Dan Mele won a Bluewater Photo and Scuba or Bluewater Travel Gift Certificate!

While on a filming project for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in the U.S. Virgin Islands, I had a few opportunities to shoot some stills. At the time of this photo, PhD candidate Kalina Grabb (now Dr. Kalina Grabb) was using DISCO (Diver-operated Submersible Chemiluminescent sensOr), a diver-operated instrument that allows scientists to measure superoxide directly in the ocean. Superoxide is a highly reactive form of oxygen produced by most living things and can reveal important information about an organism’s stress and health. The challenge is that it’s so reactive that it vanishes within 30 seconds. Before the development of DISCO, superoxide could only be measured in a laboratory setting. DISCO provided researchers with the first capability to measure superoxide in the field, underwater. For corals, this helps researchers better understand which species are producing high levels of superoxide and what impact this has on the coral, including effects on bleaching and recovery. DISCO makes it possible to study reef chemistry exactly where and when it occurs. I shot this photo while freediving to about 15 feet, using only ambient light. For post-processing, I applied only white balance adjustments, along with some global and local contrast and sharpening.