2018 Essay Contest Finalist

Entry by Lluvia Perez

The Submerged Geology Captured with Underwater Photography

The art form underwater photography reveals the beautiful unseen world below bodies of water. Though images of exotic creatures, colorful coral reefs, and historic shipwrecks are entertainment for most viewers, marine biologists, geological oceanographers, and marine geologists use them for their professions. Due to the modern technology of underwater photography, scientists can study the natural features and the effects humans have underwater.

Underwater photography is used to identify species and their behaviors, discover hydrothermal vents, detect underwater volcanic eruptions, and discover underwater ecosystems (Seraphin et al., 2018). For example, since 2002, TowCam, a camera designed to take high-quality pictures at 6,100 meters deep, has captured about 280,000 photographs of underwater volcanoes in places like the Galapagos Rift, Gulf of Mexico, and offshore Taiwan and Iceland. The images assisted volcanologists and geologists around the world study the formation of volcanoes and islands (NGS, 2012).

Not only is the breathtaking art of underwater photography a tool for scientists to study the Earth’s systems, but the visual images can help the conservation of a species, an ecosystem, and inspire others to be geologists, biologists, and other underwater professions (Nunez, 2018). In addition, the art form helps protect many disintegrating shipwrecks and assists studies of invasive species (Siber, 2016). The most environmentally healthy reason for underwater photography is to promote sustainable human activities versus water pollution, marine life slaughter, and ocean acidification (Nunez, 2018).

Although, the art form that inspires others is the photography, the true art in each image is the Earth. The inspiration for each photo comes from the geology and science of water, 71 percent of the Earth’s surface. From water-filled caverns in Death Valley National Park to the geothermal vents that emit streams of bubbles in Yellowstone, these are the true visual wonders of Geoscience that the gift of underwater photography captures (Siber, 2016).

Works Cited

National Geographic Society. (2012, October 09). Oceanography. Retrieved fromhttps://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/oceanography/

Nunez, C. (2018, June 13). 32 Astonishing Photos From a Career Spent Underwater. Retrieved fromhttps://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/06/david-doubilet-underwater-photographer -retrospective/

Seraphin, Philippoff, Pottenger, Kaupp, Lurie, Lin, & Baumgartner. (2018). Exploring Our Fluid Earth. Retrieved from https://manoa.hawaii.edu/exploringourfluidearth/physical/ocean-depths/light-ocean/practices-science-underwater-photography-and-videography

Siber, K. (2016, Summer). What lies beneath. National Parks, 90(3), 10+. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A457229151/GPS?u=vbcps&sid=GPS&xid=1993f79b