| This Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) shakedown expedition aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos
Explorer began in Norfolk, Virginia on June 13, 2021 and concluded on June 28, 2021
in Newport, Rhode Island. This was the first time the ROVs Deep Discoverer and Seirios
were mobilized and used for ROV dives since the extensive 2021 winter dry dock repair
period. While underway, 24?hour operations focused on preparing remotely operated
vehicle (ROV) systems for the remainder of 2021 expeditions. Extensive testing, calibration,
and troubleshooting was completed for new ROV motors, motor controllers, cameras,
lighting, hydraulic systems, and a navigational sonar during 11 ROV dives. The first
five dives progressively got to deeper depths ranging from 670 m to 4370 m with the
primary objective of new equipment integration and personnel training. The following
five dives were conducted on Caryn Seamount, and the mid-Atlantic canyons Toms, Hudson
(twice), and Uchupi. The last dive of the expedition was on a recently discovered
sonar anomaly that turned out to be a World War II era submarine, the Humaitá (ex-USS
Muskallunge). Five biological and three geological samples were collected for later
analyses from Caryn Seamount and the mid-Atlantic canyons. Mapping operations during
the expedition included continued calibrating and troubleshooting of the ship?s new
EM304 multibeam sonar and transducer array. Additional mapping operations included
improving multibeam bathymetry in previously mapped areas, sub-bottom sonar surveys
conducted on the Currituck landslide feature off of North Carolina, EK60 water column
sonar survey of the diurnal migration above Hudson Canyon, and searching for underwater
cultural heritage sites by observing sonar depth and backscatter anomalies. |