Variety of Dive Tasks

A hydrothermal vent eelpout peeking out from behind limpets and chemosynthetic tube worms at Marker 113, a diffuse flow site in Axial Caldera. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI, Dive J2-1559, V23.

September 16-17, 2023: Jason is busy with a variety of tasks.  At Axial Seamount, the ROV dove in the International District hydrothermal vent field to collect fluid samples from the vent to be analyzed for microbes and viruses.  The Jason did a second dive collect more fluid samples at Marker 113, a diffuse flow site that the team doesn’t often get to visit.  The third dive of the day exchanged CTDs in the Eastern Axial Caldera, which took about four hours.

The next day was also jam-packed full of operations.  The first dive of the day was the successful recovery of a Principal Investigator project called COVIS (an acoustic instrument used to image hydrothermal vent fluid) at ASHES vent field. After the recovery, the Thompson made its way to the Slope Base (2900 m) site, where Jason conducted a seafloor survey.