Lat: 47° N
Long: 160° E
Air temp: 11.8 °C, 53.3 °F
Sea temp: 11.5 °C, 52.8 °F
Sky: Foggy, still
True wind : 34.4 knots, really windy
Waves: Flat, 15-20 feet, got real stormy

They say “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. Firstly, this assumes that you have the appropriate anatomical, biochemical and physiological apparatus that miraculously constitutes an eye. Secondly, it assumes that there is sufficient processing power to undertake a cognitive evaluation of the incoming complex data streams to rationalise these into something inspiring to the owner.

Luckily for those of us with the ability to read and understand this article we possess an eye, a brain and the potential to appreciate beauty when we see it. Our Planet Earth is full of it – gob smackingly so. In fact, there is so much of it, that we often overlook what is right in front of our wee olfactory organ.

Although this VERTIGO research voyage has specific objectives of a more classical and scientific nature, a fortunate spin-off is a romantic glimpse into the artistic nature of the microscopic world. Thus we will let the images represent themselves and allow the eye of the beholder to appreciate the hidden beauty of the tiny creatures in the oceanic planktonic community.

—Mary Silver and Mark Gall