“What It’s Like To
Spend A Month Under The Sea”
by Megan Gannon
In this
article, by Megan Gannon, the amazing 31-day underwater mission taken by the 47
year old Fabien Cousteau and his team came to an end. The scientist traveled
about 63 feet below the surface in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
The team lived in the habitat, Aquarius, approximately the size of a bus or a
New York City apartment. Cousteau said that he sometimes spent 10 to 12 hours a
day outside the Aquarius, exploring the reef. The team was able to uncover
three years of data in just one month on the effects of climate change and how
the loss of marine predators can affect the coral reefs. Not only was the
adventure educational, it was also an amazing experience. Cousteau says, “Every day was a new experience. It's very
addicting to be integrated in an alien environment and surrounded by the
fireworks display of life.”
The new discovers that were
uncovered could help explain the climate changes and provide more information
on marine life. In addition, this mission could set a precedent for human
civilization underwater. This could help bring back data and help get a better
understanding on what the aquatic world means to humans. Although, the human
body can suffer more issues undersea. The body is more prone to diseases and
the air pressure can cause changes in voice patterns. Also, the sense of smell
and taste can begin to fade away.
I thought that the author did a good
job presenting background information and made me want to read on. The article
had many quotes that gave me first hand opinions of what the experience was
really like. Although, the author barely provided the reader with any details.
There was no data that was given to show what the science team did when they
were in the Aquarius. Many times I had to assume some things, not knowing if
they are correct. Overall, the article did not give me much information on the
event and the author could have done more research on the topic before
publishing it.
Fina Maldonado
3 Aspects of the review that were particularly well presented:
ReplyDeleteFina's review was quite informative. She clearly summarized the article. Also, I really liked how she critique the author. Lastly, she did a great job on the review as a whole. It flowed nicely and made sense to the reader. I found it fascinating to learn how living undersea can make humans more prone to disease. Additionally, I was surprised to learn how the sense of smell and taste can begin to fade away. There is only one thing Fina could have done to make her report even better; proofreading. There were small errors such as "discovers" instead of "discoveries," and other spelling related mistakes. But, overall, it was a great review, a job well done.
Fina's review of "What It's Like To Spend A Month Under the Sea" was very interesting. The first thing I learned was that the human body is more prone to diseases while underwater. I had never though of this possibility before. In addition, when I learned that the team was underwater in a habitat I thought it would be about the size of a very small room, so I was surprised that it was actually the size of a bus! Lastly, I also learned that it was possible to go 63 feet deep into water, and live there for a month. I had never thought that this was livable.
ReplyDeleteTwo aspects of the review that were particularly well presented were, that Fina deeply explained what the mission was all about, which permitted me to better understand the article. Furthermore, the way she wrote the review, organized and with concise sentences, made reading it more enjoyable.
A question this review raises is why does the sense of smell and taste begin to fade away? To attempt to answer this question I found a website that says that smell and taste are "severely muted" underwater because the only smell we have is seawater and the only taste is the air in the scuba regulator. So if we only have those smells available our senses weaken overtime.
http://www.elasmo-research.org/education/white_shark/challenges.htm