A-TIER technique
DeepPIV laser-sheet scanning — 3D models of deep-sea siphonophores in situ
100k ft — What is this?
DeepPIV laser-sheet scanning — 3D models of deep-sea siphonophores in situ
50k ft — Why care?
Schmidt Ocean Institute's ROV on the Falkor (too) uses MBARI's DeepPIV system: a laser flattened into a thin sheet is swept through semi-transparent animals to capture planes that stack into full 3D reconstructions, without killing the specimen. The subject is a siphonophore, a colony of specialized zooids acting as one animal.
10k ft — Key takeaways
• Non-destructive in-situ scanning beats collecting fragile specimens
• Sweeping a planar laser through a transparent subject yields slice stacks you can reconstruct in 3D
• Visual reference for volumetric, glowing organic forms
5k ft — Tools & techniques
DeepPIV
laser sheet imaging, volumetric reconstruction
1k ft — Deep-dive / try it
A mysterious sea creature, illuminated. Full episode on YouTube, full interview on Patreon. @schmidtocean @mbari_news
Transcript excerpt
Whoa, what is happening? Okay, it has this like AI generated vibe or is that just the way that I think about media now? I mean, that's the thing is it looks like it could be AI generated, but this is a real video. No. It was filmed about 350 meters down in the ocean. Is it the path of electricity running through some sort of like electric eel? This is actually something that is being done to the creature. So this is a siphonophore. It's a bunch of little zoids, they're called, that get together and act like one individual. There's sometimes zoids on one end that specialize in jet propulsion. There's zoids along the stem that eat and defend and reproduce. And when ocean researchers are trying to study a newly discovered species like this, one approach is they send out a little sub with a vacuum tube and they shloop it up into the tube and then they take it to the surface to analyze it. Right, where it becomes totally distorted and sad. Exactly. Not to mention that you're killing the animal by bringing it to the surface. So the Schmidt Ocean Institute has started using this new technology instead. They've got a ship, Falkor II, it's named after the dragon from the Neverending Story. And this little guy riding it is Subbastion. And it's equipped with this system that can do full body scans of semi-transparent creatures. Is LIDAR? It's just a laser. So how does it actually get the data? So that system is called Deep PIV. It flattens out a laser beam into a thin sheet of light.…