Hello, my name is Derek Sowers, and I work for
NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration and Research.
I will serve as the expedition coordinator for the 2014
Okeanos Explorer East Coast Mapping Expedition that will
take place for sixteen days, beginning on May 7th in Tampa,
Florida and concluding on May 22 in North Kingston, Rhode
Island. Exploratory ocean mapping will occur at all
times during the expedition as the Okeanos Explorer voyages
around the Florida Keys and heads northward along the U.S.
East Coast. During planning for this cruise, extensive
input was provided by ocean scientists and managers in the
Southeastern United States to identify top priority areas
for deep water ocean exploration. Based on this
input, a large region offshore of northeastern Florida and
southern Georgia, generally referred to as Stetson Mesa,
was selected as the primary focus area for mapping
operations during this expedition. This region mostly
lacks high resolution maps of the seafloor and is entirely
within an area designated by NOAA as a Habitat Area of
Particular Concern due to the presence of deep-sea corals
and other important fisheries habitat. Deep-sea coral
habitats are an important component of the deep-sea
ecosystem and can be highly susceptible to disturbance by
human activities. Detailed mapping of the habitats within
this Marine Protected Area will be used to directly
inform management decisions about the region. Another
exciting aspect of this exploration cruise will be
working with scientists from NOAA's Northeast Fisheries
Science Center to investigate the possibility of a
previously unknown spawning area for bluefin tuna on the
Blake Plateau. This plateau is a prominent extension of the
continental shelf off the southeast United States. We
will be towing a very fine mesh plankton net at select
sampling locations over the plateau to try to hopefully
find bluefin tuna eggs and larvae, which would indicate
spawning activity in the region. If bluefin tuna larvae
are found in this area, this would be a major discovery in
terms of the life history of an extraordinary large marine
predator. Bluefin are one of the fastest swimming, largest,
and furthest migrating fish species on the planet! This
species is also a prized recreational and commercial
fishery of international importance, and is at
critically low population levels-so new information
that will help conserve this species is greatly needed.
Moving further northward on our journey, the Okeanos
Explorer will map select areas in the vicinity of the Monitor
National Marine Sanctuary offshore of Cape Hatteras,
North Carolina in order to help archaeologists search for
additional Underwater Cultural Heritage sites, such as
shipwrecks. The final stage of our expedition northward will
involve mapping along the edge of the continental shelf of
the U.S. eastern seaboard. This edge is where the
relatively shallow coastal shelf seafloor dramatically
slopes down to the deep sea, forming complex and rugged
ocean canyons. The majority of these canyons were mapped
during 2012 and 2013 Okeanos Explorer cruises as part of a
major exploration initiative referred to as the Atlantic
Canyons Undersea Mapping Expeditions or ACUMEN. As we
take the ship north to its home port in Rhode Island we
will traverse the heads of these canyons and map along
the edge of the continental shelf to add to existing high
resolution multibeam sonar mapping coverage of this
fascinating area. During previous expeditions to this
Atlantic Canyons region, the ship discovered many locations
where methane gas seeps emit plumes of bubbles from the
seafloor. Using the advanced multibeam sonar on the Okeanos
Explorer, these bubble plumes can be detected in the water
column. These seeps can support unique biological
communities of organisms that scientists are just beginning
to understand, so we will be using this approach to hunt
for new seep locations. During the cruise, you can receive
updates about the progress of our exploration work, and view
live video streams showing the multibeam sonar mapping work
in action, by checking our website.
oceanexplorer.noaa.gov We hope that you will join us on this
journey of discovery from May 7th to the 22nd, and we thank
you for your interest in ocean exploration!