Updates
Operational for 8 years at 200 meters
September 12, 2022
Recovery of the OOI Cabled Slope Base Shallow Profiler mooring. The platform normally sits at 200m depth, stable instruments on one side and the profiler pod and winch on the other. The mooring is being turned for the first time since deployment in 2014!
Sea Spider
September 11, 2022
A pycnogonid (sea spider, a kind of arthropod) recovered along with other macrofauna samples from the ASHES hydrothermal vent field on Axial Seamount, while we conducted our OOI work. This individual is carrying eggs below its body, so it is a male.
Curious Stowaway!
September 2, 2022
The RCA team had a stowaway on Leg 3 of the OOI RCA O&M cruise! This bold adventurer even joined them in the main lab to inspect their operations. The curious bird ate some suet provided by the crew and then ventured on its way, hopefully to continue its migration.
ROPOS delivery
August 31, 2022
ROPOS launching with one of four experimental sonar tripods to be plugged into the OOI Regional Cabled Array. They were developed by UW researchers to accurately measure stresses that precede an eruption of Axial Seamount, a subsea volcano off the coast of Oregon.
Fogbow
August 30, 2022
The R/V Thompson encountered a “fogbow” this morning between ROV dives at the base of Axial Seamount. It was pretty bright, and hopefully a good omen for continued successful deployments on the OOI RCA O&M cruise. The team is now completing leg 3, with two more legs to go.
Sunrise prep
August 29, 2022
UW-APL engineer Paul Aguilar up at sunrise to prep the Axial Base Horizontal Electrometer Pressure-Inverted Echosounder (HPIES), a novel OOI instrument measuring horizontal electrical field, pressure & acoustic travel time from seafloor to sea surface.
Water column sampling
August 29, 2022
ROPOS recently ran a series of dives to swap out the OOI deep profiler vehicles after a year in the water. A specialized ROV frame places the new vehicle on the cable and removes the old one to bring it back to UW for cleaning and refurbishment.
Homes for marine life
August 26, 2022
The OOI Oregon Offshore deep profiler mooring, which hosts a vehicle that moves up and down the cable taking measurements, has a large float at the top for buoyancy. Apparently it is also an irresistible attachment point for a whole biofouling ecosystem.
Camera capturing gas hydrate mound
August 25, 2022
An OOI PI-deployed camera captured the ROPOS ROV peeking over a gas hydrate mound. The striped pole was originally deployed in a cavern and is now buried in sediment, demonstrating the dynamic nature of this site.