Log Post: Silent Running

Today has been a quiet day but we’ve been making steady progress.  The first CTD cast started at 4am and the last of the day will finish just before midnight. Tomorrow we will start again at 04h00.  Working to that pattern we have managed to measure water column properties from top to bottom at three … Continued

Log Post: We’re at Sea!

The time has finally come to start our exploration of Perth Canyon and so we left dock early this morning to get a first glimpse of what lies ahead. However, as mentioned in a previous post, not everything always goes according to plan – and in our case we are still missing one part for … Continued

Log Post: Where Are We, Where Are We Going

Marine Technician Jimbo (Paul Duncan) has spent all night, every night, for 24 nights keeping the Falkor’s multibeam sonar operational and recording data. The sonar sends “pings” of sound to the sea floor.  The pings bounce back.  The length of time between sending and receiving can be converted to depth.  Each pulse sends over 400 … Continued

Log Post: Marvelous Multibeam Math

With the discovery of big plumes and active venting on the seafloor during CTD tow-yo 6 we really hit the jackpot out here on the Mariana back-arc. This led to further investigation of the site with the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Sentry. The result was a beautiful high-resolution bathymetry map [FK151121_sentry_bathy.jpg] and an even more-detailed photographic … Continued

Log Post: Bonanza on the Back-Arc

Like a bloodhound on the scent, the recent discovery of our first new vent site energized our exploration efforts. Our next target site was on Map 5, which shows two shallow “saddles” separated by deep basins. These high points correspond to places along the Mariana Back-arc where an enhanced supply of molten magma over hundreds of … Continued

News: Bringing Falkor to the Masses

Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel Falkor recently arrived in Honolulu after a 21 day expedition across the equator looking at small-scale mixing in the central Pacific Ocean. She is now undergoing scheduled upgrades before heading off in early October to map the world’s largest underwater volcano, Tamu Massif. While some of the projects during the upgrade … Continued

Log Post: Winnie the Pooh and the Uncarved Block

Lots to tell you about today. We started off with a CTD coming on deck from the furthest north point we have been to (and also about as unpromising as can be) since we started our latest search.   Then, because Casey and the Nereus team needed to do some engineering work on the back deck … Continued