“Excellent weather. Flat, calm seas.”

Weather conditions are critical to the team aboard R/V NANCY FOSTER on the lionfish ‘safari’. Calm seas mean ease in maneuvering the massive research vessel to the exact marker location; straightforward deployment of tenders and divers; safe retrieval of divers and equipment – including cinematographer Norbert Wu’s 80-lb enclosed HD camera and lights.

The team has been watching the seasonal development of low pressure systems such as Tropical Storm Chris, which luckily is fizzling to the south. But although this year’s hurricane season is expected to be much less fierce than last year’s, the threat remains.

So it was no surprise Wu began today’s report with a glowing account of the weather.

Calmer waters and less current also translate to better visibility, and Wu returned to the survey dive team better able to focus on close-up shots of lionfish in their adopted habitat.

But visibility and high definition (HD) video technology aren’t just important to the film-making team. HD video has a valuable place in research – allowing scientists to remotely view the features of the lionfish’ habitat; do thorough surveys of the subject, their food sources, and other species they might impact; and study the behaviors and characteristics of the lionfish. The high definition format is dramatically superior in resolution, color and detail - again, providing significant benefits to the scientists as compared with the standard definition digital video or film.

High definition is, additionally, superior to any other format when working in low light or turbid conditions underwater. HD video can also bring the entire research team to the ocean floor – virtually – where they too can study the lionfish, while still staying completely dry. EISF’s Media Bank technology further allows the scientists, along with the film makers-to review the HD footage, utilizing it for research purposes, annotating it and requesting dubs or copies of the footage, stills and audio.

The second dive of Day 7 marked a new location, discovered during the multi-beam mapping done on previous nights. Wu reported “a good, five-foot-high ledge with lots of life” enabling him to film “a great shot of five or six lionfish all gathered under a ledge … then Jay Styron [NURC technical diver] coming in to catch a live one.”

 

[Editor's note: Underwater photos by Doug Kesling]