Mapping by Moonlight
How does USGS geologist, Bill Danforth, plan the technological and seafloor mapping path forward during the #HuntingforBubbles cruise along the Cascadia Margin?
From June 12 to July 3, 2019, the USGS is sailing onboard Schmidt Ocean Institute’s R/V Falkor with several other partners, seeking methane seeps along the seafloor of several underwater canyons off the coast of Oregon and Washington. Read all about Bill's tremendous contribution to the success of this cruise! Seeking the Seeps.
USGS scientist Bill Danforth monitors the multibeam scanner’s information as R/V Falkor transits the seas overnight.
(Credit: Shelton Du Preez, Schmidt Ocean Institute. Courtesy of Schmidt Ocean Institute)
Methane seeps, called flares on the multibeam scanner, are superimposed on a bathymetric map of Grays Canyon, an undersea canyon off the Pacific Coast of Oregon and Washington. USGS scientist Bill Danforth creates these images to help the science crew decide where to dive with ROV SuBastian.
(Public domain.)
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Seeking the Seeps
From June 12 to July 3, 2019, the USGS sailed onboard Schmidt Ocean Institute’s R/V Falkor with several other partners, seeking methane seeps along the seafloor of several underwater canyons off the coast of Oregon and Washington. On this cruise, USGS scientists will seek to understand how much methane is coming out of these seeps, how it travels through the water column, and its...
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