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Questions for the scientists and crew

Have a question for the scientists on board the R/V Kilo Moana? Email them to sci55@km.soest.hawaii.edu

Student questions and answers:

Added October 1st, 2007

Kauai High
Why did the scientists decide to make geology and oceanography their life's work?

For most scientists, it is the love of the outdoors that led them to working on rocks on land and in the ocean. Also, most are curious about their surroundings. They are regularly asking themselves about how do things work. For more specific information, please take a moment to look at the scientist's biographies.

Junard grade 4
How strong is the water pressure 3500 meters under the sea?

350 times atmospheric pressure.

Sturtevant grade 5
Is the salinity of the benthos less than the salinity at the surface?
No, the salinity of the ocean waters we are looking at is the same from top to bottom.

Sturtvant grade 5
Did Mike name the 9 volcanoes he mentioned in his bio?

Yes, a Hawaiian elder was consulted and she recommended that we name them for the 9th march of the sharks to Hawaii.

High School Marine Science class
Could earthquakes be detected faster if we listened to the ocean floor?

Yes, if the earthquake happened close to the seismometer. It will not make a difference in time if the earthquake is far from the seismometer.

Most earthquakes occur at the edges of Pacific Ocean and other regions of plate collisions, so they are well detected by the land-based system of seismographs. We do have a few seismometers on the ocean floor, which help fill in the wholes in the global network. More ocean floor seismographs are planned for the future.

Keanu grade 7
Have you seen any great white sharks down there?
No, we have not seen any large vertebrates the whole time. We have seen a few animals every hour. Look on the web
site I have tried to put photos of what we we see. The problem is that the Jason 2 is really loud compared to the ocean normally at that depth so probably everything that is a big predator ran away. Also there really wouldn't be anything for a big animal to eat.

Rad grade 7
Are there a lot of people on that boat?

We have about 50 people. There is the ship's crew, that's about 20. There is our group which is about 15. There is the Jason group, which is about 10, and there are the technical computer and mapping guys from the university. So it is a pretty big crowd. There are all ages, from about 22 to about 60 years old. There are 2 women on the boat crew and 5 women scientists.

Dayton grade 7
What are the kinds of animals in the deep sea? and are they different than fish we see on the surface?

When Jason comes up there always is a few schooling fish like Mahi Mahi that follow it to the surface, but deep down there are very few fish and they are different. They tend to be all white or perhaps a little red. On the web site I have posted photos of the different little echinoderms and other critters we have seen.

Koa grade 7
Have you found any dinosaur like looking creatures?

Not yet, though the pillow lavas can look like giant eggs.

Keoni grade 8
Will the underwater ancient volcanos ever erupt and start forming something?

The Hawaiian islands formed 4 to 5 million years ago. We are looking at anything that happened after that. Say only a million years ago. One of the interesting flows is the one that goes from Mt. Kilohana and flows out under your school. This is called the Koloa secondary vulcanism. So no, there are no current eruptions. And when the scientists call something "young" they mean a million years or less.

Roshayne grade 7
Why did the cups shrink?
There is 400 atmospheres of pressure on them at the bottom. To get an idea what that is, do you know how your ears hurt at the bottom of the high school pool? That is one third of an atmosphere's pressure (11 feet is a bout 1/3 of 35). So this is 1200 times more pressure.

Makana grade 7
What kind of fish do you see down there?

What kind is an interesting question because to identify an animal you need to know specific information about it... I suspect that some of the fish we see have never been named by scientists. We are not trapping the fish and so perhaps they "look like" something we know, but they could be something new.

Have you looked at the photos on the website? There is only one fish picture. We do not see them very often.

For an Archive of all Questions and Answers, please see our Archive page.

 

Marine Geology of Kauai Teachers Workshops

Flyer for Teacher Workshops

PowerPoint Presentation for August 18th Workshop

Course Syllabus

Bibliography with great marine science links

Regional Family Science Nights on Volcanology and Marine Science

Flyer for Regional Family Science Nights

October 23, 6-8 pm Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School Cafeteria

November 6, 6-8 pm Kapaa Middle School Cafeteria

November 8, 6-8 pm Waimea Canyon Middle School Cafeteria

 

Educational Links

School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa

National Science Foundation

 

 

R/V Kilo Moana

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 


Presented by the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawaii, with financial support from the National Science Foundation.

 

September 9 update
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