2016 Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas

2016 Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas

Daily Updates

The updates below summarize daily activities on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer during the 2016 Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas expedition, with accompanying images and videos.

The shipboard mission team poses on the bow of the ship as Leg 3 comes to a close.

July 10, 2016: Expedition Complete

ROV Deep Discoverer discovers a B-29 Superfortress resting upsidedown on the seafloor. This is the first B-29 crash site found of over a dozen American B-29s lost in the area while flying missions during World War II.

July 9, 2016: Dive 22

This fish - potentially a Malacosarcus sp. - is a bit of a mystery for our science team as these prickelfish are usually found at shallower depths.

July 8, 2016: Dive 21

This coral, observed at just over 4,300 meters, expanded the known depth range for bamboo corals by approximately 100 meters.

July 7, 2016: Dive 20

Vogt seamount could easily be called a coral wonderland. Biodiversity and coral abundance here was the highest observed during any other dive this cruise. Here ROV Deep Discoverer documents several large corals, some as wide as the vehicle! In several instances, the corals and sponges so big it was difficult to fit into one shot.

July 6, 2016: Dive 19

This hydromedusa was documented during our midwater transects at 800 m over a newly discovered petite spot volcano - the first ever discovered in the US EEZ. The water column the largest biome on earth and one of the least explored. Almost every time scientists spend time documenting midwater fauna, they make new discoveries.

July 5, 2016: Dive 18

Cusk eel in the family Ophidiidae. This is in the genus Eretmichthys and may be the species E. pinnatus.

July 4, 2016: Dive 17

ROV Deep Discoverer collects a spiral, fossilized shell of some sort. At the conclusion of this field season, this sample- along with all of the others will go out - will head to archival. Once there, scientists can request to analyse a specific sample, like this fossil, which will hopefully help to further characterize this region. We might even be lucky enough to figure out what this is a fossil of!

July 3, 2016: Dive 16

Two very small amphipods almost look like they are posing for ROV Deep Discoverer as D2 images them ontop of a sponge stalk.

July 2, 2016: Dive 15

One of the unusual black corals documented making circles in the sediment during Dive 14 at Explorer Ridge Deep.

July 1, 2016: Dive 14

Acorn worms were just one of the many types of strange fauna observed at Twin Peaks.

June 30, 2016: Dive 13

Cusk eel with unusual head shape: the large bulbous head features small eyes, large nostrils, and a mouth placed low on the head. This distinctive-looking animal could be a new species.

June 29, 2016: Dive 12

The control room on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer as ROV Deep Discoverer (D2) images a crinoid at Northern Forearc Ridge. In the bottom left of the image you can see the newly acquired multibeam bathymetry. Those data were collected, processed, reviewed, and prepped for ROV navigation to guide D2 within 12 hours.

June 28, 2016: Dive 11

This juvenile bamboo coral is too young for the characteristic segmented “stalk” to be visible, but the image shows sclerites in the tissue of the four small polyps.

June 27, 2016: Dive 10

Tube worms with red gills and anemones observed at the crater rim.

June 26, 2016: Dive 9

This beautiful groppo (Grammatonotus sp) was observed during Dive 8 at Eifuku Seamount. At the top of the feature survey during this dive, small, colorful fish like this were very common among the rocks.

June 25, 2016: Dive 8

ROV Deep Discoverer images a newly discovered hydrothermal vent field at Chammoro Seamount.

June 24, 2016: Dive 7

One of the priority objectives for Dive 6 was to document and better understand fish habitat. While transiting up the ridge at Supply Reef, ROV Deep Discoverer encountered a small aggregation of groupers, a commercially important fish.

June 23, 2016: Dive 6

One of the unusual benthic platyctenid ctenophores documented during Dive 5 at Ahyi Seamount.

June 22, 2016: Dive 5

View of our ROV Deep Discoverer exploring at the depth of 6000m in the Mariana Trench. Never before seen geological features reminiscent of the Alps and canyons in California stunned participating scientists on the ship and on shore.

June 21, 2016: Dive 4

This high density coral community, with several large basket stars, was documented at the start of Dive 3. At least 50 coral colonies can be seen in this single image.

June 20, 2016: Dive 3

This Long-Tail Red Snapper was spotted during Dive 02 on Pagan. In the words of one of our science team members- we were exploring for bottom fish, and this one was the primo find!

June 19, 2016: Dive 2

This crinoid rests on a white, ribbon-like sponge which was one of the dominant species documented during Dive 01 of Leg 3. When the vehicles first arrived on the seafloor, nearly every local topographic high had this type of sponge growing on it.

