudson Canyon – New York’s Atlantic secret.
Speakers:
•    Peter Auster, Mystic Aquarium explorer
•    Jesse Ausubel, Rockefeller University explorer
•    Keith Ellenbogen, underwater photographer
•    Melinda Rekdahl, Wildlife Conservation Society whale scientist
•    Madeleine Thompson, Wildlife Conservation Society archivist
Date: Tuesday, September 26  Time: 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Location: Explorers Club Headquarters, 46 E 70th Street, New York, NY, 10021 Reservation Notes: This event is FREE and open to the public. Light food and drink will be served. Please RSVP to nyseascape@wcs.org, limited seating available. For more details, you can learn more on nyaquarium.com.  This event has been made possible with support of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.

A Press Release describes recent discoveries by ocean explorers and the 2016 National Ocean Exploration Forum, organized by Jesse Ausubel (Rockefeller University) and Paul Gaffney (Monmouth University). Thanks to the 110 participants and for great preparation by Alan Curry, Doris Manville, Karl Vilacoba, and Danica Simmons.

News reports of the recent discoveries:

Strange purple sea creatures found in deep ocean trenches
BBC News–Oct 20, 2016

 500 ‘Champagne’ Methane Seeps Discovered Off Pacific Coast
Live Science–Oct 20, 2016

 Methane leak along the West Coast that could contribute to global …
Daily Mail–Oct 20, 2016

 There’s an Enormous Natural Gas Seep Along the West Coast
Gizmodo India–15 hours ago

Biological Sampling in the Deep Sea edited by Malcolm Clark, Mireille Consalvey, and Ashley Rowden presents a large fraction of what we know about this subject in 19 chapters and 472 pages. Published in April 2016 by Wiley-Blackwell (ISBN-10: 0470656743), the book emerged from the dozens of field projects in the deep sea organized under the flag of the Census of Marine Life.  The editors led the seamounts project of the Census and for this book attracted experts also on abyssal plains, vent & seep communities, and the continental margins and all the challenges involved.

Initial chapters cover habitats and fauna, survey and sampling design, and mapping. The heart of the book describes and analyses a panoply of approaches spanning trawls, longlines, epibenthic sledges, corers and grabs, landers (including baited cameras and traps), towed cameras, submersibles and remotely operated vehicles, and even seafloor observatories.  Later chapters address sorting, recording, preservation and storage, information management strategies, and data analysis. Concluding chapters ponder application of studies to governance and management and the future of biological sampling in the deep sea. The 50+ authors are a who’s who of deep sea biology and technology.

The book, carefully edited and attractively produced, is the first comprehensive compilation of deep sea sampling methods for the full range of habitats.  It is hard to imagine writing a sound and successful research proposal in deep sea biology without making use of its breadth and depth.  All the authors and especially the editors and their host institution, New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), merit thanks for a volume that advances our chances to excel individually and collectively.  Jesse Ausubel wrote the Foreword for the volume.