Image Archive

Purple hagfish, speckled sole, red rockfish, starfishn and crabs thrive at Southern Hydrate Ridge with diverse substrates to call home. Credit: UW/OOI-NSF/WHOI. V20.

A rockfish hangs out with soft corals at the carbonate Pinnacle deposit at Southern Hydrate Ridge. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI. V20.

Beautiful soft corals are ubiquitous on carbonate deposits that form the Pinnacle at Southern Hydrate Ridge. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI. V20.

A sole lounges on the sedimented seafloor at Southern Hydrate Ridge. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI. V20

A rockfish hangs out with soft corals at the carbonate Pinnacle deposit at Southern Hydrate Ridge. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI. V20.

Beautiful soft corals are ubiquitous on carbonate deposits that form the Pinnacle at Southern Hydrate Ridge. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI. V20.

A sole lounges on the sedimented seafloor at Southern Hydrate Ridge. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI. V20

An osmotic fluid sampler filled with seep fluids from Southern Hydrate Ridge after a 1-year deployment. Credit: University of Washington, V20.

An osmotic fluid sampler is recovered onto the deck of the R/V Thompson that was installed for a year at Southern Hydrate Ridge to sample seep fluids: Credit: University of Washington. V20

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An overview sonar being installed at Southern Hydrate Ridge - the multibeam's "head" is in the down position, prior to completion of the installation. Credit: UW/NSF_OOI/MARUM, V19.

A photo from the Jason van screen showing exposed methane hydrate at Einsteins's Grotto - the first time we have observed it there.

Once again the Smokey Caverns (or Taverns as it is also known) has changed remarkably since we visited it with Jason last year. The area is significantly more rugged, marked by large hummocks. An eelpout, sole, clams and orange rock fish dot the landscape. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI, V18.

A hagfish with mouth wide open slithers around the Southern Hydrate Ridge methane seep site. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI, V18.

An old Ocean Drilling Program hole serves as a nursery for hagfish and crabs at the summit of Southern Hydrate Ridge. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI, V18.

A deep sea sole, surrounded by clam shells at Southern Hydrate Ridge (~ 800 m water depth). Credit. UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI, V18.

Collage of photos taken from screens in the control van showing microbial mats, hagfish, rockfish, flounders, shells chaff, clam, carbonate cobbles and methane seeps observed at Southern Hydrate Ridge. B-Y. Lee, University of Washington, V18.

Einsteins Grotto, the active methane seep first visited by the UW in 2010, continues to surprise us - this year, multiple bubble streams were issuing from the pit and exposed methane hydrate was documented in the sides of the wall. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI, V18.

The roughtail skate has a broad nose and sharp scales on the surface. Roughtail skates are around 91 cm in length. This skate was seen at Southern Hydrate Ridge. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/CSSF; ROPOS Dive 1777; V14.

Neptune Canada’s guide included it in the “sea anemone” category because of similarity, but it belongs to another order: Corallimorpharia. This Corallimorph anemone was spotted on the seafloor at Southern Hydrate Ridge at a depth of 774 m.

The vibrant Neptunea nursery that was covered in bright yellow egg stalks topped with Neptunea snails is not longer active. Only casings and empty shells remain. Credit: UW/OOI-NSF/WHOI; J2-981; V17.

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 Pinnacle, on the west of the main methane seep sites at Southern Hydrate Ridge, is a 60 m tall, rugged carbonate edifice teaming with life - dominated by high densities of soft corals, hagfish, and small squat lobsters that hide in small cavities. Credit: NSF-OOI/UW/ISS, V15.

A red jellyfish (Poralia rufescens) at Southern Hydrate Ridge undulates past the ROV ROPOS near the carbonate pinnacle site during Dive R1851. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/CSSF; V15.

A rockfish and a pedicellasterid starfish (possibly Ampheraster sp.) are intermixed with clams near a bacterial mat on the methane seep site, Southern Hydrate Ridge during ROPOS Dive R1850. Credit: NSF-OOI/UW/CSSF, V15.

A nascent collapse zone formed since last year. ROPOS found this site by seeing bubble plumes >100 m off bottom with their sonar. Following the plume to the seafloor led us to this collapse zone. Credit: NSF-OOI/UW/ISS, V15.

A close up of a beautiful stalk of Neptunea snail eggs recovered from Southern Hydrate Ridge. Credit: Mitch Elend, University of Washington, V15.