DEEP SEARCH 2019: DEEP Sea Exploration to Advance Research on Coral/Canyon/Cold seep Habitats
Past Expedition
Overview
From April 9 to 30, 2019, NOAA and partners at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a research expedition on NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown to collect critical baseline information about deepwater habitats offshore the U.S. Mid- and South Atlantic coasts.
Features
The 2019 DEEP SEARCH mission was a great success. We battled some stormy weather that forced us to run and adapt our plans, but the whole team worked together and did an exceptional job in pulling off this complex research expedition.
May 23, 2019
Scientists discovered chemosynthetic vestimentiferan tubeworms while exploring methane cold seeps on a research expedition in the Atlantic Ocean off of the U.S. southeast coast last month, marking the first time that tubeworms have ever been observed in this part of the Atlantic.
May 8, 2019
The end has snuck up on us yet again. Somehow five days have elapsed since my last update, and we’re headed to the dock tomorrow afternoon. In those five days though, we’ve done quite a lot.
April 29, 2019
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With the end of the expedition in sight, Team DEEP SEARCH has been extremely busy spending our last full week at sea doing as much science as possible. After Monday’s mega-dive at Pamlico Canyon, we were back in the water no more than 5 hours later at Pea Island Seep.
April 24, 2019
Our dive at Pamlico Canyon was our longest yet of this expedition, clocking in at nearly 20 hours on the seafloor. The ROV began the dive at the bottom of the canyon (nearly 1,900 meters down) and spent most of the dive slowly climbing up from there, surveying the canyon’s walls and ledges.
April 23, 2019
When we send an ROV like Jason down into the ocean it not only provides us eyes on the seafloor with cameras but also arms with hydraulic manipulators. These manipulators provide a lot of utility to sample in different ways while on the seafloor.
April 22, 2019
It’s been a busy week here aboard NOAA Ship Ron Brown! As is often the case with deep-sea research, Leg 1 didn’t go entirely as planned, so we made adjustments, as we’re always prepared to do.
April 19, 2019
BOEM’s research is primarily use-inspired, meaning it is designed to fill information needs for the Bureau. Studies like DEEP SEARCH provide valuable baseline environmental information and contribute to our understanding of the environments in which we operate.
April 15, 2019
We not only collect water column data around and above the reefs, but we also measure the near-bottom environmental conditions through time with bottom landers. These stand-alone platforms can be deployed on the deep-sea floor for several days up to a year, during which they can measure a large variety of environmental variables.
April 14, 2019
Parasitism is an important symbiosis—or interaction between two different species living in close physical association—found in marine communities. Different types of marine parasites, including worms, isopods, and copepods, infect a variety of host species, including crabs and fishes.
April 13, 2019
What can a bottle of water tell you? Well, if the water was collected from the deep sea, maybe a lot! We’re hoping that bottles of water collected from several sites during this cruise will give us insight into the dominant microbial processes, what food options the animals in the habitat have, and if it is possible to detect the presence of larger organisms like corals and fish from their environmental DNA (eDNA) in the water.
April 12, 2019
This morning, ROV Jason was successfully recovered after our first dive of DEEP SEARCH 2019.
April 11, 2019
Jason is an ROV system designed and built by WHOI’s National Deep Submergence Laboratory and funded by the National Science Foundation. Its design gives scientists access to most of the globe’s seafloor, often for days at a time, without leaving the deck of a ship.
April 10, 2019
Just after 1:30pm today, NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brownpulled away from the dock in Charleston, SC for the official start of DEEP SEARCH 2019!
April 9, 2019
Cold seeps create very interesting environments that provide resources and habitat for a wide variety of creatures. Bacteria and other microbes feed directly off of the gasses released (mostly methane and hydrogen sulfide), and animals like mussels and clams that have bacterial symbionts that use these chemicals also thrive there.
April 4, 2019
From April 9 to 30, 2019, NOAA and partners at BOEM and USGS will conduct a research expedition on NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown to collect critical baseline information about deepwater habitats offshore the US Mid- and South Atlantic.
April 4, 2019
From the tip of Miami to North Carolina, the deep seafloor is comprised of hundreds of miles of rugged peaks, ledges, and mounds, which are scoured and swept clean of sediment by the ever-present, powerful Gulf Stream current. Deep-sea corals thrive in this cold, dark, hostile environment, creating large complex structures that provide shelter, feeding, and nursery habitat to countless other invertebrates and fishes.
April 4, 2019
Carved into the shelf from North Carolina through Canada are forty undersea canyons that may be 10 to 100 miles long, with some deeper than the Grand Canyon. The complex topography and geology in canyons provides many habitat types including steep walls, rocky outcrops, and ledges where sensitive deep-sea coral communities often live, as well as sedimented areas where additional fish and invertebrate species thrive.
April 4, 2019
Multimedia
Featured multimedia assets associated with this project.
Education
Our Learn & Discover page provides the best of what the NOAA Ocean Exploration website has to offer to support educators in the classroom during this expedition. Each theme page includes expedition features, lessons, multimedia, career information, and associated past expeditions. Below are related top education themes for this expedition.
Meet the Exploration Team
Learn more about the team members and their contributions to this project.
Associate Professor, Temple University
Research Benthic Ecologist, U.S. Geological Survey
PhD Candidate, Temple University
PhD Candidate, Temple University
Research Assistant, Temple University
Research Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey
Resources & Contacts
Media Contacts
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Kaitlin Kovacs
United States Geological Survey
Email: KKovacs@usgs.gov -
Rex Sanders
United States Geological Survey
Email: RSanders@usgs.gov -
Marjorie Weisskohl
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Email:
Marjorie.Weisskohl@boem.gov