Category Archives: Virtual Research Missions

Happy Hagfish Day!

Posted on by whaleweb

It’s here! The best day of the year, Hagfish Day! 

WhaleTimes created this day to celebrate the  beauty of ugly!

It’s time to slime. How are you celebrating? Making slime? Sending a hagfish bouquet to a friend?

We’re celebrating by joining Drs Amy Baco-Taylor (Florida State University),  Brendan Roark (Texas A&M), Katie Shamberger (Texas A&M), and the rest of the science team aboard the R/V Kilo Moana as they explore the recently discovered deep-sea coral reefs off the coast of Hawaii.*

WhaleTimes is also joining kids at the Moorcroft Library in Moorcroft, Wyoming to make slime, look through a deep-sea animal’s eyes, and find out how many kids it takes to be the size of a giant squid. 

Here are some excellent ways you can celebrate some slime time!

 

 

*Defying Dissolution: North Pacific Deep-Sea Scleractinian Reefs in Undersaturated Water funded by NSF # OCE-1851378

Creep into the Deep: Deep-Sea Coral Reef

Posted on by whaleweb

Fantastic News!  WhaleTimes is joining another amazing group of scientists to study the deep sea! This time deep-sea coral reefs off the coast of Hawaii.

Amy Baco-Taylor (Florida State University), Katie Shamberger (Texas A&M University) , and Brendan Roark (Texas A&M University), along with a team of talented grad students and the ROV Jason team have arrived at their destination. They are more than 1,000 miles from the coast of Hawaii.

As the Jason ROV explores the depths, it will send live video footage to the Science Team. Plus, it will collect coral and water samples.

More to come!

Jake, the SeaDog, WhaleTimes

The grant: Defying Dissolution: North Pacific Deep-Sea Scleractinian Reefs in Undersaturated Water funded by NSF # OCE-1851378

 

 

New book, Below the Edge of Darkness, out now!

Posted on by whaleweb

INCREDIBLE! That’s a perfect description of Dr. Edith Widder’s new book, Below the Edge of Darkness: A Memoir of Exploring Light and Life in the Deep Sea.

Friends of WhaleTimes have met Dr. Widder, but if you don’t know about her, Dr. Widder is a deep-sea explorer, submersible pilot, conservationist, and, as it turns out she is also one heck of a story teller!

WhaleTimes has been share Dr Widder’s research through the years including the incredible NOAA-OER Journey into Midnight research cruise where she and the team filmed a giant squid!

Below the Edge of Darkness is filled with true stories about her deep-sea exploration and amazing discoveries. This exciting read includes beautiful photographs, too.

If you love the the ocean, watching nature documentaries, or want to emulate someone with dogged determination for discovery, then this is the book for you!

Congratulation on another amazing success Edie!

Find the book at your favorite bookstore:
Below the Edge of Darkness: A Memoir of Exploring Light and Life in the Deep Sea
Random House, available Jul 27, 2021
ISBN 9780525509240

 

 

Meet the Journey into Midnight Science Team

Posted on by whaleweb

Our Journey into Midnight: Light and Life Below the Twilight Zone Virtual Research Mission has begun!

Despite being the largest habitat by volume on the planet, the water column remains one of the most poorly explored environments. This is especially true once one moves below 1000 m into the bathypelagic realm. Join world renowned deep-sea explorers Dr. Sonke Johnsen, Dr. Tamara Frank, Dr. Edie Widder, Dr. Heather Judkins, and Dr. Heather Bracken-Grissom as they share the research and discoveries from the NOAA Ocean Exploration and Research supported expedition, Journey into Midnight: Light and Life Below the Twilight Zone

Meet the Journey into Midnight: Light and Life Below the Twilight Zone team:

Teachers and librarians, there’s still time to join our virtual research team.

Copyright WhaleTimes Inc LOGO All Rights Reserved                              

 

For more information email us:    sigsbee at our website  whaletimes.org

The Squid Whisperer Strikes Again!

Posted on by whaleweb

Gulf of Mexico, Wednesday, June 19, 2019: Dr. Edith Widder and Nathan Robinson called out into the deep to see what would answer. Something did, in a very big way. A GIANT SQUID!

This is only the second time a living giant squid has ever been caught on camera. And both times the videographer was Dr. Edith Widder. Both times Dr. Widder’s special deep-sea camera system, called the Medusa, did what no ROV or submersible has been able to do.

The Medusa is a stealth camera system that captures video footage in the deep. Because the Medusa uses red lights that are invisible to most deep-sea inhabitants and has no noise-generating thrusters, it can serve as a stealthy observer of light and life below the twilight zone. (It’s design is to be unobtrusive, unlike an ROV or submersible.)

How do you call a squid? Lights. In the deep, most animals use light. Animals use bioluminescence to find food,  communicate, and escape danger. The lights on the Medusa recreate the alarm lights of an atolla jellyfish. When startled, this jellyfish puts on a light show that beats anything in Vegas. Scientists believe the light show, like a car alarm, catches the attention of other predators. If the jellyfish is lucky, a larger predator will swoop in and eat whatever was trying to eat it. That allows the atolla jellyfish to slip away into the dark.

