Science objectives (from the WHOI Cruise Planning Synopsis):
The primary objective of the SeepC Project is to advance our general knowledge of connectivity in the deep sea using taxa found at seeps as model systems. The focus is on species and processes occurring in the Intra-American Sea (including the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and eastern seaboard of the US), with attention to oceanographic circulation, life histories, and genetics. Questions that apply in shallow-water systems motivate this study:
Our efforts include improving the oceanographic model for the IAS near the seabed using current data from moorings at several depths and locations and coupling this model to a Lagrangian larval transport model. We stress the importance of iterative interactions among the science teams to advance our understanding of connectivity in the deep sea through descriptive and hypothesis-driven research. We will develop effective and best methods for hypothesis testing under the constraints of working in a relatively inaccessible environment and will build capacity in understanding connectivity in deep-sea systems.
Science Activities:
1) Two mooring recoveries;
2) Alvin seep sampling: mussels, clams, tubeworms, and associated animals; targeting at least 30 individuals per species (manips, net, slurp); carbonates;
3) Sentry plankton sampling;
4) MOCNESS tows;
5) Sentry high-resolution mapping;
6) CTD casts;
7) XBTs;
8) Shipboard acoustics (methane plumes).
BCO-DMO Note: Using Alvin dive positions for mapserver until full cruise track becomes available on rvdata.us.
Dataset | Brief Description |
---|---|
SEEPC CTD | CTD data from SEEPC moorings |
SEEPC XBT | XBT data from SEEPC cruises |
AT29-04: Alvin dive event log | Jason sample event log, cruise AT29-04, July 2015 |
SEEPC larval collections: MOCNESS | MOCNESS collections of invertebrate larvae throughout water column near methane seep sites: Barbados Accretionary Prism, 2012; Gulf of Mexico, 2014;Western Atlantic Margin, 2015 (SEEPC Project) |
SEEPC larval collections: SyPRID | AUV Sentry collections of invertebrate larvae close to the bottom near methane seep sites at the Western Atlantic Margin, 2015 (SEEPC Project) |
SEEPC Bivalve DNA Barcoding Results | Bivalve larvae DNA barcode results |
Chief Scientist: Cindy Van Dover
Duke University
• Seep Connectivity
• WAM
• Western Atlantic Margin