Meyer-Kaiser lab

VSLAM in action on Terra Nova. Left panel shows the  ROV video; right panel shows the poitn cloud.  Another day, another night, another night shift. I settled into my designated place, right behind the ROV team, where I could see the screens and take notes without interfering with the pilot. The ROV descended to the seafloor and approached Terra Nova . When the pilot felt comfortable, he called to a colleague at the back of the room: "Slam it!" No, that was not a command to smash equipment. We've been using a software called VSLAM to make 3D models of our target shipwrecks, Quest and Terra Nova , in real time. As the ROV's camera records photo after photo, the images are fed into VSLAM, and a point cloud showing the structure of the wreck materializes on the screen. VSLAM is an incredibly useful tool - because the point cloud is made in real time, it's easy to identify gaps in the model and back-track to cover them. As the model slowly comes together, we can get...

An iceberg seen near R/V Atlantis . Photo by Sam Dahlgren, with the camera pointing through a pair of binoculars My phone buzzed under my pillow, rousing me from a shallow sleep. I opened my eyes and checked my watch. It was a few minutes before 1 pm. With ROV dives taking place at night, I've been on a nocturnal schedule. My phone buzzed again, and I swiped on the screen to open it. There were two new messages on the expedition text thread. The first said simply "Land ho!" The second was a photo of an iceberg.  I knew that Terra Nova sank close to Greenland. I had been told we would see the rocky, ice-laden island. But once we arrived, the land and the ice felt surprising all the same. Physically being in a place is so different from reading about it or watching it on video.  The ROV team deployed our little robotic vehicle into the cold, clear sea. After a short descent, the vehicle arrived on the seafloor. It looked muddy, just like most of the ocean bottom. The ROV...

"Corporate needs you to find the difference between this picture and this picture...they're the same picture."  - The Office , and countless memes since 11 years in between. Same exuberant Kirstin.  In 2015, I had a life-changing experience: I dove in  Alvin . Being underwater and personally visiting the deep ocean was the most profound thing I had ever experienced. I vowed to do everything in my power to get back into the sub, and to get others the chance to dive.  It took me 11 years.  Yesterday, I was offered the opportunity to dive in Alvin to visit the Quest shipwreck in the Labrador Sea. I was immensely grateful to once again enter the deep sea. Friends, I have the coolest job on this ocean planet.  We descended at a site some 200 m away from the wreck itself. The archaeologists on board have been calling the site "the plunge pit," because they suspect it contains debris that fell off of Quest when she sank. There were some bright spots at the si...

Quest 's bow The ROV pressed forward into the darkness. Out of the dim blue haze ahead of its camera, a vertical wall emerged - Quest 's hull. The vessel rested upright on the seafloor, with its bow standing proud above the sediment.  The colors were vibrant. Orange and pink strands hung from the wooden structure like birthday streamers - probably my birthday, given the palette. I leaned forward, stepping off of my chair, to narrow the distance between my face and the screen. I could feel the ROV pilot's eyes shift in my direction as my face hovered over his shoulder. He didn't say anything, but the side-eye showed I had come close enough. Note to self: respect others' personal boundaries, even when there is cool biology in view.  I sat back in my chair and pondered what I was seeing. The streamers were puzzling. I have seen plenty of marine organisms in my day - gastropods and tunicates and priapulids, polychaetes and crinoids and chaetognaths. Monoplacophorans...

The first thing I noticed were the nets. As WHOI's Falcon ROV flew across the seafloor towards a bright sonar target, a tangled mass of fishing net appeared in our camera's view.  A fishing net on the stern of Quest "Oh, it's a net!" came the exclamation from the back of the room. We saw the nets before we even saw the wreck. They were everywhere - on the sediment, draped over the hull, coiled on the deck. Our target shipwreck, Quest , was absolutely covered in fishing nets.  My mind flashed back to 2020. That year, I was the chief scientist for a team working in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary . We extensively documented the passenger steamship Portland , which had three entangled fishing nets. In fact, my team's research showed that  two new nets had impacted the wreck between 2009 and 2019. I remember the surprise of finding those nets. I remember the concern my team felt for the ROV and the careful planning we undertook to prevent entanglement. ...

Seen near St. Anthony's, Newfoundland "I love this country so much, it's so beautiful!" Riley bounced a few times on his toes as he declared his love for Canada. I had to admit - St. Anthony's, Newfoundland, was a particularly impressive spot. From the bow of R/V Atlantis , we could see limestone cliffs rising from the sea. A lighthouse perched atop the rocks warned vessels to keep their distance. Beside the lighthouse was a small cluster of houses nestled in a valley. With the sun shining on a bright blue sea, the scene looked like a sleepy storybook fishing village. Patches of snow rested on some hillcrests, even though it was July. I imagined the residents of St. Anthony's hiking to the tops of those hills each weekend - what a privilege that must be.  Many of the participants aboard Atlantis have memories of St. Anthony's. Two years ago, when the Royal Canadian Geographic Society (RCGS) launched an expedition to find Quest with side-scan sonar , they...

We gathered in the Hydro lab. This room, located on the aft port side of R/V Atlantis , is usually home base for robotics teams. The Alvin team uses it for desk work, and during my last Atlantis cruise in 2015, the team for the Sentry autonomous vehicle set up their equipment here. On AT52, my current expedition, the Hydro lab is home base for the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) team.  We're using a small ROV - a tethered robotic vehicle - to survey our two target shipwrecks, Quest and Terra Nova . The ROV can stay on the seafloor for longer than Alvin , and the video feed can be live-streamed all over the ship for everyone to see. The two vehicles - one manned, the other unmanned - perfectly complement one another.  Dwight (chief scientist), Andy, and Sam (ROV team) during the ROV test dive As we steamed north past Nova Scotia, we paused to conduct a test dive with the ROV. The vehicle we're using has completed numerous missions as part of WHOI's Ocean Observing Initia...