"What happens in the vast, deep ocean, out of sight and beyond the reach of sunlight and satellites?" asks chief scientist Chris German. He is on a mission, with his team at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, to find out. They developed Sentry, a robotic underwater vehicle used for exploring the deep ocean.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Oceans make life on Earth possible providing oxygen and regulating our climate
- Much of our oceans remain unexplored but new technology is advancing knowledge
- Machines like Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's "Alvin" explore deep ocean
- Woods Hole's Center for Marine Robotics pioneering new underwater vessels
Chris German is a marine geochemist and Chief Scientist for Deep Submergence at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Working with the National Deep Submergence Facility, he advises on topics ranging from tele-presence and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles to the recent upgrades to the Human Occupied Vehicle, Alvin. Despite most humans' land-centric view, Earth is an ocean planet. The global ocean covers more than two-thirds of our planet's surface and makes life as we know it possible: it produces half of the oxygen we breathe, helps regulate our climate and provides the single largest habitat for life on Earth.
Yet, with nearly 2 miles or 3,000 meters of water covering more than half the surface of our planet, much of this vast realm remains unexplored and unexamined. But not unconsidered.
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