DISCOVRE 2009

September 14-25, 2009

Cruise Highlights

West Florida Slope target locations - click to enlarge

As we leave port for our second submersible research cruise of this season, the crew is busy arranging the labs and deck gear in preparation for when 24 hour sampling begins. We have about a two day sail to our first study area in the western Gulf of Mexico off Florida. This area is exciting as it represents unknown territory. Last year we mapped bottom depths with multibeam sonar (see blogs for last year's Leg II) and marked many rugged bottom features. One goal of our explorations in this area is to determine whether these features represent deep-sea coral mounds or some other bottom type. Our collaborators, who just ended a cruise in the Gulf (see www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov), briefly visited this area and found mostly a rocky bottom with scattered corals, but there is much territory here left to explore. Please select a cruise log for day to day updates.

Front row left to right: Michele Grinar, Andrea Quattrini, Christina Kellogg, Amanda Demopoulos, Furu Mienis, Martha Nizinski, Kaitlin Kovacs. Second row left to right: Adela Roa-Varon, Sandra Brooke, Cheryl Morrison, Lorendz Boom, Steve Ross, Jennie McClain, Cheryl Lewis Ames, Tara Casazza, Mike Rhode. - click to enlarge

Media Inquiries: Gary Brewer, (304) 724-4507, gbrewer@usgs.gov