Digital Still Camera V14

A digital still camera is installed at the Oregon Offshore site in a water depth of ~ 600 m. It will image seafloor benthic communities, the transport of sediment across the seafloor and the ebb and flow of sediments raining down from above. Photo credit: NSF-OOI/UW/CSSF; Dive R1747; V14.  

Only very rarely has there ever been long-term (~1-year) imagery taken of methane seep and hydrothermal vent sites, yet the information digital stills provide is crucial to understanding how these venting systems evolve and their linkages to biology. There is little information about how bacterial and clam communities at methane seeps change over time, or how animal communities at vent sites change at temporal scales of minutes, hours, and days.

In 2014 a high-definition digital still camera is scheduled to be deployed at the Endurance Offshore 585-m site (LV01C) to study benthic organisms and those swimming by within the water column; another is planned for deployment at a diffuse flow site in the International District hydrothermal field within Axial Volcano's caldera (Site MJ03C).  At MJ03C, there will also be vent fluid samplers, a DNA sampler, and mass spectrometer that will allow, for the first time, time-series measurements of fluid, temperature, and chemistry correlated to video imagery of changing animal and environmental conditions. The camera will take a high-definition still image every 1 second! Also in 2014, cameras are expected to be deployed at Southern Hydrate Ridge (MJ01B), at the 200m platform at Slope Base (PC01A), the 200m Axial Base Platform (PC03A), and the Endurance nearshore benthic package (MJ01C).

Digital still camera Overview