The Medusa uses specially designed lights that mimic the color and pattern of the atolla’s glowing scream for help.

Science Team member and cephalopod expert, Dr. Heather Judkins (University of South Florida St. Petersburg) quickly identified it as a giant squid — a 10-12 foot long juvenile giant squid.

This exciting discovery, and the on-going research in the Gulf of Mexico midnight zone (below 1,000 meters/3,280 feet) are part of the “Journey into Midnight: Light and Life Below the Twilight Zone” research cruise funded by NOAA’s Office of Exploration and Research.

Read more about this exciting news: Here Be Monsters: We Filmed a Giant Squid in America’s Backyard

K-6 teachers, join WhaleTimes’ this fall for Creep into the Deep: Journey into Midnight and learn more about Dr. Widder (aka the Squid Whisperer), Dr. Judkins…and the rest of this amazing research team and their discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico. Find out more.

Creep into the Deep: Journey into Midnight education program and the Journey into Midnight: Light and Life Below the Twilight Zone research sponsored by NOAA-OER

 

NOAA Ocean Exploration Webinar for Educators

Posted on by whaleweb

Journey into Midnight – Light and Life Below the Twilight Zone 2019 Expedition

Tuesday, June 4, 2019 at 4:00 PM EDT

Please register at:  https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8902228179294145281

Despite being the largest habitat by volume on the planet, the water column remains one of the most poorly explored environments. This is especially true once one moves below 1000 m into the bathypelagic realm.

Join Dr. Edie Widder, world renowned deep-sea explorer and founder of the Ocean Research and Conservation Association (ORCA), as she shares the fascinating science behind the upcoming NOAA Ocean Exploration and Research supported expedition, Journey into Midnight: Light and Life Below the Twilight Zone.

From June 7 to June 23, 2019, Dr. Widder and her team will explore bathypelagic depths (the water column below 1000 m) in the Gulf of Mexico to study bioluminescence and vision capabilities of the organisms that live there. What we learn is sure to be illuminating!

This 60-minute webinar will provide an introduction to the expedition and associated education resources available online.

Questions? Contact susan.haynes@noaa.gov.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

A cool week with sharks

Posted on by whaleweb

Cool kids. Cool speakers. Cool sharks. We may be having a heat wave here in the Pacific Northwest, but it’s been a cool week for our Sharks vs People program. Trista and Sage, shark experts from the Oregon Coast Aquarium  shared their expertise with summer camp students at two cool science centers — the St Louis Science Center and the Science Center of Iowa.

Sage, Trista, and the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Thank you!

 

 

Summer Camp 2018: Sharks vs People

Posted on by whaleweb

WhaleTimes announces this year’s summer camp, SHARKS VS PEOPLE. Great whites make headlines. Hammerheads send chills down the spine. Even the prehistoric (and extinct) Megaladon shark has attained legendary status as a monster. The truth is, you’re more likely to become a professional football player, injure yourself fixing the toilet, or get a spider bite than attacked by a shark. More than 500 sharks roam the seas (and some rivers). Some are longer than a school bus. Others swim faster than a killer whale. Some sharks can change color. Many glow in the dark! Sharks’ undeserved fearsome reputation overshadows the real story. The most dangerous animal in the sea is people, not sharks. Many shark species are threatened or endangered. They need our help to save them.  Find out how in this fun and exciting class.

WhaleTimes’ Sharks vs People Summer Camp introduces kids to shark adaptations and species. Throughout this program, special guest Ruth A. Musgrave, author of MISSION SHARK RESCUE  (National Geographic Children’s Books) and EVERYTHING SHARKS (National Geographic Children’s Books), shares her love of sharks, introduces amazing sharks, the scientists who study them, and empowers kids to help save sharks.

This program offered through museums and science centers throughout the country.

Celebration of Conservation Highlights: Elephant Seal 6967 Follow Up

Posted on by whaleweb

Welcome Teachers. This month we’re posting some of the blogs and activities from our most recent Virtual Research Missions: Celebration of Conservation and Creep into the DEEPEND.  We’ll post the email from the Science Team member, plus photos, videos, activities, Explorer mini-posters (bios) or other related information or links. For our programs, teachers pick and choose, mix and match the blogs, photos, activities…etc. in what ever way works best with their class.

Here’s another one from Patrick Robinson part of Team Elephant Seal from our Celebration of Conservation: Gray Whales, Elephant Seals, and Vaquita. Enjoy

SEAMAIL™: Elephant Seal 6967 Follow up from Patrick Robinson

(NOTE: For classroom use only. Seamails, photos, activities and other related curricula are copyrighted and trademarked and cannot be sold, posted, repackaged, or used in any other way without written permission of WhaleTimes, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)