Idaho, the Movie airs this Friday, November 30th at 8pm on KTVB in Boise and KTFT in Twin falls.  Watch the promo:

https://vimeo.com/54314011

Idaho, the Movie is a one-hour television documentary featuring the well known and the hidden treasures of Idaho.   From the Sawtooths to the Tetons, from the big lakes of North Idaho to the deserts of the South-West, from unique landscapes like Craters of the Moon and Thousand Springs to Mesa and Shoshone Falls, to the rivers large and small… Idaho the Movie shares them all.    Written and narrated by veteran Idaho writer, Tim Woodward, Idaho, the Movie showcases the state we live in and love in stunning high definition video.

Check here for air dates in your area.

The Wave Chasers have succeeded at something that’s never been done before:  installing a re-chargeable deep sea robot to gather data on internal waves every hour or so for an entire year.  After many attempts and some very bad luck, this was their last chance to get the system in the water.

“It feels like we hit the winning basket right at the buzzer,” says lead scientist Matthew Alford.

After six years and three foiled attempts at launching a re-chargable Wirewalker robot into the depths of the Pacific Ocean, the Wave Chasers team can finally declare success.  The system is installed in 4,700 meters of water in the Kauai Channel, about 80 miles off the coast of Oahu.    The system is already collecting temperature, velocity and salinity samples and uploading that data to the Wave Chasers research team via satellite.

The information gathered by the Wirewalker robot will help the Wave Chasers better understand deep sea internal waves and their role in climate change.

Dispatch from Hawaii.  Producer Jennifer Isenhart and a pair of Wide Eye cinematographers are on Oahu, shooting footage for a science documentary on deep sea internal waves.

Lead scientist for the Wave Chasers team, Matthew Alford explains how low-tech systems are often the best solutions when working with the ocean.

A critical component of the re-chargable Wirewalker robot is the wire.   It must extend from a floatation device at the surface of the sea, three miles down to the sea floor.  The 15-thousand foot long steel cable provides a fixed route for the robot, which crawls down the wire to take water samples, then crawls back up again to dock at the re-charging spheres.

So, how do you spool out 15-thousand feet of steel cable and sink it to the bottom of the ocean?   With a train, of course.   To be exact: with 36-hundred pounds of old train wheels.  The low-tech solution offers several benefits to this high-tech mission.   First of all, one stack of four steel locomotive wheels weighs in at almost two tons.   That’s the perfect weight for pulling down 15-thousand feet of cable to the bottom of the ocean.   Another benefit?  “They’re cheap,” says lead scientist Matthew Alford.   “When our mission is complete, we’ll pull up our expensive testing equipment by cutting loose the anchor.  We can’t afford to leave behind expensive custom anchors every time.”    One train wheel anchor costs Alford about a thousand bucks.   But the price fluctuates with the value of scrap metal.

“We buy them from a guy in Seattle who delivers old train wheels to our warehouse at the University of Washington.   I have about 16 sets of wheels welded together and ready to go out on our next voyage, where we’ll drop about a dozen wires for our research equipment at sites near American Samoa.”

If you’d like to see a diagram of the Wirewalker robot and its unique train-wheel “trainchor”, click the link, below.

Diagram of the Wirewalker Robot

Dispatch from Hawaii.  Producer Jennifer Isenhart and a pair of Wide Eye cinematographers are on Oahu, shooting footage for a science documentary on deep sea internal waves.

(Honolulu, Hawaii)   It’s the fourth and final round and the Wave Chasers research team is optimistic in spite of the odds.    The score:  Ocean – 3; Wave Chasers – 0.   Well, not entirely zero.   In the past three botched attempts to deploy the Wirewalker robot to the bottom of the ocean this skilled team of researchers has learned a lot.  First of all (and they knew this already), the ocean doesn’t always play nicely.   In fact, it rarely does.

Lead scientist Matthew Alford shows the "Wirewalker" system to our camera crew

The “Wirewalker” is what’s known by oceanographic researchers as a McLane profiler.   It’s a piece of equipment designed to “walk” up and down a 15-thousand foot long vertical wire, sampling the water for salinity, temperature and velocity numerous times during each pass.     It then transmits that data, via satellite, from the depths of the Pacific Ocean all the way back to the research team at the University of Washington.  When it’s operating as it should, the Wirewalker will provide the Wave Chasers with a constant stream of information that will open a new window into the world of deep sea internal waves.   But in six years and three attempts, the mission remains incomplete.