June 18, 2016: Dive 1

Science team co-lead, Shirley Pomponi, discusses the upcoming mission during a ship tour of local stakeholders and resource managers.

June 17, 2016: Leg 3 Commences

Getting a picture of everyone involved in an Okeanos Explorer telepresence-enabled cruise is nearly impossible. More than 50 scientists and students participated in Leg 1 of the Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas Expedition from around the world! Many more crew, shore-side technicians, educators, outreach specialists, and others provide critical support to enable the expedition to happen. Here, the shipboard mission team poses for a picture on the bow of the ship before pulling into port in Saipan to bring Leg 1 of the expedition to a close.

May 11, 2016: Leg 1 Complete

A small octopus made an appearance on the dive. You can see how small it is compared to the crinoid stalks it is next to.

May 10, 2016: Dive 19

A cluster of sea urchins (and a single crinoid), living on an elevated rocky feature. It is typical for suspension feeders, such as the crinoid, to live on elevated features such as this to get access to food from the currents in the water column, however it is not clear why these urchins were so densely clustered here. Until this dive, we have not encountered such a high density of urchins in any one location. It may have been a spawning aggregation.

May 9, 2016: Dive 18

An oblique-banded snapper (Pristipomoides zonatus) and moray eel (Gymnothorax berndti).

May 8, 2016: Dive 17

An anemone, with tentacles getting blown over by the strong current, living on a manganese-encrusted rock. Note the light sediment layer on the rock.

May 7, 2016: Dive 16

An unknown sponge species. We don’t know what the white spots are that are embedded within the tissue, but speculate that it could be embryos.

May 6, 2016: Dive 15

A high-density field of corals, including the spiraling Iridogorgia magnispiralis (center), which can grow as long as five meters.

May 5, 2016: Dive 14

The anemone living on this parapagurid hermit crab (likely Strobopagurus gracilipes) actually secretes a “shell” for the crab, which it inhabits instead of a gastropod shell (e.g., snail) that most hermit crabs call home.

May 4, 2016: Dive 13

Close up of a basket star, with commensal ophiuroids. We saw an extremely high density of these on this dive, and believe this may have been a new species.

May 3, 2016: Dive 12

Hydrothermal-vent chimney. In the center of the photo, you can see the vent fluid which appears like dark smoke due to the high levels of minerals and sulfides contained in the fluid. Look closely, and you will also see the chimney is crawling with Chorocaris shrimp and Austinograea wiliamsi crabs.

May 2, 2016: Dive 11

A deep-sea anglerfish living within the pillow basalts. You can see its round lure in between its two eyes. This fish is an ambush predator that waits for prey to be attracted by the lure before rapidly capturing them in one gulp with their large mouths.

May 1, 2016: Dive 10

A mount of pillow lava. These pillow basalts form when basaltic lava erupts underwater. Cold seawater chills the erupting lava, creating a rounded tube of basalt crust that looks like a pillow. As the newly erupting lava pushes through the chilled basalt crust, it can form scratches on the pillow surface, called striations.

April 30, 2016: Dive 9

A beautiful stalked crinoid, likely Proisocrinus ruberrimus.

April 29, 2016: Dive 8

The ROV Deep Discoverer surveying the 14-m hydrothermal chimney.

April 28, 2016: Dive 7

An isolated pillow outcrop surrounded by sediment. Scientist refer to the funny looking protrusion towards the top of the outcrop as a mushroom pillow.

April 27, 2016: Dive 6

The predatory tunicate Megalodicopia sp.

April 26, 2016: Dive 5

Following safe recovery of the ROV, Biology Science Team Lead Diva Amon prepares to retrieve the samples from ROV D2 while the deck team starts to assess the sheave located at the forward end of the aft deck.

April 25, 2016: ROV Recovery & Repair

A field of small, sedimented balls that we have tentatively identified as the amoeba Gromia sphaerica or a close relative. We saw huge number of these throughout the dive.

April 24, 2016: Dive 4

An enteropneust (aka acorn worm) leaving a characteristic fecal coil on the seafloor in Sirena Canyon.

April 23, 2016: Dive 3

A Lepidisis coral imaged shortly before collecting it for further analysis.

April 22, 2016: Dive 2

A sixgill shark paid us a visit, and even stuck around for a minute. Note the high diversity of coral species in the foreground. Look closely, and you can see brittle starfish hiding in in the corals.

April 21, 2016: Dive 1

Leg 1 Biology Science Team Lead, Dr. Diva Amon, enjoying the view as NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer heads to sea to start Leg 1 of the 2016 Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas Expedition. You can see the island of Guam in the background.

April 20, 2016: Expedition Commences