MOSS LANDING – A new state of the art underwater camera, developed by Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute scientists, will paint a brighter, more detailed picture of deep sea life.
The studio-quality camera, which captures images in ultrahigh definition 4K video, will help researchers better document the creatures and rock formations which lie beneath the ocean’s surface.
“There are colors, textures, animals that just kind of blended into the background in the past that we will now be able to visualize,” said Lonny Lundsten, institute senior research technician. “It has so much potential.”
In collaboration with DeepSea Power & Light, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute scientists developed the technology, which will be used to capture images of rare jellies, neon corals and hydrothermal vents. The camera’s technology is similar to that of which is used in the Olympics, said MBARI Electrical Engineer Paul Roberts, which track skiers whizzing down mountaintops at 90 mph and ice skaters whirling and hurling through the air.
“When there’s a moment in a sports game that you absolutely have to catch because it’s only going to happen once … I think that’s analogous to some of the things that we do, where you might see an animal very briefly and you have to get a really good shot of it,” Roberts said.
Three years in the making, the MxD SeaCam is enclosed in a special titanium housing that protects delicate camera components from being damaged by the high pressures encountered in the deep sea. Catching a ride on a Remotely Operated Vehicle, or ROV, it can dive to depths of more than 13,000 feet below the ocean’s surface and capture video continuously for 12 hours. So far, the camera has accompanied an ROV on 19 MBARI missions, which range from day trips to week-long expeditions at sea.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, more than 80% of the world’s oceans remain unexplored. Using the MxD SeaCam, researchers have already documented parasitic organisms not seen in the past, Lundsten said.
“We’re seeing the surface of jellies and other animals that we couldn’t see before – it would just be no definition, no contour – and now all of the sudden we’re seeing all these little bumps and ripples on the surface, just textures we didn’t see in the past,” Lundsten said.
The images and videos captured by the camera will become a part of a larger database MBARI researchers have compiled over 35 years, which contains 8.5 million observations of the world’s oceans.
Prior to 2021, dive images were captured in high definition. The MxD SeaCam’s 4K ultra HD resolution and powerful zoom capabilities mean scientists will now be able to more accurately track creatures and geologic features, such as the Monterey submarine Canyon, in the Pacific and beyond.
In November, an ROV equipped with the camera captured an elusive giant phantom jelly. The invertebrate has a 3-foot-wide body and arms that span 33 feet, which presents a conundrum to researchers studying the jelly. Video imaging is vitally important to understand such creatures, said Roberts.
“It’s a hard to access environment for humans. Even when you go down in a vehicle, you don’t always get a great view of what’s there because of constraints on mechanical systems,” Roberts said. “The camera gives you the ability to almost be closer to being there in person. You see more of the colors, resolution and dynamic range you’d see with your eye.”
While the camera will be routinely used for scientific missions, it will also be used to bring the public along on dives, from the comfort of a couch or at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Lundsten anticipates MxD SeaCam footage will air on BBC programs and be used in aquarium exhibits.
That science communication, as climate change impacts seas, is equally important to the research mission, he said.
“Incredible imagery really helps tell the story of the deep sea, and conveys both its beauty and it’s fragility,” Lundsten said.
