Post by yachtsmanwilly on Jul 11, 2010 6:32:57 GMT -5
Live dive broadcasts next week from the shipwreck Montana
7/11 - Alpena, Mich. – Alpena area residents and people in other predetermined locations will be able to interact with divers as they explore a shipwreck in real time next week during a series of live dives being produced by the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
The dives will be broadcast at 10 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Wednesday at the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center. The broadcasts also will be open to audiences on the website for Immersion Learning, a division of Sea Research Foundation Inc., at www.immersionlearning.org and three other venues across the country: the Ann Arbor Hands-on Museum, Milwaukee Public Museum and Mokupapapa Discovery Center, said Cathy Green, a maritime archaeologist with the sanctuary.
Through support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Preserve America Initiative grant, sanctuary archaeologists will invite the public along as they explore in real-time, the shipwreck of the Montana, a wooden freighter from the late 1800s that burned and sank in Thunder Bay. Today, the Montana is one of more than 200 well preserved submerged historical sites in "Shipwreck Alley," an area of northern Lake Huron known for extreme weather and dangerous shoals, Green said.
"The cold, fresh water of the Great Lakes has done an amazing job of preserving these historic shipwreck sites," Green said. "As archaeologists we want to share the thrill of shipwreck exploration with others and inspire them to be better stewards of these incredible sites. There is no better way than to take folks with us as we dive below the surface of Lake Huron in search of historic treasure."
According to Green, viewers will be able to interact live with divers 70 feet below the NOAA research vessel The Storm, by submitting e-mail questions. Each broadcast program will highlight different themes including underwater research techniques, diving technology and the study of Great Lakes health and ecology through NOAA observation platforms. The people who will be involved with the broadcasts from the Storm include Tane Casserley, national maritime heritage coordinator, Russ Green, sanctuary superintendent, a researcher from NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, and three youth from the National Association of Black Scuba Divers.
"We have some new equipment that allows us to speak to the divers. That's the first time we've done that kind of live component to a dive," she said.
Green said this is the first time the sanctuary has produced a live dive in-house and hopes this will be a good pilot project so the sanctuary can conduct additional live dives in the future more regularly.
Alpena News