(March - April) From March to April 2012, a team of scientists and technicians both at-sea and on shore will conduct exploratory investigations on the diversity and distribution of deep-sea habitats and marine life in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The 56-day expedition is divided into three 'legs.' http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/welcome.html http://www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/include/images/ocean_explorer_podcast_100.jpg http://www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/welcome.html When the Little Hercules remotely operated vehicle (ROV) gets a great close-up video portrait of a deep coral, the pilots onboard the Okeanos Explorer have to carry out a technically challenging feat. They have to adjust the density of the vehicle to be the same as the surrounding seawater. If density is too low, the vehicle will be forced up by buoyancy. If the density is too high, buoyancy will not be enough to overcome gravity and the vehicle will sink. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/apr24/welcome.html Morale is just as important as every other facet of a successful journey on board the Okeanos Explorer; it is an assigned collateral duty that is an essential part of the seafaring way of life. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/apr23/welcome.html A famous quote attributed to Louis Pasteur translates as, 'In the field of observation chance only favors the prepared mind.' As I mentioned in a mission log prepared during Leg 2 of this Okeanos Explorer cruise, a population of sperm whales permanently resides in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Presumably, this part of the Gulf is a good place for the whales to find food, so I have been looking for the big squids that these whales dive deep to catch. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/apr21/welcome.html During yesterday's dive, we searched for natural hydrocarbon seeps — areas where oil and natural gas slowly leak out of the seafloor. This is an entirely natural phenomenon and an important characteristic of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/apr20/welcome.html At the start of any shipwreck investigation, there is always a palpable sense of curiosity, anticipation, and excitement as archaeologists wonder to themselves: What are we about to find? http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/apr19/welcome.html Dive 06 of this expedition really began about seven months ago during what we call a water column mapping cruise on the Okeanos Explorer. During this earlier cruise, we used the echo sounders on the ship — a 30-kHz deepwater multibeam and an 18-kHz split-beam — to map acoustic anomalies in the water column. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/apr18/welcome.html As with most of the systems aboard the Okeanos Explorer, the video system and the video engineers that operate it play an important role in the ship’s mission of systematic ocean exploration. It is through the video system and engineers that the high-resolution video and still images are captured and quickly relayed to scientists and public audiences around the world. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/apr17/welcome.html The third leg of the Okeanos Explorer Gulf of Mexico mission is operating in a part of the Gulf, the oldest sediments of which are part of the upward-moving Louann Formation. This large deposit of evaporites/salt was deposited about 160 million years ago when the Gulf of Mexico formed, as the continent of South America moved away from North America, a plate separation process known as rifting. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/apr15/welcome.html Ocean exploration is commonly thought of in spatial terms, e.g., the creation of maps of previously unobserved seafloor. However, it has an equally important temporal component which addresses how ocean processes change through time. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/apr14/welcome.html VSAT stands for Very Small Aperture Terminal. VSATs are small Earth-based dish arrays ranging from 1.2 meters (four feet) to 3.8 meters (12.5 feet). The Okeanos Explorer dish is 3.7 meters. A VSAT is used to transmit and receive data such as video, voice, and computer information from another ground station via satellite normally in geosynchronous orbit. The stabilized antenna remains on the satellite no matter what the base beneath it does, which is very important for a ship. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/apr13/welcome.html It’s 6 a.m. and the lights have come on. Our two underwater vehicles, Little Herc and Seirios are being prepared for their “electronic wakeup.” The engineers move through their pre-dive checks, each with a specific task to carry out. Meanwhile, other parts of the ship are beginning to make a transition. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/apr12/welcome.html Think of your last road trip. It is likely you pored over maps, plotted your journey (possibly even rerouted it), fueled up, (hopefully) gave the vehicle a check-up, buckled everyone in, and were on your way. Now imagine a 225-foot former Navy ship brimming with scientists, observers, and crew personnel, as everyone prepares to set sail. A little bit more daunting, eh? It could be, but if you break it down you realize preparation is preparation, and those who want to succeed leave no duty, task, or responsibility left unfinished before takeoff. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/apr11/welcome.html Even two years following the Deepwater Horizon incident, determining the extent of exposure and types of impact to ecosystems in the deep Gulf of Mexico remains a high national priority. Unlike major oil spills that have been at the sea surface, Deepwater Horizon discharged 4.9 million barrels (or 206 million gallons) of oil discharged over 87 days, as well as 1.1 million gallons of chemical dispersants, at more than 1,400 meters depth (0.87 miles). http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/apr5/welcome.html An interesting challenge was presented to the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) team last week: Develop a method to drop syntactic foam markers from Little Hercules to mark sites of interest for return dives. