Aquarius Undersea Laboratory Wraps Up 2005 Mission Year with U.S. Navy Diving Pr - Aquarius Undersea Laboratory Wraps Up 2005 Mission Year with U.S. Navy Diving Projects The 2005 hurricane season will be remembered throughout the south for the damage and

Aquarius Undersea Laboratory Wraps Up 2005 Mission Year with U.S. Navy Diving Projects

The 2005 hurricane season will be remembered throughout the south for the damage and disruption inflicted upon millions, but it’s fair to say that the Aquarius underwater laboratory staff saw the wrath of the storms from a unique perspective � underwater. Aquarius survived the storms and ends the 2005 field season with a partnership project to help train US Navy saturation divers and develop new tools for scientific diving. Aquarius is owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and operated by the NOAA Undersea Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (NURC/UNCW). The habitat is located in sixty feet of water, 8 miles south of mission control in Key Largo. It is currently the only underwater laboratory operating in the world’s oceans.

It’s hard to imagine the underwater forces generated by 30 foot waves in 60 feet of water � thousands of tons of water are tossed as easily as a baby splashes water in a bathtub. Docks were battered, homes flooded, the 500 foot wreck of the Spiegel Grove was lifted from its sideways resting position to full upright status, and meters of sediments were moved around on the reef exposing coral skeletons buried for thousands of years. Aquarius also suffered damage but was repaired quickly to complete the 2005 mission year. Upon reaching Aquarius after the storms, Aquarius Manager, Jim Buckley, noted, "she had the look of a winning prize fighter who took a few licks but came out on top."

Hurricane Rita did more damage than Katrina or Wilma. "As Hurricane Rita passed south of the Keys as a Category I Storm, its wave heights reached nearly 30 feet off Key Largo. This type of surge has been known to tear shipwrecks in two and scatter them hundreds of feet across the bottom of the ocean," said Craig Cooper, Operations Director for Aquarius. He added, "The surge and constant wind–driven currents from the east–southeast shifted Aquarius approximately ten feet, broke a pin to one of the legs, and threatened to tip the habitat over. Additionally, hold down anchors were pried from the seafloor, and exterior deck frames, battery pods, and other structures were damaged or torn loose." A tiger team of U.S. Navy Seabee divers from Underwater Construction Teams (UCT) 1 and 2, divers from Mobile Diving and Salvage (MDSU 2), and NURC/UNCW divers collaborated in the many tasks associated with stabilizing and restoring the underwater habitat in record time. Their efforts paid off � Aquarius survived Hurricane Wilma without any damage, despite a direct hit on the Florida Keys. LT CDR Tim Liberatore, UCT 2 Commanding Officer stated that "the UCTs are perfectly suited for this type of work, stabilizing the Aquarius was a great opportunity to do real world engineering on an underwater structure."

Aquarius is a national asset that supports scientists, researchers, and astronauts in their efforts to better understand the oceans, coastal resources, and the ability to conduct work operations in a difficult, remote, and potentially dangerous environment. Science projects conducted from Aquarius are contributing knowledge and discoveries that help managers better understand and conserve coral reef resources in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Important results include studies related to nutrients and pollution, monitoring deep reef conditions, coral feeding biology, dynamics of seaweed populations, and in the most recent mission this past November, acoustic fish tracking studies of black grouper and other species.

The goals of the December Navy projects are to furnish United States Navy Diving saturation school graduates an opportunity to work with Aquarius in a setting that simulates saturation diving procedures related to the Navy’s use of a "flyaway saturation system." Two back–to–back five day missions will each include five Navy divers with one NURC/UNCW habitat technician, NURC Diving Safety Officer (DSO) Roger Garcia, a former Navy diver himself. Excursions from the habitat will involve typical "surface supplied" umbilical diving with "hard hat" helmets, with the wet porch serving as an analog to a saturation diving bell. Tasks will benefit NOAA’s habitat program and include inspections of the habitat exterior structures and baseplate, further installation of baseplate stabilization/hurricane seabed anchors, and general maintenance prior to the off–mission season.