During a 48-day cruise on the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster, scientists will explore and characterize hard and soft bottom communities as well as shipwreck sites in canyons off Virginia and Maryland.  http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/welcome.html http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/welcome.html ____________________________________________________________________________ The crew on the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster is well trained and quite accommodating. This is their home, but they make you feel like it is yours, too. There's a spirit of cooperation and hospitality here that permeates everything. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/oct1/oct1.html ____________________________________________________________________________ One of the things that I find captivating about the ocean is the idea that I’m standing (or in a boat floating) on the roof of another world. Throughout the ages, man has been drawn to and inspired by this mysterious world. Based on a human’s perspective, the ocean, particularly the deep sea, is an extreme environment because of its high pressure, cold temperatures, and lack of sunlight. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/sept30/sept30.html ____________________________________________________________________________ For this mission, we are operating approximately 60 miles off the east coast of Virginia exploring the deep waters of the Norfolk Canyon. The kind of wildlife I expected to see at this location is the kind that lives in the ocean. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/sept29/sept29.html ____________________________________________________________________________ Imagine getting in your car and driving to the beach, but instead of stopping to gaze at the ocean, you keep driving straight into it. You drive across the sloping continental shelf, down the steep continental slope, all the way to the flat plains at the very bottom of the ocean. What would you see along the way? http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/sept28/sept28.html ____________________________________________________________________________ Why is the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) interested in shipwrecks off the Virginia Coast? BOEM is the agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior responsible for managing oil and gas exploration and development and offshore renewable energy leases. It is charged by Congress with the duty of understanding and lessening or eliminating environmental impacts from that activity while ensuring America’s energy future. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/sept27/sept27.html ____________________________________________________________________________ As an archaeologist, finding a shipwreck is often a process rather than an event. When can you say you have found it? Is it the moment when you notice something in the acoustic survey data, or perhaps when you first see it with your eyes, underwater or on video? Maybe it is when you are pretty sure you can offer a solid identification? Or perhaps you can only say you have found a shipwreck when you can prove the point unequivocally to your peers and the public? http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/sept26/sept26.html ____________________________________________________________________________ We have had a very successful Leg 3, examining shipwrecks and canyon biology in Norfolk Canyon. For me, our productive sampling in Norfolk Canyon directly complements Leg 1 studies in Baltimore Canyon, facilitating direct comparisons of the benthic communities found between canyons. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/sept25/sept25.html ____________________________________________________________________________ The morning Kraken II remotely operated vehicle (ROV) deployment was picture perfect. The crew of the ROV spent hours carefully documenting another of the ships sunk during the Billy Mitchell air bombing experiments. The ROV monitor showed a steady stream of incredible images of the wreck. The sea is unforgiving and unrelenting in its reclamation. What was once a weapon of war is now a living reef, teeming with an abundance of sea life. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/sept24/sept24.html ____________________________________________________________________________ Although weather and technical problems have worked against us this leg, the crew of the NOAA ship Nancy Foster has miraculously managed to put us back close to our original schedule. As a result, we have some notable successes to report. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/sept23/sept23.html ____________________________________________________________________________ The rough start to this mission due to weather and issues with equipment that had delayed the science work by several days were seemingly behind us. On Thursday, we had the first successful remotely operated vehicle (ROV) dive, followed by a fairly successful night of specimen sampling. Friday morning greeted us with another beautiful, calm day as the ship and ROV crews began lowering the Kraken II into the water. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/sept22/sept22.html ____________________________________________________________________________ Despite a late start to the day due to winch issues, yesterday was our first successful remotely operated vehicle (ROV) dive. No shipwreck was found on this shallow-water dive, which mostly served to get the Kraken II ROV back in the water to work out any kinks. After bringing the ROV back on board, preparations were made for the night operations. On the schedule: Trawling. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/sept21/sept21.html ____________________________________________________________________________ Scientific gold, perhaps! I am sitting here in the "wet lab" of the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster. It is 8 AM on Thursday morning. We have been on this mission for three full days now and have barely begun the science because of the weather. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/sept20/sept20.html ____________________________________________________________________________ Leg 3 of Continental Shelf Associates’ “Mid-Atlantic Deepwater Canyons” study, supported by NOAA and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), got underway on September 17. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/sept19/sept19.html ____________________________________________________________________________ The objective of our dive in Baltimore Canyon was to return to a flat plateau we had seen previously, which had dense colonies of Paramuricea, a target species for our octocoral geneticist, Dr. Scott France. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/sept13/sept13.html ____________________________________________________________________________ Today is our last dive in Baltimore Canyon and the next to last dive of this cruise leg. We're off to Norfolk Canyon to end the cruise after today’s dive and one more trawl sample. This morning was a perfect start - calm seas, clear skies, an ROV launch on time and the ship surrounded by pilot whales. We hit the bottom at 600 m and are heading toward a place to collect a particular type of coral (Paramuricia) for one of our team, mapping habitats and noting/collecting organisms along the way. In all of our dives so far we have only seen this coral in this one area. If we have time, we will also look for our benthic lander at the end of the dive. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/sep12/sep12.html ____________________________________________________________________________ Stony corals come in many shapes and sizes, from branching colonies that can form massive reefs, to tiny solitary or 'cup' corals that are only a few millimeters across. During this cruise we have not seen any stony corals during the ROV dives, which has been rather a disappointment as several of the scientists need them for their research. Yesterday changed that. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/sep11/sep11.html ____________________________________________________________________________ Somewhere in France locked up in a vault is a golf ball size block of metal - more specifically an alloy of platinum-iridium –that weighs* 1 kilogram (kg)... http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/sep10/sep10.html ____________________________________________________________________________ From the perspective of a bacterium, each coral colony is a microbial world, with different landscapes and communities... http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/sep7/sep7.html ____________________________________________________________________________ Actually, in terms of sea conditions, our second leg of this Deepwater Canyons expedition started with calm seas and light winds. Hurricane Leslie had other plans... http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/sep5/sep5.html ____________________________________________________________________________ Overall, the first leg was a great success; we accomplished 11 ROV dives and over 150 stations from other operations (CTD casts, box cores, mono-cores). http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/leg1sum/leg1sum.html ____________________________________________________________________________ The view available from the ROV cameras of the living fishes in their habitats is a unique perspective and provides invaluable information. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/aug27/aug27.html ____________________________________________________________________________ In the early 1980’s Dr. Barbara Hecker was lead scientist on an exploration cruise in Baltimore Canyon, using a towed camera to survey the seafloor. She made an interesting discovery! http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/aug26/aug26.html ____________________________________________________________________________ We have seen some amazing things in the past few ROV dives including a bubblegum coral that was almost 15 feet tall, and patches of carnivorous brittlestars that were buried in the mud with their arms in the air ready to capture small squid and fish that come within their grasp. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/aug24/aug24.html ____________________________________________________________________________ Deepwater canyons, the rivers of the ocean, transport and redistribute sediments. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/aug23/aug23.html ____________________________________________________________________________ Craig Robertson, a Ph.D. candidate from Bangor University in the United Kingdom, carries out his doctoral studies project during this cruise. Discover what Craig is hoping to accomplish! http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/aug22/aug22.html ____________________________________________________________________________ Studying genetic connectivity in deep sea communities is important from a management and conservation perspective. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/aug21/aug21.html ____________________________________________________________________________ In recent times canyons can act as important pathways for transport of particles from continental shelves to deeper waters and the deep-sea. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/aug20/aug20.html ____________________________________________________________________________ The ROV was loaded with seven tubes (quivers) to hold samples, a biobox with three chambers to keep collections cold, a coral holder, two water sampling bottles (Niskins), an instrument to measure water properties every second, two digital still cameras, and one high definition video camera. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/aug18/aug18.html ____________________________________________________________________________ The deployment of benthic landers will generate an unprecedented data set and will allow us to determine the water conditions, patterns of current flow in the canyon and amount of organic material (which means food!) arriving at the seafloor.  http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/aug17/aug17.html ____________________________________________________________________________ I’ve heard people describe corals (especially the branchy ones) as ‘ecosystem architects’ – meaning that the corals create all kinds of habitats for other creatures – places to attach and hang into the current, little hidey holes inside, etc. And that’s true. But the REAL ecosystem architects are the microbes. Why? Because they decide where the corals (and everything else) go first. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/aug16/aug16.html ____________________________________________________________________________ View photos and videos taken during the Deepwater Canyons 2012: Pathways to the Abyss Expedition, including high-resolution photos, video, and slideshows. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/logs/photolog/photolog.html ____________________________________________________________________________ The goal of the Deepwater Canyons 2012 project is to explore and characterize hard and soft bottom communities as well as shipwreck sites in canyons off Virginia and Maryland using ROV and non-ROV sampling, including box coring, bottom and mid-water trawling, deployment of four benthic landers and two moorings, multibeam mapping, CTD and water sampling. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/background/plan/plan.html ____________________________________________________________________________ Ocean Explorer Expedition Education Modules (EEM) are designed to reach out in new ways to teachers, students, and the general public, and share the excitement of daily at-sea discoveries and the science behind NOAA’s major ocean exploration initiatives with the people around the world. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/background/edu/edu.html ____________________________________________________________________________ The Deepwater Canyons 2012 mission includes a wide variety of scientific objectives that investigate biology and ecology of different types of seafloor communities, oceanography and archeological sites within and adjacent to deep-water canyons off Virginia and Maryland. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/background/objectives/objectives.html ____________________________________________________________________________ Submarine canyons are dominant features of the outer continental shelf and slope of the US East coast from Cape Hatteras to the Gulf of Maine. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/background/canyons/canyons.html ____________________________________________________________________________ Hard rocky habitats in areas of high current are often colonized by sessile benthic animals such as corals and sponges... http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/background/habitats/habitats.html ____________________________________________________________________________ During this cruise we will utilize sophisticated benthic lander technology to collect temporally and spatially detailed data within the deep water channels of Norfolk and Baltimore canyons. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/background/benthiclanders/benthiclanders.html ____________________________________________________________________________ View photos and short bios of the explorers participating in the Deepwater Canyons 2012: Pathways to the Abyss Expedition. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12midatlantic/background/explorers/explorers.html ____________________________________________________________________________