High Definition Video Camera V17

The ROV ROPOS powers up the RSN-OOI camera for the first time at the hydrothermal chimney called Mushroom. This image is from ROPOS with the vehicle lights off, and only the RSN-OOI HD camera providing illumination of the chimney while collecting the first video imagery from the seafloor, which was then streamed live over the Internet. Photo credit: NSF-OOI/UW/CSSF.

The high-definition video camera on the OOI RSN cabled system obtains high resolution views of black smoker fluids and coupled biological activity at the Mushroom hydrothermal sulfide chimney within the ASHES hydrothermal field on the western side of the caldera at Axial Volcano.

The video streams back to shore and can be watched live every 3 hours.

The camera is associated with fluid samplers for follow-on chemical analyses of diffusely flowing fluids and with a novel temperature (thermistor) array that will provide 3D measurements of temperatures in diffusely flowing fluids. (Fluids in the vent have been measured at over 260°C and the surrounding seawater is ~2°C.) In concert, these instruments will allow characterization of how fluid chemistry and temperature impact biological communities of tube worms, palm worms, limpets, and microbes, and how these communities evolve over time in response to volcanic and seismic events.

This HD video camera was installed in 2013 and connected to the primary infrastructure in 2014.