Under the Sea?

Day three of Camp Pollyanna looks at the bottom of the sea, and showing just how AWESOME it is. The Schmidt Ocean Institute, working with Dr. Mandy Joye and her research team out of the University of Georgia, has been exploring hydrothermal vents and cold seep environments in the Gulf of California. The Institute, using state of the art technology and ships named after characters in The NeverEnding Story, have captured some of the most diverse and vibrant places in the world.

The deep-sea cameras have taken amazing images, showing mineral towers that are teeming with different kinds of life, including, potentially, creatures we've never seen before. And these things are huge! Up to 23 meters (75 feet) tall and 10 meters (32 feet) wide, and venting superheated fluids, these towers allowed scientists to use new kinds of samplers to draw fluids and volatile substances back to their remotely operated vehicle, SuBastian. (Told you - all of the names are like that.)

But what does it look like? Let me show you:

(Look, it's SuBastian hard at work!)

The more we learn about our world, the more awesome we find it to be. No matter how long we study, there's always going to be more to discover in our world. It's just so neat I can't stand it!

Go! Discover! But first...