On Monday, February 6th, NURTEC’s remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Hela, capable of diving to 1000 feet, departed UConn Avery Point to be air freighted to Costa Rica to support a National Geographic Society (NGS) expedition to explore a deep-water seamount in the Pacific Ocean. The “Las Gemelas” (the twins) seamount lies about 40 nautical miles offshore from Cocos Island, which itself lies over 375 miles from the coast of Costa Rica. The expedition is being led by NGS photographer, Brian Skerry (www.brianskerry.com) and Dr. Peter Auster, UConn Department of Marine Sciences is serving as an expedition scientist.More news on this expedition to come. Stay tuned.
This National Geographic expedition is supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DRL-1114251. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
