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February 6, 2021: Methane Plumes

Methane bubble plumes at Norfolk Seeps, off the U.S. Atlantic coast, have been imaged rising over 900 meters (2,950 feet) above the seafloor during surveys. This three-dimensional perspective generated from multibeam data collected during an expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer shows the Deep Discoverer remotely operated vehicle dive track (white lines) and waypoints (red points) with superposed water column bubble plumes (multi-colored point clouds). Bathymetric data are contoured at 10-meter (about 3-foot) intervals. The locations of previously identified seeps are indicated with white points. All data are shown at two times vertical exaggeration.

Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Windows to the Deep 2019. Download larger version (jpg, 1.6 MB).

Methane bubble plumes at Norfolk Seeps, off the U.S. Atlantic coast, have been imaged rising over 900 meters (2,950 feet) above the seafloor during surveys. This three-dimensional perspective generated from multibeam data collected during an expedition on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer shows the Deep Discoverer remotely operated vehicle dive track (white lines) and waypoints (red points) with superposed water column bubble plumes (multi-colored point clouds). Bathymetric data are contoured at 10-meter (about 3-foot) intervals. The locations of previously identified seeps are indicated with white points. All data are shown at two times vertical exaggeration.

From: An Ocean of Data.