KEY POINTS:
For the past three months Dave Bowden has been exploring a strange new world, very close to home.
A marine ecologist with the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Dr Bowden and his colleagues on the research vessel Tangaroa returned on Thursday from a voyage into the Ross Sea.
Life and the landscapes under much of the Antarctic waters the scientists have been sailing remains largely undocumented. Dr Bowden is one of the operators of the vessel's DTIS (deep towed imaging system) a laser-guided camera which has captured 52 hours of footage and 12,900 still images at depths between 150 metres and 3500 metres below the surface.
Although the water temperature is well below freezing, the Ross Sea teems with life. Fish, sea cucumbers, crabs and other creatures routinely glide through the Tangaroa's films, which also capture a startling range of underwater landscapes ranging from mudflats to spiky corals
"It's been amazing, Every day you are seeing things that people literally have never seen before," Dr Bowden said.
"A big issue for us is getting enough light down there, because we are running on battery power, but because we're working in crystal-clear water we're spoiled. The big problem for us is trying to keep the camera stable, because we're high up on the surface. If the water is going up and down, so is the camera. We have some very skilled winch operators who can get it just right."
Tangaroa returned to New Zealand on Thursday after a 50-day, 7140 nautical mile journey. Its 44 crew and scientists worked 24/7 while at sea, getting the most use out of their time in Antarctic waters.
Despite the heaviest sea ice conditions recorded for the past 30 years, scientists managed to collect more than 30,000 specimens. Many new or little-known species were sampled, and it is expected to take up to three years to collate and analyse the discoveries.
"You still have to bear in mind that what we are seeing is a snapshot," Dr Bowden said.
"The strip we can photograph is only a metre to two metres wide, so there could be anything at all off to the sides."
The Tangaroa's voyage was part of the 23 country Census of Antarctic Marine Life, a project to survey ecosystems around the frozen continent.
