Mission & Project Info | NOAA’s Aquarius Undersea Laboratory
Mission Blog

The scientists are all out at their site and my fellow habitat technician Mark is out on hooka doing husbandry on the habitat.  Alone at last.  Most of the time so far there has been someone else in here with me.  I love their company but its unique to be in here by myself.  The visibility is great and I look forward to my hooka dive later today.  Yesterday while out diving the water began to get very cloudy even though it was only about 4:30pm.  Closer inspection showed that frond oysters,a very common bi-valve on the habitat, were spawning!  Clouds of red eggs and white sperm were being expelled making it look like Aquarius was smoking.  There is so much marine life here on and around Aquarius that you never know what you will see!  Well gotta go, divers coming back. 

More later. 

Otto Rutten

Aquarius Reef Base, Associate Director, habitat technician and aquanaut

Greetings from the world’s largest medical center! It is with much pleasure that I am following this exciting science mission. My history with the Aquarius Reef Base (ARB) actually goes back to high school where, as an avid science student, I was enthralled by the exciting research taking place at Aquarius and entered the student essay contest. After receiving an honorable mention, I re-entered a second year and was fortunate to be accepted in 2003. As the finalist, I was given the opportunity to travel to the undersea laboratory with my parents and science teacher. This was my first chance to become SCUBA certified, a long-held goal of mine.

As a child growing up in land-locked Colorado, I have fond memories of family trips to San Diego and my first explorations of the undersea world, snorkeling and boogie boarding. Since then I have harbored a deep respect for the majesty and grandeur of the ocean world. I share NURC’s commitment to conservation of this fragile ecosystem and promotion of education about the largest portion of our planet that we are only beginning to understand.

As a biochemist and future physician scientist, I understand the great potential of knowledge gained from exploration of this “innerspace.” Not only can valuable advancements be gained from basic science research in the oceans, but there also exists a tremendous potential of applications for clinical benefit, such as bone grafts created from (laboratory reared) hard corals.

This last year as a NOAA Hollings scholar I served the ARB as a scientific liason, serving PI’s working on projects in the National Marine Sanctuary out of NURC with their dive operations, field data and sample collection, and lab analysis. The experience of working with such a professional group of scientists who share my passion for exploration and scientific inquiry was exciting. I was truly honored to have the opportunity to work at NURC and be part of a team who share my goals of exploration along with conservation and education of this fragile ocean ecosystem. I couldn’t imagine a more committed and hardworking staff. All I can say is it was truly a pleasure and I will remain a lifelong supporter of the ARB and the wonderful work being done not only with the science missions, but navy and NASA operations as well.

I am currently at the Texas Medical Center undergoing training to enter a dual MD/PhD physician scientist program next year to combine my passion for basic science research with clinical applications. In conducting genetics research into the basis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, but I desired to serve our cancer patients at Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH) on a deeper level.
TCH has a wonderful program, the Institute for Arts and Medicine, which was founded on the belief that artistic expression enhances the healing environment and treatment experience. As both a dancer and scientist I strongly agree. Our hospital has a state of the art recording studio for the use of its pediatric oncology patients who are encouraged to write lyrics and compose their own songs in a project called Purple Songs. NASA Astronaut Scott Parazynski was so inspired by these kids that he took their songs with him to the International Space Station as a tribute. Since then CDs containing Purple Songs music have traveled to many locations including Mt. Everest. This is all designed to focus on the kids artistic expression and to honor them by creating a “whole person” experience.

A young patient’s song about ocean exploration brought back memories of my experiences diving and working out of the Aquarius underwater habitat. I was inspired by this patient’s beautiful expression, and the NURC crew have graciously helped me to arrange a live videoconference for the kids to talk to our aquanauts in Aquarius and to hear their music played at the bottom of the ocean. This is certainly a first for Purple Songs!

In addition, one of my fondest memories of my time underwater is the magical glow of bioluminescent organisms lighting up upon any movement disruption in the water column at night. The bluish green glow reminds me of fireflies, and I wanted to share this neat adaptation of these organisms to produce their own light with the kids. So I have arranged for samples of bioluminescent algae to be sent to our Children’s Cancer Center from California so the kids can participate in a hands-on science demonstration of this bioluminescence.

