Image Archive

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.

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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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.

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.