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NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration Quick Look Report

Expedition Title: [Mountains in the Sea: Exploring the New England
Seamount Chain]{.underline}

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| Results (please  | Details (please describe any novel discoveries in |
| check all        | the discipline, answers such as "possible,        |
| disciplines in   | awaiting data analysis" and "no apparent          |
| which this       | discoveries" are acceptable)                      |
| cruise collected |                                                   |
| data)            |                                                   |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Bathymetric      | (please note total area mapped and technology     |
| Mapping          | employed, e.g. multibeam, side scan, etc.)        |
|                  |                                                   |
|  Yes  No       | Multibeam mapping of Kelvin and Bear seamounts,   |
|                  | along with some areas in between.                 |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| New Species      | (please note number, type, and significance ,i.e. |
| Discovered       | radically new vs. slight adaptation of known      |
|                  | species)                                          |
|  Yes  No       |                                                   |
|                  | Possibly one or two new species of corals; at     |
|                  | least one new species of cumacean.                |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Bio-prospecting  | (please note number, type, and potential use of   |
|                  | new compounds discovered)                         |
|  Yes  No       |                                                   |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Habitat Range    | (please note species discovered in new habitats   |
| Extended         | and how far from previous range were they found)  |
|                  |                                                   |
|  Yes  No       | Range extension for Oreo to Manning and Bear      |
|                  | Seamounts from eastern Atlantic                   |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Chemical         | (please note new or unusual chemical properties   |
| Processes        | such as methane seeps, hypersaline pools, vents,  |
|                  | etc. observed)                                    |
|  Yes  No       |                                                   |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Geologic         | (please note new or unusual geologic processes    |
| Processes        | that may impact scientific understanding of the   |
|                  | region)                                           |
|  Yes  No       |                                                   |
|                  | Pillow lavas at the base of Kelvin may be used to |
|                  | help understand the unusual shape of this         |
|                  | seamount.                                         |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Physical         | (please note new or unusual oceanographic         |
| Processes        | processes that may impact scientific              |
|                  | understanding of the region)                      |
|  Yes  No       |                                                   |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Sub/ROV/AUV      | (please note name, type, and cumulative hours of  |
| Dives            | bottom time for each platform / if available      |
|                  | please provide average working time per dive for  |
|  Yes  No       | each platform / please note if new depth records  |
|                  | were set)                                         |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | 7 Alvin dives were completed, for a total of      |
|                  | about 29 hours of bottom time. Five dives were of |
|                  | 6-7.5 hour duration and two were about 3.5 hours  |
|                  | each.                                             |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| New Technology   | (please note any new tools developed for or       |
|                  | during this cruise, also identify first use of an |
|  Yes  No       | existing technology in a new application)         |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Maritime         | (please note discoveries impacting knowledge of   |
| Cultural         | the past, i.e. number and type of shipwrecks)     |
| Heritage         |                                                   |
|                  |                                                   |
|  Yes  No       |                                                   |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Outreach         | (please describe outreach channels, e.g. web,     |
|                  | port call, etc., used in this project)            |
|  Yes  No       |                                                   |
|                  | Teacher workshops were held before the cruise and |
|                  | web reports (to the Ocean Explorer web site) were |
|                  | filed daily. In addition, a writer for *Science*, |
|                  | and a reported from New York *Newsday* were       |
|                  | aboard and filing stories.                        |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Students         | (please note the number and level of students on  |
| Involved         | the expedition)                                   |
|                  |                                                   |
|  Yes  No       | Four graduate students, 3 from U. Maine and 1     |
|                  | from College of Charleston were aboard. Two       |
|                  | students participated in dives.                   |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| M                | (please identify the formal disciplines           |
| ultidisciplinary | represented in the science party)                 |
|                  |                                                   |
|  Yes  No       | All aboard were biologists, representing the      |
|                  | following disciplines: ichthyology, genetics,     |
|                  | reproductive biology, and biological              |
|                  | oceanography.                                     |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Exploration of   | (please note if the area of operations had been   |
| New Regions      | previously studied, if so please check no and     |
|                  | approximate as slight, moderate or significant,   |
|  Yes  No       | the level of knowledge before the cruise)         |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | First mapping and exploration of Kelvin seamount, |
|                  | first visual examination of Bear Seamount, and    |
|                  | second visual examination of Manning seamount.    |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+

Ocean Exploration Quick Look Report Required Elements

The Office of Ocean Exploration (OE) does not require a specific Quick
Look Report format. Reports submitted under other requirements (e.g.
Cruise Summary Report (CSR) or Fisheries-Oceanography Coordinated
Investigations (FOCI)) are acceptable. In all cases Quick Look Reports
submitted to OE should contain the following elements:

**Project title**: Mountains in the Sea: Exploring the New England
Seamount Chain.

**Principal Investigator and institution**

Ivar Babb, U. Connecticut/ L. Watling, U. Maine.

**Expedition title**

Mountains in the Sea.

# Expedition dates and itinerary

11-19 July 2003

# Chief Scientist and institution 

L. Watling, U. Maine.

# Co-sponsors / partners / participating organizations

U. Connecticut, College of Charleston, Florida Atlantic U., Hamden High
School, Lincoln Academy High School, NOAA offices.

**Vessel Identification** (if applicable)

# Embarked vehicles, sensors, and tools of significance

DSRV Alvin

**Geographic area of operations**

New England Seamount chain, from 38° 00 N, 60° 10 W to 39° 50 N 67° 30
W.

# Summary of Cruise Objectives

To sample deep water corals and associated fauna, especially organisms
living with the corals and fish inhabiting coral assemblages.

**Summary of Cruise Operations**

Two dives were made at each of three seamounts. On each dive video was
made of the sites and sampling locations, dominant organisms, etc.,
samples were taken of the corals, if present, or other organisms. On the
ship each coral specimen was sampled for reproductive state and
morphology of the polyps, tissue was taken for genetic analysis,
associates were removed and preserved, and then the entire coral body
was preserved for final identification on return to the laboratory.

The following dives and products were accomplished:

Alvin 3901: Manning Seamount, collection of corals and videotaping of
landscape for corals and fish, 9 coral species collected, 3 tapes from
each recorder.

Alvin 3902: Manning Seamount, drop basalt blocks for coral settlement
experiment, collect corals and videotape of landscape, 4 coral species
collected, 3 tapes from each recorder.

Alvin 3903: Kelvin Seamount, collect corals and videotaping of landscape
for corals and fish, dive conducted mostly on 150 m high vertical wall,
7 coral species collected, 3 tapes from each recorder.

Alvin 3904: Kelvin Seamount, collect corals and videotaping of landscape
for corals and fish, dive conducted in area with slightly less vertical
relief compared to dive 3903, 12 corals collected, 3 tapes from each
recorder.

Alvin 3905: Bear Seamount, collect corals and other species and
videotaping of the landscape for fish and benthos, 4 coral species, 2
xenophyophores, and several sediment samples collected, 2 tapes from
each recorder.

Alvin 3906: Bear Seamount, short dive to accommodate media dive later in
the day, videotaping of the landscape for corals, fish, and benthos, no
corals collected, one push core attempted.

Alvin 3907, Bear Seamount, short media dive, objective was to follow
trawl tracks if they could be found, videotaping of landscape in the
area of NMFS experimental trawls, one push core collected.

**Milestones Achieved** (This section of the report should amplify the
information provided in the official OE cover sheet summary of results)

This cruise was the first to map and sample on Kelvin Seamount. As a
result of the multibeam activities we have a much better view of the
shape and size of this seamount. The video taken at the bottom of the
dives showed large lava pillows, often with stretch marks.

The corals collected differed significantly from those seen in the
canyons and on the slope off the US east coast.

**Summary of Digital Data Collected**

Digital information was obtained from an external digital camera,
multibeam bathymetric surveys, Alvin sensor data, and frame grabs from
Alvin video recorders. A total of 38 DVCam videotapes were produced**.**

All multibeam data acquired during the Mountains in the Sea cruise will
be distributed to the Chief Scientist, the co-PIs and NOAA's Office of
Ocean Exploration, for utilization with the following boundaries until
an agreement with regard to intellectual property rights can be reached:

1.  data can be distributed to NOAA's Office of Coast survey to apply to
    current nautical charts of the region.

2.  data can be used to develop 3-dimensional images for the purpose of
    education and outreach through hand-outs and presentations.

3.  data can be used to develop 3-dimensional images for the Ocean
    Explorer web site without the inclusion of latitude and longitude
    data.

(Identify volume in MB/GB/TB etc. and type of data collected. Be as
explicit as possible, e.g. identify high definition video as opposed to
simply video.)

# Summary of outreach and educational activities

The education component produced lesson plan materials for teachers, two
teachers participated in the cruise, and the education team assisted in
the development of web materials under the coordination of the Ocean
Exploration group. In addition, two reporters participated in the
cruise, one from the journal, *Science*, and one from the New York area
newspaper, *Newsday*. See Appendix A for a more complete description of
outreach and education activities/products.