The VISIONS’14 team of ship’s crew, engineers, scientists, and ROPOS folks have been very busy the past 24 hrs. During this time, we saw the complete installation of all three extension cables at the summit of Southern Hydrate Ridge.
The R/V Thompson left Newport partially hidden in the fog, on its way to the Slope Base Site near the foot of the continental margin. Onboard we have a new group of 9 undergraduate and graduate students from the UW College of the Environment,
Leg 4 of the VISIONS’14 Expedition departed Newport, Oregon, today after a packed 2.5-day mobilization. The R/V Thompson is once again “loaded to the gills” with cables, junction boxes, instruments, and mooring packages
The end of Leg 3 is approaching rapidly, and we successfully met every goal for this leg of the VISIONS14 expedition, including some originally scheduled for Leg 2. We’ll be back in Newport by morning. On to Leg 4!
We have another first to report: the first deployment of a two-legged shallow profiler mooring at the Endurance Oregon Offshore site! The mooring operations were smooth, safe, and ultimately a complete success, thanks to a remarkable run of calm weather.
Over the last few days, while waiting for the weather to improve, we spent nights doing water sampling and one extremely long sonar survey, and ROPOS Dive 1750 went to Hydrate Ridge, where methane gas naturally bubbles out of the sediment.
The last couple of days have been a whirlwind of ROV dive and deck activity at the Endurance Oregon Offshore site (600 meters depth). As of this evening, we have deployed the Benthic Experiment Package (BEP), Digital Still Camera, and Deep Profi
Today was an especially exciting day for the Oregon State portion of the Ocean Observatories Initiative, the Endurance Array. Today we delivered the Benthic Experiment Package to the seafloor.
After the last two legs of the VISIONS '14 cruise, which took place at Slope Base and Axial Seamount, thousands of meters deep in the ocean, Leg 3 is going to take place in relatively shallow water. The Endurance Oregon Offshore site is 600
The end of Leg 2 was an exciting time indeed with the successful installation and connection of the Deep Profiler mooring at the base of Axial Seamount near Primary Node PN3A. Following its recovery back onto the R/V Thompson on August