“We’ve seen it all,”  says lead scientist Matthew Alford.   “Problems including spheres crushed under pressure at the mooring deployment, a motor returned from the manufacturer wired backward, and bizarre hardware problems in our communications float have all prevented the system from working completely.    And the last attempt, well, that was just totally unexpected.”

The last attempt, this past January, ended in a full scale rescue operation by the U.S. Coast Guard when the team’s research vessel sprung a baseball sized hole in the hull.

“I think at this point we can say we’ve just about seen it all,” says Alford.

Ocean – 3.   Wave Chasers – 0.

Part of what makes the system so complicated is a pair of re-charging spheres– each containing 1,700 D-cell flashlight batteries.    A typical McLane profile unit will only function for about 44 days under normal operating conditions.    But the re-charging spheres, developed by Alford and the Wave Chasers research team, will allow the system to dock and re-charge itself, extending that window of operation to six months.

“A lot of things can affect the way internal waves behave.   Having a longer timeline of sampling data will only function to improve our overall understanding.”

Internal waves are waves just like the ones you see on the surface, only they build, move and break along the bottom of the ocean.   Down this deep, they can build to incredible heights of up to 800 feet tall, taller than your average urban skyscraper.   They pull with them enough energy and heat to affect the entire earth’s climate.  “Internal waves are a major component of the ocean’s circulation system and a key piece of the earth’s climate puzzle,” says Alford.

The next seven days offer the last hope in the foreseeable future for deploying the Wirewalker to the bottom of the Kauai Channel, a 15-thousand foot deep channel 80 miles off the coast of Oahu.   The Wave Chasers are cautiously optimistic.   The system tested and worked in the Puget Sound last month and as of today, is working on land, dockside in an Oahu boat yard.  But tomorrow, they take it out to uncompromising sea.   There, the re-chargable Wirewalker system could prove as important to deep sea internal wave research as the rovers to Mars research.   Or, if the worst happens and the system fails again, funding will run out and the project may sink.   Only time will tell if the fourth try is the charm.

Steve Appleton, 1960 - 2012

Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Steve Appleton.   He was an amazing guy.   We had the good fortune of working with Steve, documenting a number of his adventures, from aerial stunts to off-road races.   We’ll miss you, Steve.   Thanks for taking us along on the ride.

If you want to see a great example of Steve in action, click the “Bad Apple Racing” image to view a sample of the documentary we produced in 2010 on Steve’s winning run in the Baja 1000.

Sunday, January 8th, 2012

Scientists and crew of the Kilo Moana research vessel are safely back on shore today in Honolulu.   The ship returned to harbor yesterday afternoon, after Pacific divers repaired a hole in the ship’s starboard hull.

Wide Eye DP, Tom Hadzor safe on shore in Honolulu

Wide Eye’s own Tom Hadzor is one of those crew members, glad to be back on solid ground.   The NBC station in Honolulu managed to grab an interview with him yesterday afternoon.   You can see the story, here:

Research Vessel Returns Home Safely

We are very thankful to the U.S. Coast Guard.  Their quick action kept the situation under control… a situation that could have easily turned out much differently.   Last October, Tom and Producer David Cuoio were on board the same ship for a two week research mission far off the coast of Samoa in the middle of the South Pacific.  If the same thing had happened there… it would have been a much worse situation.     With no Samoan Coast Guard to speak of,  they crew most definitely would have ended up in life rafts.

We’re very glad Tom and David and the entire research crew are safe and sound in Honolulu.

By David Cuoio
Special for Wide Eye Productions

The Kilo Moana listing heavily to starboard. A hole in the ship's right hull was taking in 400 gallons of water per hour.

A 20-person oceanographic team from the University of Washington and a Wide Eye Productions documentary crew were 75 miles north of Oahu Jan. 6 on a science expedition when the trip took a sharp departure from the planned itinerary.

Instead of completing the planned experiments to learn more about water conditions and waves that occur deep beneath the ocean surface, the group learned that the 186-foot Kilo Moana research vessel was taking on water and would have to return to port in Honolulu.

The first sign of trouble for the science team came at about 1 p.m. Friday, Jan. 6., when one of the crew told several of us in the lunchroom area that the ship had sprung a leak. I had noticed about 7 a.m. that morning that the stern was dipping unusually close to the water’s surface, but thought nothing of it.