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/apr4/welcome.html Holothuroids, also called sea cucumbers, are an unusual class of the unusual phylum Echinodermata, which literally means animals with spiny skins. Echinoderms have a long list of traits that distinguish them from other invertebrates. Most conspicuous is the pentaradial (based on five) symmetry of the bodies seen in seastars, brittle stars, sea urchins, chrinoids, and many extinct taxa. All of these animals have a complex hard outer surface with many special structures including spines and plates made of a special calcite matrix. Echinoderms also have a special type of connective tissue, the elastic properties of which can be controlled by the animal. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/apr3/welcome.html Working at sea has been both an incredible personal and professional experience for me. The Okeanos Explorer is filled with amazingly skilled and passionate people who have had such incredible experiences during their lives, from diving a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) on the Titanic, to filming in Antarctica, swimming with dolphins, and SCUBA diving with sharks. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/apr2/welcome.html In the afternoon of March 27, when I laid out the lines to extend existing Okeanos Explorer multibeam coverage of the flat muddy bottom just west of the base of the West Florida Escarpment, I was not expecting the resulting data to generate very much excitement. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/apr1/welcome.html Today’s dive, Dive 10, was on wreck VK0986. It is close to the mouth of the Mississippi River and we experienced strong currents and murky water; conditions that we don’t find during our work farther out to sea. Our usual method of navigating Little Hercules visually using Seirios’ overhead view would not work as all we could see from Seirios was a vague, brown glow. Using Little Hercule’s imaging sonar and our acoustic tracking system, we were able to locate the wreck and safely position Little Hercules close enough to start the video survey. We circled the wreck slowly, being careful not to disturb the anemone-covered timbers rising out of the sediment or the sediment itself. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/mar30/welcome.html This has been quite an interesting expedition so far, not only because of what we're exploring here in the deep Gulf of Mexico, but also because of the way we're exploring it. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/mar28/welcome.html As I logged on to the Okeanos Explorer links this morning, I could hardly control my excitement over today’s dive on a potential shipwreck site. One would think that after 14 years of working in the Gulf of Mexico locating and documenting shipwreck sites, this would almost be routine, but it isn’t. No matter how many shipwrecks I have looked at, each one feels as exciting as the first one I explored and this time it is no different. I am ready to get the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) on the bottom and discover what this site really is. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/mar27/welcome.html Between the deep-sea bottom and the sunlit surface waters are the open waters of the deep pelagic environment. This huge volume (over a billion – yes billion with a “b” – cubic kilometers) makes up most of the living space on Earth, but is the least explored environment for complex organisms on our planet. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/mar26/welcome.html I have explored the depths of the ocean on a number of different ships with a variety of deep-sea vehicles, but I never done it from my desk. We have a very clear feed over Internet 2 here at Temple and it has really felt like we were on board interacting with everyone out there, but without ever leaving home. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/mar24/welcome.html Early yesterday morning an electrical fire at a NOAA headquarters building caused havoc for a number of friends and colleagues in the Washington, DC, area. What most of them probably didn’t realize is that the fire also knocked out major communications mechanisms for all 18 NOAA ships. Well, all but one... http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/mar23/welcome.html The dive plan was simple - start from the southern tip of the ridge, follow its western edge, and loop back from the east, ending the dive near where we started. We imaged many animals with the Little Hercules’s camera, and I was struck by the diversity of fish we encountered. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/mar22/welcome.html By 0730, we had already cancelled today's dive at our primary location on the Florida Escarpment. A combination of a two-knot surface current from the northwest and opposing wind and waves from the southeast, put too much strain on the ship's dynamic positioning (DP) system. Since DP is required to hold the ship in a particular position during remotely operated vehicle operations, we had no choice. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/mar21/welcome.html NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer began her second voyage of the year from Charleston, SC, on February 27, 2012. The crew enjoyed a few days of rest in Charleston, SC, soaking in the history and traditions of the city, before setting sail. The ship began her six-day transit towards the Northeast region of the Gulf of Mexico, during which, the ship mapped various geographic features including the continental shelf off the Carolinas and Florida, ledges, a known but unidentified wreck, and the Florida escarpment. http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/logs/leg1-summary/leg1-summary.html (March - April) From March to April 2012, a team of scientists and technicians both at-sea and on shore will conduct exploratory investigations on the diversity and distribution of deep-sea habitats and marine life in the northern Gulf of Mexico. http://www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1202/background/plan/plan.html