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Maintenance of observatory

Aug 24, 2020
BMBF project extended by three years
The MARUM Overview Sonar after one year on the seafloor. Dense biofouling has built up on the instrument. The instrument is being recovered for maintenance. Photo: OOI/WHOI/NSF
The MARUM Overview Sonar after one year on the seafloor. Dense biofouling has built up on the instrument. The instrument is being recovered for maintenance. Photo: OOI/WHOI/NSF

Off the west coast of the USA, sonar devices developed at MARUM have been in operation for over two years. They are part of the underwater observatory "Ocean Observatories Initiative" (OOI), operated by the University of Washington. A team of scientists and engineers is currently travelling with the research vessel THOMPSON to perform the annual maintenance of the observatory. During this cruise, some of the MARUM instruments will be replaced, and others will be recovered for maintenance.

The work is part of the M³ project for acoustic monitoring of the natural release of methane gas from the ocean floor. The project is fully funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and has now been extended for three more years until April 2023.

Because of the Corona situation, the team from MARUM could not participate in the cruise as every year. Instead, colleagues from the University of Washington are taking over the work at sea.

The MARUM equipment will enable researchers to monitor and quantify the natural release of methane from the seafloor in one of the most active methane seeps in the continental margin of Oregon in the North-East Pacific in real time and over several years.

Link to previous expeditions

 

The new MARUM CTD (foreground) deployed on the seabed and connected to the junction box (background) of the OOI observatory. Photo: OOI/WHOI/NSF
The new MARUM CTD (foreground) deployed on the seabed and connected to the junction box (background) of the OOI observatory. Photo: OOI/WHOI/NSF

The dives with the remote controlled diving robot ROV JASON can be followed live, allowing the MARUM team to supervise some of the work from Germany.

A blog and videos of the installation are being transmitted via the website of Interactive Oceans (University of Washington).

 

The MARUM 4K camera before recovery. The camera spent one year in an area of intense methane venting. Photo: OOI/WHOI/NSF
The MARUM 4K camera before recovery. The camera spent one year in an area of intense methane venting. Photo: OOI/WHOI/NSF