October 26, 2009
Research Diving Nirvana
I found a great research diving site today, Billy's Sabbatical Blog, that reveals much about the peculiar joys of conducting field research while diving. "Billy" is doing MPA related work with lobsters at Catalina; he presents heartfelt stories about science in action. Here's an excerpt from one blog entry:
Down we go. John spies a bug, moves down to the bottom, and presents a sea hare. Lobster attacks, John floats up, Dan moves down for a close-up. After 10 sec, Dan moves up, and I move down with the shrimp. This operation is orchestrated without words, in three dimensions, completely improvised. Spontaneous movement in three dimensions. We were deep enough (30 feet), where you can control your buoyancy by breathing. Take a somewhat deep breath, and you slowly rise off the bottom. Take shallow breaths and you sink down. The cool thing is, this is not just showing off. John noticed a few weeks ago, and I’ve now seen it too, that lobsters often spy the bioluminescence when you kick your fins or make any other movements, and shy away. So don’t kick down to get into place, let out a long breath, and empty your lungs instead. This is tricky. You can’t hold your breath (this risks getting an air embolism and a consequent underwater stroke), but instead only inflate your lungs a little bit, then let it way out. Yoginis can do this easy, I guarantee you. But it’s a bit tricky for the rest of us. Anyway, presentation 1: lobster eats sea hare, lobster eats shrimp. Not test there, but still nice to know.
For the entire story, click here.
I'm always looking to publish original pieces about science diving, from virtually any vantage point (as long as it serves to educate), so please email me with yours.
And Billy, if you're reading this, thanks for sharing!
Posted by Dida at October 26, 2009 10:36 AM
