What Happened to That Cup?

In the Fall of 2013, PTMSC volunteer Nam Siu was fortunate enough to participate in the Ocean Exploration Trust’s Ocean Science Internship aboard the E/V Nautilus. Nam decorated this styrofoam cup with the PTMSC logo and sent it down to approximately 4000ft with ROV Hercules and ROV Argus. The tremendous pressure at that depth crushed the cup to its current size.

Nam working on ROV Hercules

This dive was made during the last leg of the 2013 exploration season off the west coast of Grenada, where the E/V Nautilus and her ROVs were exploring “Kick’em Jenny” the largest active submarine volcano in the Caribbean.  During these dives, the ROVs explored iron-rich hydrothermal vents with orange bacterial spires, methane cold-seeps with the world’s largest mussels at 14inches, and the abyssal planes around the volcano. 

Hydrothermal vent 

The Ocean Exploration Trust (OET), founded by Dr. Robert Ballard (famous for discovering the wrecks of the Titanic and battleship Bismarck and many other ships), is a non-profit organization for ocean exploration and education. OET owns the Exploration Vessel Nautilus, a 211ft research ship outfitted with two remotely operated vehicles used to explore the seafloor in real-time online via telepresence technology. The E/V Nautilus spent the 2013 exploration season in the Caribbean Sea exploring the “Caribbean Ring of Fire”, which is a series of submarine volcanos located on the eastern edge of the Caribbean plate caused by the subduction of the Atlantic plate.

Thanks Nam for including PTMSC in this amazing adventure!