07/15/1997

Ocean Researcher Lectures at AU

AUBURN, Ala. - The oceans of the world are vast -- averaging a depth of 13,000 feet -- and diverse, making up the largest habitat for life on Earth, according to Larry Madin, chairperson of the biology department at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) on Cape Cod in Massachusetts.

"We know the ocean is full of all types of life forms, but we don't know what all of them are," Madin said.

Madin spoke to a group of Auburn University students and faculty on July 11 as a part of the Howard Hughes Program. Madin has been a pioneer in the use of new techniques for deep sea exploration.

He was among the first to use open ocean dive techniques rather than nets to study ocean organisms. The limiting factor with this method is that the divers can only go to a depth of 100 feet, Madin said.

Deep submergence vehicles and remotely-operated vehicles are used to explore at much greater depths.

"Alvin" is a manned deep submergence vehicle used at WHOI that can take its operators as low as 14,000 feet below the surface. Another vehicle has a spherical plexiglass hull so riders can see in all directions, and it can go to a depth of about 1000 feet.

"You're in a clear bubble, and you can see ocean around you in all directions," Madin said. "The things you're looking for are not very common, and you need to have good peripheral vision."

WHOI also uses remotely-operated vehicles, which are unmanned and can go down to 20,000 feet below the surface. These vehicles can stay down for days at a time while operators receive video transmissions and collect samples of organisms from the surface.

"It's a lot like playing video games, but at a much greater expense," Madin said.

Whether researchers collect ocean life by hand in open ocean dives, or explore the depths with submarines and robotic vehicles, Madin and others at WHOI are breaking ground -- and just breaking the surface -- in the study of ocean life forms. "We go to them instead of having them come to us," Madin said.

-30-

News from:

Office of Ag Communications & Marketing

Auburn University College of Agriculture
Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station
3 Comer Hall, Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849
334-844-4877 (PHONE) 334-844-5892 (FAX)

Contact Jamie Creamer, 334-844-2783 or jcreamer@auburn.edu
by Anna M. Lee

July 15, 1997