Mail Buoy
January 19, 2000
hi whats up??
My name is Olivia, and i was just wondering what the octopus is
doing in that picture????? When you click on “vent biology” and
the picture of the octopus, and then “enlarge,” it’s
reallllly weird. thanx :-)
Olivia
ps. the site is awesome!!!!!!!!
Hi Olivia:
Glad you like the site -- and thanks for the question! There are,
in fact, two octopii in the picture you are talking about. There
is a smaller one on top of the bigger one and they are mating.
Hope you will visit the site again!
Susan Humphris
Hi -
I am a student of Ms. Sheild’s who is helping to test the
Web site. I have a question for you. What was it like watching
the hydrothermal vents in action? I find the site very interesting
and fun. Thanks.
Shaun Hillsgrove
Hello Shaun:
What I am always struck by when I am sitting in Alvin at a vent
is the fact that I am at the bottom of a very cold ocean and
pitch blackness, and yet there in front of me is hot water gushing
out of the seafloor with an oasis of life around it! I find it
truly exciting to be seeing a whole new environment that we didn’t
even know existed 23 years ago!
Thanks for the question!
Susan Humphris
Hi Dr. Humphris
I really like your web site. I also think it is so neat to be e-mailing
you while you are at sea. I have just one question for you. How
do you have time to answer e-mails and update the website while
dong reaserch?! I can’t wait for your next cruise!!
from jenn
one of Ms. Sheild’s science students
Hi Jenn:
That is a really good question! This is the first time we have
tried to do this, and are still figuring out all the details!
Since this is the first cruise, we have only a small test group
of classrooms that are sending us e-mail, plus we have two people
on shore who are helping us with the web site. On this cruise,
we have been sitting down and answering e-mail right after Alvin
dives for the day -- we get a bit of a break then for e-mail
and a cup of coffee! Each night, Dan Fornari and I compose the
Daily Journal and transmit the electronic files and digital images
by satellite back to Woods Hole, so that they are there in the
morning when Danielle Fino, our web master, and Ed Schiele, our
science writer, come to work. In the future, we expect that we
will distribute e-mail questions to many of the scientists on
board, and we hope to make the updating of the web site as automated
as possible.
Glad you like the site!
Susan Humphris
Hi Dr. Humphris,
My name is Jen Wolfman and I’m in Ms. Sheild’s science
class. I have a question. Is the boat you’re on just sitting
there, or are you moving someplace? Well, sorry that was so short!
from,
jen
Hi Jen:
Thanks for the question. When the Alvin is down, the ship stays
within about a mile of Alvin’s position on the bottom,
so we are moving a little bit (although you hardly notice it,
particularly when the weather is as calm as it is here!).
Susan Humphris
How many people can go on the submarine at once?
Darcy Musick
Sterling City Elem. School Third Grade
Dear Darcy:
Thanks for your question. Three people can go in the submarine
at once. It is usually two scientists and a pilot, but sometimes
a pilot-in-training goes down with another pilot. On those dives,
there is only room for one scientist.
Susan Humphris
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