The sperm whale's bulbous head swam into focus on the video screen in UCSB's Marine Science Research Building, and 76 eighth-grade girls fell silent. On campus in July for a science and engineering camp, they were seeing images from Robert Ballard's E/V Nautilus voyage in 2015 to the Gulf of Mexico.
Excited voices tumbled from the speakers as the ship's science team reveled in the rare encounter. For more than four minutes the majestic mammal circled the lights and cameras from two remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) nearly 2,000 feet deep in the Atlantic Ocean. The graceful visitor performed barrel rolls and inspected the robots, named Hercules and Argus, which had tickled its curiosity. Giddy laughter bubbled off the video soundtrack as the engineers, scientists, and interns on board documented the whale's behavior.
"We come in peace," drolly intoned one of the ROV operators, provoking a burst of laughter from the youthful UCSB audience. These women, participants in a weeklong Tech Trek camp that builds self-confidence through activities in science, technology, engineering, and math, had just glimpsed one of the wonders hidden below the ocean's face. Biological gems from the Santa Barbara Channel, such as deep-sea corals, were also shared with the Trekkers who watched video of Hercules snipping fronds from the plantlike animals for laboratory analysis.