Expedition Type: MBARI

In early March, MBARI’s Ocean Imaging Group conducted low-altitude seafloor surveys aboard the R/V Western Flyer as part of the Coordinated Canyon Experiment.

A group of MBARI scientists and engineers, led by geologist Charlie Paull, returned to the Beaufort Sea on a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker to study the Arctic seafloor.

From July 26 to August 16, 2016, MBARI researchers used the R/V Western Flyer and the remotely operated vehicle Doc Ricketts to study underwater volcanoes off the coast of Oregon and Washington. They documented their expedition in stunning photos and daily blog entries.

The research goal on this leg is to investigate seafloor deformation associated with tectonic motion along potentially young active faults on the continental margin off northern Baja California.

The goal of this leg is to sample benthic animals from deep-sea hydrothermal vents and hydrocarbon seeps in the Gulf of California.

Leg 5 of this expedition returns to the mouth of the Gulf of California, to study the seafloor-spreading ridges of the Alarcón Rise and Pescadero Basin and volcanic seamounts nearby. Researchers will map, explore, and sample lavas, sediments, and hydrothermal deposits and vent fluids. Their objective is to understand the tectonic and volcanic processes of the ridges and the transition from spreading ridge to bounding transform faults.

The oxygen minimum zone is very well-developed in the Gulf of California, particularly in the southern region. Changes in oxygen are correlated with patterns of carbonate chemistry due to the coupling of metabolic oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide release. The accumulation of respiratory carbon dioxide reduces pH levels of seawater and carbon saturation in areas where oxygen is low (e.g., oxygen minimum zones). Benthic animals vary in composition in relation to the tolerances of individual species to hypoxia, but may not also be affected by carbonate chemistry.

For one leg, MBARI is working with the David and Lucile Packard Foundation’s Gulf of California and Science programs to provide cutting edge science that could benefit marine conservation efforts. As part of this effort, from March 11-15 scientists from the Centro para la Biodiversidad Marina y la Conservación, the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and MBARI will team up to explore some of the south Baja deep sea. The team will use the R/V Rachel Carson to study a deep canyon off the south of the well-established and successful Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park. This canyon has remained unexplored but its depth and proximity to the coast lead scientists to believe that it likely plays an important role in the local productivity and richness that make Cabo Pulmo such a special place.

On this leg, researchers will study physiology and diversity of midwater animals in the Gulf of California’s central and southern basins. They are especially interested in gelatinous species which also have populations in Monterey Bay.

The second leg of this expedition will be concentrated in the Gulf of California’s central and southern basins to better understand the oxygen minimum zone in this area and its influence on the ecology and physiology of midwater animals.