Sunset at NOAA Dock in Newport, Oregon from the Thompson Photo by Montgomery Taylor

Moon over Newport upon our departure Photo by Montgomery Taylor

Adios, Newport! Photo by Montgomery Taylor

Fiber Optic Cable we are using to connect all of the pieces of our Regional Scale Nodes puzzle Photo by Montgomery Taylor

During our nightly meeting in the ship's library Photo by Montgomery Taylor

Sketch of “Castle” Hydrothermal Vent (International District, Axial Seamount) Sketch and photo by Montgomery Taylor

Leaving Newport on Leg 3 Photo by Nancy Penrose

VISIONS '13 Leg 2 Team

ROPOS enters the Pacific with a medium powered junction box attached to its underbelly. Photo by Marisa Gedney

Clean Safe Science   Photo by Marisa Gedney

Thompson Gedneyblog Photo by Marisa Gedney

Beautiful soft corals inhabit the hard carbonate substrate of the 60 m tall Pinnacle structure west of the major seep sites at Southern Hydrate Ridge. This site, at a water depth of ~ 550 m, hosts numerous white and orange bacterial mats, marking sites of weak venting of methane-rich fluids. The almost pumice-like structure of the pinnacle provides ample places for animals to live - small shrimp are extremely abundant. The Pinnacle is likely the fossilized 'throat'/plumbing system for a more ancient seep site that once inhabited this area.

A skate slowly swims past the ROV ROPOS; Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/CSSF; ROPOS Dive R1604, V13.

First day on the VISIONS'13 Expedition, leaving the Ballard locks on the R/V Thompson.

Julie Nelson collects water from the CTD water cast after it arrives back on deck. Photo by Judy Twedt

Claire looks on as Owen and Danny use a buckets to scoop up salps from the ship. Photo by Judy Twedt 

ROV dive logger, Judy Twedt, sits behind the ROPOS pilots, scientists, and engineers and archives the events of the dive.  VISIONS '13, Leg 2 Photo by Mitchell Elend

Hagfish, corals, lobster at Southern Hydrate Ridge.Credit: UW/OOI-NSF/CSSF.

ROPOS begins its descent into the deep, observed by a local albatross at Axial Seamount. Photo credit: Mitchell Elend

The R/V Melville  cast off on July 15, 2013, from the UW dock, headed for Station Papa to deploy OOI infrastructure. Photo by Mike Mulvihill.

Melville Sets Sail in Portage Bay, Seattle 15 July 2013 Photo by Mike Mulvihill

A Deep Sea Skate slowly swims by at the summit of Axial Seamount, 5000 ft beneath the ocean's surface. A small spider crab sits atop an old lava flow to the left of the skate. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/CSSF; V13.

ROCLS gently sets down on the seafloor in preparation for deployment at an ~ 5 km long extension cable to the Central Caldera site at the summit of Axial Seamount. Over 15,000 feet of cable is hosted on the drum. Credit: NSF-OOI/UW/CSSF; V14.

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The ROV ROPOS follows the Remotely Operated Cable Laying System (ROCLS) to the seafloor, keeping it in its vision as it descends 5000 feet beneath the ocean's surface to the seafloor. Photo credit: NSF-OOI/UW/CSSF

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An empty cable drum rests on the seafloor at the end of the installation of ~1800 feet of cable from near Primary Node PN3B to a site on the eastern side of the caldera at Axial Volcano.Photo Credit: NSF-OOI/UW/CSSF.