Okeanos Approaches Ocean Depth Understanding
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| NOAA Okeanos ROV D2 in full exploration status |
From Puerto Rico Basins to an Atlantic-Pacific Panama crossing to destination set for Hawaii, there is no ocean floor that remains hidden from NOAA's Okeanos Explorer.
On June 17th NOAA communicated that the Ship Okeanos Explorer had successfully completed a dry dock and was on its way to Hawaii in preparation for the next three months expedition.
Okeanos started working early in 2015 and since then has been getting busy and reaping results. From February to April NOAA set out the mission to explore the “unknown and poorly known deepwater regions around Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands”. Successfully, Okeanos completed the mission and released new information of value into the public domain.
But Okeanos did not stop there…
From May 8th to June 12th Okeanos Explorer journeyed from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean departing from the Caribbean passing through the Panama Canal and navigating the North Pacific all the way to Hawaii. In its journey Okeanos mapped and explored the ocean depths.
Once in Hawaii NOAA Okeanos is set to continue ocean depth mapping in what is considered one of the most interesting ocean depth locations of the world -the active and beautiful Hawaii. Okeanos will map and explore through ROVs the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, and Johnston Atoll.
So what is Okeanos looking for in the ocean depths? Two words pretty much summarize it all; “Understanding and Discovery”.
Incredibly and despite what many may think most of the Ocean depths have never been explored. NOAA says that approximately 95% of it has been kept secret from the human eye.
“Only five percent of the world’s oceans have been mapped in high resolution. NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer is actively participating in exploratory mapping expeditions to increase our understanding of the seafloor,” Okeanos crew states.
From geology, active tectonics, ocean crust formation, ocean crust destruction, influence on global weather patterns, natural disasters to ecology understanding and new species...when searching for answers and for the unknown the ocean floor is one of the best places to go.
Okeanos recognizes that to map the entire oceans is an endeavour beyond their capacity. As if urging for more cooperation in the sector NOAA says that even with unlimited funds it would take Okeanos 1,042 years to map the entire ocean. Of course when they say map they mean 3D high definition geo-mapping enhanced with diverse layers such as sonar, acoustic, thermal and ecological pinpoints among others.
Recently the importance of mapping ocean floors has been highlighted due to the increase of “bad weather” usually linked to climate change. Devastating Tsunamis, Storms, Hurricanes, Cyclones, Floods, High Tides, Ecological Natural Disasters -such as algae blooms, and other events which are reported to be on the rise are being now studied from an Ocean Depth perspective.
What happens when bad weather moves through the ocean, from deep waters, trenches to more coastal continental platforms and touches coastal areas?
Ocean waters dynamic -vertically and horizontally is affected by “bad weather”. As the weather patterns move through the ocean affecting the waters these in turn interact with the ocean depths. The equation deep waters meeting shallow waters meeting bad weather can spell complete disaster. This event is highly documented in the Sea of Finisterra where the basin near Spain completely exposed to Atlantic storms enrages when finding more shallow waters.
Puerto Rico ocean floors are an interesting area for study. The basin is found in the center or heart of the Hurricane formation. These massive storms which are formed yearly hit the Caribbean and sometimes escalate to US coast causing incredible damage.
Winds and pressure systems interact with ocean surface causing displacement, movement, flow and dynamics of ocean waters, sometimes leading to coastal surges or inter-layer subsurface ocean flows.
Complex mapping locations are hot spots of study and are main components of the natural balance of storms, hurricanes, cyclones and such events. Mapping the depths from this perspective gains increased value in modern society.
Okeanos during the 52 day expedition Puerto Rico made the most of its time securing valuable data through the ROV dives. NOAA states that the resulting map comes to replace the only existing maps of the seafloor of the area -primarily low-resolution satellite or topographic data.
Critical deep-water environmental data to improve ecosystem understanding and inform decision makers, the scientific community and the general public in general was collected by Okeanos Team.
The ROV Deep Discoverer also know as D2 is not only a two body ROV but its “eyes” are particularly good. NOAA announced a wide range of new species completely unknown to mankind. These were spotted with the “Good Eyes” of the D2. Okeanos boosting and showing off just how good the eyes of D2 are released a series of high definition images in which diminute marine organisms camouflage and hide in the surrounding environment.
“Our team collects terabytes of primarily imagery data every expedition, I am constantly amazed by the quality of pictures that the Okeanos Explorer team gets of the geology and life on the seafloor,” Okeanos crew member stated.
Okeanos most interesting made-public-discoveries include East Pacific Rise transit, underseas knolls mountains, active submerged volcanic mountains and other high resolution multibeam bathymetry mapping.
Caribbean Puerto Rico, the Pacific-Atlantic Transit and Hawaii all have one thing in common “their complicated bathymetry of the seafloor is a consequence of plate tectonics”.
“The rich diversity of seafloor features just offshore Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands include trenches, seamounts, numerous submarine canyons, valleys, and troughs. These features likely contain valuable and vulnerable ocean resources, but very little is known about them,” Okeanos stated before mission start.
In the first leg of the Puerto Rico expedition Okeanos registered over 100 species of fish, 50 deep-water corals and hundreds of invertebrates. Okeanos ROV took depths of up to 20 thousand feet to film and stream their discoveries online. New species for science were discovered among the footage.
“It’s pretty amazing that we haven’t been there yet, exploring really deep depths,” Andrea Quattrini -joint leader of the expedition told the Independent.
“Scientists from all over the world can log into the chat room and we can discuss our observations as we go,” the leader highlighted the importance of open and transparent scientific contribution and live-feeds.
Okeanos also studied species of value from a commercial fisheries perspective and species of value from an inter-specie-inter-ecological relationships perspective. Findings such as a Hydromedusa from the Genus Crossota or Physonect Siphonophore made by Okeanos excited the entire team.
Photo and Video-log of the Atlantic-Pacific Puerto Rico-Panama-Hawaii-Expedtion are found at NOAA-Okeanos frame dating from May 13 to June 17.
Okeanos Explorer mapped this uncharted seafloor 24 hours a day for 33 days -except in foreign waters where permission was not granted. The result was an approximately 7,000-nautical-mile-long swath bathymetry map of the seafloor. In this “straight line” of navigation Okeanos deployed diverse technology including bathymetry, seafloor backscatter, water column backscatter, split-beam sonar, subbottom profiles and Argo Floats. Okeanos created a high resolution map for an area which had never been mapped in this way before.
“Results may provide new insight into the complex geological history of the Pacific Plate,” NOAA hints on one of the main reasons for the mission.
With north set for Hawaii for the next three months Okeanos continues its effort to contribute to the global mapping of ocean depths. As it navigates it continues to release amazing new information and approaches “Ocean Depths Understanding”.
