TECHNOLOGY/TOOLS

SHIP:

NOAA's Ronald Brown

Operated by NOAA (Sister ships include the R/V Thomas Thompson , SIO's Roger Revelle and WHOI's Atlantis). The Brown can accommodate 34 scientists, 22 officers and crew and 2 marine technicians for 33 days at 14 knots plus 29 days at 3 knots.

Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV):

ROPOS
ROVs are used when fine-scale mapping and sampling are required on the seafloor. Unlike manned submersibles which have very limited bottom time, ROVs can explore the seafloor for unlimited amounts of time before coming to the surface.

Science Instruments:

Included on ROPOS

1) SIT camera
2) Color 3-chip camera
3) 5 and 7 function manipulators
4) Mesotech forward-looking sonar
5) Depth, heading, altitude measurements
6) Still camera (35 mm)
7) Standard sample tray

Project-Specific Instrumentation

CTD
Conductivity, temperature and depth recorder (CTD) will be used to help map out the plumes generated from the discharge of the hydrothermal vents at Axial Volcano. The CTD instrument is cast up & down or towed from the ship. Data is sent back in real-time to the ship's laboratory where scientists can evaluate the location of the plumes. Scientists can distinguish plumes from vents which are consistently discharging fluids vs. those generated from a seismic event.

SUAVE
System Used to Assess Vented Emissions (SUAVE) provides continous in-situ analysis of hydrothermal vent chemicals. SUAVE can be used on CTD's, ROV's and ALVIN.

To be used on the ROVs:
1) PMEL fluid sampler
2) Ti Gas samplers
3) BioBox
4) PacMan
5) Hi-Temperature probe
6) Niskin bottles
7) Suction sampler
8)Imagenex downward-looking scanning sonar

Deployed Instrumentation
1) Extensometers
2) HOBO Hi-temp probes (up to 4)
3) Low-temp probes (up to 10)
4)Osmosamplers (MBARI)
5)Time-lapse camera(s)
6) Markers
7) Bacteria traps (microbial colonization chambers)
8) Seafloor navigation beacons (transponders)