Exploring an undersea area is not easy. It’s not like going to a new place on land and having the ability to travel easily by flying, driving an automobile, or walking. It is not easy to see a whole mountain underwater like you can on land, or see the shapes of the peeks, or what kind of things grow and live on it, or how temperature, altitude, and the availability of food affects where different kinds of vegetation and animals can survive. People cannot even stay underwater for extended periods of time without special life support equipment and protection from the crushing pressure. However, scientists and people that want to work in the water have come up with special tools and equipment that can help them unlock the mysteries of the deep.

If you wanted to learn more about an area in the ocean, like the Oculina Bank, you would probably want to gather all of the information that you can from sources that are already available, also known as historical data. You should ask, “What have other people learned about this area of which I am interested in?” Other research scientists may have already explored the area. What did they find out? Look for research papers, magazine articles, browse the web for information, and talk to people that have already been there. Talk to people who work in the area, for example the fishermen, and ask them what they catch or even where and what kind of fishing gear they use or have lost. This can provide information about what is living there, and valuable clues to the topography or vertical relief that an area may have. Some organizations collect specific information about the undersea world. NOAA hydrographers collect data about the ocean bottom so that they can make charts that make boat and shipping travel safe. NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service collects information about fish and other aquatic animals caught by fishermen so that they can manage these important natural resources.

After you have collected all of the information that you can, it is helpful to decide what you want to learn about a specific area. You should form a theory or hypothesis and decide what tools you need to collect the information that is needed to prove, or in some cases, disprove your ideas.

The National Undersea Research Center at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (NURC/UNCW) helps scientists conduct research at the Oculina Bank by providing the tools needed to collect important information about the area. In addition, NURC/UNCW provides operational support, funding, and valuable expertise in the operation of the special equipment required to do research in the underwater environment.

The tools that scientist use to conduct undersea research can be very simple, such as a bottom grab used to retrieve small samples of the ocean bottom; however, many of the tools have become increasingly complex. In the days of sailing ships, a lead weight on a piece of line with knots at six foot intervals (fathoms) was used to determine how shallow the water was under the vessel. Then single beam sonars were invented that could acoustically measure the depth of a spot directly underneath a vessel. This information was recorded on paper as the vessel moved through the water to form a trace of the ocean bottom contour. Finally, multiple beam sonars were invented that could record the depth in a wide swath. The swaths could be run side by side, much like mowing the grass with a lawn mower. The swaths could then be stitched together by a computer in a mosaic fashion to form a picture of the bottom using different colors to indicate depth. These “multibeam” sonars allow the human eye to register and understand what the ocean bottom looks like, much like looking at a map that shows hills, valleys, slopes, cliffs, even mountains on the ocean floor!

Several tools have been invented that help the scientists actually look at features and the animals that live on the bottom of the ocean. One way to do this is to simply lower one or more cameras in underwater pressure bottles from the ship and place them on the ocean floor. These are called “drop cameras” and they can record video of the area around them. The problem is that you don’t know exactly where the cameras are or if there is something interesting to see. Since the cameras must be recovered and downloaded to see the video, this data cannot be viewed in real time. Another tool is called a remotely operated vehicle (ROV). ROVs are remotely controlled by a human operator from the support vessel through a cable, or umbilical, and can be driven around on the ocean floor. ROVs usually have high resolution video cameras, lights, and often have digital still cameras that can take photographs. This data is viewed in real time on the surface vessel via the umbilical. Since ROVs are controlled in real time, decisions can be made about where the vehicle must travel, they can be acoustically tracked and their exact location recorded, and they can travel long distances (unlike drop cameras that stay in one location). Another tool that scientists use to look at the ocean floor is called a manned submersible. It is basically a very small submarine that scientists can get into and descend to the ocean bottom without having to be connected to the support vessel through an umbilical. They also have cameras and can record their location acoustically, but the main advantage is that the scientists are truly right on the ocean bottom and seeing it with their own eyes. If they see something interesting, they can specifically concentrate on it and even take samples that can be analyzed on the surface. A new tool that has been developed recently is called an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). AUVs are computerized robots that have their own power and a computer onboard to control what it does. The computer is pre-programmed to go to predetermined locations and carry out defined tasks. They are free swimming, not connected by an umbilical, and they are not manned by human occupants. AUVs can be fitted with a wide variety of tools including multibeam sonars to map the ocean floor, cameras to video or photograph the ocean floor, and other sophisticated equipment such as laser line scanners, side scan sonars, and sub bottom seismic profilers.

Research tools are becoming more sophisticated every day, but working in the Oculina Bank area is not easy. The location of the Oculina Bank is very near the Gulf Stream, so high currents and seas make operating equipment there very difficult. Sometimes the currents are so bad that the equipment cannot be operated safely at all, which causes the loss of valuable research data and expensive support vessel time.