I am excited to link up with the aquanauts tomorrow and to share these beautiful songs from the kids that inspired me. How far these experiences have taken me from growing up in Colorado to working under the ocean out of Aquarius…I am thrilled to share my experiences with Aquarius and contribute to the Purple Songs project.

Thanks to everyone at NURC for your great support in this endeavor.
From mission control in Houston- we are go for Purple Songs to Swim!

News of the day includes a gentle awakening fly by from a pair of graceful spotted eagle rays, then we got more corals re-attached to the reef with some welcoming banded butterflyfish, pesky blue-head wrasses eating anything we scrub off the backs of the coral transplants or substrate, and a curious spotted moray eel slinking in and out of his crevice. 

We decided to spend our mid-day and lunch break counting and documenting the number of fish that occur around and about the habitat, guessing about 25-40 species. Already we’re up to 58 species -  the newest spotting is two graysbies, but most impressive are the two goliath grouper that constantly keep peering in and around our view ports, on all sides of the habitat. Look for these two characters later tonight on the gazebo feed, my brother says that you can always tell when the grouper is coming by because all the other fish disappear and then the big guy passes, and again soon the fish frenzy returns after he’s gone by.

This evening, upon return to the habitat (5:30 pm) we were alerted that the bivalves were spawning, and when it comes to spawning…I can’t miss a thing! We followed up and found the oysters spawning - some were the typical males “smoking” and the others were releasing streams of white and orange (very skinny silly string-like), which we assume are eggs, but it was too fine to distinguish. It’s possible that a single oyster was releasing all three, as it seemed that individuals were spawning in one spot, then you turn around and find another releasing at another location.  One of the two goliath groupers accompanied us into the wet porch while we were breaking down our rigs and getting out of the water, which Abel tried to photo.

Tonight we’re chatting and discussing the day and planning our dives for tomorrow.  Conditions are great, the water is very clear and calm and current was minimal all day, picking up a bit tonight. Can’t wait to dive tomorrow, I’m ready to go back in now of course, but I guess I’ll have to settle for some sleep first. 

Signing off until tomorrow, Aquanaut MacLaughlin saying goodnight to all.

Note that Aquarius sits within a research only zone within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, so it is illegal to fish around Aquarius and this is enforced by the marine patrol!

Ron Peters asks: This one is for Dr. Dana Williams and crew.  

Have you explored bio-accretion techniques as a means for structural repair of damaged coral heads? By what means are you currently securing coral transplants to the receptor coral sites?

Hi Ron- our group has not tried the accretion (or BioRock). That method enhances deposition of limestone to create structure which may ultimately allow new corals to settle and grow but does not directly restore coral. Our mission is focused on determining the best source of corals to transplant to restore natural populations. Although corals may be dying on the reef, captive raised corals are increasingly available (as the techniques to propagate them have improved) meaning we have the potential to restore limited areas of damage on reefs from ‘farmed’ corals. However at the moment we do not know how these captive corals do in the natural environment. Our current mission aims to determine what coral sources result in more resilient and healthy coral populations for a reef.

We are using underwater epoxy to attach the corals to the bottom. It is a 2 part epoxy that is mixed by hand by the aquanauts resulting in a lot of tired hands down here! We have tried other mehods of attaching them in the past and found that the epoxy is the better method for smaller pieces of coral. Surprisingly it does not harm the coral when used carefully. After it hardens, algae will start to grow and it will look just like the natural reef substrate, and eventually the coral will grow right over the epoxy.

I hope this answers your questions and thanks for tuning in!

Dana Williams, Aquanaut

Richard asks: I love the idea of planting a garden around Aquarius. Not only will t it advance the science of restoring the reef, which is the point of it, but it will enhance the beauty of the area around the habitat. How long does it take for coral to grow? Is it analogous to growing trees?

Dear Richard

Different species of coral grow at different rates.  Indeed, the two species of coral we are using in this experiment are very different.  The staghorn coral grows relative fast (for coral); up to 10 cm branch length per year.  The mounding coral species we are using grows MUCH more slowly; more like one cm extension per year.  We are trying to account for this difference by spacing the staghorn coral further apart than the mounding coral, sort of like you would in a garden. 

Dr. Margaret Miller

Mission Principal Investigator

Ecologist, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA