Photo & Video Log
This page contains photos and videos taken during the
Expedition to the Deep Slope 2007, an exploration of hydrocarbon seep communities deeper than 1,000 meters in the Gulf of Mexico.
The mission took place June 29 to July 6, 2007. Click on any image to view
a larger version and for additional information. If a movie camera icon
is
present, a QuickTime video can be viewed by clicking on the image. Other
video formats are available on the linked pages. If a Podcast icon 
is
present, a video or audio file is available for download or you can subscribe to the RSS Podcast Feed. 
If a slideshow icon 
is
present, a visual log of exploration images can be viewed. You can scroll
through them one by one, or select the play button for an automatic slideshow.
(HR) = "High Resolution" images available.
Video & Slideshows
Summary
View a slide show of images from the Expedition to the Deep Slope 2007.
July 3
Scientists use the "Bushmaster Jr." sea-floor community characterization sampling tools. (Quicktime, 2.2 Mb.)
July 3
A typical mussel pot collection helps scientist understand deep-water mussel aggregations. (Quicktime, 1.8 Mb)
July 2
See just a few of the steps specifically associated with launching the Jason ROV. (Quicktime, 1.6 Mb.)
June 29
Seasnap-360 autonomous rotary time-lapse camera. (Quicktime, 772 Kb.)
June 26
Scientists discover oozing tar in the chemosynthetic ecosystems of the Gulf of Mexico. (Quicktime, 1.8 Mb.)
June 26
Geologists document an accumulation of natural asphalt, an exciting find in the Northern Gulf. (Quicktime, 1.1 Mb.)
June 24
Chirostylid crab hanging onto a large bamboo coral colony at the edge of the Coral Garden dive site. (Quicktime, 2.1 Mb.)
June 24
This is an up-close view of Madrepora, one of the hard coral species found at the Coral Garden. (Quicktime, 2.1 Mb.)
June 24
Scientists noticed a impressive sea whip at the dive site Green Canyon 852 "Coral Garden." (Quicktime, 1.1 Mb.)
June 23
Deployment of the mass spectrometer. (Quicktime, 1.8 Mb.)
June 23
Mass spectrometer schematic. (Quicktime, 496 Kb.)
June 21
Besides tubeworm, mussel, and coral communities, scientists have also found sea urchin fields. (Quicktime, 1.3 Mb.)
June 19
The rotary time-lapse cameras descend using a free-release elevator. (Quicktime, 1.8 Mb.)
June 18
Scientists discover a swimming sea cucumber evolved from benthic animals. (Quicktime, 1.4 Mb.)
June 17
Push-core sample collection of the fluidized sediment racing through the mud river channel. (Quicktime, 1.8 Mb.)
June 17
See what happens when geologic pressure drives gas, super-salty brine, and liquefied mud out through vents in the sea floor. (Quicktime, 1.8 Mb.)
June 17
Dives at Garden Banks 697 found the scientists engulfed in thick clouds of sediment, letting them know that something unusual was happening. (Quicktime, 1.5 Mb
June 15
Shortly after Jason ROV dive operations, the Ron Brown fantail deck area is a scene of "organized chaos." (Quicktime, 920 Kb.)
June 13
During dive operations, the ROV control van becomes the center of activity for the scientists onboard the Ron Brown. (Quicktime, 892 Kb.)
Images
Mission Summary
A beautiful sunset reflects off of the NOAA research vessel Ronald H. Brown.
Mission Summary
SRoF'06 Science Party Explorers.
Mission Summary
The northern Mariana arc submarine volcanoes visited on the SRoF'06 expedition.
July 5
Guy Telesnicki and Harry Roberts discuss the best way to mount the push cores.
July 5
During Jason Lowering #275, the Jason manipulator arm reaches for another push core.
July 5
Kate proudly dons her Mustang suit in preparation for a few chilly hours processing samples in the walk-in “cold room.”
July 5
Kate Segarra and Marshall Bowles carefully sampled dozens of cores during the 33-day cruise.
July 5
After working through the night to process samples, one of the scientists collapsed in the hammock on the bow of the Ron Brown.
July 4
During the day, the main lab is a busy scene with scientists discussing upcoming dive plans, processing samples, and preparing instruments for the next dive.
July 4
In the bio lab, Erin Becker and Irmi Eichinger are processing the remainder of the mussel samples.
July 4
The Jason group, with the help of the Ron Brown deck crew, is lowering Jason into the water.
July 4
Samples, including push cores and mussels, will be removed and processed as soon as the elevator is secured.
July 4
Upon ROV recovery to the surface, Jason pilot Bob Waters helps Stephanie Lessard-Pilon and Julia Zekely quickly collect samples from a well-lit biobox.
July 3
A close-up mussel aggregation with Chirodota heheva sea cucumbers.
July 3
Lake Eerie seems like an apt name for this location. The sea floor was dotted with tiny tubeworms and polychaete worms, the small black specs in the image.
July 3
Scientists discovered what is probably one of the largest-known mussel beds in the deep Gulf of Mexico.
July 3
The Jason group fabricated this Niskin bottle that could be lowered into the brine pool and triggered to collect a water sample — without disturbing the delicate interface.
July 2
Bosun Group Leader Dave Owen gazes back at the Brown while piloting the ship's RHIB.
July 2
During recovery, Dave LaPointe and Cody Harvey snag the Medea under the watchful eyes of Chief Bosun Bruce Cowden and Jason Expedition Leader Matt Heintz.
July 2
Captain Gary Petrae keeps an eye on the Jason launch from the Brown's "flying bridge."
July 2
The teamwork of the R/V Ronald H. Brown and the Jason ROV group has resulted in more than 16 ROV dives totaling more than 406 hours on bottom.
July 1
Transmission electron microscope (TEM) image of marine bacteriophage.
July 1
Schematic of microbial loop/virus loop.
July 1
Using a homemade "darkroom-for-one" to block out the light, scientist use fluorescent dye to stain the DNA of virus particles enabling counting on a microscope.
July 1
During this cruise, push cores samples are being collected to support different projects related to biogeochemistry, marine viruses, sea-urchin community ecology, and geology.
June 29
Rotary camera "H," better known as "Huey," sits on the elevator awaiting deployment.
June 29
Friendly bets are commonplace during this expedition.
June 29
After "Louis" was released from the bottom, spotters on the bridge and bow of the Ron Brown kept a lookout for the camera system's bright yellow float.
June 29
This 360° image was taken during "Louie's" first deployment. It provides a representative example of the type of imagery collected with the time-lapse rotary camera.
June 29
Soon after recovering the rotary time lapse camera in one of the Ron Brown's small boats, scientists begin to disassemble the instrument.
June 27
Scientists carefully separate the macrofauna and meiofauna, using a sieve.
June 27
A microscopic image of various meiofauna. Red dots are copepods. Long worms are nematodes. The pink worm along the left edge is a juvenile polychaete worm.
June 27
A tiny crab collected with the Bushmaster Jr. collection device. The species is found in association with tubeworm communities.
June 27
This organism is a typical undescribed harpacticoid copepod. Though this particular specimen was collected at a hydrothermal vent site, the same family may actually be found at seeps as well.
June 26
After watching a globular rock shatter under pressure from the manipulator, scientists were convinced they discovered a rare natural asphalt site.
June 26
A small reservoir of thick sticky tar was just below the sea floor. Strung out by the current, the tar eventually stuck to the lens of the science camera.
June 26
This tiny orange sea anemone is growing on a rock near the natural asphalt site.
June 26
Due to its unusual nature and rare occurrence, the big asphalt sample attracted a crowd once on deck of the Ron Brown.
June 24
After arriving at Green Canyon 852, the Jason group conducted a bathymetry survey of the site dubbed the "Coral Garden."
June 24
Madrepora oculata in the foreground, and Lophelia pertusa in the upper-right corner in the background.
June 24
Scientists spent several minutes examining the different organisms living in association with a sea whip, located at the Coral Garden.
June 24
After collecting just the anterior end of the sea-whip, this close-up image centered on the central axis of the sample, which was taken back onboard the Ron Brown.
June 24
A video grab from the Jason science camera's video of the Aquapix macro-camera taking close up images of some of the organisms in the Coral Garden.
June 23
Gernot Friederich is busy preparing the mass spectrometer for its first deployment.
June 23
Unlike most of the science instruments (which are loaded onto the front of the ROV), the mass spectrometer is bolted down on the back of the Jason.
June 23
Before ROV deployment, Peter Girgius bolts the mass spectrometer to the Jason.
June 23
The real-time data streaming from the in situ mass spectrometer will allow scientists to better understand the role that hydrocarbon gases play in determining which animal communities inhabit seep areas.
June 21
This heart urchin was carefully collected using the Jason manipulator arm at site Atwater Valley 340.
June 21
Just one of more than 175 digital still images that Stephanie Lessard-Pilon "stitched" together to create a single large composite image of a heart urchin community.
June 21
Though certainly not the most advanced piece of technology used during this cruise, the Klobürste may be one of the most creative uses of a household item for science.
June 19
Scientists and crew work together to successfully deploy the ROV for yet another dive.
June 19
The time-lapse cameras are so large that they cannot fit on the Jason ROV. Instead, they must be sent to the bottom using one of the Jason elevators.
June 19
The Jason ROV will locate the elevator once it reaches the sea floor, retrieve the time-lapse cameras, and place them at specified locations.
June 18
The underside of one of the most prevalent deep sea holothuriods, Benthodytes. The body of this sea cucumber is made of a transparent purple gel.
June 18
Chiridota heheva is a legless and especially worm-like holothuroid that we have found in mussel communities below 2,000 meters.
June 18
A close-up view of a Chirodota heheva in a recently discovered pogonophoran field. The small white flea-like organisms covering this individual are amphipods, called "scuds."
June 18
The pelagic sea cucumber, Enypniastes, swims so gracefully above the mud bottom that they are often confused with jellyfish.
June 17
Without sonar and navigation, the ROV pilots would have been lost in the dense "fog."
June 17
Long before they could see it on the video monitors, scanning sonar return picked up the feature that we later discovered to be the channel carved out by the "river of mud."
June 17
After shaking out one of the push cores which had been used earlier in the dive, the Jason prepares to take a core in the middle of the channel.
June 17
The control van is usually pretty quiet right around midnight, but not tonight. Word quickly spread through the science party that the Jason group had discovered the mud vent.
June 15
Performing stable isotope analysis on representative samples from this mussel community will help scientists better understand feeding relationships between organisms.
June 15
These vials contain stable isotope samples from various organisms in mussel-associated communities in Walker Ridge 269 (WR 269).
June 15
Keeping careful records of which specimens have been sub-sampled will prove invaluable after the cruise is complete and stable isotope analyses continues at the university.
June 14
Map of the world's ocean showing target areas for biogeography of chemosynthetic ecosystems research.
June 14
One of approximately 120 images used to "stitch" together a large photomosaic of what is unofficially being called the Big Mussel Bed at Atwater Valley 340.
June 14
Close-up view of one of the undescribed species of Lamellibrachia that scientists discovered during last year's cruise.
June 14
The yellow arrow points toward the bright red polychaete worm, Branchiopolynoe seepensis, that scientists have found living in the shells of mussels in the Gulf of Mexico, Blake Ridge, and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
June 13
The Jason control room is filled with all of the equipment needed to monitor Jason's instruments and video while maneuvering the vehicle for days on end.
June 13
During ROV recovery, Jason engineer Casey Agee grasps the neutrally-buoyant tether that connects Jason and Medea.
June 13
Immediately after pilot Tito Collasius lowers the Jason onto the aft deck of the NOAA ship Ron Brown with the Effer crane, navigator Brian Bingham straps the ROV down to the deck.
June 12
Ten minutes after the Jason ROV is back on deck, scientists examine tubeworms obtained with the "Bushmaster Jr.," a collection net.
June 12
After documenting the ecology of the tubeworm communities, scientists are collaborating with NOAA educators by providing leftover tubes to teachers as educational aids to promote ocean literacy.
June 12
Erik Cordes and Guy Telesnicki retrieve the "Bushmaster Jr." tubeworm collection net from the ROV.
June 10
A series of six photos showing the launch of the Hugin AUV. A newly developed AUV, owned and operated by C&C Technologies, was used to complete bathymetric surveys at four sites for this project
June 10
The AUV data was used to complete this high resolution bathymetric map of site AT 340. Several of the habitats visited with the Alvin submersible during last summer's cruise are located on the map.
June 9
This three-dimensional seismic map of the bathymetry and amplitude of Atwater Valley 340 (AT 340) provides a visual representation of the subsea depth and strength of the response of sound energy bouncing off the sea floor.
June 9
This map provides a general overview of the sea-floor topography in the Gulf of Mexico. Atwater Valley 340 (AT 340) is highlighted by a yellow arrow in the eastern portion of the Gulf.
June 7
During the transit to AT 340, benthic ecologist Bob Carney puts the finishing touches on a fish trap.
June 7
A plywood box will house a suite of 16 push cores. It must be designed to easily open and close with the Jason manipulator arm, and strong enough to protect the cores as they're brought up through the splash zone.
June 5
All science operations during Expedition to the Deep Slope 2007 will be staged from the NOAA research vessel Ronald H. Brown.
June 5
At the beginning of every cruise, Jason Expedition Leader Matt Heintz briefs the science party on proper safety procedures when working around the ROV.
