Deep Sea

NEW ORLEANS - Thousands of marine species eke out an existence in the ocean’s pitch-black depths by feeding on the decaying matter that cascades down, even sunken whale bones, according to a report released yesterday. Oil and methane are also an energy source for the bottom-dwellers, the report says. The findings on the deep sea were the latest special update on a 10-year census of marine life, an effort by more than 2,000 scientists from 80 countries to catalog the oceans’ species.

AMERICA'S EXPLORING spirit seems to have subsided. The glory days of Apollo are long gone. The ambitious quest to determine whether Mars once contained life - or does so today - has fizzled in budget cuts. A nation that once dreamt of frontiers now prefers the couch and a good episode of "Dancing With The Stars. " A potential antidote came recently from the filmmaker James Cameron. After years of development, Cameron climbed aboard a bright green, technically innovative submarine and dropped to the bottom of the world.

With its spooky, otherworldly rock formations, its unimaginably bizarre creatures, and its mysterious remoteness from ordinary life, the deep ocean holds all the makings of a genuinely magical science film. "Volcanoes of the Deep Sea" throws some spectacular and previously unseen images onto the giant Imax screen, but it stitches them together with a sometimes confusing narrative that only distracts from the fascinating undersea world. We begin on an unnamed coastline, with an unnamed man. Only much later do we learn that the coast is Spain's and that the man is a paleontologist named...

On April 15, 1912, the Titanic slipped beneath the waves and disappeared from view, presumably forever. At the time, humans' ability to explore the deep sea where Titanic sank hardly existed. This despite the fact that the ocean produces half the oxygen we breathe, regulates our planet's climate and rainfall, gives the world a sizable percentage of its food, is a source for new medicines and materials, and provides a primary transportation route for much of the global economy. New images from the seafloor, like those of Titanic that were recently captured and assembled by a team at the Woods Hole...

The Silent Deep: The Discovery, Ecology, and Conservation of the Deep Sea By Tony KoslowUniversity of Chicago, 270 pp., illustrated, $35 The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss By Claire NouvianUniversity of Chicago, 252 pp., illustrated, $45 Any world map shows that the earth's surface is about 75 percent ocean. But it's easy to forget that the seas are, on average, 2 1/2 miles deep. On land, animals live on the ground or within about 200 feet of it. In the ocean, animals live at the surface, or at the bottom of the deepest trenches, 6 1/2 miles down.

ON THE FLOOR OF THE GULF OF MEXICO — Just 20 miles north of where BP’s blown-out well spewed millions of gallons of oil into the sea, life appears bountiful despite initial fears that crude could have wiped out many delicate deepwater habitats. Plankton, tiny suspended particles that form the base of the ocean’s food web, float en masse 1,400 feet beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, forming a snowy-like underwater scene as they move with the currents outside the windows of a two-man sub creeping a few feet off the seafloor.

AMERICA'S EXPLORING spirit seems to have subsided. The glory days of Apollo are long gone. The ambitious quest to determine whether Mars once contained life - or does so today - has fizzled in budget cuts. A nation that once dreamt of frontiers now prefers the couch and a good episode of "Dancing With The Stars. " A potential antidote came recently from the filmmaker James Cameron. After years of development, Cameron climbed aboard a bright green, technically innovative submarine and dropped to the bottom of the world.

WASHINGTON -- The man who found the remains of the ocean liner Titanic in 1985 has returned to the site and is lamenting the damage done by visitors and souvenir hunters. Undersea explorer Robert D. Ballard uncovered the wreckage of the famous vessel, which sank in 1912 after striking an iceberg. He returned to the North Atlantic site this summer for the first time, using remotely controlled submersibles to get a look at the liner. He said he found serious damage to the ship caused by deep-diving submarines that have visited the site over the...

On April 15, 1912, the Titanic slipped beneath the waves and disappeared from view, presumably forever. At the time, humans' ability to explore the deep sea where Titanic sank hardly existed. This despite the fact that the ocean produces half the oxygen we breathe, regulates our planet's climate and rainfall, gives the world a sizable percentage of its food, is a source for new medicines and materials, and provides a primary transportation route for much of the global economy. New images from the seafloor, like those of Titanic that were recently captured and assembled by a team at the Woods...

Marchesa designers Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig are not known for simplicity or restraint. Their layers of cascading tulle and pleated organza have made the luxurious dresses a red carpet staple. However, their very civilized show at the posh Plaza Hotel was slightly more earthbound. Inspired by a watery painting by artist Ilya Repin, the pair referenced undersea creatures, but many of the dresses looked far more inspired by the 1920s than jellyfish. The platinum fringe dress and art deco-inspired beaded bugle dress were a surprising change of direction -- lacking the usual ruffles...

