Expedition Photos
Fetch experience
Expedition team members Dr. Mark Patterson and Chris Petrone work with teachers giving them hands-on experiences with ocean observing system technology, such as the AUV Fetch.
Chris Petrone
Fetch AUV
Fetch1, seen here, was developed by expedition leader, Dr. Mark Patterson. This automous underwater vehicle is a taxicab for sensors, including side-scan sonar, dissolved oxygen, water temperature and salinity. It also carries an underwater videocamera.
Chris Petrone
Fetch1 on mission
Here, Fetch1 has been deployed on a mission. The long probe at the nose of the AUV is the side-scan sonar. Also note the encapsulated GPS on top, which allows Fetch to obtain fixes used in guidance.
Chris Petrone
Fetch's innards
With two internal computers, a suite of sensors and a video camera, there is about 650 meters of wire inside of Fetch1. Here, you see some of the wires that run the different utilities in the nose cone.
Chris Petrone
Aquarius habitat
Located in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, off Key Largo, FL, the Aquarius habitat rests 20 meters below the water's surface.
DJ Roller
Aquarius Life Support Buoy
The Life Support Buoy (LSB) provides power and communications to the Aquarius habitat located immediately beneath the buoy. To ensure safety, only official vessels may enter the designated area around Aquarius.
Chris Petrone
Aquarius Reef Base
Back on land, all aspects of the underwater habitat are monitored 24 hours a day during a mission, including oxygen and carbon dioxide levels, communications and power consumption. The land-based team is in constant, two-way contact with the habitat team.
Chris Petrone
Fetch and Aquarius pot
Supplies are "potted" to and from the Aquarius habitat in special air- and water-tight containers, called "pots." This particular pot was used to carry Noelle and Sarina's clothes and video camera for their in-habitat interview.
Chris Petrone
At-sea webinar
In addition to the daily blogs, the Expedition team also conducted two live internet-broadcasts. The first took place in the early afternoon, from directly above the habitat (seen here), while the second, in the evening, took place dockside at the Aquarius Land Base. Note the webcam to the left of Chris (red shorts).
Brad Peadro