Get A Look At The Bottom Of The Ocean With The Click Of A Mouse

[Mrs. Overall]

SEATTLE - You don't need special scuba gear to take a first-hand look at the bottom of the ocean. The University of Washington has a high definition video camera set up along the Strait of Juan de Fuca plate some 200 miles off the Washington coast.

And now, with the click of the mouse, you can see as deep into the ocean as the scientists.

The pictures of an underwater vent spewing superheated water were broadcast live earlier Wednesday. It's quite an achievement -- the first ever live underwater broadcast from the plate of Juan de Fuca -- the place that triggers earthquakes and volcanic eruptions here in the Northwest. Oceanographers hope the images will help them better understand the forces of nature that causes the Earth's giant plates to shift.


The university will repeat the undersea broadcast on TV and on it's web site at www.visions05.washington.edu.