Susan Merle
Having participated in more than 50 expeditions, Susan Merle has demonstrated superior organization and data processing skills both at sea and in the office. She has produced numerous detailed cruise reports, organized sonar and other data sets for scientific analyses and long-term archiving, and contributed to many peer-reviewed publications and meeting presentations. Susan successfully implemented rapid data processing methods for multibeam sonar water-column data to locate and characterize gas bubble plumes being emitted from the sea floor. In 2016, Susan located and characterized more than 900 previously unknown methane gas plumes rising from the sea floor along the Cascadia continental margin (offshore Washington, Oregon, and northern California) using the multibeam sonar system on board the E/V Nautilus, tripling the number of known methane seeps along the western U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ).