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ROV Heads To Seafloor To Explore Lost Shipping Container

Posted December 14, 2013 3:32 PM

From Popular Science:

Scientists at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary are in the midst of an ecology cruise. The team has set sail to explore a shipping container that was lost from a cargo ship during a storm in 2004. At the same time, 23 other containers also went missing, but their whereabouts are still unknown. Back in 2011, researchers used an ROV to assess the ecological impact of the container, finding that the intruder created an adverse effect to life on the seafloor, in an area that's 20 times its size. (They also produced a short documentary about it.) This particular container sits about 4,200 feet below the surface, and takes an ROV about an hour to descend to.

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Drew K
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#1

Re: ROV Heads To Seafloor To Explore Lost Shipping Container

12/14/2013 6:34 PM

I was hoping to see more pictures

Drew K

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lyn
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#2

Re: ROV Heads To Seafloor To Explore Lost Shipping Container

12/14/2013 9:41 PM

Wouldn't it be a relatively simple matter to attach air bags and re-float it?
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SolarEagle
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#4
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Re: ROV Heads To Seafloor To Explore Lost Shipping Container

12/14/2013 11:09 PM

Simple ? maybe, expensive? very.......for a container of tires, not even worth the gas to get there.....By some estimates there are thousands of these containers lost every year...The important questions here are environmental impact....

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lyn
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Re: ROV Heads To Seafloor To Explore Lost Shipping Container

12/14/2013 11:23 PM

My point, "finding that the intruder created an adverse effect to life on the seafloor, in an area that's 20 times its size".

OK, I guess it's not worth the effort, compared to the 200 million gallons of oil BP pumped into the Gulf.
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SolarEagle
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#3

Re: ROV Heads To Seafloor To Explore Lost Shipping Container

12/14/2013 11:00 PM

video's of the deep ....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRU2PxMOh18

http://sanctuarysimon.org/news/index.php/2013/12/lost-shipping-container-and-benthic-ecology-cruise-log-dec-11-16-2013/

http://www.youtube.com/user/MBARIvideo

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#6

Re: ROV Heads To Seafloor To Explore Lost Shipping Container

12/15/2013 4:34 AM

The most remarkable thing in this story is the quoted frequency at which shipping containers are spontaneously jumping overboard.

It's not like they're just lashed on deck with ropes and the strength of men, they're (supposed to be) locked down right?

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SolarEagle
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Re: ROV Heads To Seafloor To Explore Lost Shipping Container

12/15/2013 8:17 AM

Unequal weight distribution probably plays a big role.....then you have storms at sea, rogue waves, collisions between ships, pirate attacks, on-board explosions.....

If you live on a beach someplace, you know they don't always sink....sometimes they wash onto shore.....it's a party!

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#8

Re: ROV Heads To Seafloor To Explore Lost Shipping Container

12/16/2013 12:05 PM

I get the sense that MBNMS wants to find a problem and won't stop until they do. In many marine areas, they are deliberately sinking various things to create artificial reefs that actually increase the amount of marine life. Including tires and other steel structures.
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Re: ROV Heads To Seafloor To Explore Lost Shipping Container

12/16/2013 12:59 PM

Those things that are intentionally sunk are cleansed as much as possible, if not actually made to be safely sunk. And then marine scientists study the environmental impact around those intentionally sunk things to see if they screwed up the environment or not. It is still much more rare than the estimated 10,000 shipping containers lost per year this is an example of.

Your post implies there is something wrong with what these folks are doing and also implies that you know something of their motivations. This looks to me like valid research into an all too common occurrence. Everything that goes into the oceans eventually ends up in my food chain so looking for problems seems like a good thing.
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Brave Sir Robin
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Re: ROV Heads To Seafloor To Explore Lost Shipping Container

12/17/2013 1:24 PM

It's not that it's wrong, it's a dubious expenditure of funds. Unprepared shipwrecks fullof all manner of nastiness have provided many havens for marine life. I just fail to see how this study has any impact on the big picture. It's a failure on my part. I'm not saying that we shouldn't give a tinker's cuss about what we just throw willy-nilly into the ocean, but some 'problems' are just not worth the bother.
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