Rachel Weisz has become an exquisite camera artist. In a single shot, she can open up a whole movie. "The Deep Blue Sea" has a scene like that. Weisz sits at a table in a London restaurant whose patrons are all singing Jo Stafford's "You Belong to Me. " Some of these people are seated at her table, including Freddie Page (Tom Hiddleston), the RAF pilot she loves, and they know the song and sing it with real fervor. It means something to them. It's uniting them, soothing them, seducing them.

Marchesa designers Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig are not known for simplicity or restraint. Their layers of cascading tulle and pleated organza have made the luxurious dresses a red carpet staple. However, their very civilized show at the posh Plaza Hotel was slightly more earthbound. Inspired by a watery painting by artist Ilya Repin, the pair referenced undersea creatures, but many of the dresses looked far more inspired by the 1920s than jellyfish. The platinum fringe dress and art deco-inspired beaded bugle dress were a surprising change of direction -- lacking the usual ruffles and...

ON THE FLOOR OF THE GULF OF MEXICO — Just 20 miles north of where BP’s blown-out well spewed millions of gallons of oil into the sea, life appears bountiful despite initial fears that crude could have wiped out many delicate deepwater habitats. Plankton, tiny suspended particles that form the base of the ocean’s food web, float en masse 1,400 feet beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, forming a snowy-like underwater scene as they move with the currents outside the windows of a two-man sub creeping a few feet off the seafloor.

SAN FRANCISCO - Scientists have witnessed the eruption of a deep-sea volcano for the first time ever, capturing on video the fiery bubbles of molten lava as they exploded 4,000 feet beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean in what researchers are calling a major geological discovery. A submersible robot recorded the eruption during an underwater expedition in May near Samoa, and the high-definition videos were presented yesterday at a geophysics conference in San Francisco. Scientists hope the images, data, and samples obtained during...

NEW ORLEANS - Thousands of marine species eke out an existence in the ocean’s pitch-black depths by feeding on the decaying matter that cascades down, even sunken whale bones, according to a report released yesterday. Oil and methane are also an energy source for the bottom-dwellers, the report says. The findings on the deep sea were the latest special update on a 10-year census of marine life, an effort by more than 2,000 scientists from 80 countries to catalog the oceans’ species.

The Silent Deep: The Discovery, Ecology, and Conservation of the Deep Sea By Tony KoslowUniversity of Chicago, 270 pp., illustrated, $35 The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss By Claire NouvianUniversity of Chicago, 252 pp., illustrated, $45 Any world map shows that the earth's surface is about 75 percent ocean. But it's easy to forget that the seas are, on average, 2 1/2 miles deep. On land, animals live on the ground or within about 200 feet of it. In the ocean, animals live at the surface, or at the bottom of the deepest trenches, 6 1/2 miles...

Rachel Weisz has become an exquisite camera artist. In a single shot, she can open up a whole movie. "The Deep Blue Sea" has a scene like that. Weisz sits at a table in a London restaurant whose patrons are all singing Jo Stafford's "You Belong to Me. " Some of these people are seated at her table, including Freddie Page (Tom Hiddleston), the RAF pilot she loves, and they know the song and sing it with real fervor. It means something to them. It's uniting them, soothing them, seducing them.

SAN FRANCISCO - Scientists have witnessed the eruption of a deep-sea volcano for the first time ever, capturing on video the fiery bubbles of molten lava as they exploded 4,000 feet beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean in what researchers are calling a major geological discovery. A submersible robot recorded the eruption during an underwater expedition in May near Samoa, and the high-definition videos were presented yesterday at a geophysics conference in San Francisco. Scientists hope the images, data, and samples obtained during the mission will...

WASHINGTON -- The man who found the remains of the ocean liner Titanic in 1985 has returned to the site and is lamenting the damage done by visitors and souvenir hunters. Undersea explorer Robert D. Ballard uncovered the wreckage of the famous vessel, which sank in 1912 after striking an iceberg. He returned to the North Atlantic site this summer for the first time, using remotely controlled submersibles to get a look at the liner. He said he found serious damage to the ship caused by deep-diving submarines that have visited the site over the years.

With its spooky, otherworldly rock formations, its unimaginably bizarre creatures, and its mysterious remoteness from ordinary life, the deep ocean holds all the makings of a genuinely magical science film. "Volcanoes of the Deep Sea" throws some spectacular and previously unseen images onto the giant Imax screen, but it stitches them together with a sometimes confusing narrative that only distracts from the fascinating undersea world. We begin on an unnamed coastline, with an unnamed man. Only much later do we learn that the coast is Spain's and that the man is a...