July 9, 2012
By Ted Reckas
For six days this month One World One Ocean will broadcast live coverage and in depth reporting of what could be the final mission to Aquarius Reef Base, the world’s last undersea research station, 60 feet underwater in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
The lab allows scientists to live underwater for up to two weeks at a time, pushing the boundary of what we know about the ocean. It is the last vestige of a rich 50-year tradition of ocean explorers living underwater, started by Jaques Yves Cousteau with Conshelf I, in 1962. Aquarius has been cut from next year’s federal budget and may be closed as soon as December.
When there are plenty of ocean issues that deserve attention flying under the public’s radar, why is a team of top-notch cinematographers going to train their lenses on a little-known research base that may be closed by Christmas?
Because it has provided two decades of research and discoveries, from understanding the disappearance of coral reefs, to studying sea sponges, the source of cancer drugs Halaven and Ara-C. NASA uses Aquarius to train astronauts for space, and just completed its 16th mission there, which focused on landing and working on an asteroid, a few weeks ago.
“It is one of the most valuable and productive tools the US has for coral reef science…It is also a wonderful test bed for ocean technology,” said Dr. Mark Patterson, Director of Autonomous Systems Lab, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, and lead aquanaut on Aquarius missions, in a letter to the leaders of NOAA.
Aquarius is important because it massively speeds up the timeline for getting science done. Patterson, said, “Scientists can accomplish in nine days what might take 9-12 months otherwise. It’s a time machine.”
Scuba diving is arduous, and most dives are about an hour because of decompression time. With Aquarius you don’t have to surface, so no time is wasted on decompression. Scientists can just return to the base from 9-hour dives, dry off, keep working, and repeat this for up to 16 days.
“We know more about the moon than we do about our ocean, even though the ocean sustains all life on this planet,” said Dr. Sylvia Earle, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and One World One Ocean science advisor who led the first all-women team to the Tektite undersea habitat in 1970. “Only by making undersea exploration and research an international priority can we learn what we need to know about the ocean to be able to protect it and protect ourselves.”
Our knowledge of the ocean is limited, and despite all of our technology, our efforts to shine a light on the underwater world are still tiny. We often don’t see the signs of a crashing ecosystem until it’s late in the game. Aquarius is our best chance to change this. It’s a place where scientists can live in the environment they are studying, and not only change our knowledge of the ocean, but change the way we approach science itself.
Beyond science, there is perhaps a greater value to Aquarius: it is not only a critical brain trust and national treasure, it is an example of how much more there is to do. It is a beacon of inspiration. Our push to go to the moon in the 1960s wasn’t motivated by finding a clean energy source for the world, or bringing global peace, or curing cancer. We went there because it inspired and united people. And not just Americans – it was an accomplishment for humanity. Aquarius motivates us to look inward instead of skyward, to find an even greater sense of pride than landing on the foreign soil of the moon: understanding our home.
Top photo by DJ Roller/ Liquid Pictures 3D.