Image Courtesy NOAA, VBrick, EDS and TELEX/RTS.
I am watching live video footage from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean as I write this, courtesy of the NOAA Ocean Explorer site. The Lost City 2005 Expedition is using telepresence to operate the IFE ROV Hercules to explore the white carbonate chimneys and other geological formations from the “Lost City” site and surrounding areas. The spectacular locale at a depth of 2,100 feet was only discovered in the year 2000.
The expedition site is complete with information about the site and mission, blog updates from the crew, and the live video feed. The video is fascinating to watch, and truly dramatic reality television. For example, earlier this morning, the robot arm tried to place an orange object into its basket to take back up to the surface. However, the object appeared to be quite delicate and started to break apart. After several frustrating attempts, the operator was able to retrieve some of the object and drop it into the basket. Sounds lame? Just watch. This could turn out to be the most exciting movie I have seen all summer.
The expedition is scheduled to last through early August. I will provide further information and images on Frontier Channel.