New undersea maps lead to hydrothermal vent and species discoveries
Published Date: 12/13/2018
Source: phys.org
A spectacular new hydrothermal vent field, named JaichMatt, has been discovered during an expedition aboard Schmidt Ocean Institute's R/V Falkor. The vents were identified using Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institution's (MBARI) Dorado autonomous underwater vehicle to conduct exploratory seafloor surveys with one meter lateral resolution. Simultaneously, MBARI's new Low Altitude Survey System was used from Schmidt Ocean Institute's remotely operated vehicle SuBastian to map the previously discovered Auka Vent field at centimeter scale resolution using co-located multibeam sonar, scanning laser Lidar, and stereo photography. The biological communities and the geological and geochemical characteristics of these vent fields were then explored and sampled using ROV SuBastian.