For more than 20 years, MBARI Senior Scientist Ken Smith has been conducting deep-sea research at Station M, 125 miles west of Point Conception in southern California. On their June 2012 expedition, Smith’s research team recovered a novel piece of equipment they deployed six months earlier, the Benthic Rover. About the size and weight of a small compact car, the Benthic Rover is a mobile lab. Moving slowly across the seafloor, the Benthic Rover measures how much oxygen seafloor animals are using.

For more than 20 years, MBARI Senior Scientist Ken Smith has been conducting deep-sea research at Station M, 125 miles west of Point Conception in southern California. On their June 2012 expedition, Smith’s research team recovered a novel piece of equipment they deployed six months earlier, the Benthic Rover. About the size and weight of a small compact car, the Benthic Rover is a mobile lab. Moving slowly across the seafloor, the Benthic Rover measures how much oxygen seafloor animals are using.

Tags: marine biology science deep sea ocean oceanography