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Participant
Interview:
Interview: Keith Tamburri
a.k.a. "Big Keith"
Sales & Marketing Manager, Shift Supervisor, Pilot and Etech for Canadian
Scientific Submersible Facility's ROPOS team
Jeff: What is ROPOS?
Keith: ROPOS (Remotely Operated Platform for Ocean Science) is a robotic
tool controlled from the surface, used by scientists to explore the marine
environment. It's been designed to dive to 5000 meters (16,500 ft.) so
it's a great instrument for both deep sea and shallow sea science. The
sub's been outfitted with tooling and equipment specializing in performing
scientific research. The ROPOS team has worked with NOAA and specifically
Bob Embley, for 8 years.
Jeff: What's the most exciting
thing you've ever seen while piloting ROPOS?
Keith: The most overwhelming thing I've ever seen was piloting it into
a field of tube worms at Axial Volcano. It looked like a field of wheat
or hay about 5 ft. tall and they were all billowing with the current.
I drove ROPOS into these worms until they were as tall as the sub (7 ft.
high). We came back last year and they were all gone, covered by a lava
flow. I was amazed and disappointed. The dynamic quality of the vents
is just incredible.
Jeff: What's the biggest
problem you've ever run into while piloting ROPOS?
Keith: I've been fortunate. The worst situation was on a life boat cruise
where our tether got snagged on a rock that had an overhang on it. The
tether got so far underneath that we couldn't get our ROPOS arms to pull
it out. We actually had to get the ship to move and rip it out from under
the rock. We weren't sure if we were going to break the tether. It worked!
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