Scientists Deploy Underwater Observatory to Track Warming, Acidification 

By Coleen Jose and ClimateWire

Scientists from the United States and Japan have created a machine that observes and takes measurements of many different things. This machine is used to measure temperature, physical, chemical, and biological data in the Pacific Ocean. This machine sits off the coast of Japan in Okinawa. The goal of creating this machine was to help understand and monitor the temperatures and better understand the aquatic wildlife in our pacific ocean. Scientists are trying to improve the machine, in order to monitor more miles of the Pacific Ocean. (Jose 1)

This machine was named the OceanCube. The OceanCube is located off the coast of Motobu Peninsula and is sits two miles from the shore. At a depth of 72 feet, this spot is great to explore the coral reefs, animals, plants, and the two major currents throughout the whole Pacific Ocean. Scott Gallager from WHOI had said, "The location is a highly diverse area for coral reef fish and for corals themselves. The idea is that we can quantify materials in a sample of water that will give us a base line of how the ocean responds to climate change and ocean acidification". This one of only a couple kind of monitoring machine in the world. Some characteristics of the OceanCube include, twice as big as a air conditioning machine, plastic and steel was used, and many cables to send information to the labs in the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. Plastic was used with this machine to help better protect it and the ten cameras, throughout the machine. These cameras make up a three-dimensional image and map of the environment underwater, measuring the currents, temperature, and wildlife. Gallager had said that his goal was to build more OceanCubes and to put them in oceans around the world, to better understand what is and what happens underwater. Some new location ideas include, the Arctic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. (Jose 2)


http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=scientists-deploy-underwater-observatory-to-track-warming-acidification