University of Washington VISIONS ’11 Expedition Surveys Ocean Observatories Initiative Sites
(Click to enlarge) (Credit: Carlos Sanchez, courtesy of the University of Washington)
The University of Washington’s VISIONS ’11 Expedition is taking place aboard the 274-foot R/V Thomas G. Thompson from August 11 – September 1, 2011 and will include the Canadian remotely operated vehicle (ROV) ROPOS and an autonomous underwater gliding vehicle (AUGV).
A major activity during the cruise will be streaming of live, high-resolution underwater video from the two primary study sites on the cabled network: the Hydrate Ridge gas-hydrate system and the underwater volcano Axial Seamount. This video, taken in support of instrument site verification and mapping surveys, is available on the University of Washington VISIONS ’11 Expedition Website.
The primary purpose of the expedition is to continue to prepare for, survey, and assess the ongoing installation of the high-power and high-bandwidth regional cabled network component of the Ocean Observatories Initiative’s (OOI) program.
Chief Scientists of VISIONS’11 are John R. Delaney and Deborah S. Kelley, Professors of Oceanography at the University of Washington. Delaney holds the Jerome M. Paros Endowed Chair in Sensor Networks at the UW and is the Director and Principal Investigator of the OOI regional cabled network; Kelley is Associate Director for Science of the OOI regional cabled network.
A major activity during the cruise will be streaming of live, high-resolution underwater video from the two primary study sites on the cabled network: the Hydrate Ridge gas-hydrate system and the underwater volcano Axial Seamount. This video, taken in support of instrument site verification and mapping surveys, will be available via the University of Washington VISIONS ’11 Expedition Website. Also visit this OOI Website for updates on this expedition.
(Click to enlarge) OOI Regional Scale Nodes and Center for Environmental Visualization, University of Washington
During the expedition, the public will have access to the first live video of changes at Axial Seamount since its eruption in April 2011. Evidence of this eruption was only recently discovered on a research cruise led by Dr. William Chadwick of Oregon State University on the R/V Atlantis with the ROV Jason II. Visit the Oregon State University (OSU) website to read more about the recent Undersea Volcano Eruption Discovery.