Dive 1606 Southern Hydrate Ridge and Pinnacle

Dive 1606 focused on the recovery of a flow meter (called a Mosquito designed by Evan Solomon at the UW), deployed during the VISION'11 expedition. The flow meter is used to calculate the flow of seawater into the sediments, and flow of methane-rich fluids out of the seeps. Sediment samples were also taken with a push core. ROPOS transited to a ~ 60 foot tall carbonate pinnacle a few hundred meters west of the seeps. It is a place of remarkable beauty, hosting 100’s of soft corals that inhabit the hard substrate. Small nooks and crannies in the carbonate provide homes to shrimp and hiding places for crabs, squat lobsters and velvety, blue hag fish. ROPOS found a very large transient bubble plume at the seeps  - the bubbles could be followed for > 600 ft into the water column and are of interest because of their potential to transfer methane into the atmosphere, should the bubbles reach the surface.

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