New Atlantic Reef Discovered |

New Atlantic Reef Discovered

Deep Search 2018 had lofty goals: to research and safeguard habitats off the United States’ East Coast. What they got was more than anyone expected.

The expedition was scheduled to take place from August 19 to September 2, 2018. On August 23, Day 4 of the mission, divers discovered a coral reef more than 85 miles in length, nearly 2,000 feet beneath the surface of the ocean.

Deep Search 2018 was a collaborative project between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and the US Geological Survey.

Scientists used a research ship called Atlantis from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and a deep-sea submersible called Alvin. They completed 11 dives in the human occupied vehicle (HOV) Alvin as part of a larger effort to map unique deep-sea geological features along the East Coast.

During an eight-hour dive to the ocean floor, cameras on the submersible captured images of live corals perched on large mounds of dead corals—literally growing on top of their ancestors—indicating that this community has been thriving for hundreds or even thousands of years.

The 85-mile reef is located off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina, approximately 160 miles east of Charleston. The corals were mostly Lophelia, a variety of deep-sea corals that grow in cold, Atlantic waters. Along with Lophelia, the team brought back samples of other coral varieties, including octocorals.

Being undiscovered for so long has helped keep this incredible reef safe, but potential offshore oil drilling in the Atlantic could pose a threat to it in the near future.

Sources:

Curriculum Reference Links

Nature of Science / Communicating in Science / 8: Students should be able to evaluate media-based arguments concerning science and technology
Physical World / Sustainability / 8: Students should be able to research and discuss the ethical and sustainability issues that arise from our generation and consumption of electricity

10 Fun Facts: The Hab

1. Aquarius is the the world’s only permanent undersea research station.

2. Most missions last about two or three weeks.

3. Fabien Cousteau, grandson of Jacques Cousteau, beat his grandfather’s record month-long underwater expedition by spending 31 days on the Aquarius Reef Base in 2014.

4. The lab is used by NASA, the US Navy, and researchers and educators from around the globe for training and research.

5. The internet connection is better in the Hab than at many places above the water.

6. You have to swim underneath the facility in order to enter it.

7. Crew members are called aquanauts (NOT aquaNUTS!)

8. In 1994, a crew of scientists and divers had to evacuate Aquarius and climb up a rescue line to the surface in 15-foot seas after one of the habitat’s generators caught fire.

9. Aquarius was featured in the comic strip Sherman’s Lagoon in 2012.

10. The Hab was originally built in Texas.

10 Fun Facts: Coral

1. Reefs usually grow up on the east shore of land masses.

2. Parts of a coral reef can be harvested to make medications to treat cancers and other illnesses.

3. A coral reef isn’t a single organism; it’s actually a community of life that lives and thrives in one location.

4. Only about one percent of the world’s oceans contain coral reefs. That’s about the size of France.

5. Coral reefs are the largest biological structures on earth.

6. Corals are related to jellyfish and anemones.

7. There are over 2,500 species of corals. About 1,000 are the hard corals that build coral reefs.

8. Reefs grow where there are stronger wave patterns and currents to deliver food and nutrients.

9. The Great Barrier Reef is 500,000 years old.

10. Most coral reefs grow just about two centimeters per year.

10. Most coral reefs grow just about two centimeters per year.

10 Fun Facts: Invasive Species

1. To be considered invasive, a species must adapt to a new area easily. It must reproduce quickly. It must harm property, the economy, or the native plants and animals of the region.

2. Some invasive species are introduced accidentally, but others are brought deliberately.

3. Ship ballast water transports between 3,000 and 7,000 foreign species daily around the globe.

4. The total loss to the world economy as a result of invasive non-native species has been estimated at 5% of annual production

5. Invasive species have contributed to 40% of the animal extinctions that have occurred in the last 400 years.

6. Rodents are some of the worst invasive species.

7. There are an estimated 50,000 wild ring-necked parakeets in parks across London and southeast England.

8. Black and Norway rats annually consume stored grains and destroy other property valued over $19 billion.

9. Northern Pacific seastars reproduce very quickly. In one area where they were introduced, their population reached an estimated 12 million seastars in just two years.

10. Starlings were introduced to New York in the late 1800s, as part of an attempt to bring animals that were mentioned in Shakespeare‘s work to America.

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