Programs for Scientific Literacy Award: Volcanoes of the Deep Sea

Far below the waves, deep and remote, is an incredible world teeming with life. Only a select few have been able to experience the magic of this place...until now.

In an extraordinary synergy of science and cinema, Volcanoes of the Deep Sea, the first giant-screen film ever co-produced by a university, has opened an ocean of possibilities for an estimated 20 to 30 million viewers who can now fathom what Rutgers professors Richard A. Lutz and Peter A. Rona have been bubbling about for ages. A product of a unique international collaboration between filmmakers and members of the science research community, Volcanoes of the Deep Sea reveals the astounding sights that lie thousands of feet below the surface of the ocean.

It took a decade of planning, 25 years of scientific expeditions, and 22 perilous dives to some of the strangest sites in the universe, but viewers can now travel two and a half miles down into the earth's deepest oceans to an astonishing world of extreme temperatures, toxic water, crushing pressures, volcanic volatility, strange new creatures, and a dynamic habitat where life is fueled by our planet's internal fires.

Startling menageries of tube worms, albino crabs, eel-like fish and an octopus with "elephant's ears" were first discovered during the 1970s when scientists began researching hydrothermal vents - also known as volcanoes of the deep sea - in the Pacific. "We went down to research volcanoes," said Dr. Richard Lutz, the film's science director, "and came back with tales of unearthly life."

Rutgers' role as co-producer of the film is highlighted in the opening credits. One of the first visuals the viewer sees as the film opens is a large, red Rutgers logo alone on the screen for seven seconds. "It makes quite an impression," said Dr. Lutz. "Rutgers is definitely in prestigious company."

"The film illuminates, for the first time, with brilliant lighting and the detail of IMAX, the most remote and inaccessible, yet dynamic and spectacular region of our planet," said Dr. Rona, the film's associate science director. "At Rutgers, we are training the next generation of scientists who will work to recover new resources and conserve the biodiversity of this hidden world."

It's a whole other world down there. There's no sunlight to support life. The water temperatures approach both freezing and 750 degrees F. The volcanic gases would kill anything that lives on land and the water pressure would instantly flatten a human body. But down there, previously unknown animal communities thrive in sunless food chains based on volcanic heat and minerals. It broadens our whole concept of life.
Richard A. Lutz, Ph.D., Professor
Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University;
Science Director, Volcanoes of the Deep Sea

...it's here that our deep-sea fissure-men find all sorts of amazing discoveries: translucent little thingies and amorphous cellular whatchamacallits. Hey, I don't have to be a marine biologist to just appreciate the stark and beautiful weirdness of this undersea netherworld.
-www.dvdtalk.com

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