NOAA Sheds Light on Mayor US Cities Deep-Water Backyard

Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, Our Deepwater Backyard: Exploring Atlantic Canyons.

Not far from the most populated cities of the US and deep under their ocean waters live a wide range of strange creatures -most of which local residents have never even heard of before. The coastal and ocean shelf of these regions homes deep-sea corals, chemosynthetic communities, and unique geological features -dropping cliffs, underwater massive mountains and impressive canyons.

NOAA Expedition Okeanos Explorer now in Leg II of a Leg III operation is expanding the boundaries of unknown deep-sea water ecosystems of the US Atlantic coast. NOAA assures that mapping and understanding the diving environment made open through ROVs will serve for the understanding of submerged resources, compose accurate baseline information and provide guidelines for decisions making.

Blazing out as far as New England Seamount, facing harsh weather and reaching wide depths the team is breaking headlines. NOAA Okeanos Expedition is made available for the world which can access live video feeds from the ship as well as dig into their daily brief updates and marvel upon the high definition underwater photographs.

The daily update of September 7^th for their ROV Dive 02 at Washington Canyon highlight a beautiful hydromedusa found living in Washington Canyon.

"Remotely operated vehicle Deep Discoverer (D2) reached the seafloor at a depth of 645 meters, settled over a soft sediment area …and experienced swarms of small crustaceans (amphipods and euphausiids) that would continue throughout the dive,” NOAA posted describing the environment as “heavily encrusted by biology”.

Upslope the team found red crabs, anemones, sponges, blackbelly rosefish, octopus, hake, and brittle stars. goosefish, three hydromedusa, a couple of crabs fighting over a recently captured squid.

The last dive of Leg II on September 8^th was unfortunately called off due to harsh weather conditions. NOAA made the best of the day working the sonar data and then navigated towards Baltimore.

Okeanos Mission Plan is set for the mapping of submarine canyons and the New England Seamount Chain—“environment unknown and never seen by humans”.

During August, September, and October 2014, NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer will work with the ocean science community to systematically explore the U.S. Submarine Canyons and New England Seamount Chain. Conclusions of the expedition could rock the established beliefs for the local basins.

Submarine canyons, Gulf of Maine, the densely populated Mid-Atlantic and the far-off New England regions, the continental shelf, the deep sea, hydrodynamics, stratus, conduits that funnel pollutants, organic carbon, the data recollected can branch out into numerous sectors.

NOAA adds that the Okeanos is a “hypothesis-generating ship” with a clear task. The team aboard the Okeanos continues to map out what they call the “US Deepwater Backyard”.

Ocean Life News in Brief

Ocean Level Increase Dropping Oceans Floor: International Press reported on December 5 on the findings of new research which assures that due to ocean level increase the ocean floor is sinking. The study published online in Geophysical Research Levels used mathematical equations to accurately measure the Ocean's floor impact driven by the increased of water volume weight. Using data from 1993 to 2014 researchers found that ocean level increase is causing the Ocean floor to drop globally by the milimeters. Ocean Dead Zones Up By Four: On January 8 New York Daily reported that Ocean Dead Zones have quadrupled.Researchers warned in a new study that oxygen-starved ocean dead zones, where animals and plants are struggling to survive, have increased fourfold and it may not be reversible. The new study was published in the Journal Science. The increase of Dead Zones was linked to climate change. La Niña´s Polar Wave Hitting Hard the US -Freezing Oceans: International Press reported on the Polar Wave hitting hard the US. The event is linked by experts to the influence of La Niña. “For the past couple of weeks, parts of North America have been chilling down to record temperatures, with massive snowfall and icy cold conditions putting life at a standstill for many,” media reported. The US East Coast has been particularly badly hit with the likes of Boston down to Philadelphia reaching bone-chilling lows of near 0°F , with icy winds making it feel closer to around -10°F to -20°F. Officially 18 were dead and 100 million affected. Government of Bali Declares a Garbage Emergency: On January 5 Ocean Conservancy reported on a New Waste Management Emergency in Bali. Massive amounts of ocean debri are affecting the island. The situation has reached its peak as the Government of Bali declared a “Garbage Emergency”. Clean up works have began. “Ivory Coast Village Swallowed by Ocean Increase,” Aljazeera Reports: On January 8 Al Jazeera reported that ocean increase levels are affecting infrastructure in the Ivory Coast. “Rising tides and more frequent, devastating storms are slowly destroying what is left of Lahou-Kpanda, the offshoot of what was once a major colonial town near the mouth of the Bandama River, the longest river in Ivory Coast,” Al Jazeera reported. Arctic Ocean Radioactive Levels on the Rise: IFL Science reported on January 3 on the findings of new report which assures that radioactive levels in the Arctic Ocean are on the rise. “Concentrations of radioactive radium-228 in the Arctic Ocean increased between 2007 and 2015,” the report reads. While levels have not yet reached a mark of concern the trend is worries experts. Lauren Kipp of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution addressed the issue. New World Wide Ocean Turtle Study Says 90% of Plastic Pollution Cases Result in Death: Earth Sky Org reported on January 7 that hundreds of marine turtles die every year after getting tangled in trash in oceans and on beaches. A research published in the journal Endangered Species Research took on a World-Wide Survey covering the major oceans where turtles live. They discovered that 91 % of the entangled turtles were found dead. They also suffered serious wounds from entanglement, leading to maiming, amputation or choking. Double Whirlpools Discovered for First Time: December 4 Press reported that Double Eddies have been registered for the first time in History. Tangled up Double Eddies can travel great distances affecting ecology significantly. Eddies are a natural part of the ocean environment but double whirlpools had only been theorized by mathematicians.