Michelle Cusolito has been bringing the exciting world of undersea exploration to children since the mid-2000s. Her non-fiction science-based books do not talk down to children but elevate curiosity while being fun and interesting for all ages. I’d know. I’ve read them. On October 24, the Plumb Library in Rochester hosted the author as she introduced her latest book, A Window into the Ocean Twilight Zone: Twenty-Four Days of Science at Sea.
The non-fiction writer was able to secure a spot with a multi-national team of oceanographic researchers aboard the ship R/V Sarmiento de Gamboa docked in Vigo, Spain. The team was brought together by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, aka WHOI. Through Cusolito’s previous partnerships writing about the wonders found in the ocean, she was able to contact the organizers and secure a spot on the boat after a researcher had to back out. Thus began a grueling and exhilarating adventure, not only into the world of deep-ocean research but the collaborative forces needed to survive and get the job done.
Three research vessels would meet up in the North Atlantic to conduct complex experiments focused on learning more about the vast and deep (3,280 feet) midnight zone.
The book is laid out like a ship’s diary noting the date, time, latitude, and longitude before scribing the daily goal-driven milestones. There were daily goals that had to be met by the multi-disciplined crew.
The main focus of this crew’s work was to collect and store specimens from the area of the ocean known as the Midnight Zone, a place so deep within the sea that light cannot penetrate. Through studying the animals that live and feed in the blackness, scientists hope to better understand the roles and connections between our atmosphere and our oceans. By understanding that relationship, they hope to grasp more completely how the ocean works in storing carbon – think global warming and climate change.
To capture water samples and animals, Cusolito describes intricate equipment designed to deploy specimen containers or nets in a synchronized manner. She also described the importance of collaboration and collective imagination when things go wrong. The author’s ability to bring complicated actions such as moving large-scale equipment into the ocean as well as safely back onboard is on full display. There is a host of mechanized tools like the MOCNESS that holds and tows five separate nets and open or close as directed. This minimizes the capturing of live animals that will perish on board the ship.
Then there is the Stingray, which measures light, oxygen, and chlorophyll. The aptly named MINIONS (MINature IsOpycNal) are small collection units sent into the ocean and later retrieved. They float and collect the seemingly innocuous marine snow. Hold on a second, it contains poop!
Marine snow, Cusolito tells us, is comprised of tiny dead sea creatures, the skin cells that are sloughed off their bodies, and their poop. That’s right poop. Marine animals poop like any other animal on the planet we were told. Contained in the fecal matter is carbon that sinks to the bottom of the ocean where it stays unless disturbed. The capturing of carbon in this way helps to regulate and diminish carbon in the atmosphere, a major driver in global warming. The planet’s delicate balance between a well-running ecosystem and complete disaster seems to be eroding daily but with organizations such as WHOI, there may still be time to turn back the release of carbon into the atmosphere. Time will tell.
And with educators and explorers and writers like Cusolito, our children may be inspired to help save the planet – poop and all.
By Marilou Newell