Mt Rainer stood out beautifully on July 4th as the R/V Thompson steamed through Puget Sound. We will not see her again until August 7, when we return to Seattle. Credit: Ed McNichol.

The R/V Thompson awaits opening of the  Ballard Locks early in the morning of July 4, 2015. Credit: Mitch Elend, University of Washington.

ROPOS comes out of the water during a 'dunk test' in Puget Sound. Credit: Mitch Elend, University of Washington.

Kearstin, Malea, and Jessica peer out from behind immersion suit hoods during survival suit practice. Credit: Mitch Elend, University of Washington.

Undergraduate students from the UW School of Oceanography practice getting into emergency immersion suits during the first leg of the Cabled Array VISIONS'15 cruise. Credit: Mitch Elend, University of Washington.

Jesse Turner, UW School of Oceanography senior, prepares a zoonplankton net to sample organisms in the deep sea as part of the VISIONS15 program. Credit: Mitch Elend, University of Washington

UW undergraduate students Jessie and Diana happy to be onboard the R/V Thompson as we depart Seattle for the Ocean Observatories Initiative Cabled Array cruise 2015. Credit: Mitch Elend, University of Washington.

Under beautiful blue skies, the R/V Thompson prepares to exit the Ballard Locks to begin the Cabled Array VISIONS'15 expedition as part of NSF's Ocean Observatories Initiative. Photo Credit: D. Kelley, University of Washington.

VISIONS'15 Slide Banner Image

Joe Kalisch 

Jesse Turner 

Quae Atwood

Diana Park

Cole Rogers

Jessie Hild

Malea Saul

Erin Haphey 

Alexander Jamshedi

Erica Sampaga

Jessica Noe

Tracie Barry

Kearstin Williams

During the VISIONS'15 expedition, the R/V Thompson and the ROV ROPOS will be critical to successful deployments and testing of extension cables on the seafloor as part of  NSF's Ocean Observatories Initiative regional cabled observatory.

VISIONS'15 Slide Image

OOI Cable Array Map

The 200-meter platform instrument package is seen here. The mooring was successfully installed during VISIONS'14. Photo Credit: NSF-OOI/UW/CSSF, Dive 1797, V14.

The two-legged mooring has been successfully installed at Axial Base. The mooring includes an instrumented platform (12 feet across) at 200 m water depth, and an instrumented winched Shallow Profiler that travels from 200 m to just below the ocean's surface.