CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................1
JOINT PROGRAM OVERVIEW MAP .............................................................................................................................................................................4
THE E/V NAUTILUS 2015 FIELD SEASON .................................................................................................................................................................6
Technology ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................8
Nautilus Samples Program .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 14
A Community Approach to STEM Education ....................................................................................................................................................................... 18
E/V Nautilus Field Season Overview ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 24
Fate and Transport of Gas Bubbles from Sleeping Dragon Seep in the Northern Gulf of Mexico .................................................................... 26
ECOGIG: Oil Spill Effects on Deep-Sea Corals Through the Lenses of Natural Hydrocarbon Seeps and Long Time Series ..................... 28
ROV Hercules Investigates Brine Lakes on the Bottom of the Ocean ........................................................................................................................... 30
Exploring the Undersea World of the Galápagos Islands ................................................................................................................................................ 32
Exploration of Hydrothermal Vents Along the Galápagos Spreading Center .......................................................................................................... 35
Mapping the Eastern Pacific Ocean: Nautilus Mapping 2015......................................................................................................................................... 38
Exploration and Discovery of Methane Seeps and Associated Communities in the California Borderland ................................................. 40
High-Resolution Imaging and Characterization of the USS Macon Airship Wreck Site ........................................................................................ 44
Ocean Networks Canada: Maintaining One of the World’s Most Advanced Ocean Observing Systems ....................................................... 46
THE NOAA SHIP OKEANOS EXPLORER 2015 FIELD SEASON................................................................................................................ 48
Telepresence-Enabled Exploration with NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer ...................................................................................................................... 50
Advancing Undersea Technology ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 52
Applied Excellence In Data Management ............................................................................................................................................................................. 56
Okeanos Explorer 2015 Field Season Overview .................................................................................................................................................................... 58
2015 Strategic Mapping Exploration in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean ....................................................................................................... 62
Océano Profundo 2015: Exploring Puerto Rico’s Seamounts, Trenches, and Troughs .......................................................................................... 64
CAPSTONE’s First Year —2015 Hohonu Moana: Exploring Deep Waters off Hawai’i ............................................................................................. 68
Okeanos Explorer Engages Far and Wide in 2015 ................................................................................................................................................................ 74
EPILOGUE ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 76
AUTHORS...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 78
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 80
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 83
IMAGE CREDITS
All images copyright Ocean Exploration
Trust unless otherwise noted.
PREFERRED CITATION
Bell, K.L.C., M.L. Brennan, J. Flanders, N.A. Raineault, and K. Wagner, eds.
2016. New frontiers in ocean exploration: The E/V Nautilus and NOAA Ship
Okeanos Explorer 2015 field season. Oceanography 29(1), supplement, 84 pp.,
http://dx.doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2016.supplement.01.
Cover photo credit: D. Fornari (Woods Hole Oceano-
graphic Institution) and the Ocean Exploration Trust.
Special thanks to C. Smart (University of Rhode Island)