DEEPEND Blog

Researcher blog

  • Home
    Home This is where you can find all the blog posts throughout the site.
  • Categories
    Categories Displays a list of categories from this blog.
  • Tags
    Tags Displays a list of tags that have been used in the blog.
  • Bloggers
    Bloggers Search for your favorite blogger from this site.
  • Team Blogs
    Team Blogs Find your favorite team blogs here.
  • Login
    Login Login form

Up. Up, Away and Back Again

Posted by on in News
  • Font size: Larger Smaller
  • Hits: 2882
  • 0 Comments
  • Subscribe to this entry
  • Print

One of the new projects onboard this DEEPEND trip is the use of a drone to capture images and video from a different perspective around the Point Sur.  Thomas Wheeler is a full time drone operator who contracts with different science and engineering projects  that require drone work.  This trip, he is assisting Ryan Killackey and Dante Fenolio who are creating a documentary titled “Life in the Dark” which focuses on various organisms that create light.

Why use a drone?  Drones are quickly becoming a standard tool that we use in all areas of science.  It is very important to capture the true nature of organisms in their habitat and drones can do that with little interference.  In addition, using a drone broadens the scanning area for a project so more area can be covered.  Lastly, drone footage captures large amounts of data that will be analyzed and used by scientists.  The different perspective that drones capture provide the public spectacular images and video of events not often seen by anyone other than the scientists.

Thomas loves that this job allows him to travel to different venues and allows him to contribute to science while doing something he loves.  The eternal challenge for drone work of course, is to be able to collect data in a safe manner, in this case, not allow the drone to fall to the bottom of the ocean!

Facts about Thomas’s drone, the Inspire 2 (lovingly named Zephyr):

Cost:  $15,000.00

 

Battery airtime:  25 minutes

Range:  up to 4 miles

Here are pictures that Jon Moore took from the initial deployment and retrieval on Day 1 of this trip, Enjoy!

b2ap3_thumbnail_Drone_bow.JPG  Photo 1:  Inspire 2 ready for launch

b2ap3_thumbnail_TW_op.JPGb2ap3_thumbnail_RK_collect.JPG 

Photo 2:  Thomas piloting the first mission   Photo 3:  Ryan collecting the drone on the return

Last modified on
Dr. Heather Judkins is an associate professor in the Integrative Biology Department at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. She received a Bachelors degree in Marine Affairs from the University of Rhode Island, Masters degree in Science Education from Nova Southeastern University and her PhD in Biological Oceanography from the University of South Florida. Her research focuses on understanding the evolution, ecology, and biogeography of cephalopods with a main focus currently in the Wider Caribbean. Her role in this project includes the identification of deep-sea cephalopods, examining genetic diversity, and analysis of cephalopod ecology and distribution in the water column.

Comments

  • No comments made yet. Be the first to submit a comment

Leave your comment

Guest
Guest Sunday, 10 November 2024