Return from the Pulse Cruise

  We’re back from sea! From April 15th – May 5th the Hansel Lab was aboard Schmidt Ocean’s vessel, the Falkor Too, exploring the mesophotic reefs off south-western Puerto Rico. On this journey we were joined by a team of deep-sea coral scientists from Lehigh University (Syrmalenia Kotronaki, Luke McCartin, Nicole Pittoors, and Sam Vohsen) led by Professor Santiago Herrera, several graduate students from the University of Puerto Rico (Juanita Martinez, Leira Mejías, Bianji Gonzalez, Catherine Rodriguez, Jose Martinez, and Yanelle Luna), a scientist from the Smithsonian Institution of Natural History (Jeremy Horowitz) other WHOI scientists (Scott Wankel, Ann Tarrant, and Don Martocello), WHOI engineer (William Pardis), and of course the amazing crew and ROV pilots of the Falkor Too.

A primary scientific objective of this expedition was to investigate the differences in ROS production by mesophotic corals along light and temperature gradients. To learn more about these objectives, check out our blog and videos at: https://schmidtocean.org/scientists-use-new-technology-to-examine-health-of-deep-sea-corals/. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                While some of us were operating SOLARIS from the control room as it traveled through the deep on the ROV SubBastian, the lab was constantly abuzz with other experiments and activities including nitrogen analyses (led by Don Martocello), sponge culturing (led by Kate Lane), coral identification (led by Lehigh students), and manganese speciation experiments (led by Jenn Necker). For the next couple of weeks we will be diving into continued sample and data analysis piecing together a story illuminating some aspects of this incredible ecosystem.