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Just when the seafloor scene becomes repetitive, something unexpected will come into view, reminding you of the mysteries of the deep. The surprise today came around noon when the ROV Global Explorer MK3 encountered a deepwater goosefish (Sladenia shaefersi) resting on a mat of tubeworms between colorful stalks of corals. The fish is otherworldy and … Continued
R/V Falkor operations today focused on a community of deep-water corals located 11 kilometers southwest of the Macondo wellhead where Deepwater Horizon disaster occurred in April 2010. This site was one of 11 sites of varying distances from the oil spill where Dr. Chuck Fisher and his colleagues conducted ROV surveys within four months after … Continued
Today’s ROV dive focused on collecting live specimens of two deep-sea coral species for onboard laboratory experiments. Graduate students Dannise Ruiz and Danielle Young will use these specimens to investigate how corals respond to different concentrations of oil and dispersant in controlled settings. ROV Global Explorer MK3 was launched to the seafloor at 500 meters depth … Continued
This morning, R/V Falkor left Pascagoula heading offshore toward a study site about 140 kilometers southeast. Following the ship familiarization, the arriving group of scientists started preparations for the upcoming sample collections. Captain Heiko Volz conducted a mandatory safety drill so that everyone onboard practiced getting their life jackets and immersion suits and reporting to … Continued
R/V Falkor docked in Pascagoula at sunup Monday morning. The lander leg team offloaded the two giant landers with their carefully labeled data loggers. They packed assorted boxes of equipment and samples for shipment. Hugs and handshakes were plentiful as eight departing scientists from the lander leg welcomed eight new team members coming onboard, and … Continued
Second benthic lander was recovered today using ROV Global Explorer MK3 from R/VFalkor. This lander was taking measurements and collecting water samples since April 2012 on the seafloor near Macondo wellhead, the source of Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. ROV Global Explorer MK3 was deployed at that site, identified as OC26, earlier during this cruise to … Continued
R/V Falkor arrived at the target deep sea coral study site early this morning and the research team prepared for the ROV dive. The video time-lapse camera (VTLC) system went back onto the ROV Global Explorer MK3 to be redeployed at this site. Researchers on the following leg of this cruise will return to this site … Continued
Today, the research team completed the final planned ROV dives planned at the natural oil seep site designated as GC600. ROV Global Explorer MK3 collected more push cores of microbial mats surrounding the seep and the underlying sediment. It also returned to the bubbling seep where the video time-lapse camera (VTLC) system was operating on … Continued
Today was an incredibly successful day. Falkor the Luck Dragon—the ship’s namesake—seemed to be with us all along the way. The first order of business was recovering the GC600 benthic lander. Originally the R/VPelican was scheduled to meet us here and conduct the recovery with R/V Falkor and ROV standing by. But when R/V Pelican operations … Continued
We woke to sunny skies this morning and the anticipation of diving the ROV Global Explorer MK3 at the “Megaplume” natural oil seep site. The pilots and crew launched the ROV into the sea first thing in the morning. We watched live ROV video on the monitors installed throughout R/V Falkor with anticipation as the … Continued
