We did a morning dive at the San Diego Seep site, which is 42 kilometers (26 miles) due west of La Jolla. The potent fluids and gases seeping there create bacterial mats and chemosynthetic communities, and it made for a convenient last dive for this expedition.
Today we went back to the alternate Santa Monica Canyon Mound site. This site had a large clam field with bacterial mats as well.
The sites south towards San Diego left much to be desired in the chemistry department, therefore, Peter Brewer decided that we should head back to Santa Monica Basin.
Today we conducted two half-day dives. Due west of Oceanside, California, the two sites are areas that were mapped by the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), but never explored with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV).
Every evening, Chief Scientist Peter Brewer is faced with a decision—what will our mission be for tomorrow? Of course, a cruise plan was made many weeks ago, but when it comes to research expeditions, plans often change.
Much of this expedition has entailed exploring new areas of the seafloor. The high-resolution maps made by the mapping autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) give the scientists a good idea of sites that may be of interest to chemists, geologist, and biologists—but we never really know what we’re going to find until we get there.
Today we explored another new site based on the maps generated from the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) expedition on the Rachel Carson in March.
This site truly is a dream come true for deep-sea chemists and microbiologists. The large mound is covered in acres of ghostly undisturbed bacterial mat. The huge swaths of white bacterial mat and occasional patches of bright yellow/orange make the seafloor look otherworldly.
The weather improved immensely and we were greeted by sight of the Channel Islands this morning.
Today, we left the dock at 0700 to make our transit to southern California. Although the weather was beautiful in Monterey Bay, as we turned south, we steamed head-on into high winds (well over 30 knots) that are expected to persist all day.
Research programs at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) encompass the entire ocean, from the surface waters to the deep seafloor, and from the coastal zone to the open sea. The need to understand the ocean in all its complexity and variability drives MBARI's research and development efforts.