Trailblazer

Steve Blasco, C.M., B.A.Sc., P.Eng.

Marine Engineering Geophysicist
Geological Survey of Canada

“Where are you now?”

It’s a question Dr. Steve Blasco hears a lot. As one of the world’s pre-eminent experts in the application of multibeam surveying to resource mapping, Steve is routinely on the road — or, more precisely, aboard ship.

He’s been to the North Pole and the Beaufort Sea where, among other things, he helped discover giant mud volcanoes called pingos on the ocean floor. He’s found ways to assess the stability of the sea floor under offshore drilling rigs, and he even helped with the production of the 1995 IMAX movie Titanica.

His expeditions over the last 30 years with the Geological Survey of Canada have taken him around the world and back again, to the Canadian Arctic, the Russian Federation, Japan, China, Norway, the Caribbean, Bermuda, the Great Lakes — even the North Pole. But don’t let his beard or jolly sense of humour fool you. Steve prefers warmer climates. The polar expedition, as he tells it, was “c-c-cold” and lasted for “62 days, 12 hours, 19 minutes and 35 seconds.”

Steve’s warm-water adventures have taken him from Canada’s Great Lakes to the coast of Bermuda, where he helped uncover positive evidence that the sea levels were once about 9 metres lower and solved the mystery behind a small stand of 7,300-year-old sunken cedars.

The story of the sunken cedars is told in the film Oceans In Motion, an ongoing research project being carried out in collaboration with the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute. The film will reach an audience of about 15 million people in museums, schools and aquariums across North America.

Philosopher with a vision

Globetrotting, filmmaking and charting underwater geology are hardly the kind of work Steve had in mind back in the late 1960s, when he began his studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. In fact, the Toronto native was considering a career as an explosives expert. However, when failing eyesight and a comely co-ed intervened, he embarked on a quite different and rewarding career path.

Born with only light sensitivity in his right eye, Steve began to lose sight in his left eye while studying at Queen’s. Although his peripheral vision was saved by experimental laser surgery in 1970, he has only six percent sight. Always one to take a positive outlook, he says of his chosen profession, "No one knew what the ocean floor looked like, so I was no worse off than anyone else.”

Helping build safer coastal communities

Steve is particularly interested in the effects of climate change and global warming on society. These days, most of his time is devoted to studying the effects of changes in water level. Steve’s research on rising sea levels will be invaluable to the future infrastructure on our coastlines. For example, higher sea levels mean that hurricanes can reach further inland and cause further devastation.

“In order to protect the coastline, we need a clear understanding of what Mother Nature is doing. Engineers and planners will decide how that is dealt with.”

While his research is helping address the challenges faced by engineers in protecting coastal communities, Steve’s study of the Great Lakes raises a new question for scientists: Rather than going up, water levels in these freshwater lakes are dropping. His findings show that there has been a loss of one metre of water over the past five years. He and his partners continue to examine not only the scientific impact of these findings but also their implications on ecological sustainability.

Life Achievements

• 1972 — Graduated from Queen’s University with an Honours B.Sc. in Engineering Geophysics
• 1976 — Conducted the first test of the unmanned submersible Trov for seabed geological and geophysical studies beneath the sea ice of the Panarctic pipeline route
• 1987 — Recipient of a distinguished merit award from the Government of Canada
• 1989 — Invited lecturer for a United Nations training course on Marine Geotechnics in Guangzhou, China, to instruct 23 developing countries on seabed geotechnical problems related to offshore oil and gas development
• 1991 — Chief Scientist for the Canada/Soviet Titanic ’91 expedition of a manned submersible investigation of the wreck site
• 1995 — Met with First Lady Yeltsin of the Russian Federation at the G7 Conference to discuss international cooperation for marine environmental scientific research
• 1996 — Received the Herbert J. Hamilton Award from Queen’s University
• 1997 — Member of the Discovery Channel expedition that coordinated the underwater sonar search for the lost Franklin expedition
• 2001 — Inducted as Member of the Order of Canada (Science)
• 2002 — Received the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award

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