Tom Hadzor, co-owner of Wide Eye Productions and cameraman for the expedition, had mentioned earlier in the morning that something felt wrong and we should watch for signs of trouble.  We heard a ship-wide announcement at 2 p.m. that there was a problem and we all should don our life jackets.

A US Coast Guard helicopter drops long-lines down to the ship's deck.

We were told a Coast Guard helicopter would be arriving soon and it showed up a short time later.  Two Coast Guard rescue swimmers were lowered from the chopper to the deck while Coast Guard C130 airplane circled overhead.   The rescue swimmers boarded the ship and three pumps were delivered on board.

About 3:15, we heard an announcement directing us to assemble in the lounge with our life vests. All of us knew that something serious was happening, but we hadn’t been informed officially what that might be. Captain Rick Meyer joined us in the lounge area and announced that the ship was taking a lot of water on one side.  But he assured us that the Coast Guard pumps were working.  He was also compensating by flooding the ballast compartments on the other side of the vessel so that the listing did not become critical. But, he added, this means the stern is getting very low in the water. He said he had assured the Coast Guard that the ship was not foundering, and that we were not in any immediate danger of sinking.

He added that the Coast Guard was in command of the ship and might direct all passengers to get into the lifeboats if the situation became more serious. He also said we were slowly heading back toward Oahu, about 75 miles to the south.

The mood was calm but somber, especially among the scientists, who had their research work cut short before successful completion. They had all invested time, money, and a big part of themselves in the work, and it was extremely unfortunate that this fluke occurrence should end their research.

Coast Guard cutters escort the foundering Kilo Moana back to Honolulu

The Kilo Moana is an oceanographic research vessel based out of Honolulu and designed to operate in coastal and blue-water areas.
A Coast Guard contingency including a C130 airplane,  a Coast Guard helicopter, and three Coast Guard cutters came to the vessel’s rescue.

The Kilo Moana crew and Coast Guard worked throughout the night to ensure we remained afloat. The ship limped slowly toward Honolulu with two Coast Guard ships for company, and we arrived about 7 a.m., dropping anchor about two miles from Honolulu as the sun peeked above the city’s famous Diamondhead landmark to the east.

Two Coast Guard divers almost immediately went into the water to survey the damage, which turned out to be a two-inch-wide hole apparently caused by rust.

By 9 a.m., the divers had patched the hole and we seemed to be well on our way to a resolution of the situation, at least from our point of view. For the crew of the ship, they would have dry dock and then have an indeterminate period of time on shore to think about the strange events of the past 24 hours. Apparently, the crew knew something was wrong early in the morning, but the captain waited to inform the passengers until he had been able to fully assess the situation.

At 9:30 a.m., the captain announced that the emergency was over.    We headed slowly for shore about 11:30 and it appeared that we were in the clear, thanks to the professionalism and clear-headed action of the Kilo Moana crew and the contingent from the U.S. Coast Guard.

Wide Eye Productions just wrapped up a shoot in the South Pacific on board an oceanographic research vessel.  The shoot documented a study of the Samoan Passage, a deep underwater canyon and “choke point” in the Pacific Ocean.   University of Washington Oceanographer Matthew Alford contributed this report about the voyage. You can read more of his Samoan Passage blog, here.

Gorgeous sunset on one of our last nights at sea.

A strange feeling going back to Samoa on a very rainy day after this most strange cruise.  We accomplished our primary goal of obtaining a new high-resolution map of the seafloor in our study region.

We also obtained about 500 GB of wonderful footage of our work, filmed by our most excellent vidoegraphers.

We demonstrated the viability of the concept of Crush Cam.  Many people wrote in after the article on the UW Today website suggesting items to crush in the future.  I plan to obtain some funds to properly develop an underwater camera and lighting system, using pressure cases that will not endanger the CTD or other instruments.

Because of the implosion, we were not as successful as we had hoped in obtaining pilot measurements for next summer’s cruise.  However, we did obtain some.  We confirmed the flow is strongly northward – and initial indications are that it might be as strong as 30 cm per second, which is hugely energetic and fast for an abyssal flow.  We also got some valuable estimates of the vertical scales of the overturns – which is jargon for saying how strong the turbulence and mixing is and our ability to observe it with our tools.

