Left: Image of the general purpose transceiver (GPT) (bottom, grey box) and the wide band transceiver (WBT) (top, black box) on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer. This WBT controls the 38 kilohertz frequency and was upgraded from a GPT in 2021. Right: Artist rendition of the water column which is divided into five zones from the surface to the seafloor. Each zone varies in pressure, light, temperature, oxygen, nutrients, and biological diversity.

Water Column Exploration Gets An Upgrade

To survey the water column, split-beam echosounders use a transducer mounted to the hull of a ship to send out a continuous wave ping at a specific frequency and “listen” for the echoes to return from objects the sound encounters. In 2017 and 2021, two of the ship’s echosounders were upgraded from EK60s to EK80s.

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Seafloor Mapping Data Reveals Large Number of Gas Seeps Off U.S. West Coast
Seafloor Mapping Data Reveals Large Number of Gas Seeps Off U.S. West Coast
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Celebrating 20 Years of NOAA Ocean Exploration
Celebrating 20 Years of NOAA Ocean Exploration
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2021 Technology Demonstration image
2021 Technology Demonstration: NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer
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About NOAA Ocean Exploration

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Featured Videos

Sampling Around Methane Seeps

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Time-lapse of Processing Mud Samples

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Diving for Details

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Exploring Deepwater Ecosystems with eDNA

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