Pinpointing the Vents: 25 January 2011
By Wednesday we have criss-crossed the seafloor with our towed video sled and have mapped out the animal and substrate distribution on the seafloor. The shimmering water, chimneys and areas of hydrothermal mineralization are all clustered near the top of Hook Ridge.
Jon Copley and Leigh Marsh have spent long hours along with the rest of the team in the ROV van, sustained only by tea and chocolate. In the dim light they log the events spotted on the video feed and identify the soft corals, anemones, sea pens, brittle stars, sea cucumbers and the occasional 8-armed starfish that inhabit the murky depths.
For excerpts from the dive log and pictures from the seafloor see www.thesearethevoyages.net/jc55/jan24.html.