Mussels and starfish also live in the gulf's natural hydrocarbon seeps. Tubeworms and a crab dwell in the seafloor ecosystem of the seeps. Creating huge images of the seep zones, including all their special features and the organisms living around them 2. At three seeps where we know there are chemosynthetic communities, Dr. MacDonald will use a specialized survey tool called the laser line scanner to create the underwater equivalent of an aerial photograph of the entire seep zone. The resulting image should be so detailed that we'll be able to identify individual organisms.
Most underwater photos can only show subjects a few meters away.
The laser scanner can penetrate water much better, and by making several parallel passes over each site Dr. MacDonald will be able to piece together a huge image, covering an area of thousands of square meters. Images made with the laser line scanner will be much more informative than the bits and pieces of information we can gather by observing the seep communities from a submersible.