Sylvia Earle

1
Sylvia Earle

• By Samantha
• Madison

2
As A Kid

• As a kid Sylvias parents encouraged her to
  explore nature.
• She loved reading books about the ocean by
  William Beebe
• The Gulf of Mexico soon became her backyard.
• Now Sylvia is an oceanographer.

3
The Urge to Submerge

• At the age of sixteen she made her first dive
  with a copper diving helmet and an air
  compressor.
• It was the same year she headed off to Florida
  State University.
• She finished college with a diploma of Botany.
• Botany is the study of plants.
• She loved to identify plants from the Gulf of New
  Mexico. In fact she is still collecting and
  classifying plants and objects.

4
Living Under Water

• In 1970 Sylvia was asked to lead the first team
  of women to live and work in an under water
  laboratory called Tektite 2.
• The lab sat on the seafloor about 15 meters (50
  feet) under water in the Virgin Islands in the
  Caribbean sea.
• Every day-and at night too- Sylvia and her fellow
  aquanauts explored their under water
  neighborhoods. They collected information and
  samples.
• Later Sylvias work took to the Galapagos
  Islands, to waters off China Panama, and the
  Pacific and Indian Ocean.
• During the study she traveled across thousands of
  kilometers of ocean to observe Humpback Whales.
• She wanted to learn more about how they
  communicate, care for their young, and get food.
• With each dive Sylvias desire to go deeper grew
  stronger.
• In 1985 Sylvia piloted Deep Rover, a one person
  submarine she helped create that went 1,000
  meters beneath the waves.
• Sylvia wanted everyone to understand the ocean
  world and why it was important.