V 16 Images

The ROV Jason on the deck of the RV Sikuliaq in port at Patricia Bay, British Columbia. Credit: Mitch Elend, UW;V16

The RV Sikuliaq at Patricia Bay, British Columbia. Credit: Mitch Elend, UW;V16

A view of downtown Seattle from the R/V Sikuliaq as it docked for fueling. Credit: D.S. Kelley, University of Washington, V16.

The Regional Cabled Array includes ~900 km of submarine high power and bandwidth fiber optic cables connected to 7 Primary nodes [underwater substations, 18 secondary nodes, and >150 instruments streaming live data to shore 24/7. Six cabled and instrumented moorings span depths from 2900 m to 600 m with instrumented science pods that travel up and down through the water column, also streaming live data. The high bandwidth and power provides important expansion opportunities for interested investigators. Credit: University of Washington.

The R/V Sikuliaq is joined by another vessel in the Hiram locks as we depart for the VISIONS'16 expedition. Credit. M. Elend, University of Washington, V16.

The R/V Sikuliaq leaves the University of Washington School of Oceanography fully loaded with Cabled Array infrastructure. Credit. M.Elend, University of Washington.

Spillways on the south side of the Hiram locks as viewed from the R/V Sikuliaq at the Hiram Locks. Credit: M. Elend, University of Washington, V16.

The ROV Jason is about to enter the ocean above Axial Seamount on its first launch of the VISIONS'16 program. Credit. S. Denny, University of Washington, V16.

Junction box LJ03A rests on the deck of the R/V Sikuliaq, fully tested and ready for installation at the base of Axial Seamount. Credit: M. Elend, University of Washington. V16.

The ROV Jason enters the NE Pacific waters for the first time during the VISIONS'16 cruise. Credit: M. Elend, University of Washington; V16.

Junction Box LJ03A being moved into position at the start of Jason Dive 907. Credit: M. Elend, University of Washington; V16.

The fantail of the R/V Sikuliaq has little room to walk subsequent to loading all the equipment to be installed during VISIONS'16. Credit: S. Denny, University of Washington; V16.

The LJ03A-2016 junction box hosting a variety of instruments to investigate water-column properties was successfully installed at the base of Axial Seamount. An instrument package hosting a CTD, dissolved oxygen, and absorption spectrophotometer is held in the manipulator of the ROV Jason. Credit. UW/OOI-NSF/Jason.

The ROV Jason breaches the oceans surface latched into an instrumented Platform Interface Assembly that has been installed for a year on a Shallow Profiler Mooring at the base of Axial Seamount. Connected to the submarine cable, the instruments have been sending sending data live back to shore since summer 2015 from 600 ft beneath the oceans' surface. Credit: M. Elend, University of Washington, V16.

The ROV Jason is latched into a recovered, instrumented Science Pod on a Shallow Profiler Mooring at the base of Axial Seamount. The winched profiler has made >2000 trips up and down through the water column. Connected to the submarine cable, the instruments have been sending sending data live back to shore since summer 2015 from 600 ft beneath the oceans' surface. Credit: M. Elend, University of Washington, V16.

The ROV Jason surveys the Shallow Profiler platform located ~ 600 ft beneath the oceans' surface. Eighteen instruments on the platform and profiling science pod have been sending data live to shore for a year, all connected to the Internet. Both science pods have now been replaced during the annual, planned maintenance of this system. Operation of this infrastructure takes place at the University of Washington Operations Center in the School of Oceanography. Credit: UW/OOI-NSF/WHOI; V16.

The new instrumented science pod, all bright and shiney, is installed on the Shallow Profiler Mooring at Axial Base. Credit: UW/OOI-NSF/WHOI, V16.

A digital still camera (left), mass spectrometer (middle) and hydrothermal fluid and microbial DNA sampler (right) document changes in animal life, gas and fluid chemistry, temperature, and chimney growth at the El Gordo vent site in the International District Hydrothermal Field at the summit of Axial Seamount - water depth is ~ 5000 ft (1500 m). Data are streaming live to shore 24/7. Credit: UW/OOI-NSF/WHOI, V16.

Final preparations on the whiched, instrumented Science Pod before it is latched under the belly of the ROV Jason for installation on the Shallow Profiler Mooring at Axial Base. Credit: M. Elend, University of Washington, V16.

A 12 pin electrical wet-mate connector on a junction box at the base of Axial Seamount awaits its mate during turning of the platforms and instruments at this site. The oil-filled mates, allow the ROV to disconnect and connect extension cables on platforms, junction boxes, and instruments without bringing the entire assembly to the surface. They are used heavily on our system to reduce operations and maintenance costs. Credit: UW/OOI-NSF/WHOI, DIve J907, V16.

The Titan manipulators on the ROV Jason conduct complex operations during installation of the Platform Interface Assembly hosting multiple instruments. The PIA is attached to the 200 m deep, 12 foot across platform on the two-legged Shallow Profiler Mooring at Axial Base. Credit: UW/OOI-NSF/WHOI, Dive J911,V16.

Krill surroung the small "cage" housing the cable connection from the Shallow Profiler at Axial Base to the extension cable connecting the Profiler to the power and communications. Credit: UW/OOI-NSF/WHOI, Dive J910, V16.

The engineeing team from the Applied Physics Laboratory at the UW and the crew of the R/V Sikuliaq prepare the low-power junction box for installation at the Slope Base site near the Cascadia Margin, 9500 ft beneath the oceans' surface. Credit. M. Elend, University of Washington, V16.

The ROV Jason plugs in the low-power junction box 9500 ft beneath the oceans surface at the Slope Base site. Credit: UW/OOI-NSF/WHOI, V16.

A view of the myriad screens inside the Jason control van during Jason Dive 921 at Southern Hydrate Ridge. Credit. M. Elend, University of Washington, V16.

The mooring platform at the Oregon Offshore Site (~600 ft beneath the oceans' surface) abounds with life, supported by the nutrient-rich waters that characterize this area. Small crabs, urchins, and sea stars have colonized the platform since installed in 2014 during the VISIONS'14 cruise. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI; J2-919, V16.

The Shallow Profiler Mooring 12-ft across, 7 ton platform hosts a new Science Pod (left) and Platform Interface Assembly (PIA, right) installed on Jason Dive J2-917 as part of the annual maintance operations for these moorings. The 'mother' platform sprouts a variety of life that was not present last year when we turned the Science Pod and PIA. Credit: UW/OOI-NSF/WHOI; V16.

A Hydrothermal Vent Cap at the top of the actively venting chimney called ‘El Gordo’, traps high temperature hydrothermal fluid. An intake nozzle from the mass spectrometer allows measurement of gas chemistry in real-time, sending data at the speed of light back to shore. Another nozzle sucks in vent fluids for sampling and for filtering of microbial DNA: the samples fluids and DNA are recovered during annual Cabled Array maintenance cruises for follow-on shore-based analyses. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI; Dive J2-912, V16.

The wand of the temperature and resistivity sensor is embedded in 1-year old metal sulfide and sulfate minerals precipitated from hot hydrothermal fluid. This novel instrument, built by M. Lilley at the University of Washington, measures real-time changes in fluid temperature and resistivity as an analogue for chlorinity. Boiling vents often emit low-salinity, low pH fluids. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI; Dive J2-912, V16.

Close up of the Remote Access Fluid Sampler (RAS) built by D. Butterfield at NOAA-PMEL-UW. A nozzle is installed in an active venting site on the El Gordo chimney. Controlled from shore, or by a mission plan, a pump sucks in hydrothermal fluid into sterile bags (and also onto filters for collection of DNA in a similar system above the RAS). During annual Cabled Array maintenance cruises, this coupled mooring is recovered and collected material analyzed, with results provide at oceanobservatories.org. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI; Dive J2-212, V16.

A temperature probe (HOBO) installed by NOAA last year in the hydrothermal vent ‘Diva’ is now enclosed in the sulfate-rich, white mineral called anhydrite. The high temperature fluids at this site host very high concentrations of carbon dioxide being outgassed from the underlying magma chamber. Credit: UW/OOI-NSF/WHOI; Dive J2-912, V16.

A digital still camera (left), mass spectrometer (middle) and a fluid and microbial DNA sampler at the El Gordo vent in the International District Hydrothermal Field measure and sample fluids, animals, and microbes in this active processes within this hydrothermal system to understand linkages amoung seismicity (seismometers extend away from the field), venting and life in this extreme environment. Credit: UW/OOI-NSF/WHOI; Dive J2-212, V16.

A temperature-resistivity sensor, with its wand now embedded in a sulfate-rich chimney (white, right) sends real-time data to shore from the Escargot chimney, 5000 ft beneath the oceans' surface and >300 miles offshore. Resistivity is an analogue for fluid chlorinity. Numerous hydrothermal vents in the International District Hydrothermal Field at the summit of Axial Seamount are boiling. Credit. UW/OOI-NSF/WHOI; Dive J2-912, V16.

Lead Field Engineer, L. Nielson, guides a Platform Interface Assembly onto a UW Applied Physics Lab truck for transport back to Seattle at the end of Leg 1, VISIONS'16 cruise. Credit: M. Elend, University of Washington.

An AB on the R/V Sikuliaq throws a line ashore to pull the main docking line to the dock in Newport Oregon. Credit: M. Elend, University of Washington

View from the R/V Sikuliaq of the waters edge coming into Newport Oregon at the end of Leg 1 of the Cabled Array VISIONS'16 cruise. Credit: M. Elend, University of Washington.

James Tilley, an engineer on the VISIONS'16 Cabled Array cruise, shoots off an XBT (expendable bathythermograph) that measures temperature through the water column. These data are put into mapping programs to insure that the sound velocity profile is accurate for a given location. Credit: M. Elend, University of Washington, V16.

