NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer: Mid-Cayman Rise 2011 Expedition

Mission Summary | Homeward Bound!

After an intense and extraordinarily productive 11 days on station along the Mid-Cayman Rise, suddenly the last dive has been completed, the last planned sections between the Mid-Cayman Rise and Cayman Trough have been mapped and we are headed home.

August 14 Log | Following the Breadcrumb Trail

As the final moments of a dive tick away, the anticipation builds here “on the beach” in the Rhode Island Exploration Command Center—our ROV pilots are on the trail of hydrothermally altered volcanic rocks on Mount Dent.

August 12 Log | What is Multibeam Backscatter?

The mapping team is adding a new deliverable to our daily products that we provide to the rest of the science team — a backscatter image draped over multibeam Digital Terrain Model (DTM).

August 10 Log | A Day of Adaptation

With all of the amazing technology that we are using for these expeditions—real-time voice communications, live-streaming video, etc.—sometimes there are bound to be a few glitches.

August 9 Log | Worldwide Connections in Ocean Exploration

Outreach is an important part of our exploration and research expeditions. It helps inform audiences that are broader than the science community — like you!

August 8 Log | Another Piece of the Puzzle

During this NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer mission to the Mid-Cayman Rise, we observed biology in three main habitats—sediments, hydrothermal vents and rocky outcrops.

August 7 Log | Welcome to Inner Space

For this expedition at the Mid-Cayman Rise, most of the science team is stationed here in Rhode Island for the first time.

August 2 Log | Passage through the Panama Canal

There are certain experiences that all mariners hope to have throughout their career, such as taking a ship through the Panama Canal.

Daily Updates

Read short daily summaries of the ship's activities, written by the Mid-Cayman Rise 2011 Expedition Coordinator.

Expedition Education Module

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.

Vent Biogeography: Piecing Together the Puzzle of Animal Communities at Vents Sites in the Global Ocean

Our knowledge of the distribution of animals at hydrothermal vents has increased significantly over the last 34 years, but it is necessary to find new vent sites in unexplored areas to see if the animals present conform to known biogeographic provinces or form entirely new ones.

Microbes Everywhere!

Microorganisms are everywhere on Earth — in your belly, dirt, the oceans — and they have had a profound impact on Earth’s habitability and biodiversity.

Ultra Slow Spreading Ridges and Oceanic Core Complexes: Big Mountains and Bigger Faults

The Mid-Cayman Rise is unique because it is one of the world’s deepest mid-ocean ridges, extending to more than 6km below the sea surface at its deepest point.

A Little Burp in a Big Ocean

Locating a hot-spring on the seafloor can be like searching for a proverbial needle in a haystack. Considering that hot-spring activity is restricted to relatively small areas along the 80,000 kilometers (km) of the global ridge system, it is a challenge to locate these systems in water depths that can approach 5 km. Fortunately, when hydrothermal fluids are released at the seafloor, they mix with cold seawater and form expansive plumes that rise several hundreds of meters before spreading laterally.

Mission Plan

(August) During this expedition, we expect major breakthroughs in our understanding of the geology and biology of the deep Mid-Cayman Rise seafloor, including some brand new deep-sea hydrothermal vents and the animals they host.