EK60 Water Column Sonar Data Collected During EX1803

Okeanos Explorer (EX1803): Gulf of Mexico (ROV and Mapping) - 2018 (EK60). From April 11 through May 3, 2018, a team of scientists and technicians, both at-sea and shore-based, will conduct exploratory investigations into the diversity and distribution of deep-sea habitats and associated marine communities in the Gulf of Mexico basin. The 23-day expedition will focus on acquiring data on priority exploration areas identified by ocean management and scientific communities. This is our final expedition planned in the Gulf this year before transiting back to the East Coast.

Operations will include the use of the ship's deep water mapping systems (Kongsberg EM302 multibeam sonar, EK60 split-beam fisheries sonars, Knudsen 3260 chirp sub-bottom profiler sonar, and Teledyne Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler), XBT and CTD casts in support of multibeam sonar mapping operations, OER's two-body ROV Deep Discoverer and Seirios, and the ship's high-bandwidth satellite connection for continuous real-time ship-to-shore communications. Operations are planned in and around the US Gulf of Mexico and potentially the international waters of the Gulf.