Silently Rising
We worked closely with Bogdan P. Onac, University of South Florida professor, to produce a documentary for a National Science Foundation grant to highlight their research to discover accurate, historical sea level information as a function of global temperature.
We flew out to Mallorca, Spain to film Bogdan Onac and his University of South Florida students as they investigated caves along Mallorca's coastline. Because of Mallorca's unique location, its sea caves hold the key to unlocking knowledge about historical sea levels. Ancient tides have left mineral deposits along Mallorca's cave formations that can be dated to give us accurate sea level data from specific time periods. We then followed the journey of Mallorca's speleothem samples as they traveled to the University of New Mexico for accurate Uranium/Thorium dating.
Inside the Arta Cave, we filmed large formations, and cored a sample to show the audience what the work is like to obtain samples and prepare them for dating.
At the University of New Mexico, in a world renowned radiogenic isotope lab, the samples from Mallorca's coastline caves are cleaned, prepared, and ultimately dated using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer.
Additional graphics were created to illustrate key moments in the film—including a 3D cave complete with its own tide.
This mini documentary was an amazing experience to shoot. It was the first time Sev and I had travelled to Spain—which is the home of our ancestors—and we couldn't have asked for better travelling companions or a more beautiful location.
Written and Produced by Bogdan P. Onac
Director of Photography Joe Clay
Editor Joe Clay
Additional Photography Severo Ojea
Underwater Photography Xisco Gràcia, Miquel À. Perelló, Antoni Cirer
Researcher Team Bogdan P. Onac, Joan J. Fornós, Victor J. Polyak, Joaquín Ginés, Angel Ginés, Yemane Asmerom
Graduate Students Oana A. Dumitru, Giuseppe Lucia
Narration Joe Clay
