Saudi deputy FM meets Sudan's Sovereign Council chief in Port Sudan    Kuwait, India to elevate bilateral relations to strategic partnership Sheikh Mishal awards Mubarak Al-Kabir Medal to Modi    MoH to penalize 5 health practitioners for professional violations    Al-Samaani: Saudi Arabia to work soon on a comprehensive review of the legal system    Environment minister inaugurates Yanbu Grain Handling Terminal    Germany's attack suspect reportedly offered reward to target Saudi ambassador    U.S. Navy jet shot down in 'friendly fire' incident over Red Sea    Israeli strikes in Gaza kill at least 20 people, including five children    Trudeau's leadership under threat as NDP withdraws support, no-confidence vote looms    Arabian Gulf Cup begins with dramatic draws and a breathtaking ceremony in Kuwait    GACA report: 928 complaints filed by passengers against airlines in November    Riyadh Season 5 draws record number of over 12 million visitors    Fury vs. Usyk: Anticipation builds ahead of Riyadh's boxing showdown    Saudi Arabia to compete in 2025 and 2027 CONCACAF Gold Cup tournaments    Marianne Jean-Baptiste on Oscars buzz for playing 'difficult' woman    PDC collaboration with MEDLOG Saudi to introduce new cold storage facilities in King Abdullah Port Investment of SR300 million to enhance logistics capabilities in Saudi Arabia    Al Shabab announces departure of coach Vítor Pereira    My kids saw my pain on set, says Angelina Jolie    Legendary Indian tabla player Zakir Hussain dies at 73    Eminem sets Riyadh ablaze with unforgettable debut at MDLBEAST Soundstorm    Order vs. Morality: Lessons from New York's 1977 Blackout    India puts blockbuster Pakistani film on hold    The Vikings and the Islamic world    Filipino pilgrim's incredible evolution from an enemy of Islam to its staunch advocate    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



US, Indonesia explore uncharted deep sea
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 21 - 06 - 2010

A deep-sea expedition by the United States and Indonesia sets off this week to explore one of the world's last frontiers, an adventure that researchers hope could lead to cures for diseases and help in predicting deadly tsunamis, according to AP.
Scientists portray the trip to Indonesian waters as a throwback to a time when explorers blazed new trails into unknown territory.
The expedition, which is set to begin Thursday and wrap up in early August, is the maiden voyage for a high-tech U.S. science ship and the first joint deep-sea exploration by Indonesia and the United States.
Scientists will use a powerful sonar mapping system and a robotic vehicle equipped with high-definition video cameras to explore hundreds of square miles (kilometers) north of the Indonesian archipelago, providing an extraordinary glimpse of one of the globe's most diverse, complex and little-known marine ecosystems.
«The world's oceans are great mysteries to us, but there are few greater mysteries than this area in Indonesia that we're going to be exploring,» Craig McLean, the official responsible for the execution of ocean exploration at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said in an interview.
Indeed, while a dozen men have been to the moon and back, only two have explored the deepest ocean and returned to tell the tale. This voyage won't be adding to that list; an unmanned, remote-controlled vessel will be exploring the deep sea.
But it will illuminate a little known part of the world.
Probing the ocean's depths is a costly, and potentially dangerous, affair, with only a relatively small number of countries and research centers investing in the effort. NOAA takes part in several international missions a year, but officials describe this one as its most complex.
A major goal is to create a high-resolution map of the ocean floor that will allow scientists to better understand how tsunamis form and spread and to make more accurate models to forecast earthquake-spawned waves in the future. The region straddles a series of fault lines, making it very seismically active. In 2004, a tsunami off Indonesia's western coast killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries.
Indonesia's Minister for Marine Affairs and Fisheries Fadel Muhammad said scientists also want to explore ecosystems living around underwater volcanos, some of which remain active.
Oceans cover about 70 percent of the earth's surface, but little is known about the sea floor. And not just remote parts of the Pacific; U.S. officials say they've only mapped a small part of the exclusive economic zone that extends into waters off the American shore.
«There actually is a reasonable degree of artistic fiction included in most world maps that portray the ocean,» McLean said. «Our job, among many, is to fill in those blanks.»
The exploration might even point the way to cures for human diseases. Though not a dedicated research trip designed to snap up thousands of samples of plants and sea animals, Indonesian scientists will collect specimens that could have medicinal qualities, such as attacking harmful bacteria or fighting the spread of cancer cells. An example of such a compound is discodermolide, a potential cancer drug extracted from a deep-water sponge.
Scientists from both sides say this venture is mostly about exploration, meaning they will allow their curiosity to guide them.
The United States will send scientists and a converted U.S. Navy ship, the Okeanos Explorer, to Indonesian waters. Indonesia's contribution is a research vessel, the Baruna Jaya IV, which will collect specimens that, together with all rights for future use, will remain in the country. The United States hopes to join in collections at a future date.
The Okeanos comes equipped with a multi-beam sonar mapping system that can generate high-resolution, wide-angle images in very deep water.
It also has a remote-controlled robotic vehicle, about as big as a small-sized sports-utility-vehicle, that's attached to the ship by a cable and capable of operating at depths more than twice the mile-deep (one-and-a-half-kilometer-deep) oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It has chemical sensors, movable arms, high-definition video cameras and a strong lighting system. Images will be transmitted to the ship by fiber-optic cables, beamed to a satellite and then sent to scientists on shore watching on plasma TV screens.
John McDonough, deputy director of the NOAA office of ocean exploration and research, said these scientists can contribute to the expedition by asking the pilot on the ship steering the robotic vehicle to pursue whatever strikes their fancy.
«The real objective here is to find something of interest that the science communities will want to come back to,» McDonough said. «It's really establishing a sense of place.»


Clic here to read the story from its source.