Keep your eyes open for the start of a new, exciting four-and-a-half year study of deep-sea coral, canyon, and gas seep ecosystems in the mid- and south Atlantic. In coming weeks, an interdisciplinary team of scientists will travel aboard the NOAA Ship Pisces to explore biological features and geological processes—such as corals and naturally-occurring gas seeps, and the organisms that inhabit them—in deepwater habitats between 30 and 130 miles offshore North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Exploration and Research are supporting the study, which will shed light on little-known natural resources of the deep ocean off the U.S. Southeast coast. The research is organized through the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP), with TDI-Brooks International, Inc., as the prime contractor for BOEM, and scientists from USGS and seven academic institutions: Temple University, the University of Georgia, Nova Southeastern University, Florida State University, Harvey Mudd College, the University of New Hampshire, and the Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research (NIOZ).
Check out the expedition website: http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/17deepsearch/welcome.html
Map showing a broad view of the study area. Image courtesy of USGS.