Most importantly, we are all safe and sound.  And we did not lose any of our instruments (though we damaged some).

Now, it’s time for some relaxation – John and I will now check into a surf resort on the south shore of the island of Savaii.  Forecast is for a small south swell – 4’ at 15 seconds – so I’m hoping for some fun.  I also can’t wait to see my wife and daughter, just after that.

Wide Eye Productions just wrapped up a shoot in the South Pacific on board an oceanographic research vessel.  The shoot documented a study of the Samoan Passage, a deep underwater canyon and “choke point” in the Pacific Ocean.   University of Washington Oceanographer Matthew Alford contributed this report about the voyage. You can read more of his Samoan Passage blog, here.

Crush Cam got crushed. And it crushed a lot of other instruments on the CTD, including most of the sensors and these stout Niskin bottles. I learned a valuable lesson today: outreach and pet projects are great but don’t let them endanger your scientific mission.

On its first mission to the deep sea, soon after I wrote the last entry, one of the Crush Cam glass spheres imploded as it passed 3800 m.  380 atmospheres of pressure found an imperfection in the glass somewhere, and the sphere failed.  The incredibly pressurized water instantly pushed inwards to compress the air to more than 1/380 of its volume – and the air recoiled to create a violent shock wave.  Immediately, the implosion triggered the other sphere to implode. Up on the surface, all that we knew is that all of the data streams went dead.  We feared the worst.

We anxiously waited over an hour while we hauled the instrument back up.  A scene of destruction awaited us when we got the instrument back on board.  Quite literally, two bombs went off right in the middle of all of our instruments.  The CTD and nearly all of its sensors were badly damaged.  Some were flooded with seawater as the shock wave forced pressure past the O-rings into the pressure cases.  For some the impact of the wave was as if they had been dropped from a ten-story building or shot with a cannon – electronics components ejected from their circuit boards, cards shaken loose.  One of our ADCP’s we thought was OK but the beams are still not functioning correctly.  Really, a lot of damage was done and valuable ship time lost.

A big loss for us and the ship, who owns the CTD.  We’ve spent the last day rebuilding – and thanks to a heroic effort by both of the marine technicians Ben and Trevor, we are back sampling again.  Still, we have no real time data, only one salinity sensor, and only the weaker of our two ADCP’s, which will compromise our ability to measure the flows we want to study.

I’m quite humbled by the experience.  We spend so much time at sea making these measurements that we sometimes forget the risk that each change to a system entails.  I had gotten excited about adding Crush Cam to the CTD, and had not properly considered the damage that the spheres could do if they imploded.  I knew that a sphere failure was a possibility – though remote – and should have known better.  I will next time.  For now, I’m pushing on with my tail between my legs and thanking the seas for not taking more – which they could have and surely will again.

Wide Eye Productions just wrapped up a shoot in the South Pacific on board an oceanographic research vessel.  The shoot documented a study of the Samoan Passage, a deep underwater canyon and “choke point” in the Pacific Ocean.   University of Washington Oceanographer Matthew Alford contributed this report about the voyage. You can read more of his Samoan Passage blog, here.

The CTD/lowered Doppler profiler/Crush Cam system about to be lowered into the main part of the Samoan Passage. These will be the very first velocity measurements ever inside the main part of the Samoan Passage.

After days of seafloor mapping, we are finally lowering the instrument package as I write into the deepest part of the Passage.  This is an important moment in our cruise since while velocity has been measured “upstream” of the main passage, it has never been measured in the narrow parts, where the constriction should accelerate the flow like a nozzle on a hose.  We expect strong, turbulent flows.  We are excited!

The instrument package consists of two large underwater battery packs called Sea Batteries, connected to downward looking and upward looking ADCP’s.  These measure the velocity, as described before, and are a standard technique these days.  The new part of our system is that we send the data from one of the ADCP’s back up the wire to the ship – as opposed to the old way where the data had to be offloaded after each cast.  Since the casts take many hours and we often do many casts without bringing the instruments on board, this is a big advantage.

Finally, the system has version 2 of Crush Cam, which features a new light system and better attachments.  We’re filming another styrofoam cup going all the way to the sea floor – 5000 m this time instead of 500 m for the first cast a couple of days ago.  Oh, and very important – about 8 gummy bears are on their way down as well.  Will it crush?