Live undersea robot as exciting as a space walk

I never thought looking at underwater lava formations could be so mesmerizing. I could easily spend an hour or more looking at that. Half of it is just lure of the ocean, and half of it is just the coolness of watching a live feed of a underwater robot from the comfort of my den at 5:00 AM.

I wonder if that's a stereoscopic camera. The depth of field looks good, but I had a problem gauging distance several times. Some formations, viewed straight on, looked small until the robot came around for a side view and I realized they were much bigger than I thought.

This is very cool. Looking at and being near volcanic activity with temperatures near 300°C. There are narrators coming in occasionally to provide additional information and explanation.

Here are some links to provide some background and interaction:

Twitter feed for updates: http://twitter.com/#!/VISIONS11ops

Visions '11 cruise that you are watching the mission of: http://www.ooi.washington.edu/visions11

Approximate location: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=45.55586,-129.587516&hl=en...

More information about the submersible: http://www.ropos.com/

It is at times like this I think "Wow I live in the future!".

What would be awesome was if there was a corresponding Map which showed where in the ocean the image is coming from -

According to the comments, they have a fiber optic cable up to the ship and from there a sat link to a server at washington.edu...