Emily Ballard

I made this edit for fun and was not used in a movie, but I believe it does a good job at showing my editing skills.

In deep sea exploration and research, teamwork and collaboration is essential to document and understand the most hidden depths of our planet. Last week, a different kind of joint effort was live streamed around the world as Ocean Exploration Trust — with assistance from many individuals and groups from the deep-sea community — worked to recover ROVs Hercules and Argus from the seafloor just one week after they became detached from the cable that connects them to E/V Nautilus. Over the course of 26 hours, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s ROV Jason team deployed their vehicle from the University of Washington’s R/V Thomas G. Thompson and were able to work with the team aboard Nautilus to safely rescue both vehicles. In this short recap video, go behind the scenes of these operations from the Nautilus’ control room and back deck and learn more about the complex rescue process from our team onboard. Our gratitude for the success of this operation goes out to the many partners and collaborators who contributed their assistance, equipment, and expertise. We are especially thankful to the National Science Foundation, University-National Oceanographic Laboratory Systems, University of Washington, WHOI National Deep Submergence Facility, the WHOI ROV Jason team, Ocean Observatories Initiative, Office of Naval Research, the crews and expedition teams of R/V Thomas G. Thompson (TN-393C) and E/V Nautilus (NA129 & NA129b), Maritime Management, Leviathan, Ocean Networks Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Oregon State University, Schmidt Ocean Institute, NOAA Ocean Exploration, NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, NOAA Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute, and OET staff and contractors. In addition to support from across the deep-sea research and exploration community, students, educators, and the general public joined us from around the world to remotely engage in this recovery mission and offer encouraging messages. Ocean Exploration Trust deeply appreciated this encouragement and was inspired to witness the care and connection millions of viewers feel for the deep ocean, including research technologies like ROVs Hercules and Argus. With the vehicles back on board, we look forward to continuing to share cutting-edge exploration and moments of excitement, discovery, and inspiration live from the seafloor as the 2021 expedition season continues on NautilusLive.org -- E/V Nautilus is exploring unknown regions of the ocean seeking out new discoveries in biology, geology, and archaeology. Join us 24/7 for live video from the seafloor and to ask questions of our explorers currently aboard Nautilus: www.nautiluslive.org. Follow us on social media for dive updates, expedition highlights, and more: Subscribe on YouTube: www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=EVNautilus Facebook: www.facebook.com/nautiluslive Twitter: www.twitter.com/evnautilus Instagram: www.instagram.com/nautiluslive

Our return to the Monterey Bay “Octopus Garden” revealed the ever-changing wonders of this deep-sea octopod nursery.   Diving at a depth of over 3100 meters (10,000 feet) in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary near Davidson Seamount, we once again found hundreds of brooding octopods meticulously caring for their offspring. One very active brooding octopus was for the first time caught-on-camera as she was seen actively laying and cementing her eggs to the rock.   “This may be the first time we’ve seen one actually actively cementing her eggs to the rock,” explained Lead Scientist Chad King. “They have something similar to a salivary gland and they produce this oviducal cement — it’s like an underwater cement and they can attach the base of the stalk of the egg directly to the rock.”   That theory is furthered by the fact that she’s not in the inverted position, her mouth is down, our observation of her carrying an egg through her arms.   A closer look at the ROV Hercules footage reveals the shimmering waters of the deep, which indicate an outpouring of hot water from now-inactive geological and hydrothermal features believed to be the result of a pressure differential in a low temperature ridge-flank hydrothermal system connected to Davidson Seamount as the source, 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) to the northwest. It is thought that these warmer waters provide necessary habitat to deep-sea octopus communities and may bring vital nutrients necessary to the successful production of offspring in an otherwise inhospitable seascape.   Our exploration continued two miles deep in the ocean where temperatures are near freezing, 0 degrees Celsius or 32 degrees Fahrenheit. While in this region, we took temperatures and dissolved oxygen measurements and found that the ambient temperature of the seawater was around 1.7 degrees Celsius (35 degrees Fahrenheit), but jumped to more than 7 degrees Celsius (44 degrees Fahrenheit) near the shimmering outpours – that’s an almost six-degree jump! Our warmest reading in the garden clocked in at 10.4 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit), an aptly named octopus “hot tub.”   Every so often, the Corps of Exploration spotted an octopus that was not in the breeding posture. In these cases, we try to look closely at the structure of the arms — a male octopus has a slightly different arm structure than a female — and observe other unique behaviors, such as the male-female couple we saw “courting” one another.   In 2018, our team first discovered more than a thousand deep-sea octopods in never-before-seen aggregations. Most incredibly, nearly all of the octopuses were females resting in the brooding position, tucked into rocks with their eight arms facing out to cover their bodies and precious eggs. The periwinkle-hued octopuses are believed to be Muusoctopus robustus, though our team is awaiting DNA results to confirm this. Since we first discovered the “Octopus Garden,” marine scientists have conducted several dives in the region and have observed developments of baby octopuses inside their eggs and multiple hatchlings. This means this rocky outcrop could be an important nursery to deep-sea octopuses! --- E/V Nautilus is exploring unknown regions of the ocean seeking out new discoveries in biology, geology, and archaeology. Join us 24/7 for live video from the seafloor and to ask questions of our explorers currently aboard Nautilus: www.nautiluslive.org. Music from YouTube Audio library: Tratak, by Jesse Gallagher Follow us on social media for dive updates, expedition highlights, and more: Subscribe on YouTube: www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=EVNautilus Facebook: www.facebook.com/nautiluslive Twitter: www.twitter.com/evnautilus Instagram: www.instagram.com/nautiluslive

From the complex systems of Barkley Canyon to the billowing chimneys at Endeavor Vent Field, the Ocean Networks Canada #ONCabyss cruise was one for the books! Here’s a quick look at some of the features #NautilusLive explored while diving off the coast of western Canada. -------------------------------------------------- E/V Nautilus is exploring unknown regions of the ocean seeking out new discoveries in biology, geology, and archaeology. Join us 24/7 for live video from the seafloor and to ask questions of our explorers currently aboard Nautilus: www.nautiluslive.org. Music: Rivers, by Alex Arcoleo Follow us on social media for dive updates, expedition highlights, and more: Subscribe on YouTube: www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=EVNautilus Facebook: www.facebook.com/nautiluslive Twitter: www.twitter.com/evnautilus Instagram: www.instagram.com/nautiluslive