Date: October 31, 2019
Location: In transit between Miami, Florida, and Blake Plateau
Mapping during the transit to the first dive site revealed interesting pockmarks shown in these images. Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 2019 Southeastern U.S. Deep-sea Exploration. Download image (jpg, 3.2 MB).
Today, NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer departed from Miami, Florida, to begin the second part of the 2019 Southeastern U.S. Deep-sea Exploration, the last Okeanos Explorer expedition for calendar year 2019. The ship left around 1 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time and began transit toward the first dive site of the expedition.
Prior to departure, the onboard expedition team spent days preparing the ship and conducting other expedition-related activities. This included a tour of the ship for seven of our NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory partners.
We have begun collecting data, and we will continue to map the seafloor overnight. The first dive will be November 1 on the western side of a ridge/escarpment feature trending north/south on the southern Blake Plateau.
Location of NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer on October 31, 2019. Download larger version (jpg, 2.4 MB).