Brendan Philip, a new graduate student at the School of Oceanography, University of Washington, leads an ROV Jason dive on a new seep site he discovered during the VISIONS'16 cruise. Credit: M. Elend, University of Washington, V16.

A CTD rosette being deplyed from the Baltic room on the R/V Sikuliaq during the VISIONS'16 expedition. Analyses of water samples from the Niskin bottles are used to verify instruments on the Cabled Array. Credit: M. Elend, University of Washington, V16. 

Julie Morris, from Grays Harbor College, helping to lead CTD operations on the R/V Sikuliaq during the VISIONS'16 cruise. Credit: M. Elend, University of Washington, V16.

The housing for the zooplankton instrument forms a good habitat for sea anemones and fish at the Oregon Shelf Site at 80 m water depth. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI; V16.

The Benthic Experiment Platform at the Oregon Shelf site houses numerous crabs. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI; V16.

The BEP at the Oregon Shelf site is in highly productive waters. It provides a protective habitat and hard substrate for biological communities to grow on, including large sea anemones that have colonized this platform in the 1-year it has been installed. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI; V16.

The aft deck of the R/V Sikuliaq is loaded with Cabled Array equipment to be installed during Leg 2 of the OOI Cabled Array VISIONS'16 cruise. Credit: M. Elend, University of Washington, V16.

An HPIES instrument deployed off the starboard side of the R/V Sikuliaq ~ 125 km offshore Newport Oregon near the base of the Subduction Zone at Slope Base. The instrument was released and free fell 2900 m to land softly on the seafloor - the extended legs insure a softer landing and that is stays nearly horizonatal as it travels through the water column. This instrument utilizes a bottom pressure sensor, an inverted echosounder and a horizontal electrometer to provide insights into the vertical structure of current fields, near-bottom water currents, and water properties including temperature, salinity, and specific volume anomalies. It was built at the Applied Physics Laboratory. Credit: M. Elend, University of Washington, V16.

An HPIES instrument is being installed off the starboard side of the R/V Sikuliaq ~ 125 km offshore Newport Oregon near the base of the Subduction Zone. This instrument utilizes a bottom pressure sensor, an inverted echosounder and a horizontal electrometer to provide insights into the vertical structure of current fields, near-bottom water currents, and water properties including temperature, salinity, and specific volume anomalies. It was built at the Applied Physics Laboratory. Credit: M. Elend, University of Washington, V16.

Hagfish investigate flow meters called Mosquitos at methane seeps at Southern Hydrate Ridge (water depth ~800 m). Data from these instruments allow calculation of the flux of fluids into and out of sediments at this gas hydrate site marked by thick bacterial mats and abundant clams. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI; V16.

The Jason team rotates the vehicle in place for latching into the 3200 lb Benthic Experiment Platform for installation at the Oregon Shelf site. Credit: M. Elend, University of Washington, V16.

The ROV Jason takes a digital still camera in their elevator latched beneath the vehicle to the seafloor at Southern Hydrate Ridge. Credit: M. Elend, University of Washington, V16.

The high definition camera, built by the UW Applied Physics Lab, was reinstalled in 2016 during the VISIONS'16 cruise. The prior camera had been streaming video live to shore for two years. The camera was recovered to clear the outer window of biofouling. The camera is located at the hydrothermal chimney called Mushroom in the ASHES hydrothermal field on Axial Seamount. Video are streamed live from ~5000 ft down and >300 miles offshore onto the Internet 8 times a day. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI; V16.

A 3D temperature (thermistor) array housing 24 sensors rests above a small diffuse flow site a few meters away from the actively venting black smoker edifice called Mushroom in the ASHES hydrothermal field on Axial Seamount. This cabled instrument was designed and built by G. Proskurowski, UW School of Oceanography. Limpets have colonized the frame and cable housing the thermistors. An osmotic fluid sampler is inserted into the diffuse flow site to obtain chemistry coregistered with temperature. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI; V16. 

A titanium isobaric gas-tight sampler (IGT) is used to sample fluids with dissolved gases in a high temperature vent on the El Gordo metal sulfide chimney located in the International District Hydrothermal Field at ~ 1500 m water depth on Axial Seamount. The base of the cabled RAS fluid sampler and microbial DNA sampler mooring is in the background. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI; V16.

The cabled digital still camera streams images of Jason (Dive J2-932) live back to shore in real time as the vehicle works at the active hydrothermal vent called 'El Gordo' in the International District Hydrothermal Field - depth is 1500 m, and >300 miles offshore. The hydrothermal fluid sampler, called the RAS, is shown to the left, which allows fluid samples and temperature to be taken for a year. The instrument can be run in "mission mode" where samples are preprogrammed, or in "sponse mode" where missions are interrupted by operators to take samples - such as was done during the eruption of Axial Seamount in 2015. Credit: UW/OOI-NSF/WHOI, V16.