Mapping Team Lead, Adam Skarke, conducts an XBT cast.

Mapping Team Lead, Adam Skarke, conducts an XBT cast. The XBT measures temperature through the water column. XBT software calculates sound velocity, which is applied to the multibeam data for accurate measure of bathymetry. Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Gulf of Mexico 2012. Download larger version (jpg, 5.3 MB).

Mapping Along the Sigsbee Escarpment
April 22, 2012

Today's remotely operated vehicle dive was cancelled due to heavy seas. Mission personnel spent much of the day catching up on reports and paperwork, while the ship conducted mapping operations. We spent the day acquiring multibeam and single beam data along the Sigsbee Escarpment, approximately 100 nautical miles south of Terrebone Bay, Louisiana, and added approximately 350 square kilometers to previous seafloor coverage.