Nanaimo, BC; August 16, 2013;
this 82-m research vessel carries an unmanned submarine;
the $60-million US research vessel is funded by a Google executive,
and named for a flying creature in the movie "The Never Ending Story."

research projects summer 2013:
off Vancouver Island: study sea life in a "dead zone" an area where sea life
dies each year from a periodic lack of oxygen, called "hypoxia;"
about 480 km west of Oregon: study the Axial Seamount, an underwater volcano