Digital Still Camera

The Cabled Array digital still camera in the International District Hydrothermal Field photographs Jason during dive J2-980. Credit:UW/OOI-NSF/WHOI, V17

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, nor has the upper water column in the NE Pacific been imaged. Yet the information digital stills provide is crucial to understanding life in these deep water to coastal environments. There is little information about how bacterial and clam communities at methane seeps change over time, or how animal communites at vent sites change at temporal scales of minutes, hours, and days.

High-definition digital still cameras have been installed at the Endurance Offshore and Shelf sites to study benthic organisms and those swimming by within the water columnn. Cameras are also installed on the 200 m Shallow Profiler Mooring Platforms at Slope Base and Axial Base. Other cameras are installed at a diffuse flow site in the International District hydrothermal field within Axial Volcano's caldera (Site MJ03C).  At MJ03C, there is also a vent fluid and DNA sampler, and mass spectrometer, which 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 can take a high-definition still image every 1 second! Another camera is installed at the active methane seep site called 'Einstein's Grotto" at Southern Hydrate Ridge.