An unusual SONAR data plot was generated from COVIS (Cabled Observatory Vent Imaging Sonar) data on 20 May 2014, as the remotely operated vehicle ROPOS flew above Grotto hydrothermal vent in Main Endeavour Field (depth: 2195 m).
A new batch of interesting talks and posters were presented at the February 2014 Ocean Sciences Meeting by scientists using Ocean Networks Canada data and facilities. These included work by scientists in a range of disciplines as well as several of our staff members.
Marine Biology
Inter- and Intra-Annual Variability of Zooplankton Abundance in Saanich Inlet, British Columbia
This poster by researchers at the University of Washington, Institute of Ocean Sciences and the University of Victoria presents an innovative way to visualize echosounder data to the variability of zooplankton abundance and migration patterns.
Redistribution of the Epibenthic, Soft-Bottom Assemblage in Shifting Hypoxic Conditions
In the terrestrial world, we rely heavily on optics and our vision, and less so on acoustics and hearing. In the ocean, the opposite is true. In coastal waters, light only travels relatively short distances (5-20m), so marine animals use light for sensing only the very near-field environment, while sound can travel huge distances (1-1000km), and informs marine animals of distant features and events. Marine scientists also take advantage of the efficiency with which sound travels in the ocean, and use it to both investigate and...
Ocean Networks Canada’s first summer expedition aboard the CCGS John P. Tully returned to port with confirmation of a major discovery: an impressive plume of gas rising from the seafloor off Vancouver Island in a region monitored by the NEPTUNE observatory that has been discharging since at least 2010.
During the final leg of the month-long expedition in the Northeast Pacific Ocean, the vessel conducted sonar...
Deployed at our Fraser Delta site in the Strait of Georgia are various sonar systems. In addition to the upward looking echo-sounder (200 kHz ZAP), we have a downward looking scanning sonar built by Imagenex. Shown here is a series of single scan images, and when compiled into an animation, the time-lapsed set of hourly images shows the changes detected by the sonar. This scanning sonar sweeps out a radial scan of...
The seafloor is, arguably, one of the most extensive habitats on the planet and it is significantly understudied. It is home to a variety of benthic organisms that spend much, if not all, of their time on the bottom sliding along or ploughing through sediment. Some organisms are deposit-feeders that ingest sediments, absorb their organic content, and excrete faecal strings or pellets; other organisms are burrowers that actively mix sediments vertically. This process by which organisms mix up sediment, is known as bioturbation, and is ecologically important because it influences nutrient recycling and other biogeochemical processes on the seafloor.
Bioturbation has traditionally been studied using time-lapse imagery or vertical tracers (natural or artificial objects on the...